Serbia Open R5: Five players share the lead 4.5/5

by Shahid Ahmed - 06/07/2021

Five players - Petrosyan, Shevchenko, Stamatis, Sanal and Indjic share the lead 4.5/5 at the conclusion of Round 5 at Serbia Open 2021. There were no decisive games among the top five boards. Among the Indians, Nihal, Pranav, Arjun and Raunak - all four of them drew their respective games. Pranav continues his impressive run as he drew with GM Vugar Asadli. Top seed of the tournament, GM Vladimir Fedoseev reduced the gap by winning his game and took his score to 4.0/5. Only four rounds left and, it is still anybody's tournament to win. Round 6 starts today at 1:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick

Fedoseev is back at the top

All games of top five boards ended in draws. Only two games ended decisively among top ten boards. It allowed the top seed Vladimir Fedoseev to reduce the gap as he won his game against IM Harshit Raja and moved to 4.0/5.

Fedoseev is back in the hunt 4.0/5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Aleksandrov - Nihal: 0.5-0.5

Nihal made a short draw in just 18 moves against GM Aleksej Aleksandrov (BLR).

Aleksej Aleksandrov and Nihal Sarin | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Pranav - Asadli: 0.5-0.5

Pranav Vijay made a solid draw with GM Vugar Asadli (AZE). He kept trying to create some chances but his opponent Asadli, did not budge.

Pranav V is performing at 2710 and already gaining 44 Elo rating points | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Arjun - Agmanov: 0.5-0.5

Arjun kept creating chances for himself against IM Zhandos Agmanov (KAZ). Only in the final moments of the endgame, Agmanov blundered.

Position after 51...Kd7

51...Kd7 is a mistake as now White is completely winning. Find out how. What should have Black played instead?

Position after 52...fxe4

White made the mistake of playing 53.Rh8. Black went 53...Kd6 and saved the game. What was the winning continuation for White in the above diagram?

Arjun missed a good opportunity | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Ozenir - Raunak: 0.5-0.5

Raunak was in complete control against IM Ekin Baris Ozenir (TUR).

Position after 30.h3

30...Qd7 does a double attack on both c6-rook and the h3-pawn. It would have maintained Black's advantage for a bit longer. The text 30...d4 is a good practical decision which eventually allowed Black to maintain his advantage.

Ozenir escaped with a draw against Raunak | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Fedoseev - Harshit: 0.5-0.5

IM Harshit Raja overcame a difficult middlegame against the top seed of the tournament - GM Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS). He managed to equalize in the endgame.

Position after 38.Qe3

If you have to take either b4 or e5-pawn, which one would you take? 38...g5 was a good choice too. 38...Qxe5 was played which is still okay but after 39.Kf2, Black must defend the pawn - 39...b5 and everything is fine. Things fell apart after 39...Qa1 as White took the b6-pawn 40.Nxb6.

Harshit put up a good fight against Fedoseev | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Bharath survived a tumultuous position and somehow managed to win the game against GM Denis Kadric (BIH) | Photo: Rupali Mullick

For more photos, click here.

Highlights

Here is an interesting finish from Round 5

Final position - GM Eltaj Safarli (AZE) defeated IM David Gavrilescu (ROU)

