RTU Open 2021 R8: Kovalenko, Narayanan and Donchenko in a three-way race

by Shahid Ahmed - 15/08/2021

Narayanan S L made a short draw with Latvia no.1 Igor Kovalenko in the penultimate round of Riga Technical University Open 2021. They are joined by the top seed of the tournament, Alexander Donchenko at 6.5/8. The German made quite a comeback, chaining five consecutive victories after making a slow start 1.5/3. Ten players are just a half point behind the three leaders. For Narayanan to win the tournament, he needs to win his final round game against Ilia Smirin and hope the game between Kovalenko and Donchenko ends in a draw or Kovalenko loses as Narayanan's tie-breaks is better than the German but not against the Latvian. Round 9 starts today at 1:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Anna Shtourman/Riga Technical University Open 2021

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

Details

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