Serbia Open R2-3: Pranav V holds Raunak to a draw

by Shahid Ahmed - 04/07/2021

Nine players including the top seed of the event, Fedoseev is in the lead with a 100% score at the conclusion of Round 3 at Serbia Open 2021. The other leaders are - Asadli, Kovalenko, Petrosyan, Shevchenko, Indjic, Basso, Serbian GM Bogosavljevic and the only IM among them Ozenir from Turkey. Among the Indians, Nihal, Arjun, Raunak and Pranav are at 2.5/3 each respectively. Pranav has so far delivered an impressive performance. He beat IM Marko Nenezic in Round 2 and had a good opportunity against GM Raunak Sadhwani in Round 3, but eventually made a draw. Round 4 starts today at 8:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick

Nihal, Arjun, Raunak and Pranav in pursuit

Nihal, Arjun, Raunak and Pranav are at 2.5/3 each respectively. Untitled Pranav V played fantastic against GM Raunak Sadhwani, got a good position but he was unable to go for the risky correct line. He took a cautious approach, which cost him a half point.

Pranav made a good start 2.5/3 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Round 2: Nihal - Rithvik: 1-0

IM Raja Rithvik R fell for a well-known trap in the English opening.

Position after 10...Bxf2+

It is tempting to take the f2-pawn but a careful calculation reveals that it is a poison-pawn. 10...Nfg4 would have been a better continuation for Black. White won the game in another twelve moves.

Nihal scored a comfortable win | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Abhimanyu Puranik made a quick 13-move draw with IM Konstantinos Megalios | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Rozen - Arjun: 0-1

Arjun Erigaisi was worse for the better part of the game against IM Eytan Rozen (ISR). He waited for his opportunity and then struck.

Position after 43.Rb7

43.Rb7 completely disregards Black's plans. Find out the best continuation for Black.

Arjun Erigaisi fought back from adverse position | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Raunak - Raahil: 1-0

Raunak Sadhwani outplayed IM Raahil Mullick after the latter made some inaccurate positional decisions.

Position after 24...Kh8

24...Kh8 actually does not help Black's case, since White gets a tempo 25.Bc4. After 25...Rf8 26.Rd1 Rce8 27.Rcd2 Bf4 28. Rd7, White invades to the seventh rank. 24...Nf6 would have been a better idea to bring the knight back into action.

Good friends Raunak and Raahil | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Iskandarov - Vardaan: 0-1

IM Vardaan Nagpal was completely winning against GM Misratdin Iskandarov.

Position after 43.Nd6

Black decided to repeat moves by giving checks on h3 and h2, probably due to time trouble. However, there was a way for Black to go for a win. Find out how.

Nenezic - Pranav: 0-1

Pranav had a difficult position for the better part of the middlegame against IM Marko Nenezic (SRB). He endured it and waited for his opponent to make a mistake.

Position after 48.Ne6

Find out why 48.Ne6 is a mistake and what White should have played instead to regain his advantage. Pranav showed fantastic understanding and seized the opportunity to score a win.

WIM Isha Sharma held IM Nikola Nikolovski to a draw | Photo: Rupali Mullick

WGM Varshini drew with IM Sankalp Gupta | Photo: Rupali Mullick

For more photos, click here.

Round 3: Arnaudov - Nihal: 0.5-0.5

Nihal had a hard-fought draw with GM Petar Arnaudov G (BUL).

Arjun - Boskovic: 0.5-0.5

Arjun Erigaisi defended well in a rook vs. rook and bishop endgame. Before that, he was in a bit of a trouble.

Position after 38.e6

The game went on 38...b3 39.exf7+ Rxf7 40.Qxg6 Qf6 and White got away by trading queens. Instead Black could have played 38...Qa6+ and make things difficult for White.

Arjun Erigaisi's left-handed play | Video: ChessBase India

Pranav - Raunak: 0.5-0.5

Pranav had a fantastic opportunity against Raunak in the middlegame.

Position after 17...Kf8

White needed to play 18.f4 here to take advantage of Black's displaced king as well as both knighets stranded on the same f-file. Instead, a cautious play 18.Qc2 h4 19.Rfe1 diminished all advantage.

