Serbia Open R8: Nihal gains sole lead 7.0/8 and breaks into World Top 100

by Shahid Ahmed - 08/07/2021

Nihal Sarin soared into World Top #100 as he crossed 2650 in the live ratings list to become World #90. What a way to achieve that as he gained sole lead 7.0/8 by scoring a hat-trick of victories and he is still undefeated. He will face the top seed of the tournament, Vladimir Fedoseev in the final round. Apart from Fedoseev, Bernadskiy and IM Aditya Mittal are also tied at second place 6.5/8. Aditya is playing phenomenal chess as he racked up five consecutive victories including the last three against GMs. He would definitely like to score his maiden GM-norm and make a podium finish. Round 9 starts today at 1:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Official site

Aditya ascends to the top

Nihal Sarin completed a hat-trick of wins in Round 8 against Kovalenko to take the sole lead 7.0/8. IM Aditya Mittal has been extremely impressive as he scored five consecutive victories including a hat-trick of wins against GMs as he moved to share second place 6.5/8, heading into the final round of the event. Pranav and Arjun are at 6.0/8 each respectively. Pranav became an IM and also made his maiden GM-norm.

Nihal scored a hat-trick | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Nihal - Kovalenko: 1-0

When an opportunity is presented, Nihal seizes every bit of it. He already had a good position, but it was time to maximize his advantage.

Position after 28.c4

White's intention behind 28.c4 is to open the e-file and invade with the battery of rooks on e7. 28...dxc4 was met with 29.bxc4, however 29.d5 exd5 30.Re7 was an interesting continuation for White.

Position after 35...R8c3

Kovalenko blundered an exchange 35...R8c3. Find out why it is a mistake. With this win, Nihal gained sole lead 7.0/8 and broke into World Top 100.

Nihal Sarin beats Igor Kovalenko | Enters World top 100 | Crosses 2650 | Video: ChessBase India

Nihal is currently World #90 in the live rating list as crossed 2650 | Photo: 2700chess

Safarli - Pranav: 0.5-0.5

Pranav continued his momentum and held GM Eltaj Safarli (AZE) to a solid draw.

Position after 20...b4

20...b4 forces White to give up two minor pieces for a rook and a pawn. It wasn't easy by any means for Pranav but he managed to hold his ground and make a draw, taking him one step closer to the IM-title and his maiden GM-norm.

Focused Pranav | Photo: Official site

Aditya - Postny: 1-0

GM Evgeny Postny (ISR) got himself in a cramped position in the middlegame against IM Aditya Mittal.

Position after 19...axb5

Black needed to defend the b6-pawn 19...Nbd7 and everything would have remained fine. However, 19...axb5 only makes things difficult for Black as the c-file opens and b6-pawn also drops. Aditya is not going to let go of these chances. He converted it comfortably and picked up his fifth consecutive win of the event.

Aditya is playing absolutely fantastic in this event | Photo: Official site

Blohberger - Arjun: 0-1

Arjun Erigaisi got back to his winning ways as he beat IM Felix Blohberger (AUT) convincingly.

Position after 22...Ra5

Arjun got a fantastic position in the middlegame and after 22...Ra5 White is in deep trouble. There is no good escape.

Arjun moves to 6.0/8 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Pap - Puranik: 0-1

GM Misa Pap (SRB) went wrong in the endgame which cost him the game.

Position after 44.Rb1

White needed to play 44.Rb6 immediately to have some fighting chances, but 44.Rb1 lost a valuable tempo and Black went on to win the game.

A welcome victory for GM Abhimanyu Puranik | Photo: Official site

IM Raja Rithvik R held GM Boban Bogosavljevic (SRB) to a draw | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Highlights

Here are a few interesting finishes from Round 8

Final position - GM Misrat Iskandarov (AZE) won against GM Yuriy Kuzubov (UKR)

Final position - GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (ARM) defeated IM Meilis Annaberdiev (TKM)

Final position - GM Alexandr Fier (BRA) lost to IM Miodrag Perunovic (SRB)

