Grand Swiss 2023 R9: Vaishali beats Stefanova, emerges sole leader

by Shahid Ahmed - 04/11/2023

IM Vaishali R defeated GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) in the ninth round of FIDE Grand Swiss 2023 Women. The former Women's world champion made an incorrect exchange of pieces in the endgame which eased Vaishali's path towards victory. Her coleader GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) was held to a draw by IM Leya Garifullina, allowing Vaishali to become the sole leader 7/9. She will face another former Women's world champion, GM Zhongyi Tan (CHN) in the penultimate round. GM Vidit Gujrathi had a well contested draw against GM Andrey Esipenko. The leader group in the Open section increased to six players as GM Hikaru Nakamura (USA) and GM Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI) joined Esipenko, Vidit, GM Fabiano Caruana (USA) and GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU). Round 10 starts today at 2:30 p.m. local time, 7 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman

Vidit in a six-pack lead

IM Vaishali R defeated GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) to emerge sole leader | Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman

GM Vidit Gujrathi drew against GM Andrey Esipenko to maintain his lead | Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman

FIDE Grand Swiss 2023 official logo | Photo: Official site

Stefanova - Vaishali: 0-1

Two years ago at the very same event when IM Vaishali R (2448) faced GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL, 2424), the game ended in a draw. Now, she again was paired against the former Women's World Champion with the same color, albeit a round earlier. This time, Vaishali was determined to change the outcome.

Position after 34...Kh7

White is already behind two pawns. What White must avoid is, exchanging more pieces, especially her bishop with the a6-knight. That is exactly what White did 35.Bxa6? Rxa6 36.Rb8 Qd5 37.Rb4 Ng5 and it's over for White. Black liquidates the position into a rook endgame with two extra pawns which is easy enough to convert into a full point.

IM Vaishali on beating Stefanova, becoming sole leader and reaching 2492 Elo | Video: ChessBase India

GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) vs IM Vaishali R | Video: ChessBase India

IM Vaishali R analyzes her win over GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) | Video: FIDE

IM Vaishali R scored an emphatic victory over GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) | Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman

IM Vaishali R is now World no.14 among Women with a live rating of 2492.2 | Source: 2700 chess.com

Anish Giri jokes with Vidit Gujrathi before the start of the game + Vidit interview and analysis | Video: ChessBase India

Hikaru Nakamura's insanely speedy calculations | Video: ChessBase India

GM Hikaru Nakamura (USA) analyzes his win against GM Ivan Cheparinov (BUL) | Video: GMHikaru

GM Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO) - GM Arjun Erigaisi: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman

GM Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO): "I am quite satisfied with my play and the quality of chess I am showing here" | Video: FIDE

Parham Maghsoodloo reveals how his wife and second have helped him reach Elo 2745 and World no.13 | Video: ChessBase India

GM Aravindh Chithambaram made a nice save from a losing position against GM Alireza Firouzja (FRA) | Photo: Maria Emelianova/chess.com

GM Anish Giri (NED) starts to think about alternative careers in the game where he plays a beautiful endgame | Video: ChessBase India

Praggnanandhaa - Jumabayev: 1-0

GM R Praggnanandhaa (2738) had never beaten the Kazakhstan no.1 GM Rinat Jumabayev (2585) in either a Classical or Blitz rated games. Their first Classical game ended in a draw in 2019, while the second one was won by the Kazakh. The Blitz game was also won by Rinat who went to win the tournament. For the first time in their battle against each other, Pragg got the white pieces in this event.

Position after 31.Bg4!

31.Bg4! is a nice tactical shot. It is actually a double attack - both Black's queen and c1-rook are threatened. 31...Qd7 now 32.Bd7! is another tactic - deflection, which forces Black to give up material as queen, c1-rook and f7-pawn all three are under attack at the same time. 32...Rxf1 33.Bxc6 Rxf4 34.Qxf4 and White went on to win the game in another dozen and a half moves.