Replay Round 5 games

Round 5 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
5	4	29	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	BLR	2535	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2620	8
5	8	113		Pranav V	IND	2366	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Asadli Vugar	AZE	2574	18
5	9	21	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2567	3½	½ - ½	3½	IM	Agmanov Zhandos	KAZ	2404	88
5	11	133	IM	Ozenir Ekin Baris	TUR	2331	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	IND	2555	26
5	12	1	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	RUS	2696	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Raja Harshit	IND	2484	48
5	17	15	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	IND	2589	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Diermair Andreas	AUT	2455	58
5	19	23	GM	Kadric Denis	BIH	2564	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	IND	2426	72
5	27	111	IM	Vardaan Nagpal	IND	2366	3	½ - ½	3	IM	Blohberger Felix	AUT	2490	46
5	47	216		Stoinev Metodi	BUL	2212	2½	0 - 1	2½	IM	Aditya Mittal	IND	2438	64
5	52	85	IM	Raja Rithvik R	IND	2408	2½	1 - 0	2½	CM	Unat Can Haktan	TUR	2130	254
5	55	153	FM	Kalogeris Ioannis	GRE	2307	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	IND	2436	66
5	57	71	IM	Sankalp Gupta	IND	2429	2	1 - 0	2	FM	Kukelko Alexey	UKR	2304	156
5	64	93	IM	Can Isik	TUR	2398	2	1 - 0	2		Tanmay Chopra	IND	2273	174
5	68	101	IM	Mullick Raahil	IND	2386	2	0 - 1	2		Ivanovic Marko	SRB	2245	192
5	73	107	FM	Vatsal Singhania	IND	2371	2	1 - 0	2	WGM	Varshini V	IND	2226	208
5	76	115		Souhardo Basak	IND	2364	2	1 - 0	2	WIM	Sharma Isha	IND	2213	214
5	95	86	IM	Akshat Khamparia	IND	2406	1½	1 - 0	1½	CM	Sitnic Adnan	BIH	2231	204
5	96	114	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V	IND	2365	1½	1 - 0	1½	FM	Strugnell Carl	WLS	2229	206
5	98	211		Ojas Kulkarni	IND	2216	1½	0 - 1	1½	GM	Zhukova Natalia	UKR	2336	130
5	116	228	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	IND	2190	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Dimitrov Vladimir	BUL	2314	150
5	124	175	CM	Dev Shah	IND	2270	1	1 - 0	1	WIM	Srdanovic Jovana	SRB	2126	256

Details

Round 6 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
6	7	8	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2620	4		4	GM	Iskandarov Misratdin	AZE	2533	32
6	10	72	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	IND	2426	4		4	GM	Postny Evgeny	ISR	2578	17
6	12	20	GM	Fier Alexandr	BRA	2569	4		4		Pranav V	IND	2366	113
6	13	82	IM	Lazov Toni	MKD	2412	4		4	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2567	21
6	15	26	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	IND	2555	4		4	IM	Agibileg Uurtsaikh	MGL	2413	81
6	19	64	IM	Aditya Mittal	IND	2438	3½		3½	GM	Ivic Velimir	SRB	2582	16
6	22	85	IM	Raja Rithvik R	IND	2408	3½		3½	IM	Annaberdiev Meilis	TKM	2532	33
6	23	34	IM	Nenezic Marko	SRB	2531	3½		3½	IM	Vardaan Nagpal	IND	2366	111
6	29	15	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	IND	2589	3		3½	CM	Boucquet Emile	BEL	2100	272
6	32	22	GM	Perunovic Milos	SRB	2567	3		3	FM	Vatsal Singhania	IND	2371	107
6	35	115		Souhardo Basak	IND	2364	3		3	IM	Caspi Israel	ISR	2510	38
6	39	48	IM	Raja Harshit	IND	2484	3		3	IM	Nestorovic Dejan	SRB	2350	123
6	49	162	FM	Tisaj Domen	SLO	2293	3		3	IM	Sankalp Gupta	IND	2429	71
6	61	66	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	IND	2436	2½		2½	FM	Carnic Srdjan	SRB	2291	163
6	67	172	FM	Peycheva Gergana	BUL	2280	2½		2½	IM	Akshat Khamparia	IND	2406	86
6	77	261	FM	Lundin Jan	SWE	2114	2½		2½	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V	IND	2365	114
6	90	208	WGM	Varshini V	IND	2226	2		2	IM	Bukal Vladimir Jr.	CRO	2399	92
6	91	214	WIM	Sharma Isha	IND	2213	2		2	FM	Tadic Stefan	SRB	2390	99
6	92	215		Aleksic Neven	SRB	2213	2		2	IM	Mullick Raahil	IND	2386	101
6	99	156	FM	Kukelko Alexey	UKR	2304	2		2	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	IND	2190	228
6	103	174		Tanmay Chopra	IND	2273	2		2	CM	Trost Edvin	SWE	2184	232
6	104	248	CM	Kanov Nikola	BUL	2140	2		2	CM	Dev Shah	IND	2270	175
6	130	273		Herega Nejc	SLO	2099	1½		1½		Ojas Kulkarni	IND	2216	211

Details

Links

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