Sunway Sitges: Alekseenko and Karthikeyan co-leaders

Five players in the chasing pack

Kirill Alekseenko and Karthikeyan Murali are the only players who have scored five wins in as many games at the Sunway Festival’s main tournament in Sitges. In their direct encounter on Saturday, Alekseenko will get the white pieces, a day before the participants get to rest prior to the final four rounds of the event.

A five-player chasing pack stands a half point back, all rated 2600 or above. Two Armenians belong to this group — Karen Grigoryan, who drew second seed Hans Niemann on Friday, and Manuel Petrosyan, who will face Niemann in the next round. Needless to say, the American rising star is also among the chasers, with Eltaj Safarli and Anton Demchenko the remaining two players currently on 4½/5 points.

Understanding Middlegame Strategies Vol.1-6

In this Videocourse we deal with different aspects of the middlegame which are important to study and improve your general understanding of chess structures.

No fewer than 32 players have collected 4 points in the first 5 rounds, including top seed Yu Yangyi, 2021 Tata Steel Masters winner Jorden van Foreest and Ukrainian star Anton Korobov. Two players from the starting rank’s top ten have struggled in Sitges, as they have only managed to obtain 3½ points so far in Catalonia: 2020 tournament winner Ivan Cheparinov and living legend Vasyl Ivanchuk. 

In round 5, Alekseenko bravely went for a direct attack with the black pieces against Abhimanyu Puranik, and ended up succeeding. However, the Indian got a chance to turn the tables on move 26.

Black has sacrificed a bishop on h3, creating trouble for his opponent, although engines do not consider the sacrifice to have been a good idea. While the bishop sortie was imprecise yet justifiable, Alekseenko’s follow-up, 26...Nh5, was simply a mistake.

Finding the refutation was no easy task though — 27.Qg4 Nf3+ 28.Kh1 Qxg4 29.hxg4 Nxe1 30.gxh5 leaves White in a better position with two minor pieces for a rook and a dangerous, mobile pawn chain on the queenside.

Abhimanyu did not find this variation, and played 27.Ne2 instead. The knight jump does not lose immediately, but Black gets to keep up the pressure in an uncomfortable position for the white king. 

The Ruy Lopez Breyer Variation

Pavel Eljanov explains in depth what Gyula Breyer already saw in 1911 and what became an opening choice of the likes of Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand or Carlsen. The Breyer Variation, which is characterised by the knight retreat to b8.

The Indian GM faltered decisively three moves later. Former Candidate Alekseenko did not falter again, and grabbed a 43-move victory that allowed him to remain as co-leader halfway through the 10-round event. 

A dynamic endgame from round 4 was instructively annotated by star analyst Karsten Müller. Eltaj Safarli found the precise path to convert his advantage in a sharp pawn race with rooks and bishops still on the board.

Standings after round 5

...326 players

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Links

• Official site
• Abdusattorov clinches first place in thrilling playoff (2021)
• Ivan Cheparinov prevails in Sitges (2020)