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

 

 
Raja Rithvik R24531–0Kucuksari, Kaan2492
50th Rilton Cup 2022-23
Stockholm31.12.2022[Schulz,A]
1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 d6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Nf3 0-0 7.0-0 c6 Sharper is 7...Nc6 8.d5 Ne5 9.Nxe5 dxe5 10.e4 f4 11.gxf4 exf4 12.e5 Ng4 13.e6 Ne5 14.Re1 Nxc4 15.Re4 Nd6 16.Rxf4 8.d5 e5 9.dxe6 Bxe6 10.b3 An alternative is 10.Qd3 Na6 11.Ng5 Qe7 12.Bf4 Rad8 13.Rad1 Ng4 and now 14.Nd5 is best, with the idea cxd5? 14...Qe8 15.Nxe6 10...Na6 11.Ng5 Qe7 12.Nxe6 Qxe6 13.Bb2 13.Ba3!? 13...Nc5 14.Qc2 Nfe4 15.Nxe4 Nxe4 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Rad1 Rae8 18.e3 Rf6 19.Rd4 Qe5 20.Rfd1 All this is known. White has more space and is better as he has pressure against Black's pawn on d6. Rfe6 Another try was 20...Kf7 21.b4 Re7 22.R1d3 b5 23.f3 bxc4 24.Qxc4+ d5 25.Qc2 Nd6 26.f4 Qe6 27.Rxd5 cxd5 28.Bxd5 Qxd5 29.Rxd5 Rxe3 30.Re5 Re4 31.Qc7+ Kg8 32.Qd8+ Kg7 33.Qe7+ Nf7 34.Rxe4 fxe4 35.Qxe4 h5 36.Qd4 a6 37.h3 Nd6 38.Qa7+ Nf7 39.a4 h4 40.b5 axb5 41.axb5 hxg3 1-0 (41) Peralta,F (2570)-Getz,N (2239) Sitges 2010 21.R1d3 21.h4!? 21.b4!? 21...a5 22.Qd1 h5 23.h4 Rd8 23...Qf6!? Idee: 24.Bxe4 fxe4 25.Rd2 Rf8 24.Bf3 24.Bxe4 fxe4 25.Rd2 Qc5 ist kaum ergiebig für Weiß 24...Kh6 25.Kg2 White is in charge but still needs a winning idea. Rg8 26.Qh1 To prevent ...g5. Qf6 27.Rd1 a4 Black is searching for counterplay but he could also simply wait to see what White wants to do. 28.b4 b6 29.Bxe4 fxe4 30.R1d2 Rf8 31.Qd1 a3 After 31...b5 32.cxb5 cxb5 33.Qc2 White controls the c-file. 32.Kg1 Qf5 32...c5!?= 33.Qc2 Rff6
33...Qg4!? 34.-- Rf3 35.-- g5 with good counterplay. 34.b5!? cxb5 35.cxb5 Qxb5? 35...Re5 36.Ra4 Rxb5= 36.Rxe4 Also good was 36.Rd5 Qe8 37.Qc7 Re7 38.Qxb6+- 36...d5? More stubborn was 36...Rxe4 37.Qxe4 Qa5 38.Qd5 Qxd5 39.Rxd5 though this endgame is still clearly better for White. 37.Qc8 Attacking the rook on e6 and threatening mate on h8. Qb1+ 38.Kh2 1–0

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.
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