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Grand Swiss R1: Arjun Erigaisi splits the point with Andrey Esipenko

by Shahid Ahmed - 28/10/2021

Arjun Erigaisi faced the strongest opponent among the Indian players in the first round of FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss 2021. He managed to hold his own against Andrey Esipenko, who is known to have caused trouble for the world champion Magnus Carlsen twice in this year. Nihal Sarin, D Gukesh and Vaishali are the only three Indian players who scored a win each. The youngsters - Praggnanandhaa, Raunak, Vantika and Divya managed to hold their relatively stronger opponents Gabriel, Cheparinov, Munguntuul and Zawadzka to a draw each respectively. Nihal will face Caruana in the second round, which starts today at 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Nihal, Gukesh and Vaishali win

Harikrishna and Harika made a steady start as they drew with Vladislav Kovalev (FID) and IM Nataliya Buksa (UKR) each respectively. Adhiban and Sethuraman had a hard-fought draw. Ganguly also drew with Sanan Sjugirov (RUS). The second round has a lot of interesting pairings - Dubov vs. Arjun, Pragg vs. Adhiban and Divya vs. Harika.

Arjun Erigaisi made a steady start | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

FIDE Grand Swiss 2021 official logo | Photo: FIDE

Erigaisi - Esipenko: 0.5-0.5

Arjun Erigaisi made a great start against Andrey Esipenko.

Position after 18.Bg5

17...Ne8 allowed White to gain the upper hand and Arjun correctly found it 18.Bg5. Black cannot play 18...f6 as 19.Bf4 Ne5 20.Nc5 makes things pleasant for White. Black had to concede a double-pawn 18...bxa4 19.Rxc7 Nxc7 20.Bxd8 Nb5 21.Kb2 and White has a slight edge. Although, computer says White is much better after a few more moves, in reality, it is not easy for White to scrape a full point out of it.

Andrey Esipenko beat Carlsen in Tata Steel 2021 and almost eliminated Carlsen at the FIDE World Cup 2021 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Gabriel - Praggnanandhaa: 0.5-0.5

Praggnanandhaa had an opportunity to turn things in his favor against Gabriel Sargissian (ARM).

Position after 28.Nc6

White has back rank weakness, 28...Qc8 was a way to make an attempt to extract something. 29.Qd6 Kg7 30.Nxe5 Rxe5 31.Rd1 Qe6 could have been more favorable for Black. The game continued 28...Qf4 29.f3 Rc8 30.Nxe5 Qxe5 and it headed towards a draw.

Nihal - Georgiev: 1-0

North Macedonia no.1 GM Kiril Georgiev misjudged the intention of Nihal's dark-square bishop.

Position after 24.Bg5

Black's first course of action here should be to trade the bishops. The longer it lingers on the kingside, the more trouble it can cause. That is exactly what happened. 24...b5 25.Bf6 Bf8 26.h5 Rxc1 27.Rxc1 Rc8 28.Re1 and things just slowly spiraled out of control for Black.

Nihal Sarin's modern-day opening preparation in the London | Video: ChessBase India

Nihal beats Georgiev for the second time since Gibraltar Masters in 2018 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Harikrishna had a relatively calm draw with Vladislav Kovalev (FID) | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Adhiban drew with Sethuraman | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

February - Vaishali: 0-1

IM Vaishali made a short work of WIM Jesse February (RSA) in just 20 moves.

Position after 14.f3

Find out why 14.f3 is a big mistake.

Highlights

A few interesting finishes from Round 1

Alireza Firouzja (FRA) defeated Nijat Abasov (AZE)

Vasif Durarbayli (AZE) lost to Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI)

Pavel Ponkratov (RUS) defeated Vaim Zvjaginsev (RUS)

Rinat Jumabayev (KAZ) lost to Manuel Petrosyan (ARM)

Arturs Neiksaans (LAT) defeated Alexey Sarana (RUS)

Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) drew with Temur Kuybokarov (AUS)

GM Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) lost to WGM Leya Garifullina (RUS)

Photo Gallery

GM Harika Dronavalli - IM Nataliya Buksa (UKR): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Top seed Mariya Muzychuk was held to a draw by 19-year-old IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich makes the first move on Caruana's board | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Fabiano Caruana (USA) beat Maksim Chigaev (RUS) convincingly | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

The tournament hall | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Top boards of the Women's section | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Schedule

Everyday game starts at 2 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. IST) between 27th October and 7th November 2021. Rest day is on Tuesday 2nd November 2021.

