Silver Lake Open R7: Nihal extends his sole lead 6.5/7

by Shahid Ahmed - 29/06/2021

Nihal scored a comfortable victory over Denis Makhnev as he imploded and launched a feeble attack. It cost him material and eventually the game. Sevene players including Abhimanyu, Raunak and Harshit are in pursuit for the championship at 5.5/7 each respectively. Raunak held top seed of the tournament, Ter-Sahakyan to a draw. Abhimanyu punished his opponent for making a mistake in the opening, Harshit wrecked his opponent's king to score a clinical victory. WIM Rakshitta Ravi held GM Bosko Abramovic to a draw. Nihal will face Abhimanyu in the penultimate round. Round 8 starts today at 8:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick

Raunak held top seed to a draw

Nihal scored a comfortable victory to extend his sole lead to a full point 6.5/7. Seven players are chasing him for the championship. They are - GM Raunak Sadhwani, GM Abhimanyu Puranik, GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, IM Drasko Boskovic, IM Harshit Raja, GM Milos Perunovic, IM Konstantinos Megalios and GM Branko Damljanovic.

Nihal is cruising towards the championship | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Makhnev - Nihal: 0-1

IM Denis Makhnev made an unforced error which cost him a pawn at first.

Position after 20.Ne5

White could have played 20.Bc2 or Nd2. Both would have been fine. 20.Ne5 Nxe5 21.dxe5 Bxe5 22.f4 is not a good idea as White doesn't have enough pieces to create the damage he wants to on Black's kingside.

Position after 22.f4

There is nothing concrete for White in the above position. After 22...gxf4, the c3-knight is en prise. The game went for 23.Qh7+ Kf8 24.Bg6 fxg6 25.Rxf4+ and things just imploded for White.

Unstoppable Nihal Sarin beats Denis Makhnev | Video: Sagar Shah

Raunak - Ter-Sahakyan: 0.5-0.5

Raunak had a well contested draw with the top seed of the tournament, Samvel Ter-Sahakyan.

Raunak maintains his chase | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Puranik - Agmanov: 1-0

IM Zhandos Agmanov went wrong early in the opening against GM Abhimanyu Puranik.

Position after 13...Qb6

13...Qb6 is a significant positional mistake. Find out why it is not a correct move. Black had to play 13...Nbd7. Abhimanyu converted his positional advantage comfortably into a full point.

Abhimanyu Puranik will face Nihal in the penultimate round | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Harshit - Sedlak: 1-0

IM Harshit Raja struck at the first opportunity he got against GM Nikola Sedlak.

Position after 15...b6

15...b6 actually does not prevent anything, in fact it only enables White to destroy Black's king safety. Black should have played either 15...Be6 or h4.

Harshit moves to 5.5/7 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Raahil - Govedarica: 1-0

IM Radovan Govedarica miscalculated and lost material when IM Raahil Mullick launched an attack on the Serbian's kingside.

Position after 23.f4

Black played 23...exf4 which is a mistake. Why? Also find out what Black should have done instead to avoid disaster.

Raahil scored a fine victory | Photo: Rupali Mullick

WIM Rakshitta Ravi held GM Bosko Abramovic to a draw | Photo: Rupali Mullick

FM Milos Milosevic defeated WIM Isha Sharma | Photo: Rupali Mullick

For more photos, click here.

Replay Round 7 games

Round 7 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
7	1	11	IM	Makhnev Denis	2480	5	0 - 1	5½	GM	Nihal Sarin	2620	3
7	2	6	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2555	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	2644	1
7	5	4	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2589	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Agmanov Zhandos	2404	18
7	6	13	IM	Raja Harshit	2459	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Sedlak Nikola	2519	7
7	10	22	IM	Mullick Raahil	2386	4	1 - 0	4½	IM	Govedarica Radovan	2289	42
7	13	58	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	2190	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Abramovic Bosko	2334	28
7	19	24	FM	Milosevic Milos	2377	3½	1 - 0	3½	WIM	Sharma Isha	2237	50
7	51	91		Nemeth Zalan	2055	2	1 - 0	2		Devnani Kush	1855	114
7	55	101		Bozanic Jovan	1961	2	½ - ½	2		Phatak Aanjaneya	1769	123
7	61	98		Majoros Rozsa Evelin	1997	1	- - +	1½		Rajveer Pinkesh Nahar	1598	131
7	28	52		Strbac Dusan	1573	3	0 - 1	3		Anaishaa Pinkesh Nahar	1155	72

Details

Round 8 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
8	1	3	GM	Nihal Sarin	2620	6½		5½	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2589	4
8	3	5	GM	Perunovic Milos	2567	5½		5½	IM	Raja Harshit	2459	13
8	4	14	IM	Boskovic Drasko	2451	5½		5½	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2555	6
8	6	10	IM	Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis	2485	5		5	IM	Mullick Raahil	2386	22
8	11	12	GM	Strikovic Aleksa	2469	4½		4½	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	2190	58
8	34	50	WIM	Sharma Isha	2237	3½		3½		Papaioannou Dimitrios	1924	106
8	51	88		Parkajic Branislav	2078	2½		2½		Rajveer Pinkesh Nahar	1598	131
8	54	123		Phatak Aanjaneya	1769	2½		2½		Tomic Stjepan	1928	103
8	58	114		Devnani Kush	1855	2		2		Tisma Ivan	2055	92
8	19	72		Anaishaa Pinkesh Nahar	1155	4		4		Milunovic Sasa	1865	25

Details

Links

Official site

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