Pranav V holds Raunak Sadhwani to a draw | Video: ChessBase India

Pranav V played fantastic against Raunak | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Puranik - Yankelevich: 0.5-0.5

Abhimanyu Puranik had a half chance in the endgame against IM Lev Yankelevich (GER).

Position after 23...Kd7

White needed to play 24.dxc5 here to go for a win but Abhimanyu opted for 24.c4 and the game eventually ended in a draw.

Abhimanyu Puranik is at 2.0/3 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Highlights

Here are a couple of interesting finishes from Round 2 and 3

GM Velimir Ivic (SRB) had a nice finish against IM Matias Perez Gormaz (CHI) in Round 2

Final position of the game between GM Alan Pichot (ARG) and FM Jan Lundin (SWE)

Replay Round 2-3 games

Round 2 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
2	7	8	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2620	1	1 - 0	1	IM	Raja Rithvik R	IND	2408	85
2	11	98	IM	Megalios Konstantinos	GRE	2390	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	IND	2589	15
2	16	102	IM	Rozen Eytan	ISR	2386	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2567	21
2	20	26	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	IND	2555	1	1 - 0	1	IM	Mullick Raahil	IND	2386	101
2	26	32	GM	Iskandarov Misratdin	AZE	2533	1	½ - ½	1	IM	Vardaan Nagpal	IND	2366	111
2	28	34	IM	Nenezic Marko	SRB	2531	1	0 - 1	1		Pranav V	IND	2366	113
2	53	64	IM	Aditya Mittal	IND	2438	1	½ - ½	1	IM	Hasanzade Toghrul	AZE	2323	142
2	57	72	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	IND	2426	1	1 - 0	1		Ojas Kulkarni	IND	2216	211
2	64	48	IM	Raja Harshit	IND	2484	½	½ - ½	½	FM	Ronka Erik	FIN	2303	157
2	67	214	WIM	Sharma Isha	IND	2213	½	½ - ½	½	IM	Nikolovski Nikola	MKD	2438	65
2	68	66	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	IND	2436	½	½ - ½	½	FM	Brilej Jaka	SLO	2244	193
2	69	208	WGM	Varshini V	IND	2226	½	½ - ½	½	IM	Sankalp Gupta	IND	2429	71
2	74	86	IM	Akshat Khamparia	IND	2406	½	1 - 0	½	FM	Ozdemir Serhan Berat	TUR	2191	226
2	81	219	CM	Jandric Damjan	SRB	2202	½	½ - ½	½	FM	Vatsal Singhania	IND	2371	107
2	83	114	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V	IND	2365	½	1 - 0	½	FM	Djokic Mihailo	SRB	2129	255
2	91	212		Papadopoulos Panayotis	GRE	2216	0	0 - 1	0		Souhardo Basak	IND	2364	115
2	100	152	WIM	Velikic Adela	SRB	2308	0	0 - 1	0	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	IND	2190	228
2	117	174		Tanmay Chopra	IND	2273	0	½ - ½	0	CM	Debevec Blaz	SLO	2135	251
2	118	258		Dimitrijevic Dusan	SRB	2122	0	0 - 1	0	CM	Dev Shah	IND	2270	175

