Grand Swiss 2023 R7: Vidit outplays Sindarov, emerges sole leader

by Shahid Ahmed - 02/11/2023

GM Vidit Gujrathi defeated GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) in the seventh round of FIDE Grand Swiss 2023. The win put Vidit in the sole lead position 5.5/7. He outplayed the 44th Olympiad Gold medalist in the middlegame. After getting a winning position, the India no.4 felt that he gave his opponent some counterplay in the end which he should not have. GM Arjun Erigaisi missed a great opportunity to beat GM Andrey Esipenko. A win would have made him a coleader with Vidit. The draw puts him in the pack of 13 players who are at 5/7. IM Vaishali R defeated the reigning two-time World Blitz Women's champion, IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ). She joined the lead with GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) and GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL). Round 8 starts today at 2:30 p.m. local time, 7 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman

Vaishali joins Anna Muzychuk and Stefanova at the top

GM Vidit Gujrathi defeated GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) to gain sole lead 5.5/7 | Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman

FIDE Grand Swiss 2023 official logo | Photo: Official site

Sindarov - Vidit: 0-1

GM Vidit Gujrathi (2716) has played only one Rapid rated game against GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 2658) at the recently concluded 19th Asian Games 2022. Vidit lost that game. This was the first time Sindarov and Vidit faced each other in a Classical rated game.

Position after 24.h4?

After dropping the a4-pawn 23.Kg2 Nbxa4 White made another mistake of weakening his kingside 24.h4? Qf4 25.Ncxe5 Rxe5! 26.Nxe5 Qxe5 27.h5 Rxd3! 28.Bxf7+ Kf8 both side have a total of three pieces hanging, yet Black comes out on top in each variation.

GM Vidit Gujrathi on beating GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) and becoming sole leader of FIDE Grand Swiss 2023 | Video: ChessBase India

GM Vidit Gujrathi vs GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) | Video: ChessBase India

GM Vidit Gujrathi analyzes his win over GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) | Video: FIDE

GM Vidit Gujrathi played the middlegame in an excellent way against GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) | Photo: IM Sagar Shah

Arjun - Esipenko: 0.5-0.5

GM Arjun Erigaisi (2712) has never lost a Classical rated game against GM Andrey Esipenko (2683). That statistic remained unchanged yesterday. They faced each other in the first round of the same event in 2021. Two years later, the result was the same. Although Arjun had a good chance to win the game.

Position after 47...Bc2??

White's solitary opportunity in the endgame was when Black blundered 47...Bc2?? White needed to pin the c2-bishop 48.Re2 and Black could not have avoided a material loss. The game continued 48.Rg4 and it meandered into a draw.

GM Arjun Erigaisi missed his win against GM Andrey Esipenko | Photo: IM Sagar Shah

GM R Praggnanandhaa on scoring his first win at Grand Swiss and on Vaishali showing her true potential | Video: ChessBase India

GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) - GM Aleksandra Goryachkina: 0.5-0.5

Bibisara - Vaishali: 0.5-0.5

IM Vaishali R (2448) had never beaten IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ, 2469) in a Classical or Blitz rated game. It was about time for Vaishali to change that fact. Their last encounter at the very same event in 2021 ended in a draw. This one was also heading towards the same outcome, until Bibisara blundered.

Position after 36.Kg1??

36.Kg1?? ran into Bd4 absolute pin 37.Kf2 b4 38.Bh3+ Kf7 the king does not need to advance as it can go beyond e5 anytime soon, moreover the combined power of passed b-pawn and the bishop is enough for Black to fetch the full point.

Vaishali is unstoppable! Beats Bibisara, reaches 2489, leads with 5.5/7 | Video: ChessBase India

IM Vaishali R rejoins the lead with a victory over IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ) | Photo: IM Sagar Shah

IM Vaishali R is now World no.16 among Women with a live rating of 2489 | Source: 2700chess.com

GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) analyzes her win over GM Mariya Muzychuk (UKR) | Video: FIDE

"You never really drown!" - IM Tania Sachdev on making a comeback to chess after a year | Video: ChessBase India

Round 7 in progress | Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman

For more photos, please click here.

Video Gallery

Round 7 starting moments | Video: ChessBase India

Into the mind of Vidit Gujrathi - A minute before his game! | Video: ChessBase India

Why is Alexei Shirov under so much stress? | Video: ChessBase India

Round 7 recap by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Who wants to be a millionaire - chess version! featuring GM Emil Sutovsky | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Live stream

Replay FIDE Grand Swiss 2023 Round 7 Live Commentary by IM V Saravanan and Amruta Mokal | Video: ChessBase India

Replay FIDE Grand Swiss and Women's Grand Swiss 2023 Round 7 Live Commentary by GM David Howell (ENG) and IM Jovanka Houska (ENG) | Video: FIDE

Schedule

Every day game starts at 2:30 p.m. local time, 7 p.m. IST between 25th October and 4th November 2023, except on 3rd when the game starts at 11:30 a.m. local time, 4 p.m. IST. Rest day is on Tuesday 31st October 2023. The last round on 5th November will start at 2 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST.

