Can Narayanan beat Goganov to win ChessMood Open?

by Shahid Ahmed - 12/10/2021

Alexey Goganov (RUS) beat Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (ARM) in the penultimate round to take sole lead 7.0/8 for the first time, heading into the final round of ChessMood Open. Top seed Narayanan S L 6.5/8 beat fellow countryman, Arjun Erigaisi to keep his championship hopes. Goganov and Narayanan will face each other in the final round. A draw is enough for Goganov to win the tournament, while Narayanan must defeat him to become champion. Both of them will have tie-breaks in their favor if they can score the desired result. IM Vaishali scored her fourth consecutive win to bring her score 5.5/8. Round 9 starts today from 12 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick

Goganov overcomes Ter-Sahakyan to gain sole lead

Top seed of the tournament GM Narayanan S L drew with fellow countryman GM Abhimanyu Puranik to stay in the hunt at 5.5/7 each respectively.

Goganov or Narayanan - one of them will win the event| Photo: Rupali Mullick

ChessMood Open logo | Photo: Official site

Goganov - Ter-Sahakyan: 1-0

GM Alexey Goganov increased his advantage as his opponent GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan allowed him to create a protected passed pawn.

Position after 22...b6

Black's position was already difficult. 22...b6 23.c6 Ra8 24.b5 a6 did not help Black's case either. With this win, Goganov gained sole lead.

Alexey Goganov dashed Samvel Ter-Sahakyan's championship hopes | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Narayanan - Arjun: 1-0

GM Arjun Erigaisi made a positional mistake which transposed the game into an unfavorable endgame for him against GM Narayanan S L.

Position after 14...Ne4

14...Ne4 opens up the position after 15.Nxe4 dxe4 16.Be3 Qxd1 17.Rfxd1 f5 18.f3 exf3 19.Bxf3. White having the bishop pair in the resultant endgame definitely gives him the significant upper hand. Rest is just a matter of technique, and Narayanan had no trouble converting his advantage into a win.

Narayanan scored an important victory against Arjun | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Praggnanandhaa - Mikaelyan: 1-0

GM R Praggnanandhaa completely outplayed his opponent, GM Arman Mikaelyan (ARM).

GM R Praggnanandhaa played a very instructive game | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Sandipan - Karthik: 0-1

GM Sandipan Chanda got his rook in a precarious position at the center of the board against GM Karthik Venkataraman.

Position after 20.N1d2

Find out why 20.N1d2 is a mistake.

Karthik made a short work of Sandipan | Photo: Rupali Mullick

GM D Gukesh - IM Nikoloz Petriashvili (GEO): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Tigran Harutyunyan - Vaishali: 0-1

IM Vaishali scored her fourth consecutive victory of the event. This time she conquered GM Tigran K Harutyunyan (ARM).

Position after 26...d3

26...d3 is an incredible move. There is no good defense for White. It is completely winning for Black.

Vaishali is playing some fantastic chess | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Sidhant Mohapatra - IM Urazayev Arystanbek (KAZ): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

GM Karen Movsziszian (ARM) - WGM Vantika Agrawal: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

For more Round 8 photos, please click here.

Highlights

Here are a few interesting finishes of Round 8.

GM Tigran L Petrosian (ARM) defeated GM Shant Sargsyan (ARM)

GM Sandipan Chanda lost to GM Karthik Venkataraman

Replay Round 8 games

The tournament is taking place at Tsaghkadzor Marriott Hotel, Tsaghkadzor in Armenia from 4th to 12th October 2021. Time control is 90'/40 + 30' + 30" per move. Everyday game starts at 3 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. IST), except 12th October, the final round will start at 10:30 a.m. local time (12 p.m. IST).

Round 8 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	14	GM	Goganov Aleksey	2557	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	2607	6
2	1	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2647	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2634	4
3	9	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2570	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2568	10
4	13	GM	Petrosian Tigran L.	2562	5½	1 - 0	5	GM	Sargsyan Shant	2640	3
5	5	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2618	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Mikaelyan Arman	2487	18
6	7	GM	Petrosyan Manuel	2605	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2486	19
7	15	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2543	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2483	21
8	2	GM	Gukesh D	2640	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Petriashvili Nikoloz	2432	34
9	8	GM	Hakobyan Aram	2603	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Davtyan Artur	2453	28
10	11	GM	Harutyunyan Tigran K.	2567	4½	0 - 1	4½	WGM	Vaishali R	2419	40
11	43	IM	Farahat Ali	2392	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Paichadze Luka	2566	12
12	51	IM	Danielyan Vahe	2335	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Sturt Raven	2485	20
13	27	IM	Shahinyan David	2469	4½	1 - 0	4½	FM	Alaverdyan Gevorg	2320	55
14	37		Gholami Orimi Mahdi	2430	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2517	16
15	38	FM	Daghli Arash	2427	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Mitrabha Guha	2479	23
16	44	IM	Krishna Teja N	2385	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Gharibyan Mamikon	2471	26
17	47	FM	Ohanyan Emin	2373	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2453	29
18	49	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2367	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Urazayev Arystanbek	2451	30
19	50	FM	Barseghyan Armen Ar.	2356	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Schekachikhin Maksim	2448	31
20	56	FM	Atakhan Abtin	2319	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Babujian Levon	2447	32

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2647	6½		7	GM	Goganov Aleksey	2557	14
2	13	GM	Petrosian Tigran L.	2562	6½		6½	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2570	9
3	19	GM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	2486	6		6	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2618	5
4	6	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	2607	6		6	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2483	21
5	4	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2634	5½		5½	GM	Hakobyan Aram	2603	8
6	10	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2568	5½		5½	IM	Danielyan Vahe	2335	51
7	12	GM	Paichadze Luka	2566	5½		5½	IM	Shahinyan David	2469	27
8	40	WGM	Vaishali R	2419	5½		5	GM	Gukesh D	2640	2
9	3	GM	Sargsyan Shant	2640	5		5	GM	Babujian Levon	2447	32
10	34	IM	Petriashvili Nikoloz	2432	5		5	GM	Petrosyan Manuel	2605	7
11	72	FM	Dilanyan Grigor	2214	5		5	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2543	15
12	18	GM	Mikaelyan Arman	2487	5		5		Gholami Orimi Mahdi	2430	37
13	26	IM	Gharibyan Mamikon	2471	5		5		Chaqryan Erik	2181	80
14	33	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2435	5		4½	GM	Harutyunyan Tigran K.	2567	11
15	23	IM	Mitrabha Guha	2479	4½		4½	GM	Harutjunyan Gevorg	2409	41
16	24	GM	Minasian Artashes	2472	4½		4½	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	2379	46
17	28	IM	Davtyan Artur	2453	4½		4½	IM	Farahat Ali	2392	43
18	29	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2453	4½		4½	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	2367	49
19	30	IM	Urazayev Arystanbek	2451	4½		4½	FM	Ohanyan Emin	2373	47
20	31	IM	Schekachikhin Maksim	2448	4½		4½		Mkrtchyan Sargis R.	2199	75

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Details

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