6th Stepan Avagyan Memorial R7: Praggnanandhaa emerges sole leader, now World no.6

by Shahid Ahmed - 05/06/2025

R Praggnanandhaa defeated Aram Hakobyan (ARM) in Round 7 of 6th Stepan Avagyan Memorial. Aram went wrong in the double rook and minor piece endgame. While trying to save his pawns, he had to give up his knight. Praggnanandhaa converted his advantage into a full point comfortably. This win made him sole leader 5/7 and also World no.6 with a live rating of 2773.1. Aravindh Chithambaram had a well contested draw against Dmitrij Kollars (GER). Aravindh is now the lone pursuer at 4.5/7. Robert Hovhannisyan (ARM) scored the only other victory of the round against Benjamin Gledura (HUN). Round 8 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

Aravindh in the chase

R Praggnanandhaa defeated Aram Hakobyan (ARM) to become sole leader 5/7 | Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

Aram - Praggnanandhaa: 0-1

R Praggnanandhaa (2767) played only one Classical rated game against Aram Hakobyan (ARM, 2620) nearly three years ago. He won that battle. In this round, Praggnanandhaa repeated the same result.

Position after 37...Rc8

White made a big mistake of retreating his knight 38.Ne1?? Bd4 39.Raxa3 Rxf2+ 40.Kh3 g5 41.Nf3 Rxc4 42.g4 Bc5 43.Kg3 Bxa3 44.Kxf2 Bc5+ 45.Kg3 Bd6+ 46.Kh3 f5 47.gxf5 g4+ and Black went on to win the game. 38.h4 or Rbb7 would have been fine for White.

R Praggnanandhaa is now World no.6 with a live rating of 2773.1 | Source: 2700chess.com

Dmitrij Kollars (GER) had a well contested draw against Aravindh Chithambaram | Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

Samuel Sevian (USA) and Xiangyu Xu (CHN) drew their game in 11 moves | Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) - Jonas Buhl Bjerre (DEN): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

Robert Hovhannisyan (ARM) scored his first win of the event against Benjamin Gledura (HUN) | Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

Serzh Sargsyan, President, Armenian Chess Federation visited the tournament during Round 7 | Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

Replay Round 7 live stream

Replay Round 7 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 7 results

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

Details

Standings after Round 7

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	9	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2758	5	16,25	4
2	2	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2749	4,5	15,75	3
3	6	GM	Kollars Dmitrij	GER	2625	4	13,00	4
4	4	GM	Sevian Samuel	USA	2694	3,5	12,25	3
5	3	GM	Bjerre Jonas Buhl	DEN	2641	3,5	12,00	3
6	8	GM	Hakobyan Aram	ARM	2620	3,5	11,00	4
7	5	GM	Yakubboev Nodirbek	UZB	2665	3	10,00	3
8	1	GM	Hovhannisyan Robert	ARM	2635	3	9,75	3
9	10	GM	Xu Xiangyu	CHN	2623	3	9,50	4
10	7	GM	Gledura Benjamin	HUN	2663	2	6,50	4

Details

Round 8 pairings

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

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