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The Silver Lake Chess Festival (23-30 June) takes place in the municipality of Veliko Gradiste in Serbia and is organised by the VGSK Chess Club in cooperation with Danubia Park Hotels and the Central Serbia Chess Union.
The town of Veliko Gradiste (population 6200) is situated on a tributary of the Danube, which was dammed and separated from the Danube in the 1990s, creating a lake, the "Srebrno jezero" (Silver Lake). The chess festival is named after it. Veliko Gradiste is one of the warmest places in Serbia, with an average annual temperature of 25 degrees. The chess festival serves to make the place even more attractive for tourists.
The festival includes two open tournaments and a blitz tournament. 130 players start in the A-Open, top seeds are the two Armenians grandmasters Samvel Ter-Sahakyan and Manuel Petrosian. Then Nihal Sarin follows as the best player in a ten-strong Indian delegation.
After eight of nine rounds Nihal Sarin leads with 7.0/8 and is half a point ahead of the young Indian GM Raunak Sadhwani (born 2005) and the Serbian GM Branko Damljanovic (born 1961) who follow with 6.5/8.
Raunak Sadhwani (on the left, with White)
So far, Nihal Sarin, who will turn 17 on 13 July, has a rating performance of 2787 and has good chances to win the tournament. However, in round 9 he has to play with Black against Damljanovic.
In round 8 Nihal Sarin drew against Abhimanyu Puranik, but in round 7 he showed his defensive skills in a crucial game against Denis Makhnev.
Nihal Sarin (on the left, with Black)
The chances are about equal. White now starts an attack against Black's king.
20.Ne5?! Another idea was 20.Bc2!? and after 20...Rxc3? 21.Qxc3 Qxc3 22.Bh7+ Kxh7 23.Rxc3 White's rook is better than the two black minor pieces.
20...Nxe5 21.dxe5 Bxe5
22.f4? A rather brutal approach. White wants to open files against Black's king but objectively better was 22.Qh7+ Kf8 23.Ne2.
22...gxf4 23.Qh7+ Kf8 24.Bg6 That was White's idea...
24...fxg6 25.Rxf4+ Bxf4 26.Rf1 Qxc3 Black shows no fear.
27.Rxf4+ Ke8
28.Kh2 The white king wants to escape a check on e3. 28.Qf7+ Kd8 29.Qf8+ Kc7 30.Qf7+ Kb8 or 28.Qxg6+ Kd7 29.Rf7+ Kd6 yield nothing for White.
28...Qc7 Pinning the rook on f4.
29.Qxg6+ Kd7 30.Qg7+ Kd6 31.Rf7 Qd8 White resigned. His attack came to an end but he is still material down. 0–1
| Rk. | Name | Typ | FED | Rtg | TB1 | TB2 | Rp | rtg+/- | ||
| 1 |
|
GM | Nihal Sarin | U18 | IND | 2620 | 7,0 | 38,5 | 2787 | 14,0 |
| 2 |
|
GM | Sadhwani Raunak | U18 | IND | 2555 | 6,5 | 39,5 | 2685 | 13,5 |
| 3 |
|
GM | Damljanovic Branko | S60 | SRB | 2501 | 6,5 | 28,5 | 2512 | 3,6 |
| 4 |
|
GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | IND | 2589 | 6,0 | 38,5 | 2549 | -1,7 | |
| 5 |
|
IM | Radovanovic Nikola | SRB | 2395 | 6,0 | 38,0 | 2606 | 22,3 | |
| 6 |
|
GM | Sadikhov Ulvi | AZE | 2490 | 6,0 | 36,5 | 2529 | 4,9 | |
| 7 |
|
IM | Makhnev Denis | KAZ | 2480 | 6,0 | 36,0 | 2507 | 3,6 | |
| 8 |
|
IM | Raja Harshit | IND | 2459 | 6,0 | 35,0 | 2516 | 6,8 | |
| 9 |
|
IM | Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis | GRE | 2485 | 6,0 | 35,0 | 2508 | 2,7 | |
| 10 |
|
GM | Perunovic Milos | SRB | 2567 | 6,0 | 34,5 | 2536 | -1,3 | |
| 11 |
|
IM | Agmanov Zhandos | KAZ | 2404 | 5,5 | 37,0 | 2455 | 6,0 | |
| 12 |
|
IM | Megalios Konstantinos | GRE | 2390 | 5,5 | 36,5 | 2438 | 6,3 | |
| 13 |
|
GM | Ter-Sahakyan Samvel | ARM | 2644 | 5,5 | 36,5 | 2534 | -8,6 | |
| 14 |
|
IM | Boskovic Drasko | SRB | 2451 | 5,5 | 35,5 | 2494 | 5,9 | |
| 15 |
|
GM | Sedlak Nikola | SRB | 2519 | 5,5 | 35,5 | 2488 | -1,8 | |
| 16 |
|
GM | Strikovic Aleksa | S60 | SRB | 2469 | 5,5 | 33,5 | 2441 | -1,2 |
| 17 |
|
FM | Stukan Martin | U18 | RUS | 2376 | 5,5 | 33,5 | 2398 | 6,8 |
| 18 |
|
FM | Djokic Mihailo | SRB | 2129 | 5,5 | 33,0 | 2376 | 50,6 | |
| 19 |
|
FM | Vetokhin Savva | U18 | RUS | 2324 | 5,5 | 32,5 | 2424 | 22,0 |
| 20 |
|
FM | Kalogeris Ioannis | GRE | 2307 | 5,5 | 31,5 | 2329 | 7,4 | |
| 21 |
|
IM | Markovic Zoran S | SRB | 2315 | 5,0 | 37,0 | 2421 | 12,3 |
130 players