Praggnanandhaa's stunning move reminded us of Fischer's combination | Video: ChessBase India

GM R Praggnanandhaa scored his second win of the event, first ever win in a Classical rated game against GM Rinat Jumabayev (KAZ) | Photo: Maria Emelianova/chess.com

Australia no.1 GM Temur Kuybokarov tells us how he beat Gukesh | Video: ChessBase India

GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) drew against IM Leya Garifullina and GM Mariya Muzychuk (UKR) bounced back with a victory after suffering two consecutive losses | Photo: Maria Emelianova/chess.com

GM Elisabeth Paehtz (GER) - IM Tania Sachdev (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Maria Emelianova/chess.com

IM Divya Deshmukh (pictured) - GM Elina Danielian (ARM): 1-0 | Photo: Maria Emelianova/chess.com

Round 9 in progress | Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman

Video Gallery

Will India get 2 Candidates? IM Sagar Shah's Round 9 Recap | Video: ChessBase India

The ultimate Indian chess fan - Manish Shah from Scotland | Video: ChessBase India

GM David Howell (ENG) and IM Jovanka Houska (ENG) make their predictions on who will win FIDE Grand Swiss 2023 | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Live stream

Replay FIDE Grand Swiss 2023 Round 9 Live Commentary by IM V Saravanan and Amruta Mokal | Video: ChessBase India

Replay FIDE Grand Swiss and Women's Grand Swiss 2023 Round 9 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 9 Open games

Replay Round 9 Women games

Round 9 Open results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
9	2	15	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	2716	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Esipenko Andrey	2683	32
9	4	27	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	2691	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2712	16
9	10	12	GM	Keymer Vincent	2717	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Nihal Sarin	2694	25
9	12	3	GM	Firouzja Alireza	2777	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2649	56
9	15	8	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2738	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Jumabayev Rinat	2585	93
9	25	14	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	2716	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Melkumyan Hrant	2650	53
9	26	19	GM	Van Foreest Jorden	2707	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Aryan Chopra	2634	65
9	34	52	GM	Narayanan S L	2651	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Bachmann Axel	2604	87
9	35	94	GM	Kuybokarov Temur	2584	4	1 - 0	3½	GM	Gukesh D	2758	5
9	42	60	GM	Ponomariov Ruslan	2641	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2609	84
9	43	103	GM	Maurizzi Marc`andria	2555	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2641	61
9	47	83	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2611	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Santos Latasa Jaime	2650	55
9	49	68	GM	Kollars Dmitrij	2633	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Adhiban B.	2551	104
9	50	76	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2622	3	1 - 0	3		Wu Li	2303	113

Details

Standings after Round 9

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	Rp	K	rtg+/-
1	32	GM	Esipenko, Andrey	FID	2683	6,5	2694	45,5	48,5	0	2845	10	19,6
2	2	GM	Nakamura, Hikaru	USA	2780	6,5	2671	44	48	0	2833	10	6,1
3	15	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2716	6,5	2669	42,5	46	0	2828	10	13,4
4	1	GM	Caruana, Fabiano	USA	2786	6,5	2668	45	49,5	0	2829	10	5
5	20	GM	Deac, Bogdan-Daniel	ROU	2701	6,5	2657	42	44,5	0	2815	10	13,5
6	18	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	IRI	2707	6,5	2651	42	46	0	2813	10	12,6
7	47	GM	Predke, Alexandr	SRB	2656	6	2710	46,5	49,5	0	2817	10	19,6
8	75	GM	Kuzubov, Yuriy	UKR	2625	6	2673	42	45	0	2774	10	18
9	16	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2712	6	2667	45	49,5	0	2783	10	8,3
10	12	GM	Keymer, Vincent	GER	2717	6	2657	42	45,5	0	2777	10	7
11	21	GM	Sevian, Samuel	USA	2698	6	2645	40,5	44,5	0	2748	10	6
12	27	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	SLO	2691	6	2634	38,5	42	0	2739	10	5,7
13	46	GM	Sindarov, Javokhir	UZB	2658	5,5	2707	44	47,5	0	2767	10	13,8
14	42	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	USA	2667	5,5	2704	41	43,5	0	2760	10	11,7
15	81	GM	Yakubboev, Nodirbek	UZB	2616	5,5	2702	38,5	39,5	0	2729	10	15,4
16	39	GM	Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	2669	5,5	2699	42	45,5	0	2765	10	11,9
17	80	GM	Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel	ARM	2618	5,5	2698	41,5	44,5	0	2760	10	17,6
18	44	GM	Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL	2658	5,5	2697	42	46	0	2754	10	12,2
19	33	GM	Sarana, Alexey	SRB	2682	5,5	2673	40,5	44	0	2724	10	6
20	88	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel	ARM	2604	5,5	2672	38	41,5	0	2749	10	18

