THE 81ST Armenian Championship Highest League Men’s Chess Championship ended in Yerevan Sunday with a runaway victory for GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan.
Gabuzyan punctuated his domination of the event with a last round demolition of tournament tailender GM Tigran Petrosian in 37 moves of a Sicilian Najdorf. The 26-year old grandmaster, who earned 34 Elo rating points and a membership in Armenian men’s national chess team for the effort, led from the start of the tournament and confidently kept it until the end.
Gabuzyab’s two closest competitors, GMs Arman Pashikyan and Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, failed to catch him and settled for a share of 2nd-3rd places a point and a half behind the winner, although better tiebreaks gave Pashikian the silver. Only one other decisive game happened in Round 11, with IM Mamikon Gharibyan crushing GM Zaven Andriasian in 36 moves of a Sicilian Rossolimo.
The final standings: 1. Gabuzyan, 8½; 2-3. Pashikian, Ter-Sahakyan, 7; 4-7. Harutyunian, Sargsyan, Martirosyan, Petrosyan, 6; 8-9. Gharibyan, Hovhannisyan, 5½; 10. Andriasian, 3½; 11. Babujian, 3; 12. Petrosian, 2.
Andriasian, Z (2606)-Gharibyan, M (2423) [B31]
Yerevan (11.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Qc7 6.h3 e5 7.Be3 Nf6 8.Nc3 Nh5 9.Qd2 f6 10.g4 Ng7 11.g5 f5 12.exf5 gxf5 13.Qe2 Ne6 14.Nh4 f4 15.Qh5+ Qf7 16.g6 Qg7 17.Bd2 Nd4 18.0-0-0 hxg6 19.Qxg6+ Qf7 20.Ne4 Be7 21.Nd6+ Bxd6 22.Qxd6 Rxh4 23.Rde1 Nf3 24.Ba5 Bd7 25.Rxe5+ Nxe5 26.Re1 Rh5 27.Rxe5+ Rxe5 28.Qxe5+ Be6 29.Qxc5 Qf5 30.Qc3 Kf7 31.Bc7 Re8 32.b3 Bd5 33.Qb4 Qf6 34.d4 Qe7 35.Qxb7 Qd7 36.Qxa7 Re7 0-1
Pashikian, A (2606)-Martirosyan, HM (2622) [E15]
Yerevan (11.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 0-0 8.0-0 d5 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Ne5 Bb7 11.Nc3 Re8 12.Qc2 Nbd7 13.Rad1 h6 14.Bf4 Nf8 15.Nb5 Ne6 16.Nc6 Qd7 17.Rc1 Nxf4 18.gxf4 a6 19.Nxe7+ Rxe7 20.Nc3 Rc8 21.Rfd1 c5 22.dxc5 Rxc5 23.Qd3 Qc8 24.Nxd5 Nxd5 25.Rxc5 bxc5 26.Bxd5 Qg4+ 27.Qg3 Qxe2 28.Qd3 Qg4+ 29.Kf1 Bxd5 30.Qxd5 Re6 31.Rd3 Qxf4 32.h3 Rg6 33.Qxc5 Kh7 34.Qe3 Qh2 35.Qe4 Qg1+ 36.Ke2 Qb1 37.a4 Qc2+ 38.Kf1 Qc1+ 39.Ke2 Qc8 40.Kf1 Kg8 41.Qc4 Qa8 42.Qd5 Qa7 43.Qd4 Qb7 44.Qd5 Qb4 45.Qf5 Qb8 46.Qa5 Qf4 47.Qd2 Qe5 48.Rd8+ Kh7 49.Rd5 Qa1+ 50.Qd1 Qc3 51.Qd3 Qc1+ 52.Ke2 Qb2+ 53.Kf1 Qc1+ 54.Ke2 Qb2+ ½-½
Ter-Sahakyan, S (2640)-Petrosyan, M (2628) [C78]
Yerevan (11.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Bc5 6.c3 b5 7.Bc2 d5 8.d4 dxe4 9.Nxe5 Nxe5 10.dxe5 Qxd1 11.Rxd1 Ng4 12.Bxe4 Nxf2 13.Bc6+ Ke7 14.Rd5 Bb6 15.Bxa8 Nd3+ 16.Kh1 Nf2+ 17.Kg1 Nd3+ 18.Kh1 Nf2+ 19.Kg1 ½-½
Petrosian, TL (2601)-Gabuzyan, H (2557) [B90]
Yerevan (11.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3 Qc7 8.a4 Be7 9.Be2 0-0 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Nd2 b6 12.Nc4 Bb7 13.f3 Rfd8 14.Bf2 Nc5 15.Ne3 Ne6 16.Bc4 Nf4 17.Qd2 d5 18.Ncxd5 Bxd5 19.exd5 Bc5 20.Bb3 e4 21.Kh1 exf3 22.gxf3 Qc8 23.Ng2 N4xd5 24.Rad1 Qc7 25.Bg3 Qe7 26.Qe1 Qb7 27.Be5 Re8 28.Qg3 Nh5 29.Qg5 Ndf6 30.Bc3 Qc8 31.Qh4 Qf5 32.Bd4 Rad8 33.Qf2 Rxd4 34.Rxd4 h6 35.Rfd1 Bxd4 36.Rxd4 Ne4 37.Qh4 Qxf3 0-1
Harutyunian, TK (2549)-Hovhannisyan, R (2642) [D11]
Yerevan (11.5) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.e3 Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 6.Nc3 e6 7.g4 Bg6 8.Ne5 Nbd7 9.Nxg6 hxg6 10.g5 Ne4 11.Nxe4 dxe4 12.h4 Bb4+ 13.Bd2 Qe7 14.Qg4 Bxd2+ 15.Kxd2 e5 16.Kc2 0-0-0 17.Qxe4 f5 18.gxf6 Qxf6 19.Rd1 exd4 20.exd4 Rde8 21.Qg4 Qxf2+ 22.Rd2 Qf5+ 23.Qxf5 gxf5 24.Rg2 Re4 ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qd1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…c4 2.Rxe5#; 1…Ke4 2.Qf3#; 1…Kc4 2.Qb3#; 1…e4 2.Rxc5#./PN
