Top seed Donchenko back in the title fray
The penultimate round witnessed only three decisive games among the top ten boards, which resulted in three leaders and ten pursuers at a half point behind. Among them, Arjun Erigaisi, Arjun Kalyan, D Gukesh and Karthikeyan Murali are the four Indian players.
GM Narayanan S L must win the last round and hope for the top board result to be in his favor | Photo: Anna Shtourman/Riga Technical University Open 2021
Narayanan - Kovalenko: 0.5-0.5
Narayanan S L made a short draw with Latvia no.1 Igor Kovalenko.
Budisavljevic - Nihal: 0.5-0.5
Nihal survived a massive scare against GM Luka Budisavljevic (SRB).
Position after 13..c5
13...c5 is a big mistake. Find out what Black should have done instead. Nihal managed to escape eventually in the endgame and salvage a draw.
Gukesh - Stukan: 1-0
GM Gukesh could have been in deep trouble which his opponent FM Martin Stukan (RUS) compeltely overlooked.
Position after 27.Qb1
Find out the best continuation for Black in the above position.
Highlights
Here is an interesting finish from Round 8:
GM Harshit Raja defeated IM Roland Berzinsh (LAT)
Replay Round 8 games
Round 8 results
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 6 | GM | Narayanan.S.L | 2624 | 6 | ½ - ½ | 6 | GM | Kovalenko Igor | 2644 | 3 | ||
| 2 | 1 | GM | Donchenko Alexander | 2657 | 5½ | 1 - 0 | 5½ | GM | Sanal Vahap | 2557 | 16 | ||
| 3 | 7 | GM | Hakobyan Aram | 2612 | 5½ | ½ - ½ | 5½ | IM | Laurusas Tomas | 2549 | 18 | ||
| 4 | 15 | GM | Meshkovs Nikita | 2568 | 5½ | ½ - ½ | 5½ | GM | Smirin Ilia | 2610 | 8 | ||
| 5 | 11 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2597 | 5½ | ½ - ½ | 5½ | GM | Kantor Gergely | 2533 | 20 | ||
| 6 | 24 | IM | Arjun Kalyan | 2503 | 5½ | ½ - ½ | 5½ | GM | Ivic Velimir | 2571 | 14 | ||
| 7 | 27 | GM | Budisavljevic Luka | 2495 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2655 | 2 | ||
| 8 | 5 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | 2641 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | IM | Gokerkan Cem Kaan | 2466 | 34 | ||
| 9 | 36 | IM | Dmitrenko Viktor | 2444 | 5 | 0 - 1 | 5 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 2606 | 10 | ||
| 10 | 13 | GM | Gukesh D | 2578 | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5 | FM | Stukan Martin | 2443 | 38 | ||
| 11 | 17 | GM | Yuffa Daniil | 2556 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | IM | Pranav Anand | 2417 | 46 | ||
| 12 | 23 | GM | Grigorov Grigor | 2507 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | FM | Chukavin Kirill | 2370 | 54 | ||
| 13 | 37 | IM | Petkov Momchil | 2443 | 4½ | 0 - 1 | 4½ | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2644 | 4 | ||
| 14 | 9 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2608 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4½ | IM | Raja Rithvik R | 2433 | 41 | ||
| 15 | 43 | IM | Vignesh N R | 2428 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2580 | 12 |
Round 9 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 3 | GM | Kovalenko Igor | 2644 | 6½ | 6½ | GM | Donchenko Alexander | 2657 | 1 | |||
| 2 | 8 | GM | Smirin Ilia | 2610 | 6 | 6½ | GM | Narayanan.S.L | 2624 | 6 | |||
| 3 | 14 | GM | Ivic Velimir | 2571 | 6 | 6 | GM | Hakobyan Aram | 2612 | 7 | |||
| 4 | 10 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 2606 | 6 | 6 | GM | Meshkovs Nikita | 2568 | 15 | |||
| 5 | 18 | IM | Laurusas Tomas | 2549 | 6 | 6 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2597 | 11 | |||
| 6 | 20 | GM | Kantor Gergely | 2533 | 6 | 6 | GM | Gukesh D | 2578 | 13 | |||
| 7 | 2 | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2655 | 5½ | 6 | IM | Arjun Kalyan | 2503 | 24 | |||
| 8 | 4 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2644 | 5½ | 5½ | IM | Raja Harshit | 2486 | 29 | |||
| 9 | 27 | GM | Budisavljevic Luka | 2495 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | 2641 | 5 | |||
| 10 | 54 | FM | Chukavin Kirill | 2370 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2608 | 9 | |||
| 11 | 16 | GM | Sanal Vahap | 2557 | 5½ | 5½ | IM | Roshka Yevgeniy | 2476 | 31 | |||
| 12 | 34 | IM | Gokerkan Cem Kaan | 2466 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Yuffa Daniil | 2556 | 17 | |||
| 13 | 22 | GM | Visakh N R | 2516 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Miezis Normunds | 2468 | 33 | |||
| 14 | 46 | IM | Pranav Anand | 2417 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Grigorov Grigor | 2507 | 23 | |||
| 15 | 30 | IM | Pavlov Sergey | 2481 | 5 | 5½ | FM | Dudin Gleb | 2422 | 45 |