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 top two players in the open event will qualify for the FIDE Candidates 2022. The next six players will earn their spots in the FIDE Grand Prix. The Women's Grand Swiss winner will qualify to the Women's Candidates. The following four best players will qualify for the FIDE Women's Grand Prix.

Prizes

The total prize fund in the Open is US$ 425,000 with the first prize being $70,000. For Women's the total prize fund is $125,000, first prize $20,000. Total numbers of prizes are 60, Open - 40 and Women - 20.

Replay Round 1 Open games

Replay Round 1 Women games

Replay the live stream

FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss Round 1 | Live commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Round 1 results

Rd.Bo.No. NameFEDRtgPts.ResultPts.NameFEDRtg No.
1660
GMErigaisi ArjunIND26340½ - ½0GMEsipenko AndreyRUS2720
6
177
GMHarikrishna PentalaIND27190½ - ½0GMKovalev VladislavFID2634
61
12525
GMAdhiban B.IND26720½ - ½0GMSethuraman S.P.IND2620
79
12727
GMSargissian GabrielARM26640½ - ½0GMPraggnanandhaa RIND2618
81
12882
GMGanguly Surya ShekharIND26170½ - ½0GMSjugirov SananRUS2663
28
13084
GMSadhwani RaunakIND26090½ - ½0GMCheparinov IvanBUL2659
30
14141
GMNihal SarinIND265201 - 00GMGeorgiev KirilMKD2577
95
15353
GMGukesh DIND264001 - 00IMRakotomaharo Fy AntenainaMAD2484
107
154108
GMMiezis NormundsLAT24670½ - ½0GMSasikiran KrishnanIND2640
54
144
GMHarika DronavalliIND25110½ - ½0IMBuksa NataliyaUKR2409
29
11540
IMPadmini RoutIND238000 - 10WGMZhu JinerCHN2455
15
12146
WIMVantika AgrawalIND23220½ - ½0IMMunguntuul BatkhuyagMGL2433
21
12222
WGMZawadzka JolantaPOL24280½ - ½0WIMDivya DeshmukhIND2305
47
12550
WIMFebruary Jesse NikkiRSA185700 - 10WGMVaishali RIND2419
25

Details

Round 2 pairings

Rd.Bo.No. NameFEDRtgPts.ResultPts.NameFEDRtg No.
2141
GMNihal SarinIND265211GMCaruana FabianoUSA2800
1
2412
GMMaghsoodloo ParhamIRI270111GMGukesh DIND2640
53
21559
GMDreev AlekseyRUS2635½½GMHarikrishna PentalaIND2719
7
2168
GMDubov DaniilRUS2714½½GMErigaisi ArjunIND2634
60
22581
GMPraggnanandhaa RIND2618½½GMAdhiban B.IND2672
25
22679
GMSethuraman S.P.IND2620½½GMSargissian GabrielARM2664
27
22728
GMSjugirov SananRUS2663½½GMSadhwani RaunakIND2609
84
22930
GMCheparinov IvanBUL2659½½GMGanguly Surya ShekharIND2617
82
24454
GMSasikiran KrishnanIND2640½½GMVokhidov ShamsiddinUZB2521
104
2525
WGMVaishali RIND241911GMBatsiashvili NinoGEO2484
10
21147
WIMDivya DeshmukhIND2305½½GMHarika DronavalliIND2511
4
21419
IMArabidze MeriGEO2441½½WIMVantika AgrawalIND2322
46
22017
GMCramling PiaSWE244700IMPadmini RoutIND2380
40

Details

Links

Official site

Chess-results: Open and Women

Tournament Regulations: Open and Women