Outstanding Nihal Sarin wins Serbia Open 2021 Masters

by Shahid Ahmed - 09/07/2021

Nihal Sarin once again delivered a stellar performance to win Serbia Open 2021 Masters. He scored an unbeaten 7.5/9 and finished a half point ahead of the strong field. He had decisive advantage against Fedoseev in the final part of the endgame, but he decided to make a draw because it was enough for him to win the event. To deliver two consecutive 2780+ performance, storm into World no.88 and India no.5 in the live ratings list, just days before FIDE World Cup 2021 is something to cause shivers for his opening round opponent at the biggest World Cup in history. Photo: Rupali Mullick

Two in-a-row for Nihal

Nihal Sarin once again delivered a 2780+ performance, crossed 2650 and won his second consecutive tournament. He remained undefeated for 18 consecutive tournament games in Serbia. He is currently ranked World no.88 and India no.5 with a live rating of 2655.

Serbia Open 2021 Masters Winner - Nihal Sarin 7.5/9 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Top three (L to R): Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS), Nihal Sarin and Manuel Petrosyan (ARM) | Photo: Rupali Mullick

"Don't do that basically!" Nihal Sarin's advice to youngsters after winning the Serbia Open 2021 | Video: ChessBase India

Fedoseev - Nihal: 0.5-0.5

Nihal gained advantage in the final moments of the endgame against Fedoseev (RUS). When he realized a half point was enough for him to win the tournament, he made a draw.

Position after 34.Qd3

White needed to play 34.Nd3 to control the e5-square and prevent Black from getting e5 easily. 34.Qd3 allowed Nc4 and now the e5-idea cannot be stopped. After 35.Kg1 Black played g6 to prepare for e5 break.

Nihal Sarin inspires one and all | Video: ChessBase India

Nihal had Fedoseev on the ropes | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Nihal performed at 2786 and gained 18 Elo rating points

Aditya - Bernadskiy: 0.5-0.5

IM Aditya Mittal made a short 16-move draw with GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy (UKR).

Aditya Mittal scores his maiden GM norm | Video: ChessBase India

Aditya Mittal scored 7.0/9, made his maiden GM-norm, tied for the second place, got tenth position according to tie-breaks| Photo: Rupali Mullick

Aditya receives his GM-norm certificate | Photo: Official site

Pranav - Shevchenko: 0-1

GM Kirill Shevchenko (UKR) had decisive advantage in the game until he made a mistake which Pranav caught easily.

Position after 47...Rb6

Black needed to play either 47...Kg7 or Ke5. Both would have been fine, but 47...Rb6 allows White to get back in the game using tactics 48.Nd5+ Kg7 is forced because 48....Bxd5 will be met with 49.Rxh6+ and it's a skewer, now it should be a comfortable draw for White.

Position after 50...Kg8

50...Kg8 is a mistake because the pawn wedge at f6 is going to be the cause of demise for Black after 51.Nc8. The only way for Black to save the game was to push the kingside pawns 50...g4 or h5. A win would have given Pranav a fifth place finish but eventually he lost the game.

Pranav fought valiantly against Shevchenko | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Pranav Venkatesh became India's latest International Master and also scored his maiden GM-norm | Photo: Official site

Arjun - Nenezik: 1-0

GM Arjun Erigaisi scored a comfortable win against IM Marko Nenezik (SRB).

Position after 19.f3

Things have gone terribly wrong for Black as the position looks crumbling after 19.f3.

Arjun scored 7.0/10 and he secured 7th position | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Abhimanyu - Muradli: 1-0

GM Abhimanyu Puranik scored a fine victory against IM Mahammad Muradli (AZE).

19th Abhimanyu Puranik 6.5/9 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

GM Valentin Dragnev (AUT) was held to a draw by IM Raahil Mullick | Photo: Rupali Mullick

For more photos: Round 9 and Prize distribution ceremony.

