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GM Sanan Sjugirov defended in opposition to formidable play by GM Pavel Eljanov within the middlegame to attain a affected person victory and jumped right into a joint lead with one and a half factors after the second spherical of the Chennai Grand Masters 2023. He has joined GM Pentala Harikrishna who needed to defend a troublesome endgame in opposition to GM Alexandr Predke to salvage a draw.
The video games between GMs Arjun Erigaisi and Gukesh Dommaraju in addition to GMs Levon Aronian and Parham Maghsoodloo promised to be full-fledged fights with attention-grabbing play within the early middlegame solely to finish in attracts simply after the 30-move mark, the minimal stipulated for peace treaties.
The Chennai Grand Masters continues with spherical three on Sunday, December 17, at 4:45 a.m. ET/10:45 CET/3:15 p.m. IST.
Chennai Grand Masters Spherical 2 Outcomes
| Ranking | Title | Participant | Consequence | Title | Participant | Ranking | |||
| 1 | 2720 | GM | Gukesh D | ½-½ | GM | Arjun Erigaisi | 2727 | ||
| 2 | 2689 | GM | Alexandr Predke | ½-½ | GM | P. Harikrishna | 2696 | ||
| 3 | 2691 | GM | Pavel Eljanov | 0-1 | GM | Sanan Sjugirov | 2703 | ||
| 4 | 2723 | GM | Levon Aronian | ½-½ | GM | P. Maghsoodloo | 2742 |
For the reason that match corridor is a compact area, the variety of spectators are restricted day-after-day and want prior permission to enter the commentary room, the place IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal host the present. On Saturday, they had been joined by former world champion and FIDE Deputy President GM Vishy Anand who dropped in on the venue, showing at reside commentary after which obliging the media.
Vishy In The Home
On being requested the inevitable query of his views on the match being performed by the organizers with the Candidates spot in thoughts, Anand opined, “Inside the guidelines, should you set up a match…. I do not see an issue (with) it in any respect. I’m very pleased with this method…. If it produces extra tournaments, it’s good.”
Such a match with a lot at stake when it comes to qualification for the Candidates cooks up huge stress on the gamers. How does one deal with it? He defined: “The proper factor to do will not be to consider it. And good luck with that! The perfect factor could be to simply play…. A few of my greatest outcomes come when even I haven’t got expectations…. It is a uncommon high quality to know it’s a must to do one thing so as to get someplace and to have the ability to management it and handle it.”
It is a uncommon high quality to know it’s a must to do one thing so as to get someplace and to have the ability to management it and handle it
– Viswanathan Anand
Eljanov – Sjugirov
In what seemed to be a mildly nice place, Eljanov determined to get adventurous and sacrificed a pawn in an admirable show of will to win.
24.b5 would have maintained parity, however Eljanov selected the attention-grabbing 24.Nh4!?, thus sacrificing the c-pawn. Sjugirov calmly accepted the sacrifice and turned the tables with a cussed protection. This important and solely decisive encounter is our Sport of the Day, analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao under (to be added quickly).
Aronian-Maghsoodloo
This promised to be probably the most attention-grabbing recreation of the day. Beginning with a loss within the first spherical, top-seeded Maghsoodloo confirmed his combating spirit by taking part in for broke from the get-go. A curious side of his opening play was that he was not blitzing out his strikes, thus not presumably having cooked the idea over the board as an alternative of dwelling preparation. As a substitute, it was Aronian who was taking part in rapidly proper by the opening.
To a median spectator, the sport at all times going Aronian’s means, and it was troublesome to criticize him for lacking out on an imaginative assault with 17.0-0. On reside commentary, GM Anish Giri had attention-grabbing feedback on Aronian: “Levon… has modified up to now three years…. He has much less confidence than when he was world number-two. His confidence is clearly dropping. You may see it in his physique language!”
Levon (Aronian) has much less confidence (now) than when he was world number-two. His confidence is clearly dropping. You may see it in his physique language!”
—Anish Giri
Gukesh-Arjun
One among Arjun’s exceptional strengths is the breadth and depth of his opening repertoire. In opposition to Gukesh, he determined to make use of the Sicilian Protection Pin Variation with the black items on Saturday. It’s a type of opening techniques that was frowned upon by idea with a “?” mark about 30 years in the past however has been revived within the present period due to in depth sources discovered with deep opening preparation.
After a loss within the first spherical and possibly being pressured to make use of determined measures to stage a comeback, Arjun in all probability determined to make use of the shock. He’s additionally not a stranger to the variation, as he had already performed as soon as, in opposition to GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in a blitz recreation a few months in the past.
Gukesh thought for about 11 minutes however determined to steer the sport into calmer waters. There was one second within the recreation when Arjun seemed to have the higher hand.
White pins his play on attacking the pawn on d6, and Black might have tried the positionally ingenious 29…Ne8. The logic is that, having despatched the knight to defend his weak pawn on d6, Black can now flip his focus to the queenside, beginning with a future …Rdb8. Nevertheless, Arjun performed the backward-pawn-liberating 29…d5, and the sport quickly resulted in a draw.
Predke-Harikrishna
Predke missed an opportunity to attain his first win after uneven play by Harikrishna within the opening. “It was clear that he was ready higher…. (After) 18.Bd6, I spotted that issues weren’t so clean,” admitted Harikrishna after the sport.
“I do know that after 10…a5?…, I consider it was higher for me. The mainline could also be 10…Ba6 as an alternative of 10…a5…. In each plan (afterward), I noticed that White has a bonus.” White additionally missed a greater means of conversion when he exchanged the rooks with 22.Rc8? as an alternative of twenty-two.Bb4 with an enormous benefit. A smiling Harikrishna admitted that he would have most well-liked the latter if he had been White within the recreation.
The pivotal second of the sport was when Harikrishna unleashed a neat trick with 27…Rxa3! based mostly on that perennial swindle—the knight fork.
Standings After Spherical 2
Easy methods to watch the Chennai Grand Masters 2023
You may sustain with all of the video games and outcomes of the match on our reside occasions platform by following this hyperlink.
The Chennai Grand Masters 2023 is an eight-player all-play-all match in Chennai, India, operating December 15-21. The strongest classical invitational match ever held in India, it provides Gukesh, Arjun, and Maghsoodloo an opportunity to qualify for the 2024 Candidates Match. The prize fund is $60,000, with $18,000 for first place.
Earlier Protection
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