TORRID actions returned at the 81st Armenian Championship Highest League in Yerevan as all Round 7 matches ended in hard-fought decisions as the players jockeyed for a shot at the title of national champion. Still, GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan kept his half-point lead over GM Arman Pashikian after both hurdled their assignments, beating GMs Zaven Andriasian and Tigran Petrosian, respectively.
The other Round 7 duels saw GM Tigran Harutyunian defeating GM Levon Babujian in the longest game of the round; GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan making short work of GM Shant Sargsyan; and GM Haik Martirosyan mating GM Manuel Petrosyan. The story of the round, however, belongs to IM Mamikon Gharibyan who upset top seed GM Robert Hovhannisyan in a nicely-fought positional Slav Defense. We included all the games of the round, so enjoy replaying the action!
The standings after Round 7: 1. Gabuzyan, 6; 2. Pashikian, 5½; 3-4. Ter-Sahakyan, Harutyunian, 4½; 5-8. Hovhannisyan, Sargsyan, Martirosyan, Petrosyan, 3½; 9. Gharibyan, 3; 10. Andriasian, 2½; 11. Petrosian, 1½; 12. Babujian, ½.
Harutyunian, TK (2549)-Babujian, L (2455) [D04]
Yerevan (7.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.b3 Bg7 4.Bb2 0-0 5.e3 d5 6.c4 Bf5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Nbd2 Nb4 9.e4 Bg4 10.a3 N4c6 11.Be2 Nd7 12.0-0 Nc5 13.e5 Ne6 14.h3 Bxf3 15.Nxf3 Nf4 16.Bb5 Na5 17.Rc1 c6 18.Bd3 Nxd3 19.Qxd3 b5 20.Rc5 Qb6 21.Rfc1 Rfd8 22.e6 f6 23.Qe3 Rd6 24.h4 Rad8 25.h5 Nb7 26.R5c2 g5 27.Qe4 Na5 28.Nd2 Rc8 29.Qf5 Rf8 30.b4 Nb7 31.Ne4 Rd5 32.Qf3 Nd8 33.Nc5 Qc7 34.Nd7 Rxd7 35.exd7 Qxd7 36.Rc5 e6 37.Qh3 f5 38.h6 g4 39.Qh5 Bf6 40.R1c2 Qf7 41.Qh2 Be7 42.Qf4 Qg6 43.Rxc6 Nxc6 44.Rxc6 Rd8 45.Qe5 Kf7 46.Qxb5 g3 47.fxg3 Qxg3 48.Qe5 Qxe5 49.dxe5 Rd1+ 50.Kh2 Bg5 51.Bc3 Bxh6 52.Rc7+ Kg6 53.Re7 Be3 54.Rxe6+ Kh5 55.Rd6 Bf4+ 56.g3 Rxd6 57.exd6 Bxd6 58.Kh3 f4 59.gxf4 Bxf4 60.b5 Be3 61.Kg3 Kg6 62.Kf3 Bc5 63.Ke4 Bxa3 64.Bd4 h5 65.Bxa7 h4 66.Kd5 h3 67.Bb8 Bc1 68.Ke4 Ba3 69.b6 Bc5 70.b7 Bg1 71.Kf3 Kf5 72.Bc7 Ba7 73.Bf4 Kf6 74.Ke4 Ke6 75.Be5 Ke7 76.Kd5 Kd7 77.Bh2 Ke7 78.Kc6 Ke6 79.Kb5 Kd7 80.Ka6 1-0
Ter-Sahakyan, S (2640)-Sargsyan, S (2596) [C78]
Yerevan (7.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.a5 Ba7 11.h3 Bb7 12.Be3 Nxe4 13.Re1 exd4 14.cxd4 d5 15.Nc3 Ne7 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.Ng5 Bd5 18.Bxd5 Qxd5 19.Rc1 Qd7 20.Qh5 g6 21.Qh4 f5 22.Bf4 Nd5 23.Be5 Rg8 24.Nxe4 fxe4 25.Rxe4 h5 26.Bd6+ Kf7 27.Rxc7 Qxc7 28.Bxc7 Rbc8 29.Qg5 1-0
