RTU Open 2021 R4: Aram Hakobyan takes the sole lead 4.0/4

by Shahid Ahmed - 12/08/2021

Aram Hakobyan became the only player with a 100% score as he beat Abhimanyu Puranik in the fourth round of Riga Technical University Open 2021. A total of 15-players are in the pursuit at 3.5/4. The Indian players among them are - Arjun Erigaisi, Narayanan S L, Nihal, Gukesh, Visakh and Praggnanandhaa. Visakh vs. Erigaisi, Karthikeyan vs. Aditya and Arjun Kalyan vs. Rithvik will be some exciting All-Indian battles in the next round. Nihal will face the sole leader Aram Hakobyan. Round 5 and 6 starts today at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. IST respectively. Photo: Anna Shtourman/Riga Technical University Open

A day of short draws

Three out of top six boards ended in draws in less than 25 moves. It is quite understandable that everyone wanted to save energy for the following day as it has the tournament's second double-rounds. Only four games were decisive among the top ten boards, and white won them all.

Aram Hakobyan (ARM) 4.0/4 | Photo: Anna Shtourman/Riga Technical University Open

Arjun Erigaisi - Nihal: 0.5-0.5

Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin made a quick seven-move draw.

Arjun Erigaisi 3.5/4 | Photo: Anna Shtourman/Riga Technical University Open 2021

Hakobyan - Puranik: 1-0

Aram Hakobyan (ARM) beat Abhimanyu Puranik to take the sole lead.

Position after 29..Rc5

29...Rc5 seems like a good way to generate some counterplay, but it actually does the opposite, White gets a good opportunity to attack on the kingside. Find out what Black could have done instead.

Praggnanandhaa - Pavlov: 1-0

Praggnanandhaa defeated IM Sergey Pavlov (UKR) with a showcase of positional play.

Position after 20.Rxd4

White aimed for the backward d7-pawn which became the deciding factor for the rest of the game.

Praggnanandhaa 3.5/4 | Photo: Anna Shtourman/Riga Technical University Open 2021

Gukesh - Haldorsen: 1-0

Gukesh defeated IM Benjamin Haldorsen (NOR) after the latter made both positional and tactical mistakes.

Position after 25...Nce4

The idea behind 25...Nce4 is simple, Black wants to bring a knight to the c3-square. So 26.Bxe4 is quite logical, now Black should have recaptured with the knight, 26...dxe4 was not such a good idea. 27.Ndxe6 fxe6 gives Black a double-pawn on the e-file and the hopes of getting the knight to c3 is gone. Soon Black made a tactical error which cost him a pawn and eventually blundered the knight before resigning.

Highlights

Here are a few interesting finishes from Round 4:

GM Daniil Yuffa (RUS) defeated IM Evgenios Ioannidis (GRE)

FM Dmitry Borisovsky (RUS) lost to GM Karthikeyan Murali

IM Aditya Mittal defeated Matas Indriunas

Replay Round 4 games

Round 4 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	11	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2597	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Nihal Sarin	2655	2
2	21	GM	Pultinevicius Paulius	2528	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2624	6
3	7	GM	Hakobyan Aram	2612	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2580	12
4	23	GM	Grigorov Grigor	2507	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Smirin Ilia	2610	8
5	3	GM	Kovalenko Igor	2644	2½	1 - 0	3	IM	Laurusas Tomas	2549	18
6	5	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2641	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Arjun Kalyan	2503	24
7	9	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2608	2½	1 - 0	2½	IM	Pavlov Sergey	2481	30
8	13	GM	Gukesh D	2578	2½	1 - 0	2½	IM	Haldorsen Benjamin	2471	32
9	27	GM	Budisavljevic Luka	2495	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Ivic Velimir	2571	14
10	15	GM	Meshkovs Nikita	2568	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Dmitrenko Viktor	2444	36
11	40	FM	Juksta Karolis	2438	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Sanal Vahap	2557	16
12	17	GM	Yuffa Daniil	2556	2½	1 - 0	2½	IM	Ioannidis Evgenios	2422	44
13	19	GM	Kulaots Kaido	2548	2½	1 - 0	2½	GM	Akesson Ralf	2395	48
14	43	IM	Vignesh N R	2428	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Kantor Gergely	2533	20
15	86		Kretainis Kristaps	2192	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Visakh N R	2516	22

Details

Round 5 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	GM	Nihal Sarin	2655	3½		4	GM	Hakobyan Aram	2612	7
2	3	GM	Kovalenko Igor	2644	3½		3½	GM	Yuffa Daniil	2556	17
3	6	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2624	3½		3½	GM	Kulaots Kaido	2548	19
4	8	GM	Smirin Ilia	2610	3½		3½	GM	Pultinevicius Paulius	2528	21
5	20	GM	Kantor Gergely	2533	3½		3½	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2608	9
6	22	GM	Visakh N R	2516	3½		3½	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2597	11
7	74	CM	Vardanyan Aras	2255	3½		3½	GM	Gukesh D	2578	13
8	16	GM	Sanal Vahap	2557	3½		3½	GM	Grigorov Grigor	2507	23
9	36	IM	Dmitrenko Viktor	2444	3		3	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2641	5
10	10	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2606	3		3	IM	Aditya Mittal	2464	35
11	12	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2580	3		3	IM	Petkov Momchil	2443	37
12	14	GM	Ivic Velimir	2571	3		3	IM	Haria Ravi	2440	39
13	42	IM	Plotkin Mark	2430	3		3	GM	Meshkovs Nikita	2568	15
14	18	IM	Laurusas Tomas	2549	3		3	IM	Pranav Anand	2417	46
15	24	IM	Arjun Kalyan	2503	3		3	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2433	41