Time Control

The time control for each game is: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.

Qualification

The winner and the runner-up of Grand Swiss shall qualify for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024. If one or both these players has (-ve) already qualified to the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024 at the moment of the beginning of Grand Swiss via different qualification track or do (-es) not need to qualify for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024, the qualification spot(s) shall go to the highest-placed player(s) in the final standings who has (-ve) not yet qualified to the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024 at the moment of the beginning of Grand Swiss

Prizes

The total prize fund in the Open is US$ 460,000 with the first prize being $80,000. For Women's the total prize fund is $140,000, first prize $25,000. Total numbers of prizes are 69, Open - 46 and Women - 23.

Replay Round 7 Open games

Replay Round 7 Women games

Round 7 Open results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
7	3	46	GM	Sindarov Javokhir	2658	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	2716	15
7	4	16	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2712	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Esipenko Andrey	2683	32
7	13	52	GM	Narayanan S L	2651	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Aronian Levon	2742	7
7	17	18	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	2707	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2649	56
7	20	73	GM	Svane Frederik	2626	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Nihal Sarin	2694	25
7	24	8	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2738	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2609	84
7	26	14	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	2716	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Murzin Volodar	2633	69
7	27	28	GM	Grandelius Nils	2689	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Aryan Chopra	2634	65
7	35	88	GM	Petrosyan Manuel	2604	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2641	61
7	44	50	GM	Ivanchuk Vasyl	2653	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2611	83
7	46	64	GM	Warmerdam Max	2636	2½	1 - 0	2½	GM	Adhiban B.	2551	104
7	47	99	IM	Amar Elham	2568	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Gukesh D	2758	5
7	53	76	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2622	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Gurel Ediz	2514	108

Details

Standings after Round 7

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	15	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2716	5,5	2648	23	25,5	0
2	47	GM	Predke, Alexandr	SRB	2656	5	2719	28,5	31	0
3	39	GM	Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	2669	5	2691	24,5	27	0
4	32	GM	Esipenko, Andrey	FID	2683	5	2687	27,5	29,5	0
5	16	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2712	5	2670	26,5	30,5	0
6	2	GM	Nakamura, Hikaru	USA	2780	5	2666	24	27	0
7	1	GM	Caruana, Fabiano	USA	2786	5	2662	27	30,5	0
8	75	GM	Kuzubov, Yuriy	UKR	2625	5	2662	23	25	0
9	12	GM	Keymer, Vincent	GER	2717	5	2646	23,5	26	0
10	41	GM	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	POL	2668	5	2646	20,5	22	0
11	20	GM	Deac, Bogdan-Daniel	ROU	2701	5	2633	24	26,5	0
12	27	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	SLO	2691	5	2618	21	23,5	0
13	46	GM	Sindarov, Javokhir	UZB	2658	4,5	2703	27	29,5	0
14	42	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	USA	2667	4,5	2696	26	28	0
15	80	GM	Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel	ARM	2618	4,5	2688	22,5	25	0
16	44	GM	Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL	2658	4,5	2678	24	26,5	0
17	3	GM	Firouzja, Alireza	FRA	2777	4,5	2668	24	27	0
18	6	GM	Rapport, Richard	ROU	2752	4,5	2659	24	27	0
19	33	GM	Sarana, Alexey	SRB	2682	4,5	2654	24,5	27,5	0
20	10	GM	Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	POL	2726	4,5	2650	24,5	27	0

Details

Round 8 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
8	1	15	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	2716	5½		5	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2780	2
8	4	16	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2712	5		5	GM	Kuzubov Yuriy	2625	75
8	14	81	GM	Yakubboev Nodirbek	2616	4		4	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2738	8
8	20	25	GM	Nihal Sarin	2694	4		4	GM	Huschenbeth Niclas	2605	86
8	23	93	GM	Jumabayev Rinat	2585	4		3½	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	2716	14
8	28	65	GM	Aryan Chopra	2634	3½		3½	GM	Bluebaum Matthias	2668	40
8	32	77	GM	Tari Aryan	2619	3½		3½	GM	Narayanan S L	2651	52
8	34	56	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2649	3½		3½	GM	Maurizzi Marc`andria	2555	103
8	36	5	GM	Gukesh D	2758	3		3	GM	Theodorou Nikolas	2619	78
8	37	84	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2609	3		3	GM	Martirosyan Haik M.	2696	24
8	40	31	GM	Tabatabaei M. Amin	2685	3		3	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2611	83
8	45	61	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2641	3		3	IM	Royal Shreyas	2407	112
8	46	104	GM	Adhiban B.	2551	2½		2½	GM	Donchenko Alexander	2676	36
8	52	107	IM	Samunenkov Ihor	2531	2½		2½	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2622	76