Andriasian, Z (2606)-Gabuzyan, H (2557) [B90]
Yerevan (7.3) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.g4 h6 9.Be3 Be6 10.Qd2 b5 11.0-0-0 Nbd7 12.f4 Rc8 13.f5 Bc4 14.Kb1 Qc7 15.a3 Nb6 16.Bxb6 Qxb6 17.Qe1 0-0 18.Nd5 Nxd5 19.exd5 Bxb3 20.cxb3 Bg5 21.h4 Bf4 22.f6 Qe3 23.Qxe3 Bxe3 24.Rh3 Bf4 25.Bd3 gxf6 26.Bf5 Rce8 27.Rf1 b4 28.h5 Bg5 29.Be4 Rc8 30.axb4 Rb8 31.Kc2 Rxb4 32.Bf5 e4 33.Rc3 e3 34.Re1 a5 35.Ra1 Re8 36.Kd3 a4 37.bxa4 Rxb2 38.Rc8 Rd2+ 39.Kc3 Rxc8+ 40.Bxc8 f5 41.Rb1 Bf6+ 42.Kb3 e2 0-1
Pashikian, A (2606) – Petrosian, TL (2601) [A54]
Yerevan (7.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nf3 d6 4.Nc3 e5 5.d5 Ne7 6.e4 Ng6 7.g3 Be7 8.Be2 h6 9.h4 Bg4 10.Nd2 Bxe2 11.Qxe2 h5 12.Nf1 Nf8 13.Ne3 N8d7 14.Nf5 Bf8 15.Bg5 g6 16.Ne3 Be7 17.Nc2 a6 18.0-0-0 Ng4 19.Bd2 c6 20.f3 Ngf6 21.g4 Nb6 22.dxc6 bxc6 23.c5 dxc5 24.g5 Nfd7 25.f4 exf4 26.Bxf4 Qc8 27.Ne3 a5 28.Nf5 Qa6 29.Qxa6 Rxa6 30.Nxe7 Kxe7 31.Bd6+ Ke6 32.Ne2 Nd5 33.Bxc5 Nxc5 34.exd5+ cxd5 35.Nf4+ Kf5 36.Nxd5 Ne6 37.Rhf1+ Kg4 38.Rg1+ Kh3 39.Rh1+ Kg4 40.Rhg1+ Kh3 41.Rd3+ Kxh4 42.Rd2 Kh3 43.Rdg2 Rc6+ 44.Kb1 Rhc8 45.Ne3 Rc1+ 46.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 47.Kxc1 Nf4 48.Rd2 h4 49.Rd7 1-0
Gharibyan, M (2423)-Hovhannisyan, R (2642) [D43]
Yerevan (7.5) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bg7 10.e5 Nh5 11.a4 a6 12.Ne4 0-0 13.0-0 Nd7 14.b3 c5 15.axb5 cxd4 16.bxc4 Nxg3 17.hxg3 Bb7 18.Nd6 Qc7 19.Nxb7 Qxb7 20.Qxd4 axb5 21.cxb5 Rad8 22.Rad1 Qb8 23.Qe4 Nxe5 24.Nxe5 Qxe5 25.Qxe5 Bxe5 26.b6 Rb8 27.Rb1 Rfd8 28.Rfd1 Rxd1+ 29.Bxd1 Kg7 30.b7 Rd8 31.Bf3 f5 32.g4 h5 33.gxh5 g4 34.Bc6 g3 35.fxg3 Bxg3 36.Kf1 Rb8 37.Bd7 Kh6 38.Bc8 Kxh5 39.Rb6 e5 40.Rf6 f4 41.Re6 Bh4 42.Rxe5+ Kg6 43.Ke2 Bd8 44.Kf3 Bg5 45.Kg4 Bd8 46.Rd5 Bc7 47.Rc5 1-0
Martirosyan, HM (2622)-Petrosyan, M (2628) [D37]
Yerevan (7.6) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.a3 Nc6 9.Qc2 Re8 10.Rd1 e5 11.Bg5 d4 12.Bxf6 Qxf6 13.Nd5 Qd8 14.Bd3 g6 15.h4 Bg4 16.b4 Bd6 17.h5 Kg7 18.e4 Be7 19.Be2 Bxf3 20.Bxf3 Bg5 21.c5 Ne7 22.Nxe7 Qxe7 23.Bg4 a5 24.b5 Rec8 25.Bxc8 Rxc8 26.c6 bxc6 27.b6 Qxa3 28.0-0 Qc3 29.Qe2 Rb8 30.Qa6 Qc5 31.Rb1 Bd2 32.Qa7 Qd6 33.Rfd1 Bb4 34.Rd3 Rf8 35.Rf3 g5 36.Rbb3 c5 37.b7 c4 38.Rxb4 axb4 39.Rxf7+ Rxf7 40.b8Q Qf6 41.Qa2 b3 42.Qe2 Qe6 43.Qd2 Qf6 44.Qe1 Kh6 45.Qb5 Rc7 46.Qea5 Rc6 47.Qa7 g4 48.Qbb7 Kg5 49.g3 c3 50.Qxh7 b2 51.Qg8+ Qg6 52.Qe7+ Kxh5 53.Qh4# 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bf1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qxe8 2.Qd5#; 1…Be2/xf1 2.Qxa8#; 1…Be7 2.Qxe5#; 1…Sxd4, Rxf2 2.Sd6#./PN
