82nd Brazilian Ch: Mekhitarian leads bloodbath

by Albert Silver
1/14/2016 – It would be precipitous to say that Leitão’s chances for a record eighth title are jeopardized, but it will most certainly be a small mountain to climb. After five rounds, Mekhitarian and Choma shared first with 4.0/5, but a dramatic win over Leitão, left Krikor in sole first with 5.0/6. The tournament has been a bloodbath with almost 80% wins. Report, photos, and games.

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Report and photos by Albert Silver

If the tournament were to be described as a battle, then the depiction would be that of a battlefield with bodies strewn left and right, and smoking craters. After six rounds of uncompromising action, just over 22% of the games ended in draws, while the sixth round saw no peaceful results.

After five rounds, the two leaders were GM Krikor Mekhitarian and FM Ernani Choma with 4.0/5

Seven-time champion Rafael Leitão had a slowish start but a key win in round five over
IM Eduardo Limp (left) kept him in contention with 3.5/5

It all came down to a key showdown between the two grandmasters. The game was relatively
balanced, but hard fought, and neither player really seemed happy with a draw...

... especially GM Krikor Mekhitarian who refused a repetion, despite a lightly worse position,
to keep on fighting.

GM Krikor Mekhitarian - GM Rafael Leitão

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
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1.e4 0 c5 131 2.Nf3 0 d6 7 3.d4 7 cxd4 6 4.Nxd4 2 Nf6 8 5.Nc3 3 a6 5 6.Be3 341 e5 30 7.Nb3 4 Be6 64 8.f3 54 Nbd7 110 9.Qd2 252 h5 158 10.0-0-0 88 Be7 67 11.Kb1 30 Qc7 347 11...Rc8 12.g3 b5 13.Nd5 Bxd5 14.exd5 Nb6 15.Bxb6 Qxb6 16.Na5 Rc5 17.c4 bxc4 18.Nxc4 Qb7 19.Ne3 0-0 20.Bd3 Rb8 21.Rc1 Rbc8 22.Rxc5 Rxc5 23.Rc1 Rxc1+ 24.Qxc1 g6 25.a3 Qb6 26.Qd2 Qd4 27.Kc2 Bf8 28.Bc4 Qb6 29.Qd3 Bh6 30.Nd1 Qg1 31.Qe2 a5 32.Kb3 Nd7 33.Ka2 Nb6 34.Nc3 Nxc4 35.Qxc4 Qxh2 36.Ne4 Bf8 37.Nf6+ Kg7 38.Ne8+ Kh8 39.Qc7 Kg8 40.Nf6+ Kg7 41.Ne8+ Kg8 42.Nf6+ Kg7 43.Ne8+ Kg8 44.Nf6+ Kg7 1/2-1/2 (44) Akopian,V (2648)-Anand,V (2803) Berlin 2015 12.Nd5 808 Bxd5 438 13.exd5 3 Nb6 40 14.Qa5 942 Rc8 130 15.c3 14 Nc4 314 16.Qxc7 67 Rxc7 5 17.Bf2 574 Bd8 1102 18.Bd3 912 0-0? 217
19.Rhe1?! 297 Leave it to the engines to come up with the startling but impressive 19.Nc5! Nxb2 20.Kxb2 dxc5 21.d6! Rc6 22.Rhe1 with a clear advantage for White, thanks to the bishop pair as well as the passed d6-pawn. 19...g6 204 20.h3 348 20.Nc5! 20...Kg7 1219 21.g3 21.Nc5! 21...Nd7 181 22.f4 815 b5 289 23.f5? 368 Time and stress are clearly having their toll on the two grandmasters, as neither is really happy with a draw. Nf6 40 24.Bc2 56 Rc8 173 25.Nd2 Nxd2+ 308 26.Rxd2 63 Rb8 22 27.Be3 48 Bb6 407 28.Bg5 1 Bd8 119 29.Be3 58 Bb6 10 30.Bg5 16 Bd8 5 31.Rf1 107 Nh7 77 32.Be3 21 Bb6 23 33.Bxb6 16 Rxb6 4 34.Rdf2 49 Nf6 25 35.fxg6 49 fxg6 36.Be4 30 Rbb8 125 37.Bg2 b4 52 38.cxb4 21 Rxb4 7 39.Rc1 20 Nd7 48 39...Rd4! begged to be played. 40.Rc6 e4! 41.Re2 h4 42.g4? 42.gxh4 Nxd5! 42...Nxd5 and e4 is untouchable due to the tactic 43.Rxa6 43.Rxe4? Rd1+ 44.Rc1 Rxc1+ 45.Kxc1 Rf2 43.Bxe4? Nf4 43...Rb8 40.Rxf8 15 Kxf8 4 41.Rc6 45 Rb6 63 42.h4 43 Ke7 33 43.Bh3 9 Rb7 26 44.Rxa6 11 Nc5 25 45.Ra8 70 Rb4 31 46.Bg2 54 e4 30 46...Nd3! 47.Ra7+ Kf6 48.b3 Rg4! 47.Kc2 32 Rd4 20 48.Ra3 19 Kf6 16 49.Re3 21 Ke5 4 50.a3 35 Rc4+ 85 51.Rc3 43 Rd4? 9 Black is playing with fire considering the two passers on a- and b-, but is not immeidately punished for it. 52.Re3 24 Rc4+ 5 53.Rc3 44 Rd4 4 54.b4! 20 and now Black's position collapses. The two pawns are too strong. Nd3? 25 Oblivious to the danger, this loses much faster, but the position was already compromised. Even after the better 54...Nd7! White continues 55.Rc7 Nf6 56.Re7+ Kxd5 and then brings in his bishop to help support the pawns with 57.Bf1! Ng4 58.Ba6! with a nearly decisive advantage. 55.Bf1 10 Ne1+ 22 56.Kc1 7 Rxd5 76 57.b5 12 Nd3+ 79 58.Bxd3 22 exd3 5 59.Rb3 53 Kd4 48 60.Kd2 42 Rf5 27 61.Rb4+ 13 Kc5 8 62.b6 4 Rf2+ 61 63.Kxd3 15 Rf3+ 11 64.Ke4 47 Rxa3 50 65.b7 10
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Mekhitarian,K2555Leitao,R26331–02016B9082nd Brazilian-ch 20156

