Gukesh scores a hat-trick, wins Chessable Sunway Formentera Open

by Shahid Ahmed
5/11/2022 – Gukesh won his third consecutive tournament in Spain as he scored an unbeaten 8/10 to claim first place at the Chessable Sunway Formentera Open. After missing several tournament triumphs on tiebreaks, Gukesh got outright victory in Formentera by finishing a half point ahead of the field. Jaime Santos (Spain) and Shant Sargsyan (Armenia) completed the podium. | Photo: Official site

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Permission to only play in Spain

Gukesh won three tournaments in a row in Spain without conceding a single game. His unbeaten streak, which started on April 12, is now at 26 games. He won three events — first the La Roda Open and then the Menorca Open — and moved up to world number 66 in the live ratings list. Certainly an incredible feat!

The youngest GM from India collected six wins and four draws to claim clear first place on 8/10 points. Top seed Jaime Santos from Spain and third seed Shant Sargsyan from Armenia both scored 7½ points to finish in second and third place respectively.

[Don’t miss the very instructive instalment of the “Endgame Magic Show” with Gukesh]

Shant Sargsyan, Gukesh, Jaime Santos

Top 3 (L to R) - GM Shant Sargsyan, GM D Gukesh and GM Jaime Santos Latasa

The Chessable Sunway Formentera Open took place from April 29 to May 8 in Formentera, the smallest and most southerly island of the Pityusic Islands in the Spanish Balearic Islands autonomous community.

The main event was a 10-round Swiss open, played with a time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds from the first move. The total prize fund of the tournament was €14.500. The top three prizes were €3.000, €2.000 and €1.000 along with a trophy each.

Two crucial wins

On his way to overall victory, Gukesh scored two key wins over a couple of experienced grandmasters — José ‘Pepe’ Cuenca and Krishnan Sasikiran. The youngster had the black pieces in both games.

 
Cuenca vs. Gukesh - Round 3

36.bxc6 bxc6 would have been fine for White when the pawn was on f2. However, after 36.f3 Nd6 37.bxc6 bxc6 it is not the same. In fact, it is much worse for White.

Now the threat of f4 is devastating as there are too many ideas for Black, including Nc4-e3 — if Bd2 is played, Nxd2 Qxd2 and the white king will be in deep trouble.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Bd2 Re8 8.a3 Bf8 9.Qc2 h6 10.cxd5 exd5 11.Bd3 Bg4 12.0-0 Bd6 13.Nb5 Ne4 14.Nxd6 Qxd6 15.Be1 Bxf3 16.gxf3 Ng5 17.Kg2 Qe6 18.Bf5 Qf6 19.Bg4 Rad8 20.b4 Ne7 21.h4 Ne6 22.Rh1 c6 23.a4 g6 24.h5 Qg5 25.Kf1 f5 26.Bh3 Qxh5 27.Bg2 Qg5 28.f4 Qf6 29.Rxh6 Kg7 30.Rh3 g5 31.fxg5 Nxg5 32.Rg3 Kf7 33.b5 Ne4 34.Rh3 Rh8 35.Rxh8 Rxh8 36.f3? 36.bxc6 bxc6 37.Rb1= 36...Nd6 37.bxc6 bxc6 38.Qd3 f4 39.exf4 39.e4 Nc4 40.Bd2 Nxd2+ 41.Qxd2 dxe4-+ 39...Qxf4 40.Bd2 Qf6 41.Re1 Nc4 42.Be3 Nf5 43.Bf2 Qg6 44.f4 Rh2 45.Bh3 Rh1+ 46.Ke2 Qh5+ 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Cuenca Jimenez,J2551Gukesh D26590–12022D381st Chessable Sunway Formentera 20223.3

 
Sasikiran vs. Gukesh - Round 9

Black’s pawns on the queenside became a menace after White declined the queen exchange in this position. 35.Qxb7 Rxb7 would have probably not affected the outcome of the game, but it would have given some fighting chances.

Instead, 35.Qc2 suffocated White’s own pieces. There followed 35...b3 36.Qc1 a4 and the white pieces are cramped due to the lack of space. Earlier, Gukesh had declined a threefold repetition, making his intentions clear: he was playing for a win.

 
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1.e4 3 c5 59 2.Nf3 19 Nc6 7 3.Bb5 29 g6 118 4.0-0 21 Bg7 5 5.c3 26 Nf6 57 6.Re1 24 0-0 20 7.d4 36 d5 6 8.e5 38 Ne4 6 9.h3 250 cxd4 92 10.cxd4 79 Bd7 418 11.Ba4 687 Rc8 311 12.Bb3 419 Bf5 256 13.Nc3 451 Nxc3 267 14.bxc3 9 Na5 6 15.Bd2 681 Nc4 46 16.Nh4 404 Bd7 318 17.Nf3 282 Bf5 42 18.Nh4 108 Bd7 5 19.Nf3 58 b5 42 20.Bg5 741 a5 126 21.Rc1 135 Bf5 169 22.Nh4 102 Be6 11 23.Nf3 22 Qd7 21 24.Nh2 386 Rc7 154 25.h4 304 h6 609 26.Bf4 144 Rfc8 242 27.Nf1 185 Nb6 942 28.Bd2 128 Nc4 332 29.Bxc4 218 dxc4 73 30.Ne3 39 b4 87 31.h5 116 g5 396 32.Qf3 70 Qb5 447 33.Rb1 111 Rd7 57 34.Qe4 10 Qb7 194 35.Qc2? 39 35.Qxb7 Rxb7 36.g4 Rd7 35...b3-+ 43 36.Qc1 35 a4 23 37.f3 62 37.f4 gxf4 38.Nd1 37.axb3 cxb3-+ 37.a3 f6 37...Qa7 124 38.Ng4 37 Rc6 146 39.Be3 28 Qa5 46 40.a3 0 f5 0 41.exf6 148 exf6 105 42.Nf2 113 Bf7 46 43.Ne4 156 f5 228 44.Nc5 5 Rxc5 40 45.dxc5 4 Qxc3 5 46.c6 7 Rc7 54 47.Qd1 12 Qf6 21 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Sasikiran,K2651Gukesh D26590–12022B311st Chessable Sunway Formentera 20229.1

Video analysis by IM Sagar Shah


Final standings (top 15)

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Gukesh Dommaraju 8,0 57,0
2 Santos Latasa Jaime 7,5 58,0
3 Sargsyan Shant 7,5 57,5
4 Martirosyan Haik M. 7,0 57,0
5 Soham Das 7,0 51,0
6 Cuenca Jimenez Jose Fernando 6,5 58,0
7 Santos Ruiz Miguel 6,5 57,0
8 Jarmula Lukasz 6,5 52,5
9 Song Julien 6,5 50,5
10 Romanishin Oleg M 6,5 50,0
11 Batsiashvili Nino 6,0 56,0
12 Yankelevich Lev 6,0 49,5
13 Eugene Floryan 6,0 48,5
14 Chiku-Ratte Olivier-Kenta 6,0 47,0
15 Sasikiran Krishnan 5,5 58,5

...54 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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