Gukesh triumphs at La Roda Open

by Shahid Ahmed
4/18/2022 – Gukesh won his first classical tournament of the year at the 48th edition of the La Roda International Open. He obtained an unbeaten 8/9 score to finish a half point ahead of the competition. Haik Martirosyan from Armenia secured second place as the only player who got 7½/9 points. Five players scored 7/9, with Praggnanandhaa and Raunak Sadhwani getting third and fourth places respectively on tiebreaks. | Photo: Official site

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Gukesh first Indian to win the La Roda Open

La Roda International Chess OpenGM D Gukesh became the first Indian player to win the La Roda International Open in 48 years. Last year, in the 47th edition, WGM Nandhidhaa had become the first female player from the South Asian country to make a podium finish.

The winner of the event did not leave things to be decided on tiebreaks, as he had missed overall victory at the Indian National Senior Open and the Delhi International Open on tiebreaks. Gukesh took an average of 28 moves to score wins in La Roda. In the last three rounds, the average went down to 24 moves, which illustrates how well Gukesh played in this event.

A total of 183 players, including 7 GMs and 7 IMs, hailing from 13 countries participated in the event. The tournament was organized by the Club Ajedrez Polideportivo La Roda on April 13-17 2022 at La Caja Blanca in La Roda, Albacete. The nine-round Swiss tournament had a time control of 90 minutes for the game, with 30-second increments from the start.

One of the highly anticipated games of the tournament was a rematch between Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh from their final round encounter at the recently concluded Kvika Reykjavik Open. This time around, it was Praggnanandhaa who was unable to seize his advantage and Gukesh managed to save the day.

 
Praggnanandhaa R2624½–½Gukesh D2637
48th La Roda Open
chess24.com16.04.2022[Shahid]
1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.h3 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 e6 6.Be2 d4 7.Nb1 Ne7 8.h4 h5 9.d3 Ng6 10.g3 Nd7 11.Nd2 Be7 12.Qg2 Qc7 13.f4 e5 14.f5 Ngf8 15.c3 dxc3 16.bxc3 0-0-0 17.Nb3 Nc5 18.Qf3 Qb6 19.Rb1 Nh7 20.Kf1 Na4 21.Be3 Qc7 22.Qxh5 g6 23.Qf3 Nxc3 24.Rc1 Nb5?
24...Nxe2 25.Kxe2 25.Qxe2? gxf5 26.Qf3 26.exf5?? e4-+ 26...f4 27.gxf4 Rxd3 25...Nf6 25.Kg2 Nd4 26.Nxd4 exd4 27.Bf4 Bd6 28.fxg6 Bxf4 29.Qxf4 fxg6
30.Bg4+ 30.Rhf1 Rdf8 31.Qg4++- 30...Kb8 31.Qxc7+ Kxc7 32.e5 Rde8 33.Rce1 33.Rhe1 33...Re7 34.Re2 c5 35.h5 gxh5 36.Rxh5 Rg8 37.Bf3 Nf8 38.g4 b5 39.Kg3 Rg6 40.Rf5 Nd7 41.Bd5
½–½

Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa

Two of the biggest young talents in India!

In round 9, Gukesh managed to get outright victory by beating Victor Mikhalevski with the white pieces. By playing 5.h4 and 6.h5, the Indian put Black in disarray. Instead of completing the development of pieces with 11...Re8, Black played the strange 11...Nb4. Gukesh was ruthless in the conversion of his advantage.

 
Gukesh D26371–0Mikhalevski, Victor2554
48th La Roda Open
chess24.com17.04.2022[Shahid]
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.Nf3 g6 5.h4 Bg7 6.h5 Nc6 7.d4 Nxc3 8.bxc3 e5 9.e3 0-0 10.Be2 exd4 11.cxd4 Nb4?
11...Re8 12.Bd2 c5? 13.Rc1 b6 14.a3 Nd5 15.dxc5 bxc5 16.Rxc5+- Bb7 17.h6 Bh8 18.0-0 Qe7 19.Qc2 Rfd8 20.Rc1 Qf8 21.Ng5 Qe7 22.e4 Bd4 23.Rc4 Bf6 24.exd5 Bxg5 25.Bxg5 Qxg5 26.Qb2
1–0

Final standings

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Gukesh D 8,0 48,5
2 Martirosyan Haik M. 7,5 51,0
3 Praggnanandhaa R 7,0 53,5
4 Sadhwani Raunak 7,0 51,0
5 Lopez Martinez Josep Manuel 7,0 47,0
6 Martinez Reyes Pedro Ramon 7,0 45,0
7 Domingo Nunez Alejandro 7,0 45,0
8 Mikhalevski Victor 6,5 50,5
9 Sargsyan Shant 6,5 46,5
10 Buendia Pinar Alvaro 6,5 46,5
11 Alshameary Puente Ismael 6,5 45,5
12 Rubio Mejia Luis Ignacio 6,5 44,5
13 Valdepenas Octavio Javier 6,5 41,5
14 Machado Hernandez Junior 6,5 41,0
15 Bustos Bernardo Samuel 6,5 39,0

...187 players


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Shahid Ahmed is the senior coordinator and editor of ChessBase India. He enjoys covering chess tournaments and also likes to play in chess events from time to time.

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