Replay Round 8 games

Round 8 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
8	1	8	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2620	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Kovalenko Igor	LAT	2643	3
8	8	13	GM	Safarli Eltaj	AZE	2604	5½	½ - ½	5½		Pranav V	IND	2366	113
8	9	64	IM	Aditya Mittal	IND	2438	5½	1 - 0	5	GM	Postny Evgeny	ISR	2578	17
8	13	46	IM	Blohberger Felix	AUT	2490	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2567	21
8	18	7	GM	Pichot Alan	ARG	2630	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	IND	2436	66
8	20	68	GM	Pap Misa	SRB	2431	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	IND	2589	15
8	24	72	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	IND	2426	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Zanan Evgeny	ISR	2535	31
8	25	35	GM	Bogosavljevic Boban	SRB	2527	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Raja Rithvik R	IND	2408	85
8	30	48	IM	Raja Harshit	IND	2484	4½	0 - 1	4½	FM	Damjanovic Vuk	SRB	2369	109
8	31	50	IM	Cabarkapa Novak	SRB	2478	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Vardaan Nagpal	IND	2366	111
8	45	130	GM	Zhukova Natalia	UKR	2336	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Sankalp Gupta	IND	2429	71
8	57	101	IM	Mullick Raahil	IND	2386	4	1 - 0	4	CM	Boucquet Emile	BEL	2100	272
8	65	177	FM	Sahin Ozgun	TUR	2269	3½	0 - 1	3½	IM	Akshat Khamparia	IND	2406	86
8	69	199	FM	Maksimenko Viktor	KAZ	2239	3½	½ - ½	3½	FM	Vatsal Singhania	IND	2371	107
8	72	202		Thorsbro Peter	DEN	2233	3½	0 - 1	3½		Souhardo Basak	IND	2364	115
8	92	208	WGM	Varshini V	IND	2226	3	1 - 0	3	FM	Ronka Erik	FIN	2303	157
8	101	174		Tanmay Chopra	IND	2273	3	0 - 1	3	WFM	Balabayeva Xeniya	KAZ	2116	260
8	102	279		Jordanov Mihail	MKD	2082	3	½ - ½	3	CM	Dev Shah	IND	2270	175
8	106	139	IM	Zakic Srdjan	SRB	2324	2½	1 - 0	2½		Ojas Kulkarni	IND	2216	211
8	107	214	WIM	Sharma Isha	IND	2213	2½	1 - 0	2½	IM	Hasanzade Toghrul	AZE	2323	142
8	126	273		Herega Nejc	SLO	2099	2	1 - 0	2	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	IND	2190	228

Details

Round 9 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
9	1	1	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	RUS	2696	6½		7	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2620	8
9	2	64	IM	Aditya Mittal	IND	2438	6½		6½	GM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy	UKR	2606	10
9	8	113		Pranav V	IND	2366	6		6	GM	Shevchenko Kirill	UKR	2605	12
9	10	21	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2567	6		6	IM	Nenezic Marko	SRB	2531	34
9	11	15	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	IND	2589	5½		6	IM	Muradli Mahammad	AZE	2461	57
9	24	19	GM	Dragnev Valentin	AUT	2569	5		5	IM	Mullick Raahil	IND	2386	101
9	30	85	IM	Raja Rithvik R	IND	2408	5		5	IM	Erenberg Ariel	ISR	2506	40
9	34	111	IM	Vardaan Nagpal	IND	2366	5		5	IM	Schreiner Peter	AUT	2441	62
9	38	115		Souhardo Basak	IND	2364	4½		4½	GM	Sedlak Nikola	SRB	2519	36
9	42	135	FM	Irizanin Radoje	SRB	2330	4½		4½	IM	Raja Harshit	IND	2484	48
9	48	66	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	IND	2436	4½		4½	IM	Ozenir Ekin Baris	TUR	2331	133
9	50	71	IM	Sankalp Gupta	IND	2429	4½		4½	FM	Vetokhin Savva	RUS	2324	141
9	51	209	WIM	Blagojevic Tijana	SRB	2222	4½		4½	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	IND	2426	72
9	56	86	IM	Akshat Khamparia	IND	2406	4½		4½	FM	Dolgun Can	TUR	2133	253
9	67	107	FM	Vatsal Singhania	IND	2371	4		4		Ivanovic Marko	SRB	2245	192
9	70	127	FM	Volkov Dmitriy	USA	2343	4		4	WGM	Varshini V	IND	2226	208
9	86	153	FM	Kalogeris Ioannis	GRE	2307	3½		3½	WIM	Sharma Isha	IND	2213	214
9	93	175	CM	Dev Shah	IND	2270	3½		3½		De Boer Bas	NED	2143	245
9	102	221	FM	Toncheva Nadya	BUL	2201	3		3		Tanmay Chopra	IND	2273	174
9	118	211		Ojas Kulkarni	IND	2216	2½		2½	WIM	Demchenko Svitlana	CAN	2089	277

Details

Links

Official site

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