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The Riga Technical University Open was played directly after the Olympiad, from 15th August to 24th August 2014. For Sam Shankland this demanding schedule proved to be too much. After his brillant performance in the Olympiad he started the tournament with 0.5/2 and decided to limit the damage to his Elo-rating and take a deserved rest.
The Armenian GM Hrant Melkumyan belongs to the top five players of his country but did not play in the Olympiad. Well rested he started in Riga with 6 out of 6, winning his games with solid technical chess.
Hrant Melkumyan
After this ferocious start he slowed down somewhat and finished the tournament with three draws leading to a final score of 7.5/9. This gave the young Hungarian GM Richard Rapport the chance to catch up with him. Rapport also finished the tournament with 7.5/9 but had the marginally worse tie-break and became second.
Richard Rapport
Rapport, born in 1996, is considered to be one of the greatest young talents in chess. With a rating of 2704 he is number two on the junior list and number 45 in the world. He has a keen tactical eye and likes to mix it up in the opening.
His keen tactical eye allowed him to spot a nice queen sacrifice against Benjamin Bok from Holland:
The crucial encounter: Richard Rapport against Hrant Melkumyan
Rapport is famous for his innovative and unusual opening play. One striking example was his crucial game against Melkumyan:
Final Standings
| Rg. | Name | Typ | FED | Elo | Pkt. |
Wtg1
|
Wtg2
|
Wtg3
|
|
| 1 | GM | Melkumyan Hrant | ARM | 2655 | 7.5 |
43.0
|
55.5
|
2792
|
|
| 2 | GM | Rapport Richard | U18 | HUN | 2704 | 7.5 |
43.0
|
55.0
|
2809
|
| 3 | GM | Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo | VEN | 2653 | 7.0 |
42.0
|
54.0
|
2731
|
|
| 4 | GM | Naroditsky Daniel | U20 | USA | 2587 | 7.0 |
41.5
|
53.5
|
2712
|
| 5 | GM | Savchenko Boris | RUS | 2596 | 7.0 |
41.0
|
52.5
|
2693
|
|
| 6 | GM | Banusz Tamas | HUN | 2585 | 7.0 |
40.0
|
51.5
|
2674
|
|
| 7 | GM | Fridman Daniel | GER | 2639 | 7.0 |
39.0
|
50.0
|
2641
|
|
| 8 | IM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | U16 | IND | 2467 | 7.0 |
38.5
|
49.5
|
2718
|
| 9 | GM | Bok Benjamin | U20 | NED | 2587 | 6.5 |
39.0
|
51.0
|
2600
|
| 10 | GM | Molner Mackenzie | USA | 2509 | 6.5 |
39.0
|
50.0
|
2630
|
|
| 11 | GM | Boruchovsky Avital | U18 | ISR | 2483 | 6.5 |
39.0
|
50.0
|
2620
|
| 12 | GM | Goganov Aleksey | RUS | 2604 | 6.5 |
38.5
|
49.0
|
2625
|
|
| 13 | GM | Aleksandrov Aleksej | BLR | 2595 | 6.5 |
36.5
|
47.0
|
2593
|
|
| 14 | GM | Werle Jan | NED | 2511 | 6.5 |
36.5
|
47.0
|
2534
|
|
| 15 | GM | Danin Alexandre | RUS | 2572 | 6.5 |
35.5
|
44.5
|
2541
|
|
| 16 | IM | Steinberg Nitzan | U16 | ISR | 2420 | 6.5 |
34.5
|
44.5
|
2541
|
| 17 | GM | Baron Tal | ISR | 2519 | 6.5 |
32.0
|
41.5
|
2449
|
|
| 18 | GM | Kovalenko Igor | LAT | 2650 | 6.0 |
40.0
|
51.0
|
2613
|
|
| 19 | GM | Kveinys Aloyzas | LTU | 2527 | 6.0 |
39.5
|
50.5
|
2599
|
|
| 20 | GM | Oparin Grigoriy | U18 | RUS | 2546 | 6.0 |
39.0
|
49.0
|
2556
|
| 21 | GM | Yemelin Vasily | RUS | 2573 | 6.0 |
38.5
|
49.5
|
2526
|
|
| 22 | GM | Neiksans Arturs | LAT | 2572 | 6.0 |
38.0
|
49.5
|
2541
|
|
| 23 | Sarana Alexey | U14 | RUS | 2341 | 6.0 |
38.0
|
47.5
|
2555
|
|
| 24 | GM | Antipov Mikhail Al. | U18 | RUS | 2508 | 6.0 |
36.5
|
46.0
|
2506
|
| 25 | IM | Swayams Mishra | IND | 2479 | 6.0 |
36.0
|
47.0
|
2514
|
|
| 26 | IM | Krivonosov Oleg | LAT | 2442 | 6.0 |
36.0
|
47.0
|
2454
|
|
| 27 | FM | Ben Artzi Ido | U20 | ISR | 2395 | 6.0 |
36.0
|
44.5
|
2506
|
| 28 | IM | Vavulin Maksim | U16 | RUS | 2425 | 6.0 |
35.5
|
46.5
|
2421
|
| 29 | IM | Ris Robert | NED | 2408 | 6.0 |
35.5
|
46.0
|
2526
|
|
| 30 | GM | Gavrilov Alexei | RUS | 2505 | 6.0 |
35.5
|
44.0
|
2493
|
Rapport was not the only young talent to shine in Riga. The young Indian IM Aravindh Chitambaram Vr also left a strong impression. With 7/10 he finished equal third on points but eighth on tie-break. In the last round he managed to outwit Alexei Shirov tactically:
Aravindh Chithambaram Vr
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov was top seed in Riga but came directly from the Olympiad and seemed exhausted. In the first round he lost against Florian Armbruster from Germany, then won four in row, followed by three draws and the loss against Aravindh Chithambaram.
Playing hall
The winner takes it...
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