Details

Round 7 Women results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
7	2	10	IM	Assaubayeva Bibisara	2469	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Vaishali Rameshbabu	2448	12
7	8	22	IM	Bulmaga Irina	2423	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Dronavalli Harika	2502	7
7	16	38	WGM	Savitha Shri B	2375	2½	0 - 1	2½	WGM	Wagner Dinara	2461	11
7	21	26	IM	Matnadze Bujiashvili Ann	2400	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Vantika Agrawal	2435	18
7	22	24	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2408	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Aulia Medina Warda	2362	41
7	23	47	WIM	Gomez Barrera Javiera Belen	2266	1½	0 - 1	2	IM	Tania Sachdev	2389	32

Details

Standings after Round 7

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	12	IM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	IND	2448	5,5	2475	26	28,5	0
2	5	GM	Muzychuk, Anna	UKR	2510	5,5	2468	29	33,5	0
3	21	GM	Stefanova, Antoaneta	BUL	2424	5,5	2426	23,5	26	0
4	30	IM	Milliet, Sophie	FRA	2391	5	2469	24	26	0
5	1	GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	FID	2558	5	2420	24,5	26,5	0
6	34	IM	Tsolakidou, Stavroula	GRE	2385	4,5	2481	24,5	27,5	0
7	10	IM	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	KAZ	2469	4,5	2464	27	29,5	0
8	39	IM	Cori T., Deysi	PER	2367	4,5	2464	22,5	25	0
9	25	IM	Garifullina, Leya	FID	2402	4,5	2463	24	25	0
10	40	IM	Munguntuul, Batkhuyag	MGL	2366	4,5	2444	25,5	28,5	0
11	4	GM	Tan, Zhongyi	CHN	2517	4,5	2434	28,5	30,5	0
12	22	IM	Bulmaga, Irina	ROU	2423	4,5	2427	23,5	25	0
13	6	IM	Shuvalova, Polina	FID	2506	4,5	2387	21	22,5	0
14	19	GM	Ushenina, Anna	UKR	2434	4,5	2385	21	23,5	0
15	29	IM	Fataliyeva, Ulviyya	AZE	2393	4	2463	25	26	0
16	27	IM	Narva, Mai	EST	2399	4	2452	20,5	23	0
17	3	GM	Muzychuk, Mariya	UKR	2519	4	2414	23,5	26	0
18	13	IM	Efroimski, Marsel	ISR	2447	4	2397	23	25,5	0
19	14	GM	Cramling, Pia	SWE	2446	4	2391	21	22,5	0
20	17	IM	Javakhishvili, Lela	GEO	2437	4	2371	22,5	25	0

Details

Round 8 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
8	2	12	IM	Vaishali Rameshbabu	2448	5½		5	IM	Milliet Sophie	2391	30
8	11	7	GM	Dronavalli Harika	2502	3½		3½	IM	Injac Teodora	2426	20
8	18	32	IM	Tania Sachdev	2389	3		3	WIM	Mkrtchyan Mariam	2343	44
8	19	18	IM	Vantika Agrawal	2435	2½		2½	WGM	Savitha Shri B	2375	38
8	24	50	WIM	Nassr Lina	2066	1		2	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2408	24

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations: Open and Women

Related news:

	"It's the biggest win of my career" - Vidit Gujrathi on winning FIDE Grand Swiss 2023 @ 14/11/2023 by Sagar Shah (en)
	Victory for Valiant Vidit Gujrathi and R Vaishali at FIDE Grand Swiss 2023, Qualify to the Candidates 2024 @ 06/11/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss 2023 R10: Vaishali vanquishes Zhongyi Tan, secures her place in the Women's Candidates 2024 @ 05/11/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss 2023 R9: Vaishali beats Stefanova, emerges sole leader @ 04/11/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss 2023 R8: Caruana, Esipenko and Deac join Vidit in a four-way lead @ 03/11/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss 2023 R6: Vidit Gujrathi joins the eight-way lead @ 31/10/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss 2023 R5: Nakamura, Esipenko and Arjun Erigaisi in a three-way lead @ 30/10/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss 2023 R4: Vaishali crushes Mariya in 23 moves @ 29/10/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss 2023 R3: Vaishali sets the board on fire @ 28/10/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss 2023 R2: Arjun Erigaisi wins two in-a-row, Raunak holds Nakamura to a draw @ 27/10/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Grand Swiss 2023 R1: Raunak Sadhwani starts with a solid draw against the World no.7 - Anish Giri @ 26/10/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	20 Indians are set for FIDE Grand Swiss 2023 starting today @ 25/10/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	FIDE Grand Swiss Open and Women 2023 to take place at Isle of Man from 24th October to 5th November @ 21/03/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)