Gukesh marvels at 1st Menorca Open, now World no.80

by Shahid Ahmed - 25/04/2022

GM D Gukesh scored the lone victory among the leaders in the final round over GM Adhiban B. For the second consecutive tournament, the youngest GM of India, became a clear champion 6.0/7 at 1st Menorca Open. He also gained 13.4 Elo rating points, taking his live rating to 2659.9 and becoming World no.80. Seven players scored 5.5/7. GM Aryan Chopra secured second position for the second event in-a-row. GM Shant Sargsyan (ARM) was placed third according to tie-breaks. Total prize fund of the tournament was €8000. Top three prizes were €1600, €1200 and €800 along with a trophy each. Photo: Gukesh's twitter

Second consecutive triumph for Gukesh, no tie-breaks needed

Seven out of top ten places were secured by the top Indian players.

1st Menorca Open champion - GM D Gukesh

Heimann - Gukesh, Round 4

Position after 23.Rf1

Black is completely winning in the above position due to the fact of weak light squares in front of the castled king. What makes stronger and in-form players separate from others is how cleanly they can convert a decisive advantage. 23...Rad8 24.Qe4 Ne5 25.f4 Ng4 26.f5 Qg5 27.Qf4 Qh5 28.e4 g5 because you have to do as per the requirement of the position

Position after 28...g5

28...g5 forces White to concede the d2-square and allow the rook invasion. If White desperately tries to control the d2-square via Qc1 with or without fxg6, the consequences will be dire in both cases. The game continued 29.Qf3 Rd2 30.Nb6 Rg2+ and it's all over for White. Rest became just a matter of time for Black to win the game. Not all attacks necessarily will lead to checkmate or huge material gain, sometimes it liquidates into a winning endgame which is what happened here.

Gukesh's drew with Aryan Chopra in Round 5 | Photo: Menorca Chess Open

Gukesh - Adhiban, Round 7

Position after 27.Bxd6

Gukesh just gobbled up two pawns at a7 and d6 in quick succession. 27...g4 would have been an attempt to get some kind of semblance back into the game. However, 27...Bf8 just put things further away from Black's grasp. Find out the winning continuation for White after 27...Bf8.

Gukesh beats Adhiban to win 1st Menorca Open | Video: ChessBase India

The Gukesh interview | Reaching 2660 Elo, world no.80, India no.6, winning La Roda and Menorca Open | Video: ChessBase India

Gukesh scored an unbeaten 6.0/7, performed at 2784 and gained 13.4 Elo rating points

Gukesh is now World no.80 and nearing India no.5 in the live ratings | Source: 2700chess.com

GM Aryan Chopra secured second position 5.5/7 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

5th GM Sethuraman S P 5.5/7 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

7th GM Raunak Sadhwani 5.5/7 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

8th GM Nihal Sarin 5.5/7 | Photo: Menorca Chess Open

9th GM Arjun Erigaisi 5.0/7 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

10th GM Adhiban B 5.0/7 | Photo: Menorca Chess Open

Gukesh tweeted his thoughts on his triumph

He went on to explore the beautiful Menorca island with his friends

Menorca Chess Open congratulated Gukesh

A total of 137 players including 21 GMs, 12 IMs, a WGM and 2 WIMs took part from 25 countries across the world in Group A. The tournament was organized by Menorca Chess Association from 20th to 24th April 2022 at Hotel Princesa Playa, Menorca, Spain. The seven-round Swiss league tournament had a time control of 90 minutes each with 30 seconds increment from move no. 1.

Replay Round 4-7 games

Round 7 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	9	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2610	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Sargsyan Shant	2639	4
2	5	GM	Gukesh D	2637	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Adhiban B.	2633	6
3	7	GM	Martirosyan Haik M.	2633	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Aryan Chopra	2592	11
4	1	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2675	4½	½ - ½	5	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2628	8
5	13	GM	Alonso Rosell Alvar	2564	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Santos Latasa Jaime	2656	2
6	3	GM	Nihal Sarin	2648	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Batsiashvili Nino	2463	24
7	10	GM	Santos Ruiz Miguel	2597	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Iermito Sebastian	2525	16
8	21	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2500	4½	½ - ½	4	GM	Heimann Andreas	2583	12
9	28	IM	Minzer Claudio Javier	2427	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Cuenca Jimenez Jose Fernando	2558	14
10	15	IM	Sosa Tomas	2554	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Baskin Robert	2393	30

Details

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	5	GM	Gukesh D	IND	2637	6,0	29,5	24,0	25,5
2	11	GM	Aryan Chopra	IND	2592	5,5	30,5	24,5	25,0
3	4	GM	Sargsyan Shant	ARM	2639	5,5	30,5	24,5	24,0
4	7	GM	Martirosyan Haik M.	ARM	2633	5,5	29,5	24,0	24,0
5	9	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	IND	2610	5,5	29,5	24,0	24,0
6	2	GM	Santos Latasa Jaime	ESP	2656	5,5	29,0	23,5	23,5
7	8	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	IND	2628	5,5	28,5	23,0	24,0
8	3	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2648	5,5	28,0	22,5	22,5
9	1	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2675	5,0	30,0	24,5	22,5
10	6	GM	Adhiban B.	IND	2633	5,0	29,5	23,5	23,0