Arjun and Arjun in pursuit
GMs Arjun Erigaisi and Arjun Kalyan are in pursuit 5.5/7 along with eight other players. They are - GMs Aram Hakobyan (ARM), Ilia Smirin (ISR), Nikita Meshkovs (LAT), Velimic Ivir (SRB), Gergely Kantor (HUN), Alexander Donchenko (GER), Vahap Sanal (TUR) and IM Tomas Laurusas (LTU).
Kovalenko - Gukesh: 1-0
Gukesh's ambitious attack did not work out the way he wanted against GM Igor Kovalenko (LAT).
White took 25.fxg3 Nxg3 26.Rf3 and Black has no attack. A better approach would have been 22...Qf6 instead of 22...Ndf6.
Narayanan - Budisavljevic: 1-0
Narayanan S L scored a victory over GM Luka Budisavljevic (SRB) after he made positional mistakes.
22...Bd7 is the first mistake made by Black. What should White do here?
Black needed to defend the f7-pawn immediately, which means 24...Be6 would have been a better choice. Find out the best continuation for White.
Pranav - Praggnanandhaa: 0.5-0.5
IM Pranav Anand held GM R Praggnanandhaa to a draw. Pranav gained upper hand in the middlegame but practically it was not easy to convert it into a substantial one.
Highlights
Here are a few interesting finishes from Round 7:
Replay Round 7 games
Round 7 results
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 3 | GM | Kovalenko Igor | 2644 | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5 | GM | Gukesh D | 2578 | 13 | ||
| 2 | 6 | GM | Narayanan.S.L | 2624 | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5 | GM | Budisavljevic Luka | 2495 | 27 | ||
| 3 | 24 | IM | Arjun Kalyan | 2503 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Hakobyan Aram | 2612 | 7 | ||
| 4 | 10 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 2606 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2597 | 11 | ||
| 5 | 26 | GM | Kantans Toms | 2501 | 4½ | 0 - 1 | 4½ | GM | Donchenko Alexander | 2657 | 1 | ||
| 6 | 2 | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2655 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Grigorov Grigor | 2507 | 23 | ||
| 7 | 38 | FM | Stukan Martin | 2443 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | 2641 | 5 | ||
| 8 | 8 | GM | Smirin Ilia | 2610 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4½ | IM | Roshka Yevgeniy | 2476 | 31 | ||
| 9 | 14 | GM | Ivic Velimir | 2571 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4½ | GM | Pultinevicius Paulius | 2528 | 21 | ||
| 10 | 78 | Kugler Florian | 2223 | 4½ | 0 - 1 | 4½ | GM | Meshkovs Nikita | 2568 | 15 | |||
| 11 | 16 | GM | Sanal Vahap | 2557 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4½ | GM | Miezis Normunds | 2468 | 33 | ||
| 12 | 54 | FM | Chukavin Kirill | 2370 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Yuffa Daniil | 2556 | 17 | ||
| 13 | 18 | IM | Laurusas Tomas | 2549 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4½ | IM | Aditya Mittal | 2464 | 35 | ||
| 14 | 20 | GM | Kantor Gergely | 2533 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4½ | IM | Ioannidis Evgenios | 2422 | 44 | ||
| 15 | 46 | IM | Pranav Anand | 2417 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2608 | 9 |
Round 8 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 6 | GM | Narayanan.S.L | 2624 | 6 | 6 | GM | Kovalenko Igor | 2644 | 3 | |||
| 2 | 1 | GM | Donchenko Alexander | 2657 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Sanal Vahap | 2557 | 16 | |||
| 3 | 7 | GM | Hakobyan Aram | 2612 | 5½ | 5½ | IM | Laurusas Tomas | 2549 | 18 | |||
| 4 | 15 | GM | Meshkovs Nikita | 2568 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Smirin Ilia | 2610 | 8 | |||
| 5 | 11 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2597 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Kantor Gergely | 2533 | 20 | |||
| 6 | 24 | IM | Arjun Kalyan | 2503 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Ivic Velimir | 2571 | 14 | |||
| 7 | 27 | GM | Budisavljevic Luka | 2495 | 5 | 5 | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2655 | 2 | |||
| 8 | 5 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | 2641 | 5 | 5 | IM | Gokerkan Cem Kaan | 2466 | 34 | |||
| 9 | 36 | IM | Dmitrenko Viktor | 2444 | 5 | 5 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 2606 | 10 | |||
| 10 | 13 | GM | Gukesh D | 2578 | 5 | 5 | FM | Stukan Martin | 2443 | 38 | |||
| 11 | 17 | GM | Yuffa Daniil | 2556 | 5 | 5 | IM | Pranav Anand | 2417 | 46 | |||
| 12 | 23 | GM | Grigorov Grigor | 2507 | 5 | 5 | FM | Chukavin Kirill | 2370 | 54 | |||
| 13 | 37 | IM | Petkov Momchil | 2443 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2644 | 4 | |||
| 14 | 9 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2608 | 4½ | 4½ | IM | Raja Rithvik R | 2433 | 41 | |||
| 15 | 43 | IM | Vignesh N R | 2428 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2580 | 12 |
