RTU Open in Riga has started

by André Schulz
8/6/2024 – On Saturday, the traditional Riga Tech University Chess Festival, organised to mark FIDE's 100 year anniversary, began in the Latvian capital Riga with a blitz tournament. Indian Grandmaster Iniyan Pa won with 10.0/11, half a point ahead of German IM Jakob Pajeken. The main tournament began on Monday with almost 300 players.

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Riga Tech University is once again organising its traditional RTU Chess Festival, which this year is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the World Chess Federation FIDE. The festival comprises seven tournaments, including a birthday blitz tournament, a rapid chess tournament, four open tournaments and a midnight blitz tournament at the end.

The FIDE anniversary blitz tournament was held as the opening tournament last Saturday. No fewer than 240 players, including numerous title holders, including grandmasters, took part and played eleven rounds Swiss.

At the end of the day, it was Indian grandmaster Iniyan Pa who emerged victorious. The 22-year-old won ten of his eleven games and was only beaten by compatriot Ilamparthi A.R., who finished third in the final standings with nine points. Ilamparthi is only 15 years old and is sure to make more headlines with results like this.

German IM Jakob Pajeken

Second place went to German IM Jakob Pajeken. The International Master from Hamburg, who plays for SK Doppelbauer Kiel in the Bundesliga, also lost only one game - against Ilamparthi A.R - but also drew against Swedish Grandmaster Erik Blomquist.

Final standings Blitz

Rk. SNo Name Type FED Rtg Club/City Pts.  TB1   TB2   TB3  K rtg+/-
1 8
GM Iniyan, Pa IND 2442 India 10 77,5 82,5 2667 10 27,4
2 4
IM Pajeken, Jakob Leon GER 2472 SK Doppelbauer Kiel 9,5 77 83,5 2541 10 12,5
3 17
IM Ilamparthi, A R U16 IND 2327 Thulir Chess 9 77,5 82,5 2587 20 75,2
4 3
GM Kazakouski, Valery LTU 2585 8,5 78,5 84,5 2446 10 -8
5 5
GM Antal, Gergely HUN 2461 8,5 77 82 2433 10 1,4
6 11
IM Rathanvel, V S IND 2405 India 8,5 76,5 82 2473 10 13,6
7 14
IM Trost, Edvin U18 SWE 2391 8,5 74 80 2408 10 7,3
8 86
FM John, Veny Akkarakaran U16 IND 1999 Calicut 8,5 72,5 76,5 2412 40 219,2
9 12
GM Zanan, Evgeny ISR 2400 8,5 68,5 73,5 2380 10 5
10 9
IM Ondersteijn, Niels NED 2437 Paul Keres Chess Club 8 74 79 2352 10 -6,1
11 13
GM Blomqvist, Erik SWE 2399 8 73,5 78,5 2321 10 -5,1
12 16
FM Vardanyan, Aras LTU 2344 Vilnius 8 73 79 2380 20 16,6
13 26
FM Karthik, Rajaa IND 2275 India 8 70 75,5 2219 20 -6,8
14 58
FM Sherman, Raem U20 ISR 2104 Hapoel Petach Tiqva 8 68 71,5 2322 20 59,2
15 40
Paikens, Reinis U16 LAT 2208 Rīgas Šaha skola 8 67,5 72,5 2346 40 88,4
16 7
GM Ehlvest, Jaan S60 USA 2460 8 66 71 2321 10 -10,8
17 32
FM Weber, Samuel GER 2259 SV Oberursel 8 59 63 2110 20 -22,6
18 54
CM Bazilius, Augustinas U16 LTU 2113 Jaunųjų šachmatininkų rėmimo fondas 8 58,5 63,5 2128 40 17,2
19 1
GM Pultinevicius, Paulius LTU 2630 Marijampole 7,5 75,5 81,5 2375 10 -20,4

...240 participants

This was followed on Sunday by the Riga City Rapid Chess Championship, which attracted even more players with over 250 participants. The quality of the rapid tournament was also better than the blitz tournament, with several more grandmasters taking part.

After nine rounds Swiss, Lithuanian Grandmaster and number one seed Paulius Pultinevicius won with 8.0/9. His compatriot Valery Kazakouski also finished with 8.0/9, but Pultinevicius had the better tiebreak.

Final standings Rapid

Rk. Name Pts.  Tb1 
1 Pultinevicius, Paulius 8 51
2 Kazakouski, Valery 8 50,5
3 Glek, Igor 7,5 53,5
4 Piorun, Kacper 7,5 49
5 Ehlvest, Jaan 7,5 47,5
6 Rychagov, Nikita 7,5 43
7 Safarli, Eltaj 7 49,5
8 Prohaszka, Peter 7 49
9 Pajeken, Jakob Leon 7 48,5
10 Sahib, Singh 7 47,5
11 Sherman, Raem 7 46,5
12 Antal, Gergely 7 44,5
13 Sitbon, Itay 7 42,5
14 Ilamparthi, A R 6,5 51,5
15 Iniyan, Pa 6,5 51
16 Pidluznij, Gleb 6,5 48
17 Loy, Konstantin 6,5 47
18 Sakalauskas, Vaidas 6,5 47
19 Harutjunyan, Gevorg 6,5 46,5
20 Zanan, Evgeny 6,5 46,5

...250 participants

A-Open

Sunday saw the start of two of the four classic time limit open tournaments. The remaining two open tournaments for children, juniors and seniors will start later in the week.

Nearly 20 grandmasters are taking part in the A-Open. The starting list is headed by Greek grandmaster Nikolas Theodorou. Polish grandmaster Kacper Piorun and Azeri grandmaster Eltaj Safarli also have ratings above 2600. A number of young players, including Polish U16 world champion Jakub Seemann and the aforementioned Ilamparthi, are sure to cause a few surprises.

Talking about surprises: In the first round, not all the favourites were able to live up to their role. Valery Kazakouski, for example, lost to 18-year-old Chinese player Chen Hongsen.

Games

Official tournament page...


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