Highlights

Here are a few interesting finishes from Round 9

Final position - GM Igor Kovalenko (LAT) vs GM Max Warmerdam (NED) 0-1

Final position - GM Aleksandar Indjic (SRB) - GM Ulvi Sadikhov (AZE) 0-1

Replay Round 9 games

Round 9 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
9	1	1	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	RUS	2696	6½	½ - ½	7	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2620	8
9	2	64	IM	Aditya Mittal	IND	2438	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy	UKR	2606	10
9	8	113		Pranav V	IND	2366	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Shevchenko Kirill	UKR	2605	12
9	10	21	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2567	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Nenezic Marko	SRB	2531	34
9	11	15	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	IND	2589	5½	1 - 0	6	IM	Muradli Mahammad	AZE	2461	57
9	24	19	GM	Dragnev Valentin	AUT	2569	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Mullick Raahil	IND	2386	101
9	30	85	IM	Raja Rithvik R	IND	2408	5	0 - 1	5	IM	Erenberg Ariel	ISR	2506	40
9	34	111	IM	Vardaan Nagpal	IND	2366	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Schreiner Peter	AUT	2441	62
9	38	115		Souhardo Basak	IND	2364	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Sedlak Nikola	SRB	2519	36
9	42	135	FM	Irizanin Radoje	SRB	2330	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Raja Harshit	IND	2484	48
9	48	66	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	IND	2436	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Ozenir Ekin Baris	TUR	2331	133
9	50	71	IM	Sankalp Gupta	IND	2429	4½	1 - 0	4½	FM	Vetokhin Savva	RUS	2324	141
9	51	209	WIM	Blagojevic Tijana	SRB	2222	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	IND	2426	72
9	56	86	IM	Akshat Khamparia	IND	2406	4½	1 - 0	4½	FM	Dolgun Can	TUR	2133	253
9	67	107	FM	Vatsal Singhania	IND	2371	4	½ - ½	4		Ivanovic Marko	SRB	2245	192
9	70	127	FM	Volkov Dmitriy	USA	2343	4	1 - 0	4	WGM	Varshini V	IND	2226	208
9	86	153	FM	Kalogeris Ioannis	GRE	2307	3½	½ - ½	3½	WIM	Sharma Isha	IND	2213	214
9	93	175	CM	Dev Shah	IND	2270	3½	1 - 0	3½		De Boer Bas	NED	2143	245
9	102	221	FM	Toncheva Nadya	BUL	2201	3	½ - ½	3		Tanmay Chopra	IND	2273	174
9	118	211		Ojas Kulkarni	IND	2216	2½	½ - ½	2½	WIM	Demchenko Svitlana	CAN	2089	277

