Miami online rapid chess: Aronian ends Arjun Erigaisi’s run

Levon Aronian stopped Arjun Erigaisi’s brilliant run after bouncing back in their quarterfinals of the FTX Road to Miami online rapid chess tournament.

Published : Jul 15, 2022 18:33 IST

The 18-year old Indian won the first game, let go of an advantageous position in the second for a draw before Aronian hit back to win two games to enter the semifinals.
The 18-year old Indian won the first game, let go of an advantageous position in the second for a draw before Aronian hit back to win two games to enter the semifinals. | Photo Credit: THE HINDU
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The 18-year old Indian won the first game, let go of an advantageous position in the second for a draw before Aronian hit back to win two games to enter the semifinals. | Photo Credit: THE HINDU

Levon Aronian stopped Arjun Erigaisi’s brilliant run after bouncing back from deficit for a 2.5-1.5 triumph in their quarterfinals of the FTX Road to Miami online rapid chess tournament on Thursday.

The 18-year old Indian won the first game, let go of an advantageous position in the second for a draw before Aronian hit back to win two games to enter the semifinals.

In fact, the fourth game appeared to be headed for a draw and the resultant blitz-tie-breaker, but Arjun faltered in the endgame involving queens and pawns.

In the other quarterfinals, Wei Yi brought down league winner Samuel Sevian 1.5-0.5 in the blitz tie-breaker after hitting back to tie the rapid game 2-2, Jan-Krzysztof Duda beat Anish Giri 2.5-1.5 and Richard Rapport blanked Jeffery Xiong 2-0 in blitz after the players were tied 2-2 in their rapid games.

Gukesh closer to 2700 rating mark

D. Gukesh, involved in a close race with good friend Arjun Erigaisi to reach the 2700-rating mark, moved closer to the coveted number by beating World rapid champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the first round of the classical time-format clash in the Biel Grandmaster Triathlon in Biel, Switzerland, on Thursday.

Arjun Erigaisi (right) (live rating of 2689) appeared the next in line but Gukesh surged ahead by gaining 15 points, so far this month. (File Photo)
Arjun Erigaisi (right) (live rating of 2689) appeared the next in line but Gukesh surged ahead by gaining 15 points, so far this month. (File Photo) | Photo Credit: THE HINDU
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Arjun Erigaisi (right) (live rating of 2689) appeared the next in line but Gukesh surged ahead by gaining 15 points, so far this month. (File Photo) | Photo Credit: THE HINDU

The 47-move victory with black pieces over the young Uzbek rated 2688, earned Gukesh 5.1 rating points. This raised the 16-year-old's live rating to 2698.7 and world ranking to 39th.

The country’s youngest Grandmaster is due to play Azerbaijan’s Arkadij Naiditsch (2668) next.

So far, only four Indians - Viswanathan Anand, P. Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi and K. Sasikiran - have crossed the 2700-mark in ratings.

Arjun Erigaisi (live rating of 2689) appeared the next in line but Gukesh surged ahead by gaining 15 points, so far this month. The eight-player field plays in three formats and performances count towards the final score.

The seven-round rapid phase earned the players two points for a win and one for a draw. The classical format offers four for a win and 1.5 for a draw. After three rounds of classical games, the action will move to double-round blitz encounters before returning to the classical format for the last four days.

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