SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD Indian GM Sarin Nihal drew his last round game against top seed GM Vladimnir Fedoseev despite a huge advantage to convincingly capture the 2021 Serbia Chess Open Masters Division, which ended before the weekend in Belgrade.
Nihal, who scored and undefeated 7½ points in nine rounds, finished half-a-point of nine others who tied for 2nd to 10th places with identical seven-point outputs. The nine are Fedoseev, GMs Manuel Petrosyan, Vitaliy Bernadskiy, Arjun Erigaisi, Misratdin Iskandarov, Max Warmerdam, and IM Mittal Aditya. After tiebreaks were applied, Petrosyan took the 2nd prize trophy and Fedoseev took the 3rd prize trophy.
Nihal’s victory also signified a triumph of sorts for India, which sent 23 players to the 150-player Swiss event, of which two others – Erigaisi and Adiya – finished in the final top 10 standings.
Fedoseev, V (2696)-Nihal, S (2620) [D40]
Belgrade (9.1) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.a3 a6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.b4 Bd6 9.Ra2 0-0 10.Rd2 Qe7 11.Bb2 Rd8 12.c5 Bc7 13.Be2 Bd7 14.Qc2 Ne5 15.Nd4 Rdc8 16.0-0 b6 17.f4 Neg4 18.c6 Nxe3 19.cxd7 Qxd7 20.Qb1 Nxf1 21.Qxf1 b5 22.Kh1 Bb6 23.Qf3 Ra7 24.Nb3 Rac7 25.Bd3 Rxc3 26.Bxc3 Rxc3 27.Bxh7+ Kxh7 28.Qxc3 Ne4 29.Qc2 f5 30.Re2 Qd6 31.g3 d4 32.Nc1 Qd5 33.Rg2 Nd6 34.Qd3 Nc4 35.Kg1 g6 36.g4 ½-½
Hovhannisyan, R (2632)-Iskandarov, M (2533) [B62]
Belgrade (9.5) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bb5 Bd7 7.Bg5 e6 8.Qd3 h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Bg3 Ne5 11.Qe2 a6 12.Bxd7+ Nfxd7 13.h4 Rg8 14.hxg5 hxg5 15.0-0-0 Qc7 16.Rh7 Qc4 17.Qxc4 Nxc4 18.b3 Nce5 19.f3 Rc8 20.Na4 b5 21.Nb2 g4 22.f4 Nf6 23.fxe5 dxe5 24.Rhh1 exd4 25.Rhe1 Bh6+ 26.Kb1 Be3 27.Rh1 Nxe4 28.Be1 g3 29.Nd3 Nf2 30.Bxf2 gxf2 31.Rh2 Ke7 32.g4 Rxg4 33.Nxf2 Bxf2 34.Rxf2 f5 35.Rh1 Rcg8 36.Rhh2 Kf6 37.Kb2 e5 38.Rh6+ R4g6 39.Rh5 f4 40.Re2 Rg5 41.Rh6+ R8g6 42.Rh8 Rg2 43.Re1 d3 44.Rf8+ Kg7 45.Rd8 Rxc2+ 46.Ka3 Re2 47.Rc1 d2 0-1
Indjic, A (2607)-Sadikhov, U (2490) [E73]
Belgrade (9.7) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Be3 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Nf3 exd5 9.cxd5 Bg4 10.Nd2 Bxe2 11.Qxe2 Re8 12.0-0 Na6 13.h3 Nc7 14.a4 a6 15.a5 Rb8 16.Qd3 b5 17.axb6 Rxb6 18.Nc4 Rb3 19.Bg5 h6 20.Bxf6 Bxf6 21.f4 Bd4+ 22.Kh1 Rb4 23.e5 dxe5 24.d6 Ne6 25.fxe5 Qa8 26.Ne4 Bxe5 27.Nxe5 Qxe4 28.Qg3 Nf4 29.Ng4 Nh5 30.Qc3 Qd4 31.Qf3 f5 32.Nxh6+ Kh7 33.Nxf5 Qf6 34.Qc6 Rf8 35.Qxc5 Rxb2 36.Ne3 Ng3+ 37.Kh2 Nxf1+ 38.Rxf1 Rf2 39.Rxf2 Qxf2 40.d7 Qf4+ 41.Kh1 Qf6 42.Qc7 Qd8 43.Nd5 a5 44.Qd6 Rf1+ 45.Kh2 Rf7 46.g3 Qf8 47.Qxf8 Rxf8 48.Nc7 Rf2+ 49.Kg1 Rd2 50.Ne6 a4 0-1
Erigaisi, A (2567)-Nenezic, M (2531) [A42]
Belgrade (9.10) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 e5 4.d5 g6 5.e4 Bg7 6.h3 Nbd7 7.g4 Nc5 8.Bg2 a5 9.Be3 c6 10.Nge2 cxd5 11.exd5 h5 12.g5 Nh7 13.h4 b6 14.Ng3 Bg4 15.Qc2 0-0 16.Nce4 Rc8 17.Nxc5 bxc5 18.Be4 Rb8 19.f3 Bxf3 20.Bxf3 e4 21.Nxe4 Rxb2 22.Qd3 Re8 23.Rb1 Rxa2 24.Qb3 Ra1 25.Rxa1 Bxa1 26.0-0 Be5 27.Bd2 Qc8 28.Kg2 Qc7 29.Bc3 Rb8 30.Qc2 Qe7 31.Re1 Bxc3 32.Qxc3 Qc7 33.Nf6+ Nxf6 34.Qxf6 Rf8 35.Re7 Qb8 36.Bxh5 gxh5 37.g6 Qb1 38.g7 Qc2+ 39.Kf3 Qd3+ 1-0
Kuzubov, Y (2653)-Lazov, T (2412) [B07]
Belgrade (9.21) 2021
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nge2 c6 5.g3 b5 6.Bg2 Be7 7.a3 Nbd7 8.h3 h5 9.0-0 a5 10.Be3 Ba6 11.Re1 b4 12.Na4 0-0 13.axb4 axb4 14.b3 Qc7 15.c4 bxc3 16.Nexc3 Rfb8 17.Qc2 Bf8 18.Red1 exd4 19.Bxd4 Re8 20.b4 Rab8 21.Nb2 Bc8 22.Nd5 Nxd5 23.exd5 Rxb4 24.dxc6 Nc5 25.Ra3 Rb6 26.Nc4 Rxc6 27.Ne3 Ra6 28.Nd5 Qd8 29.Rf3 Ne6 30.Bf6 Qa5 31.Rf5 Qa2 32.Bb2 Nd4 33.Rg5 Qxd5 34.Qxc8 Ne2+ 35.Kh2 Qxd1 36.Rxg7+ Bxg7 37.Qxe8+ Bf8 38.h4 Qg1+ 39.Kh3 Qxf2 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nd5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…exd5 2.Qf5#; 1…e5 2.Bd3#; 1…Kxd5 2.Qxb7#; 1…Be3 2.Nc3#; 1…Bf4 2.Nf6#./PN
