Hrant Melkumyan wins in Riga

by Johannes Fischer
8/24/2014 – GM Hrant Melkumyan started the strong Technical University Open in Riga with 6 out of 6. Then the European Blitz Champion of 2011 decided to slow down and finished the tournament with three draws. Enough to win the tournament, but only because he had half a tie-break point more than Hungarian opening iconoclast Richard Rapport. Report and Games...
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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:

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,166,62354%2421---
1.d4947,29855%2434---
1.Nf3281,60256%2441---
1.c4182,10256%2442---
1.g319,70256%2427---
1.b314,26554%2427---
1.f45,89748%2377---
1.Nc33,80151%2384---
1.b41,75648%2380---
1.a31,20654%2404---
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1.d395450%2378---
1.g466446%2360---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c343351%2426---
1.h328056%2418---
1.a411060%2466---
1.f39246%2436---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.a4 c6 7.0-0 Qc7 8.Ba2 h6 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Nh4 Nc5 11.Nf5 Bxf5 12.exf5 0-0 13.Be3 e4 14.Qe2 Qe5 15.Rae1 Rae8 16.Qc4 Bd6 17.g3 Qxf5 18.Bd4 Ncd7 19.Re2 Be5 20.Bxa7 Bxc3 21.Qxc3 Ne5 22.Bc5 Nf3+ 23.Kg2 Re5 24.Bxf8 Qh3+ 25.Kxh3 Rh5+ 26.Kg2 Rxh2# 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Bok,B2587Rapport,R27040–12014C41Riga Tech Open A 20148.2

 

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:

 
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1.e3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.g4 h6 5.Bg2 c6 6.h4 d6 7.g5 hxg5 8.hxg5 Rxh1 9.Bxh1 Nh7 10.f4 e5 11.Qe2 Qe7 12.b3 exf4 13.exf4 Bg4 14.Qxe7+ Kxe7 15.Bb2 Kd7 16.Bf3 Bf5 17.Nge2 Na6 18.Na4 Bxb2 19.Nxb2 f6 20.Kf2 Rf8 21.Rh1 Rf7 22.gxf6 Nxf6 23.Ng3 Nc5 24.Rh8 Ng4+ 25.Kg2 Ne6 26.Nd3 Bxd3 27.Bxg4 Ke7 28.Rb8 Nxf4+ 29.Kf3 Nd5+ 30.Kg2 Nf4+ 31.Kf3 Nd5+ 32.Kg2 Nf4+ ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Rapport,R2704Melkumyan,H2655½–½2014A00Riga Tech Open A 20147.1

 

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

Complete Standings

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:

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,166,62354%2421---
1.d4947,29855%2434---
1.Nf3281,60256%2441---
1.c4182,10256%2442---
1.g319,70256%2427---
1.b314,26554%2427---
1.f45,89748%2377---
1.Nc33,80151%2384---
1.b41,75648%2380---
1.a31,20654%2404---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d395450%2378---
1.g466446%2360---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c343351%2426---
1.h328056%2418---
1.a411060%2466---
1.f39246%2436---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bd6 5.Na3 Na5 6.Be2 Be7 7.Nf3 e4 8.Ne5 0-0 9.0-0 d6 10.Ng4 Nxg4 11.Bxg4 f5 12.Be2 d5 13.d3 c5 14.Qd2 Be6 15.Rad1 Nc6 16.dxe4 fxe4 17.Nb5 Bg5 18.Qe1 a6 19.Nc3 Bf6 20.Nxd5 Bxb2 21.Nf4 Qf6 22.Rd6 Be5 23.Rxe6 Qf5 24.f3 Bxf4 25.exf4 exf3 26.Bxf3 Nd4 27.Re7 Nxc2 28.Qe4 Qf6 29.Rxb7 Nd4 30.Qd5+ Kh8 31.Qe5 Qxe5 32.fxe5 Rf5 33.e6 g6 34.Bg4 Rxf1+ 35.Kxf1 h5 36.Bf3 Re8 37.e7 Nf5 38.Rb6 Kg7 39.Rxa6 Rxe7 40.Rb6 Re3 41.a4 Nd4 42.Bd5 Re5 43.Bc4 Nc2 44.Kf2 Ne3 45.Be2 Nd5 46.Rb7+ Kf6 47.a5 Nc3 48.Bf3 c4 49.a6 1–0
  • Start an analysis engine:
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Aravindh,C2467Shirov,A27091–02014A01Riga Tech Open A 20149.8

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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Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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