Details

Final Standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	Rp	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	8	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2620	7,5	0,0	46,5	40,25	6	2786	9	7,5	5,74	1,76	10	17,6
2	6	GM	Petrosyan Manuel	ARM	2632	7,0	0,0	49,5	41,00	5	2719	9	7	6,03	0,97	10	9,7
3	1	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	RUS	2696	7,0	0,0	49,5	39,50	6	2731	9	7	6,57	0,43	10	4,3
4	12	GM	Shevchenko Kirill	UKR	2605	7,0	0,0	47,5	39,25	5	2730	9	7	5,56	1,44	10	14,4
5	10	GM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy	UKR	2606	7,0	0,0	47,5	39,00	5	2636	9	7	6,61	0,39	10	3,9
6	45	GM	Sadikhov Ulvi	AZE	2490	7,0	0,0	45,0	34,25	6	2699	9	7	4,59	2,41	10	24,1
7	21	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2567	7,0	0,0	44,5	37,00	6	2670	9	7	5,89	1,11	10	11,1
8	32	GM	Iskandarov Misratdin	AZE	2533	7,0	0,0	44,5	33,75	6	2679	9	7	5,28	1,72	10	17,2
9	30	GM	Warmerdam Max	NED	2535	7,0	0,0	43,5	37,00	6	2648	9	7	5,75	1,25	10	12,5
10	64	IM	Aditya Mittal	IND	2438	7,0	0,0	40,0	33,00	6	2626	9	7	4,88	2,12	10	21,2
11	29	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	BLR	2535	6,5	0,0	49,5	37,50	4	2653	9	6,5	5,02	1,48	10	14,8
12	4	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	ARM	2643	6,5	0,0	47,5	36,75	4	2644	9	6,5	6,40	0,10	10	1,0
13	13	GM	Safarli Eltaj	AZE	2604	6,5	0,0	46,0	34,50	4	2612	9	6,5	6,29	0,21	10	2,1
14	18	GM	Asadli Vugar	AZE	2574	6,5	0,0	45,5	34,25	5	2603	9	6,5	6,10	0,40	10	4,0
15	52	IM	Nikitenko Mihail	BLR	2472	6,5	0,0	45,5	33,25	4	2673	9	6,5	4,05	2,45	10	24,5
16	47	IM	Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis	GRE	2485	6,5	0,0	44,5	33,00	6	2622	9	6,5	4,85	1,65	10	16,5
17	49	IM	Makhnev Denis	KAZ	2480	6,5	0,0	44,0	33,50	5	2620	9	6,5	4,80	1,70	10	17,0
18	109	FM	Damjanovic Vuk	SRB	2369	6,5	0,0	43,5	30,25	6	2487	8	5,5	4,22	1,28	20	25,6
19	15	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	IND	2589	6,5	0,0	42,5	33,50	5	2551	9	6,5	6,76	-0,26	10	-2,6
20	7	GM	Pichot Alan	ARG	2630	6,5	0,0	42,5	29,75	6	2554	9	6,5	7,12	-0,62	10	-6,2
21	22	GM	Perunovic Milos	SRB	2567	6,5	0,0	41,5	31,25	5	2532	8	5,5	5,83	-0,33	10	-3,3
22	31	GM	Zanan Evgeny	ISR	2535	6,5	0,0	41,0	30,75	5	2550	9	6,5	6,30	0,20	10	2,0
23	51	GM	Nestorovic Nikola	SRB	2477	6,5	0,0	38,0	30,00	5	2492	9	6,5	6,30	0,20	10	2,0
24	3	GM	Kovalenko Igor	LAT	2643	6,0	0,0	52,0	35,75	5	2646	9	6	5,89	0,11	10	1,1
25	9	GM	Indjic Aleksandar	SRB	2607	6,0	0,0	48,0	32,00	4	2627	9	6	5,71	0,29	10	2,9
26	113		Pranav V	IND	2366	6,0	0,0	47,5	31,00	4	2646	9	6	2,69	3,31	20	66,2
27	5	GM	Hovhannisyan Robert	ARM	2632	6,0	0,0	46,0	31,50	4	2560	9	6	6,64	-0,64	10	-6,4
28	25	GM	Sanal Vahap	TUR	2556	6,0	0,0	46,0	31,00	4	2560	9	6	5,91	0,09	10	0,9
29	40	IM	Erenberg Ariel	ISR	2506	6,0	0,0	44,0	31,00	5	2556	9	6	5,38	0,62	10	6,2
30	28	GM	Bjerre Jonas Buhl	DEN	2546	6,0	0,0	44,0	30,00	5	2573	9	6	5,61	0,39	10	3,9

Details

Links

Official site

Related news:

	भारत के निहाल सरीन बने सर्बिया मास्टर्स के विजेता @ 09/07/2021 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	Serbia Open R8: Nihal gains sole lead 7.0/8 and breaks into World Top 100 @ 08/07/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	सर्बिया मास्टर्स में भारत के निहाल सयुंक्त बढ़त पर @ 07/07/2021 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	Serbia Open R6-7: Nihal and Kovalenko emerge as the leaders 6.0/7 @ 07/07/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Serbia Open R5: Five players share the lead 4.5/5 @ 06/07/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Serbia Open R4: Pranav stuns Perunovic @ 05/07/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Serbia Open R2-3: Pranav V holds Raunak to a draw @ 04/07/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Serbia Open R1: Nihal, Abhimanyu, Arjun and Raunak start with a win @ 03/07/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)