Can Narayanan beat Goganov to win ChessMood Open?
Alexey Goganov (RUS) beat Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (ARM) in the penultimate round to take sole lead 7.0/8 for the first time, heading into the final round of ChessMood Open. Top seed Narayanan S L 6.5/8 beat fellow countryman, Arjun Erigaisi to keep his championship hopes. Goganov and Narayanan will face each other in the final round. A draw is enough for Goganov to win the tournament, while Narayanan must defeat him to become champion. Both of them will have tie-breaks in their favor if they can score the desired result. IM Vaishali scored her fourth consecutive win to bring her score 5.5/8. Round 9 starts today from 12 p.m. IST. Photo: Rupali Mullick
Goganov overcomes Ter-Sahakyan to gain sole lead
Top seed of the tournament GM Narayanan S L drew with fellow countryman GM Abhimanyu Puranik to stay in the hunt at 5.5/7 each respectively.
Goganov - Ter-Sahakyan: 1-0
GM Alexey Goganov increased his advantage as his opponent GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan allowed him to create a protected passed pawn.
Black's position was already difficult. 22...b6 23.c6 Ra8 24.b5 a6 did not help Black's case either. With this win, Goganov gained sole lead.
Narayanan - Arjun: 1-0
GM Arjun Erigaisi made a positional mistake which transposed the game into an unfavorable endgame for him against GM Narayanan S L.
14...Ne4 opens up the position after 15.Nxe4 dxe4 16.Be3 Qxd1 17.Rfxd1 f5 18.f3 exf3 19.Bxf3. White having the bishop pair in the resultant endgame definitely gives him the significant upper hand. Rest is just a matter of technique, and Narayanan had no trouble converting his advantage into a win.
Praggnanandhaa - Mikaelyan: 1-0
GM R Praggnanandhaa completely outplayed his opponent, GM Arman Mikaelyan (ARM).
Sandipan - Karthik: 0-1
GM Sandipan Chanda got his rook in a precarious position at the center of the board against GM Karthik Venkataraman.
Find out why 20.N1d2 is a mistake.
Tigran Harutyunyan - Vaishali: 0-1
IM Vaishali scored her fourth consecutive victory of the event. This time she conquered GM Tigran K Harutyunyan (ARM).
26...d3 is an incredible move. There is no good defense for White. It is completely winning for Black.
For more Round 8 photos, please click here.
Highlights
Here are a few interesting finishes of Round 8.
Replay Round 8 games
The tournament is taking place at Tsaghkadzor Marriott Hotel, Tsaghkadzor in Armenia from 4th to 12th October 2021. Time control is 90'/40 + 30' + 30" per move. Everyday game starts at 3 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. IST), except 12th October, the final round will start at 10:30 a.m. local time (12 p.m. IST).