A vital victory for the young grandmaster who is now the clear leader.

Right behind him however is IM Evandro Barbosa, who has had an excellent event thus far,
and already played both grandmasters in the first two rounds.

The win-rate has been extraordinary, and one can only congratulate all the players for their
exemplary fighting spirit

IM Yago Santiago, who had had a tough 0.0/3 start, is now at 2.0/6 and is clawing his way
back to salvage what he can of this year's championship

Current standings after six rounds

ITT CXG Marcel Duchamp Memorial

Running parallel to the main event competition is the Marcel Duchamp Memorial. This is spearheaded by the Brazilian Chess Federation in collaboration with the Marcel Duchamp Foundation, whose president is Argentine Eduardo Moccero. The Marcel Duchamp Foundation is a close friend of female chess, and has helped sponsor many events in support of female chess development.

The competition is designed to create chances for WGM norms for four players seeking them, though the challenge will be considerable and exciting. Instead of having just enough to allow a norm, four grandmasters and one international master form the opponents, meaning that should any of the ladies be successful enough, even more can be achieved.

The Memorial is held late in the afternoon, and since some rounds overlap, the room can
look like this, with action in every direction

Among the Brazilian Women International Masters are Juliana Terão...

...and WIM Vanessa Feliciano.

From Argentina there is WIM Ayelen Martinez...

... and Marisa Zuriel.

Marisa Zuriel drew GM Carlos Garcia Palermo in round one. Above, Eduardo Moccero
follows the post-mortem.

Argentine GM Alonso Salvador is the top seed in the competition...

... followed by American GM Robert Hungaski

GM Carlos Garcia Palermo is the thrid grandmaster in the group...

... and Portuguese grandmaster Luis Galego is the fourth.

Rounding off the group of titled players is IM Bernardo Roselli, the organizer of the Continental
Championship
held in Montevideo, Uruguay in early 2015

Finally there is local player Luiz Manzi who is the tenth player

A special acknowledgement to Sabrina de San Vicente, in charge of the DGT boards, which
make it possible to follow the games live

Current standings after four rounds

The live games - Partidas ao vivo

Live Commentary in Portuguese

Also of special note in this year’s edition is the second straight year of live GM commentary of all the rounds, in Portuguese, by GM Darcy Lima. This year the Brazilian Federation is partnering with ChessBase so that the live commentary is broadcast via Playchess but open to all visitors, even guest accounts! This video commentary is done together with ChessBase News editor, Albert Silver, and can be viewed in the web version of Playchess as well.

Rafael Leitão joins Darcy Lima in the post-game conference

The commentary could be seen not only in the desktop software, but also the web version of Playchess

To view it live, and free, just enter PlayChess, go to Live Games and Listen to Radio

With a range of players and ratings from an untitled 2159 FIDE to a 2633 FIDE grandmaster, there is room for wild games, unpredictable results, and overall highly entertaining rounds, and the first three rounds have lived up to that.

For Brazilian viewers - Para leitores Brasileiros

 

Este vídeo em Português deve esclarecer como acessar a Playchess para acompanhar os
comentarios ao vivo e de graça. (Trans: this video in Portuguese should help explain how
to access Playchess in order to enjoy the free live commentary)


Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.


Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.

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