Rilton Cup: Indian Grandmaster Raja Rithvik leads after five rounds

by André Schulz
1/2/2023 – The Rilton Cup in Stockholm celebrates its 50th anniversary. The tournament is now one of the top international tournaments through which players can qualify for the 2024 Candidates Tournament. After five rounds, 18-year-old Indian Grandmaster Raja Rithvik is sole leader with 4.5/5. | Photo: Dana Reizniece starts the round (Photos: Rilton Cup)

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This year's Rilton Cup started in Stockholm on 27 December. The tournament celebrates an anniversary, as it is being held for the 50th time. The first tournament took place in 1971/72 and was won by Jan Timman. The Dutch top player also won the tournament in 1972/1973. Since then, various top grandmasters have entered the list of winners.

View from the terrace of the playing venue

The event at the Scandic Continental in Stockholm's city centre includes three open tournaments with classical time control - the Rilton Cup, an Elo tournament and a tournament for players under 1800 Elo - and a match between Nils Grandelius and Bassem Amin, who play two games a day with a time control of 45+10.

Anna Cramling plays in the B-Open

The A-Open is part of FIDE's new qualification system for the Candidates. FIDE has abandoned the Grand Prix series and instead wants to consider results from top international tournaments. A player can qualify for the Candidates Tournament in this way.

In the main tournament almost 140 players take part, including a good 20 grandmasters and twice as many international masters, plus about 40 FIDE masters. Top seed is Krishnan Sasikiran. The Indian grandmaster came with 25 of his compatriots and thus the Indian contingent even exceeds the number of Swedish participants in the A-Open.

After five rounds the Indian Grandmaster Raja Rithvik leads with 4.5/5. In 2021 the now 18-year-old was the 70th Indian to become a grandmaster.

Raja Rithvik

 

 

Half a point behind Raja Rithvik follow eight players with 4.0/5 each. The best Swedish is currently Kucuksari Kaan with 3.5/5.

With two wins and three draws each the two Elo favourites Krishnan Sasikiran and Ilia Smirin also have 3.5/5.

Bassem Amin won the blitz tournament, which was held on New Year's Day, the rest day of the Open.

Standings after five rounds

Rk. Snr     Name Country Elo EloI Bdld Pts.  Tb1   Tb2   Tb3  Rp n w we w-we K rtg+/-
1 30
 
GM Raja Rithvik R IND 2453 2453   4,5 12 14 13 2786 5 4,5 2,74 1,76 10 17,6
2 24
 
IM Wadsworth Matthew J ENG 2470 2470   4 13,5 16 13 2593 5 4 3,24 0,76 10 7,6
3 37
 
IM Prraneeth Vuppala IND 2427 2427   4 13 14,5 13,5 2636 5 4 2,69 1,31 10 13,1
4 16
 
IM Horvath Dominik AUT 2502 2502   4 13 14,5 13 2617 5 4 3,33 0,67 10 6,7
5 11
 
IM Abdrlauf Elham NOR 2518 2518   4 12,5 15 11 2601 5 4 3,51 0,49 10 4,9
6 3
 
GM Livaic Leon CRO 2572 2572   4 12,5 14,5 12,5 2660 5 4 3,50 0,50 10 5
7 23
 
IM Parkhov Yair ISR 2470 2470   4 12 14 12,5 2628 5 4 3,04 0,96 10 9,6
8 8
 
GM Urkedal Frode Olav Olsen NOR 2536 2536   4 11,5 13,5 13 2664 5 4 3,25 0,75 10 7,5
9 22
 
IM Pranesh M IND 2475 2475   4 11 12 11 2588 5 4 3,35 0,65 10 6,5
10 18
 
IM Kucuksari Kaan SWE 2492 2492   3,5 14,5 16,5 13 2539 5 3,5 3,18 0,32 10 3,2
11 9
 
GM Galperin Platon UKR 2530 2530   3,5 13,5 16 12 2528 5 3,5 3,48 0,02 10 0,2
12 31
 
IM Sorensen Hampus SWE 2442 2442   3,5 13,5 15,5 12,5 2581 5 3,5 2,56 0,94 10 9,4
13 85
 
FM Olsson William SWE 2290 2290   3,5 13,5 15,5 10 2626 5 3,5 1,30 2,20 20 44
14 2
 
GM Smirin Ilia ISR 2596 2596   3,5 13 15,5 11 2552 5 3,5 3,74 -0,24 10 -2,4
15 1
 
GM Sasikiran Krishnan IND 2635 2635   3,5 13 15 11,5 2548 5 3,5 3,95 -0,45 10 -4,5
16 17
 
IM Seo Jung Min SWE 2502 2502   3,5 13 15 11 2519 5 3,5 3,37 0,13 10 1,3
17 12
 
GM Thybo Jesper Sondergaard DEN 2515 2515   3,5 12,5 15 12 2547 5 3,5 3,29 0,21 10 2,1
18 13
 
GM Kulaots Kaido EST 2513 2513   3,5 12,5 15 10,5 2502 5 3,5 3,55 -0,05 10 -0,5
19 42
 
IM Sokolovsky Yahli ISR 2415 2415   3,5 12,5 14,5 11 2574 5 3,5 2,42 1,08 10 10,8
20 5
 
GM Jacobson Brandon USA 2551 2551   3,5 12,5 14,5 10,5 2531 5 3,5 3,59 -0,09 10 -0,9

...136 players

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.