Sports

Action galore at 11th Andranik Margaryan Memorial

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

The 11th Andranik Margaryan Memorial reeled off at the Chess Academy of Armenia in Yerevan with seven young masters pitting their juvenile talents against each other and against three veteran grandmasters.

The youngsters are IMs Sergei Lobanov (2510), Rudik Makarian (2461), Mamikon Gharibyan (2432) and Bardiya Daneshvar (2399), WGM Anna Sargisyan (2402), FM Denis Lazavik and Armen Barseghyan (2362). The youngster’s ages range from 19 (Lobanov) to 14 (Lazavik and Daneshvar). The three “oldies” are GMs Hovik Hayrapetyan (2488), Arman Mikaelyan (2485) and Levon Babujian (2440). Hayrapetyan is the defending champion and is 31 years old, Mikaelyan is 25 and Babujian is the oldest at 34.

After two rounds of torrid play, Hayrapetyan is leading the Category 8 (average Elo: 2447), single round robin classical chess event with Mikaelyan, Makaryan and Lobanov in hot pursuit. The first two rounds were action-packed and the level of chess play is simply amazing, and I’ve selected five games certain to amaze you, too. Incidentally, the tournament is in memory of the late Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan (1951-2007) who contributed significantly to Armenian chess development.

Lobanov, S (2510)-Barseghyan, A (2362) [B31]

Yerevan (1.1) 2021

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.Bxc6 bxc6 6.Re1 Qc7 7.c3 d6 8.h3 Nf6 9.d4 cxd4 10.cxd4 0-0 11.Nc3 Bb7 12.Bf4 c5 13.d5 Rad8 14.Qd2 Rfe8 15.Rad1 Qb6 16.Bh6 e6 17.dxe6 Rxe6 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.e5 Nd7 20.exd6 Bxf3 21.Rxe6 Bxd1 22.Nd5 Qa6 23.Qc3+ Kh6 24.Qe3+ Kg7 25.Qc3+ Kh6 26.Re7 Qxd6 27.Rxf7 Qe5 28.Qd2+ g5 29.Ne3 Qe6 30.Re7 Qb6 31.Qxd1 Ne5 32.Qc2 Nd3 33.Ng4+ Kg6 34.Qc4 1-0

Makaryan, R (2461)-Gharibyan, M (2432) [E11]

Yerevan (1.2) 2021

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Qc2 b6 9.Bf4 Nbd7 10.Nbd2 Ba6 11.Rfe1 Nh5 12.Be5 Rc8 13.cxd5 exd5 14.Rad1 f6 15.Bf4 g5 16.Be3 f5 17.Nf1 f4 18.Bc1 g4 19.N3d2 Bd6 20.e4 f3 21.Bh1 Be2 22.Ne3 Qg5 23.e5 Bxd1 24.Qxd1 Bb4 25.Nxf3 gxf3 26.Nxd5 Qg4 27.Nxb4 Ng7 28.Bh6 Rf5 29.Qb3+ Kh8 30.Bxg7+ Qxg7 31.e6 Nb8 32.Bxf3 Qxd4 33.Re3 Qf6 34.Kg2 Re8 35.Nd3 Na6 36.Bxc6 Nc5 37.Bxe8 Nxb3 38.e7 Rf3 39.Re1 Rxd3 40.Bb5 Qf3+ 41.Kg1 Nd4 42.e8Q+ Kg7 43.Bxd3 Qxd3 44.Qd7+ 1-0

Sargsyan, A (2402)-Hayrapetyan, H (2488) [B28]

Yerevan (1.5) 2021

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6 3.Nc3 b5 4.g3 Bb7 5.d3 g6 6.Be3 d6 7.Bg2 Bg7 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0-0 h5 10.h3 e6 11.d4 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Na5 13.b3 Nf6 14.Rad1 0-0 15.Nde2 Ne8 16.a4 Rc8 17.axb5 axb5 18.Nxb5 Ba6 19.Na7 Ra8 20.c4 Nxb3 21.Qb4 Rb8 22.Nb5 Na5 23.Qa4 Bb7 24.Ned4 Rc8 25.c5 d5 26.exd5 Bxd5 27.Bxd5 exd5 28.Na7 Ra8 29.Nac6 Qd7 30.Qb5 Nc7 31.Qb6 Nc4 32.Qb7 Nxe3 33.fxe3 Bh6 34.Rde1 Qxh3 35.Qxc7 Ra2 36.Rf2 Bxe3 37.Ne2 Bxf2+ 38.Kxf2 Qh2+ 39.Kf1 h4 40.Qf4 hxg3 41.Qf3 Re8 42.Ncd4 Re4 0-1

Barseghyan, A (2362)-Hayrapetyan, H (2488) [E14]

Yerevan (2.1) 2021

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 b6 4.Bd3 Bb7 5.0-0 c5 6.c4 cxd4 7.exd4 Be7 8.Nc3 0-0 9.d5 Na6 10.Bb1 Qc7 11.Bd3 Nb4 12.Nb5 Qb8 13.Re1 a6 14.Nc3 b5 15.b3 Nxd3 16.Qxd3 Rc8 17.Bd2 Qc7 18.cxb5 Nxd5 19.Nxd5 Bxd5 20.Rac1 Qb7 21.Rxc8+ Qxc8 22.b6 Qb7 23.Be3 Bd8 24.Qd4 Rb8 25.Ne5 d6 26.Nc4 Bxc4 27.bxc4 Qxb6 28.Qxb6 Bxb6 29.Rb1 Bc7 30.Rxb8+ Bxb8 31.Kf1 f5 32.f3 Kf7 33.Ke2 e5 34.Kd3 Ke6 35.h3 d5 36.cxd5+ Kxd5 37.Bc1 e4+ 38.fxe4+ fxe4+ 39.Ke2 Ba7 40.Bb2 Bd4 41.Ba3 Kc4 42.Kd2 e3+ 43.Ke2 Kc3 44.g4 a5 45.h4 Kc2 46.Bd6 a4 47.h5 g6 48.hxg6 hxg6 49.Be7 Bb6 50.Bd6 Kb2 51.a3 Kc2 52.Be7 Bd4 53.Bd6 Kb3 54.Kd3 Bb2 55.Bc5 Bxa3 56.Bxe3 Bb2 57.Bc5 g5 0-1

Mikaelyan, A (2485)-Babujian, L (2440) [D90]

Yerevan (2.3) 2021

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.h4 dxc4 6.e4 c5 7.d5 b5 8.h5 0-0 9.hxg6 fxg6 10.d6 exd6 11.a4 Qe7 12.axb5 Be6 13.Be2 Nbd7 14.Ng5 Ne5 15.Nxe6 Qxe6 16.0-0 Rf7 17.Ra6 Rd8 18.Be3 Qe7 19.Nd5 Nxd5 20.Qxd5 Kh8 21.Rd1 Nd3 22.Bxd3 cxd3 23.Rxd3 Rd7 24.Rxd6 Rxd6 25.Qxd6 Qxe4 26.Qb8+ Rf8 27.Rd8 Qb1+ 28.Kh2 Qf5 29.Rxf8+ Bxf8 30.g4 Qf6 31.Kg2 Qd6 32.Bf4 Qxb8 33.Bxb8 c4 34.Bxa7 Bg7 35.Kf3 Bb2 36.Ke4 Ba3 37.Bd4 Kg8 38.b6 Bd6 39.Kd5 Bb8 40.Be5 1-0

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