6th Stepan Avagyan Memorial R5: Aravindh maintains his sole lead, now World no.10

by Shahid Ahmed - 03/06/2025

Aravindh Chithambaram drew against Samuel Sevian (USA) in Round 5 of 6th Stepan Avagyan Memorial. In a double rook and minor piece endgame, Sevian could have made a break which would have given him substantial advantage. It is not clear whether it would have been enough for him, but surely it is better than what he opted in the game. Aravindh maintained his sole lead 3.5/5. He is now World no.10 with a live rating 2753.5. This is also the first time when four Indians are in World Top ten in live ratings. R Praggnanandhaa drew his third game in less than 25 moves. This time against Dmitrij Kollars (GER). Jonas Buhl Bjerre (DEN) and Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) are the only two victors of the round. Praggnanandhaa, Kollars and Aram Hakobyan (ARM) are trailing the sole leader by a half point at 3/5 each. Round 6 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

Praggnanandhaa, Kollars and Hakobyan in pursuit

Aravindh Chithambaram drew with Samuel Sevian to maintain his sole lead 3.5/5 | Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

Sevian - Aravindh: 0.5-0.5

Samuel Sevian (USA, 2687) faced Aravindh Chithambaram (2749) only once in a Classical rated game over 1.5 years ago. It ended in a draw. Their second game also had the same result with the same color.

Position after 34...Rh3

According to the computer, White needed to go for a 35.f4 break exf4 36.Nxf4 Bxf4 37.Bxf4 Kg7 38.Kg2. However, the game continued 35.c3 g5 36.Ne3 Kg6 37.Ke2 Bxe3 38.Kxe3 f6 39.Rfb1 Rd8 40.Rxb6!? Nxb6 41.Rxb6 Rd6 the exchange sacrifice did not work out as Black managed to defend correctly and the game ended in a draw.

Samuel Sevian (USA) had his chances but it was difficult to say it was enough | Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

Aravindh Chithambaram is now World no.10 with live rating of 2753.5 | Source: 2700chess.com

R Praggnanandhaa had an uneventful draw against Dmitrij Kollars (GER) | Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

Jonas Buhl Bjerre (DEN) scored his first win of the event against Xiangyu Xu (CHN) | Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) won a sharp battle against Robert Hovhannisyan (ARM) who could not make the most out of his advantage | Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

Benjamin Gledura (HUN) - Aram Hakobyan (ARM): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

Round 5 in progress | Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

Replay Round 5 live stream

Replay Round 5 live commentary by IM Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM) and GM Harshit Raja | Video: ChessBase India

Time Control

90 minutes for the first 40 moves + 30 minutes for the rest of the game (with 30 seconds increment starting from move one).

Prizes

The total prize fund is 7450000 AMD (≈ US$ 19325). The top three prizes are 3100000 AMD (≈ US$ 8041), 1 850 000 AMD (≈ US$ 4799) and 1500000 (≈ US$ 3891).

Round 5 results

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	3	2641	GM	Bjerre Jonas Buhl	1 - 0	GM	Xu Xiangyu	2623	10
2	4	2694	GM	Sevian Samuel	½ - ½	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2749	2
3	5	2665	GM	Yakubboev Nodirbek	1 - 0	GM	Hovhannisyan Robert	2635	1
4	6	2625	GM	Kollars Dmitrij	½ - ½	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2758	9
5	7	2663	GM	Gledura Benjamin	½ - ½	GM	Hakobyan Aram	2620	8

Details

Standings after Round 5

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	2	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2749	3,5	8,00	2
2	9	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2758	3	7,75	3
3	6	GM	Kollars Dmitrij	GER	2625	3	7,00	3
	8	GM	Hakobyan Aram	ARM	2620	3	7,00	3
5	4	GM	Sevian Samuel	USA	2694	2,5	6,50	2
6	3	GM	Bjerre Jonas Buhl	DEN	2641	2,5	5,75	2
7	7	GM	Gledura Benjamin	HUN	2663	2	4,75	3
8	10	GM	Xu Xiangyu	CHN	2623	2	4,00	3
9	5	GM	Yakubboev Nodirbek	UZB	2665	2	4,00	2
10	1	GM	Hovhannisyan Robert	ARM	2635	1,5	4,25	2

Details

Round 6 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	10	2623	GM	Xu Xiangyu		GM	Hakobyan Aram	2620	8
2	9	2758	GM	Praggnanandhaa R		GM	Gledura Benjamin	2663	7
3	1	2635	GM	Hovhannisyan Robert		GM	Kollars Dmitrij	2625	6
4	2	2749	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.		GM	Yakubboev Nodirbek	2665	5
5	3	2641	GM	Bjerre Jonas Buhl		GM	Sevian Samuel	2694	4

Details

Schedule

Wednesday	28 May at 19:00	Opening Ceremony
Thursday	29 May at 15:00	Round 1
Friday	30 May at 15:00	Round 2
Saturday	31 May at 15:00	Round 3
Sunday	1 June at 15:00	Round 4
Monday	2 June at 15:00	Round 5
Tuesday	3 June at 15:00	Round 6
Wednesday	4 June at 15:00	Round 7
Thursday	5 June at 15:00	Round 8
Friday	6 June at 11:00	Round 9
Friday	6 June at 18:00	Closing Ceremony