Silver Lake Open R2-3: Nihal and Raunak score a hat-trick

by Shahid Ahmed - 25/06/2021

Nihal Sarin made a quick work of his opponent CM A Topalov in just 19 moves in the second round before battling against compatriot IM Raahil Mullick in Round 3 of Silver Lake Open 2021. Raahil played the endgame incorrectly against the Asian Continental Blitz 2019 champion and lost the game. Raunak Sadhwani won both of his rounds tactically after his opponents blundered a piece before resigning their respective games. Both Nihal and Raunak are now among the leaders 3.0/3 each respectively. IM Harshit Raja and GM Abhimanyu Puranik are also undefeated as they scored 2.5/3. Round 4 starts today at 8:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick

Nihal beats A Topalov

Nihal and Raunak are the two Indians among the seven players who are in the lead 3.0/3. Both of them scored two fine victories in Round 2 and 3 respectively. IM Harshit Raja and GM Abhimanyu Puranik are also unbeaten, and they are in the hunt 2.5/3.

Nihal is the only player among top five seeds to have 3.0/3 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Round 2: Nihal - A Topalov: 1-0

Nihal made a short work of CM Aleksandar Topalov in just 19 moves.

Position after 13...Bxe5

Black went for a chain exchange 13...Bxe5. Instead, 13...dxe4 would have been just fine. Nihal did not take the bishop because it does not help White's position. He played 14.Nc5

Position after 17...e5

In an already difficult position, Black worsened things 17...e5. After 18.fxe5 Black can neither recapture with the bishop nor the rook because 18.Nb3 is there and that is what Black fell for 18...Rxe5 and 19.Nb3 Black resigned.

Nihal beats Topalov | Video: Sagar Shah

Nihal scored a quick victory against A Topalov | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Klasan - Raunak: 0-1

IM Vladimir Kasan miscalculated to launch an attack by sacrificing his bishop and it did not work. Raunak easily defended his king and won the game.

Position after 33.Bxg4

33.Bxg4 works provided after 33...Qxg4, White plays 34.Qxc2. However, Klasan went for 33.Qxf7+ Kh8 and Black is doing absolutely fine, White cannot continue the attack.

Raunak is very alert tactically | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Zhukenov - Harshit: 0-1

IM Harshit Raja utilized his well coordinated pieces and made a right breakthrough in the endgame to score a victory.

Position after 30.Kf2

Find out the correct continuation for Black in the above diagram.

Harshit Raja moved to 2.0/2 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Round 3: Raahil - Nihal: 0-1

IM Raahil Mullick went for a passive defence of his weak isolated pawn against Nihal.

Position after 31.Ra2

White needed to play 31.Nb2 Ra5 and drop the a3-pawn only when Black doubled them on a-file. In the game White was forced to exchange both rooks on a3 and eventually lose the unprotected kingside pawn, resulting in Black having two passed pawns on two flanks which became insurmountable.

Raahil Mullick vs Nihal Sarin | Positional understanding in the French Winawer | Video: ChessBase India

Raunak - Arsovic: 1-0

IM Goran Arsovic made a simple tactical error in an already difficult position and lost material against Raunak.

Position after 26...Rd2

Find out why 26...Rd2 is a blunder.

Raunak Sadhwani is one of the leader 3.0/3 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Harshit - Kowalski: 0.5-0.5

Harshit had an interesting draw with FM Igor Kowalski.

IM Harshit Raja 2.5/3 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

For more photos, click here.

Replay Round 2 and 3 games

Round 2 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
3	2	22	IM	Mullick Raahil	2386	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Nihal Sarin	2620	3
3	3	6	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2555	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Arsovic Goran	2381	23
3	7	13	IM	Raja Harshit	2459	2	½ - ½	2	FM	Kowalski Igor	2322	32
3	11	58	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	2190	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Agmanov Zhandos	2404	18
3	13	4	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2589	1½	1 - 0	1½	FM	Kalogeris Ioannis	2307	38
3	34	85	WFM	Nurmanova Alua	2093	1	0 - 1	1	WIM	Sharma Isha	2237	50
3	39	114		Devnani Kush	1855	1	0 - 1	1		De Vleeschauwer Maarten	2198	57
3	43	65	FM	Efremov Vladislav	2173	1	1 - 0	1		Phatak Aanjaneya	1769	123
3	55	131		Rajveer Pinkesh Nahar	1598	½	0 - 1	0	CM	Kanov Nikola	2140	70
3	34	50		Tomic Stefan	1604	1	1 - 0	1		Anaishaa Pinkesh Nahar	1155	72

Details

Round 3 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
3	2	22	IM	Mullick Raahil	2386	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Nihal Sarin	2620	3
3	3	6	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2555	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Arsovic Goran	2381	23
3	7	13	IM	Raja Harshit	2459	2	½ - ½	2	FM	Kowalski Igor	2322	32
3	11	58	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	2190	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Agmanov Zhandos	2404	18
3	13	4	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2589	1½	1 - 0	1½	FM	Kalogeris Ioannis	2307	38
3	34	85	WFM	Nurmanova Alua	2093	1	0 - 1	1	WIM	Sharma Isha	2237	50
3	39	114		Devnani Kush	1855	1	0 - 1	1		De Vleeschauwer Maarten	2198	57
3	43	65	FM	Efremov Vladislav	2173	1	1 - 0	1		Phatak Aanjaneya	1769	123
3	55	131		Rajveer Pinkesh Nahar	1598	½	0 - 1	0	CM	Kanov Nikola	2140	70
3	34	50		Tomic Stefan	1604	1	1 - 0	1		Anaishaa Pinkesh Nahar	1155	72

Details

Round 4 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
4	1	3	GM	Nihal Sarin	2620	3		3	GM	Sadikhov Ulvi	2490	9
4	2	18	IM	Agmanov Zhandos	2404	3		3	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2555	6
4	6	14	IM	Boskovic Drasko	2451	2½		2½	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2589	4
4	10	36	IM	Markovic Zoran S	2315	2½		2½	IM	Raja Harshit	2459	13
4	13	50	WIM	Sharma Isha	2237	2		2	GM	Abergel Thal	2420	17
4	15	56	FM	Toncheva Nadya	2201	2		2	IM	Mullick Raahil	2386	22
4	16	23	IM	Arsovic Goran	2381	2		2	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	2190	58
4	48	70	CM	Kanov Nikola	2140	1		1		Devnani Kush	1855	114
4	51	123		Phatak Aanjaneya	1769	1		1		Rolic Gojko	2118	75
4	63	113		Muskinja Luka	1876	½		½		Rajveer Pinkesh Nahar	1598	131
4	36	72		Anaishaa Pinkesh Nahar	1155	1		1		Andric Nikola	1511	54

Details

Links

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