Grand Swiss R9: Caruana ends Firouzja's unbeaten run, Howell joins the three-way lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 06/11/2021

World no.3 Fabiano Caruana (USA) ended Alireza Firouzja's (FRA) undefeated run in the ninth round of FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss 2021. David Howell (ENG) scored his fourth consecutive victory to join the three-way lead along with Caruana and Firouzja at 6.5/9. The former world championship challenger has beaten both Firouzja and Howell. Sasikiran bounced back from his defeat as he defeated Pavel Eljanov (UKR) with a beautiful knight maneuver, punctuated by a nice combination in the end. Raunak also played well to beat Aleksey Dreev (RUS). Harika beat IM Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) to end her five-game draw streak. Round 10 starts today at 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE

Sasikiran, Raunak and Harika win

Krishnan Sasikiran played a very instructive game in the Ruy Lopez Berlin to score a win. Tingjie Lei (CHN) scored her fourth consecutive victory, this time against Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS), to increase her lead by two points. She needs just a draw in the next two rounds to win the first edition of FIDE Women's Grand Swiss and secure her place in the next Women's Candidates.

Caruana ended Firouzja's unbeaten run | Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE

FIDE Grand Swiss 2021 official logo | Photo: FIDE

Caruana - Firouzja: 1-0

Firouzja overextended his king in the endgame which cost him the sole lead and the game against Caruana.

Position after 36...Ke2

36...Ke4 makes sure that Black stays in the game. The game continued 36...Ke2 37.e6 d3 38.f5 and 38...Nd4 turned out to be the final mistake which gave White a complete decisive advantage 39.Bxb4 d2 40.Bxd2 Kxd2 41.Rc5. White's connected passed pawns on e and f-file are too strong for Black to stop.

All bow down to Don Fabi | Video: ChessBase India

Sasikiran - Eljanov: 1-0

Sasikiran made a beautiful maneuvering of his knight to gain a significant positional advantage against Pavel Eljanov (UKR).

The heat signature of the knight | Position after 31...Bd8

31...Bxd7 32.Rxd7 Kf8 would have continued the fight. However, 31...Bd8 ends the game immediately for Black. Find out how.

Learn from Sasikiran on how to dismantle the Berlin | Video: ChessBase India

Sasikiran scored a very nice victory showcasing great understanding of the position | Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE

Nihal Sarin - Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE

Raunak - Dreev: 1-0

Raunak Sadhwani scored a very nice win against Alexey Dreev (RUS).

Position after 42...Kf8

White can capture either d5 or f4. Which one should White take here? Try to think like Raunak and find out the winning continuation for White.

Raunak is performing at 2702 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Kashlinskaya - Harika: 0-1

Harika scored her first win since the third round, her third overall win of the event, against IM Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) after the latter misplayed in the endgame.

Position after 29.gxf5

Black was lacking in development. 29.gxf5 eased that issue. The game continued 29...Bxf5 30.Bxf5 gxf5 31.R5c3 Ra6 32.Rb3 Rg8 and Black eventually converted her advantage into a win.

Harika is still unbeaten 6.0/9 | Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE

Vantika held former women's world champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) to a draw | Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE

Vaishali drew with the legendary GM Pia Cramling (SWE) | Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE

Highlights

A few interesting finishes from Round 9

Fabiano Caruana (USA) defeated Alireza Firouzja (FRA)

David Howell (ENG) won against Anton Korobov (UKR)

Alan Pichot (ARG) lost to Levon Aronian (ARM)

FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss Round 9 recap | Video: ChessBase India

Photo Gallery

First move is being made on the top board | Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE

Tingjie scored her fourth consecutive win, gained a massive two point lead | Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE

Daid Howell (ENG) beat Anton Korobov (UKR) to join the three-way lead | Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE

Schedule

Everyday game starts at 2 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. IST) between 27th October and 7th November 2021. Rest day is on Tuesday 2nd November 2021.

Time Control

The time control for each game is: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.

Qualification

The top two players in the open event will qualify for the FIDE Candidates 2022. The next six players will earn their spots in the FIDE Grand Prix. The Women's Grand Swiss winner will qualify to the Women's Candidates. The following four best players will qualify for the FIDE Women's Grand Prix.

Prizes

The total prize fund in the Open is US$ 425,000 with the first prize being $70,000. For Women's the total prize fund is $125,000, first prize $20,000. Total numbers of prizes are 60, Open - 40 and Women - 20.

Replay Round 9 Open games

Replay Round 9 Women games

Replay the live stream

FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss Round 9 | Live commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Round 9 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
9	6	7	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	IND	2719	5	½ - ½	5½	GM	Sevian Samuel	USA	2654	40
9	10	54	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	IND	2640	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Eljanov Pavel	UKR	2691	16
9	13	41	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2652	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Deac Bogdan-Daniel	ROU	2643	50
9	27	49	GM	Saric Ivan	CRO	2644	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2618	81
9	31	60	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2634	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Kuybokarov Temur	AUS	2549	101
9	33	84	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	IND	2609	4	1 - 0	3½	GM	Dreev Aleksey	RUS	2635	59
9	36	79	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	IND	2620	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Matlakov Maxim	RUS	2682	22
9	42	82	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	IND	2617	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Zhou Jianchao	CHN	2629	67
9	45	25	GM	Adhiban B.	IND	2672	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Martirosyan Haik M.	ARM	2624	73
9	47	53	GM	Gukesh D	IND	2640	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn	ISL	2577	96
9	5	8	IM	Kashlinskaya Alina	RUS	2493	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Harika Dronavalli	IND	2511	4
9	9	46	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	IND	2322	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	BUL	2475	11
9	10	25	WGM	Vaishali R	IND	2419	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Cramling Pia	SWE	2447	17
9	20	19	IM	Arabidze Meri	GEO	2441	3	1 - 0	3	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	IND	2305	47
9	23	40	IM	Padmini Rout	IND	2380	3	½ - ½	2½	GM	Hoang Thanh Trang	HUN	2380	39

Details

Round 10 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
10	7	6	GM	Esipenko Andrey	RUS	2720	5½		6	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	IND	2640	54
10	8	28	GM	Sjugirov Sanan	RUS	2663	5½		5½	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	IND	2719	7
10	11	10	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	RUS	2704	5½		5½	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2652	41
10	21	44	GM	Sarana Alexey	RUS	2649	5		5	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	IND	2609	84
10	24	60	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	IND	2634	4½		4½	GM	Navara David	CZE	2691	17
10	35	81	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2618	4		4	GM	Gelfand Boris	ISR	2680	23
10	39	73	GM	Martirosyan Haik M.	ARM	2624	4		4	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	IND	2620	79
10	44	95	GM	Georgiev Kiril	MKD	2577	3½		3½	GM	Gukesh D	IND	2640	53
10	46	59	GM	Dreev Aleksey	RUS	2635	3½		3½	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	IND	2617	82
10	50	100	GM	Meshkovs Nikita	LAT	2550	3		3	GM	Adhiban B.	IND	2672	25
10	2	4	GM	Harika Dronavalli	IND	2511	6		6	IM	Paehtz Elisabeth	GER	2475	12
10	10	11	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	BUL	2475	5		5	WGM	Vaishali R	IND	2419	25
10	13	29	IM	Buksa Nataliya	UKR	2409	4½		5	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	IND	2322	46
10	21	16	GM	Danielian Elina	ARM	2450	3½		3½	IM	Padmini Rout	IND	2380	40
10	25	47	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	IND	2305	3		0	WIM	February Jesse Nikki	RSA	1857	50

Details

Links

Official site

Chess-results: Open and Women

Tournament Regulations: Open and Women

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