Details

Round 3 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
3	6	53	GM	Arnaudov G. Petar	BUL	2471	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2620	8
3	11	21	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2567	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Boskovic Drasko	SRB	2451	60
3	14	113		Pranav V	IND	2366	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	IND	2555	26
3	15	27	GM	Basso Pier Luigi	ITA	2550	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	IND	2426	72
3	21	86	IM	Akshat Khamparia	IND	2406	1½	0 - 1	1½	GM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy	UKR	2606	10
3	24	15	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	IND	2589	1½	½ - ½	1½	IM	Yankelevich Lev	GER	2389	100
3	30	114	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V	IND	2365	1½	0 - 1	1½	GM	Iskandarov Misratdin	AZE	2533	32
3	33	111	IM	Vardaan Nagpal	IND	2366	1½	½ - ½	1½	IM	Csonka Balazs	HUN	2498	44
3	41	140	FM	Ohanyan Emin	ARM	2324	1½	1 - 0	1½	IM	Aditya Mittal	IND	2438	64
3	53	175	CM	Dev Shah	IND	2270	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Blohberger Felix	AUT	2490	46
3	54	177	FM	Sahin Ozgun	TUR	2269	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Raja Harshit	IND	2484	48
3	59	181	FM	Jocev Milan	SRB	2260	1	½ - ½	1	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	IND	2436	66
3	62	71	IM	Sankalp Gupta	IND	2429	1	½ - ½	1	FM	Peycheva Gergana	BUL	2280	172
3	70	85	IM	Raja Rithvik R	IND	2408	1	1 - 0	1	WIM	Gajcin Marina	SRB	2243	195
3	78	101	IM	Mullick Raahil	IND	2386	1	½ - ½	1	WGM	Varshini V	IND	2226	208
3	79	211		Ojas Kulkarni	IND	2216	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Rozen Eytan	ISR	2386	102
3	80	105	IM	Arsovic Zoran	SRB	2381	1	½ - ½	1	WIM	Sharma Isha	IND	2213	214
3	81	228	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	IND	2190	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Todorovic Goran M	SRB	2373	106
3	82	107	FM	Vatsal Singhania	IND	2371	1	½ - ½	1	FM	Toncheva Nadya	BUL	2201	221
3	85	115		Souhardo Basak	IND	2364	1	1 - 0	1		Terryn Ezra	BEL	2184	233
3	114	253	FM	Dolgun Can	TUR	2133	½	0 - 1	½		Tanmay Chopra	IND	2273	174

Details

Round 4 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
4	8	8	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2620	2½		2½	IM	Gharibyan Mamikon	ARM	2464	56
4	14	62	IM	Schreiner Peter	AUT	2441	2½		2½	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2567	21
4	15	22	GM	Perunovic Milos	SRB	2567	2½		2½		Pranav V	IND	2366	113
4	18	26	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	IND	2555	2½		2½	FM	Baglan Esat	TUR	2359	117
4	27	90		Petkidis Anthony	GER	2401	2		2	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	IND	2589	15
4	33	38	IM	Caspi Israel	ISR	2510	2		2	IM	Vardaan Nagpal	IND	2366	111
4	34	40	IM	Erenberg Ariel	ISR	2506	2		2		Souhardo Basak	IND	2364	115
4	39	48	IM	Raja Harshit	IND	2484	2		2	FM	Kowalski Igor	POL	2349	125
4	49	72	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	IND	2426	2		2	CM	Trost Edvin	SWE	2184	232
4	55	261	FM	Lundin Jan	SWE	2114	2		2	IM	Raja Rithvik R	IND	2408	85
4	58	64	IM	Aditya Mittal	IND	2438	1½		1½	IM	Klasan Vladimir	SRB	2297	161
4	59	66	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	IND	2436	1½		1½	FM	Marn Jan	SLO	2280	171
4	60	174		Tanmay Chopra	IND	2273	1½		1½	IM	Sankalp Gupta	IND	2429	71
4	65	184	FM	Cvitan Ena	CRO	2255	1½		1½	IM	Akshat Khamparia	IND	2406	86
4	69	208	WGM	Varshini V	IND	2226	1½		1½	FM	Tadic Stefan	SRB	2390	99
4	70	209	WIM	Blagojevic Tijana	SRB	2222	1½		1½	IM	Mullick Raahil	IND	2386	101
4	71	214	WIM	Sharma Isha	IND	2213	1½		1½	FM	Maerevoet Sim	BEL	2384	103
4	74	223	WFM	Mehmed Elif	BUL	2199	1½		1½	FM	Vatsal Singhania	IND	2371	107
4	76	229		Kosmas-Lekkas Dimitrios	GRE	2186	1½		1½	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V	IND	2365	114
4	94	116	FM	Meissner Felix	GER	2362	1		1		Ojas Kulkarni	IND	2216	211
4	98	146	FM	Pasti Aron	HUN	2318	1		1	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	IND	2190	228
4	104	250		Ljepic Andrej	SRB	2136	1		1	CM	Dev Shah	IND	2270	175

Details

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