Details

Round 10 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
10	2	20	GM	Deac Bogdan-Daniel	2701	6½		6½	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	2716	15
10	5	21	GM	Sevian Samuel	2698	6		6	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2712	16
10	9	45	GM	Korobov Anton	2658	5½		5½	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2738	8
10	18	56	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2649	5		5	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	2716	14
10	20	25	GM	Nihal Sarin	2694	5		5	GM	Najer Evgeniy	2648	57
10	21	31	GM	Tabatabaei M. Amin	2685	5		5	GM	Narayanan S L	2651	52
10	26	65	GM	Aryan Chopra	2634	4½		4½	GM	Shankland Sam	2698	22
10	33	61	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2641	4½		4½	GM	Suleymanli Aydin	2588	92
10	38	35	GM	Abasov Nijat	2679	4		4	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2622	76
10	44	5	GM	Gukesh D	2758	3½		3½	GM	Dardha Daniel	2580	96
10	49	83	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2611	3½		3½	GM	Lazavik Denis	2560	102
10	50	84	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2609	3½		3½	GM	Krasenkow Michal	2531	106
10	52	104	GM	Adhiban B.	2551	3		3½	IM	Samunenkov Ihor	2531	107

Details

Round 9 Women results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
9	1	21	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2424	6	0 - 1	6	IM	Vaishali Rameshbabu	2448	12
9	11	36	GM	Socko Monika	2380	4½	½ - ½	4	GM	Dronavalli Harika	2502	7
9	13	8	GM	Paehtz Elisabeth	2484	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Tania Sachdev	2389	32
9	19	38	WGM	Savitha Shri B	2375	3	0 - 1	3½	IM	Kiolbasa Oliwia	2375	37
9	20	24	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2408	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Danielian Elina	2416	23
9	22	49	WIM	Kanyamarala Trisha	2184	2	0 - 1	3	IM	Vantika Agrawal	2435	18

Details

Standings after Round 9

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	Rp	K	rtg+/-
1	12	IM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	IND	2448	7	2458	44	47,5	0	2669	10	25,2
2	5	GM	Muzychuk, Anna	UKR	2510	6,5	2454	47	51,5	0	2612	10	12,1
3	4	GM	Tan, Zhongyi	CHN	2517	6,5	2444	44	48	0	2604	10	10,2
4	25	IM	Garifullina, Leya	FID	2402	6	2474	43,5	44,5	0	2554	10	19
5	27	IM	Narva, Mai	EST	2399	6	2474	36	38,5	0	2579	10	21,8
6	39	IM	Cori T., Deysi	PER	2367	6	2458	39,5	43	0	2562	10	23,6
7	40	IM	Munguntuul, Batkhuyag	MGL	2366	6	2445	42,5	45,5	0	2565	10	24
8	21	GM	Stefanova, Antoaneta	BUL	2424	6	2440	43	45,5	0	2549	10	15
9	34	IM	Tsolakidou, Stavroula	GRE	2385	5,5	2473	42,5	45,5	0	2545	10	19,9
10	30	IM	Milliet, Sophie	FRA	2391	5,5	2472	44	46	0	2520	10	16,2
11	10	IM	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	KAZ	2469	5,5	2442	47,5	52	0	2513	10	5,6
12	17	IM	Javakhishvili, Lela	GEO	2437	5,5	2397	37,5	40	0	2466	10	3,8
13	14	GM	Cramling, Pia	SWE	2446	5,5	2393	37,5	40,5	0	2469	10	2,9
14	15	IM	Mammadzada, Gunay	AZE	2441	5,5	2391	41,5	44,5	0	2457	10	2,3
15	19	GM	Ushenina, Anna	UKR	2434	5,5	2383	39,5	42,5	0	2458	10	3,2
16	43	WGM	Kamalidenova, Meruert	KAZ	2351	5	2480	39	42,5	0	2518	10	20,1
17	36	GM	Socko, Monika	POL	2380	5	2445	37	39,5	0	2472	10	11,2
18	1	GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	FID	2558	5	2429	43,5	47	0	2463	10	-11,5
19	3	GM	Muzychuk, Mariya	UKR	2519	5	2410	38,5	41,5	0	2447	10	-8,9
20	16	GM	Gunina, Valentina	FID	2439	5	2398	37,5	41	0	2430	10	-1,5

Details

Round 10 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
10	1	12	IM	Vaishali Rameshbabu	2448	7		6½	GM	Tan Zhongyi	2517	4
10	12	32	IM	Tania Sachdev	2389	4½		4½	IM	Shuvalova Polina	2506	6
10	13	7	GM	Dronavalli Harika	2502	4½		4½	WGM	Beydullayeva Govhar	2383	35
10	16	18	IM	Vantika Agrawal	2435	4		4½	WIM	Terbe Julianna	2266	48
10	17	29	IM	Fataliyeva Ulviyya	2393	4		4	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2408	24
10	22	33	FM	Lee Alice	2388	3		3	WGM	Savitha Shri B	2375	38

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations: Open and Women

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