Aravindh Chithambaram victorious at 50th La Roda Open 2024

by Shahid Ahmed - 01/04/2024

GM Aravindh Chithambaram, IM Siddharth Jagadeesh (SGP) and GM Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera (CUB) scored an unbeaten 7/9 each at 50th La Roda Open 2024. Aravindh won the tournament due to better tie-breaks. Siddharth and Carlos were placed second and third respectively. Carlos drew against Aravindh in the final round in an exciting game. GM Karthik Venkataraman is the only other Indian to make a top ten finish. He scored 7/9 to secure fifth place. The total prize fund of the tournament was €20000. The top three prizes were €5000, €3000 and €2000 along with a trophy each. This is the first rating tournament Aravindh played this year in any format, and he won it emphatically. Photo: C P La Roda

Aravindh wins his first rating tournament he plays in 2024

Playing a tournament which has four consecutive double rounds is not an easy task. Winning it would definitely make things that much more difficult. GM Aravindh Chithambaram made a blazing start by scoring a double hat-trick of wins. His 6/6 start put him in the sole lead position. It allowed him to draw the last three games to become the champion. In the final round, Cuban GM Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera had an interesting draw against Aravindh. It is evident from his games that Aravindh made the most out of the last three months. He did not show any vulnerability in all of his nine games.

Champion - GM Aravindh Chithambaram 7.5/9 | Photo: C P La Roda

Aravindh - Eduardo, Round 6

Position after 14...Qa5

GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2662) made a nice positional exchange sacrifice 15.Nxb4 to momentarily trap the queen Qxa1 16.Na2 White obviously cannot attempt to capture the queen without avoiding his second rook to be taken. Soon, Black managed to free it up, returned the exchange and worsen things. Aravindh showed fine positional skills to seize his opportunity and win the game.

GM Aravindh Chithambaram defeated GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli (ESP) in Round 6 to score a double hat-trick of wins and gain sole lead 6/6 | Photo: Official site

GM Aravindh Chithambaram scored an unbeaten 7.5/9 to win the tournament

GM Aravindh Chithambaram in deep thought | Photo: Official site

Miss Grand Spain - Celia Sevilla González made the ceremonial first move of Round 3 on FM Ivan Cabezas Ayala (ESP) and GM Aravindh Chithambaram's board | Photo: Official site

Round 4: GM Aravindh Chithambaram - IM Lennis Martinez Ramirez (CUB): 1-0 | Photo: Official site

Round 5: GM Fernando Peralta (ARG) - GM Aravindh Chithambaram: 0-1 | Photo: Official site

5th GM Karthik Venkataraman 7/9 | Photo: Official site

Players in action | Photo: Official site

The tournament hall at La Caja Blanca (The White Box) in La Roda, Albacete, Spain | Photo: Official site

A total of 209 players including 8 GMs, 9 IMs and a WIM took part from 22 countries across the world. The tournament was organized by Club Ajedrez Torneos La Roda from 27th to 31st March 2024 at La Caja Blanca in La Roda, Albacete, Spain. The nine-round Swiss league tournament had a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment.

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Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	Gr	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	K	rtg+/-
1	1	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.			2662	India	7,5	54	58	42	47,25	10	9,3
2	9	IM	Siddharth, Jagadeesh			2490	Singapur	7,5	52,5	57	40	46,50	10	17,9
3	5	GM	Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel			2603	MAD - Tajamar	7,5	49,5	55	38	45,25	10	3,9
4	8	GM	Sonis, Francesco			2562	Italia	7	53	58,5	39,5	43,50	10	7
5	3	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman			2609	India	7	53	57,5	37,5	43,25	10	0,7
6	2	GM	Xu, Xiangyu			2623	China	7	51,5	56	39	41,75	10	4,4
7	6	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli, Eduardo			2588	MAD	7	49,5	54	39	39,00	10	-1,1
8	12	IM	Martinez Ramirez, Lennis			2450	Cuba	7	49,5	54	36	39,50	10	6,6
9	26		Iglesias Ferreira, Andres			2234	CNT - Solvay	7	47	51	35	36,50	40	82,4
10	7	GM	Peralta, Fernando			2580	Argentina	7	45,5	49,5	36	36,00	10	-6,2
11	115		Ha, Yihan			1865	China	6,5	45	48	30,5	33,00	40	177,2
12	4	GM	Pranav, V			2604	India	6,5	44,5	48,5	34	34,50	10	-14,5
13	34	FM	Jimenez Martinez, Jose Vicente			2195	CTM - Excalibur	6,5	42	45,5	31	30,50	20	1,8
14	33	IM	Vehi Bach, Victor Manuel		V50	2211	CAT - Valls	6,5	41,5	45	31,5	30,75	10	-0,2
15	17		Liu, Zexu			2325	China	6	50	54,5	35,5	34,25	20	35,6