TePe Sigeman & Co: Arjun wins two in a row, leads

A star on the rise

Indian grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi is one of the rising stars of recent times. As a 13-year-old, he won the gold medal in the Asian U14 Championships in 2017. At 14 years, 11 months and 13 days, he became one of the youngest players in chess history to be awarded the grandmaster title. And in 2019, he won the U16 Commonwealth Championships.

Despite his successes, Arjun was somewhat overshadowed by other Indian talents like Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin and Gukesh, who made more headlines for a while. But with his impressive performance at the Goldmoney Asian Rapid tournament last year, Arjun played his way into the limelight. Finally, with his remarkable victory at the Challenger tournament in Wijk aan Zee, it was clear that a major star was on the rise.

India, with its many strong players, occupies fourth place in the FIDE ranking of countries. And Arjun, with a 2675 rating, is also number four in India’s national ranking. Only Anand, Vidit and Harikrishna are ahead of him. In the list of top 100 juniors, Arjun has moved past Vincent Keymer to number three, behind Alireza Firouzja and Andrey Esipenko.

In the first round of the Tepe Sigeman & Co tournament in Malmö, the youngster emerged victorious from a sharp tactical battle against Alexey Shirov in the Botvinnik Variation of the Semi-Slav Defence.

In the second round, again playing white, he faced Saleh Salem from the United Arab Emirates. With an Elo of 2690, Salem was the slight rating favourite. However, the game soon became one-sided. Salem came out of the opening quite well in the Fantasy Variation of the Caro-Kann Defence, but then failed to find a good plan, while his opponent systematically built up an attacking position.

Winning with the fantasy variation

The Fantasy Variation (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3) is a tricky try by White to steer the game into muddy waters right from the off and take Black away from the solid positions he is accustomed to in the main line variations of the Caro-Kann. Traditionally the opening never gained too much credibility amongst top players, since White's attempt to preserve his pawn centre at the cost of weakening his kingside was hardly seen as a major threat to the super-reliable Caro. However, thanks to a wave of news ideas and innovations first introduced at the 2010 European Individual Championships and many more thereafter, the variation has made a major comeback and can now be found in the repertoires of some of the world's best. In this 60 minute video, IM Lawrence Trent will discuss the 5 main variations Black has at his disposal but how with each one White has a number of ways to keep the position full of play and dynamic possibilities, leading to games which loyal Caro players will have difficulty dealing with.

 

Erigaisi Arjun2675

1–0

Salem, A.R. Saleh2690

TePe Sigeman Co 2022 Malmo04.05.2022[Schulz,A]

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 The Fantasy Variation dxe4 The main variation is 3.. .e6, but then Black can't develop his Bc8 freely, which is the is the idea of the Caro-Kann Defence. 3...e6 4.fxe4 e5 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.c3 Mostly seen here is 6.Bc4 which threatens Bxf7 and Nxe5. 6...Nd7 7.Bd3 Ngf6 8.0-0 Bd6 9.Kh1 9.Na3 b5 10.Nc2 Bh5 11.Ne3 0-0 12.Nf5 Qc7 13.Qc2 Bg6 14.Nxd6 Qxd6 1/2-1/2 (60) Caruana,F (2828)-Firouzja,A (2728) Stavanger 2020 9...0-0 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bh4 Qc7 11...c5 12.d5 g5 13.Bf2 c4 14.Bc2 Bh5 0-1 (65) Amanov,Z (2392)-Kovalev,D (2451) Alushta 2009 12.Nbd2 b5 13.Rc1 a6 Black has no reason to be dissatisfied with his position. 14.a4 Nh5 14...Rfe8!? followed by Rad8. 14...exd4? 15.cxd4 Bxh2 16.e5 15.h3

Now the threat is 15.-- exd4 16.cxd4 Bxh2 15...Nf4 16.Bb1 Bxf3 17.Rxf3 Ng6 18.Bf2 Not 18.Bg3? exd4 19.Bxd6 Qxd6 losing a pawn. 18...c5 19.Nf1 19.d5 makes little sense with the bishop pair. 19...c4 19...cxd4!? 20.cxd4 Qb7 20.Ne3 The knight finds nice squares on d5 or f5. Rad8 20...Nf6? 21.Rxf6 gxf6 22.Qh5 with a strong attack. 21.Qc2 White systematically strengthens his position. The c1-rook should move to f1. Rfe8 22.Rf1 Ndf8 23.Nd5 Qc8 24.Be3 The last white piece moves into an attacking position. Bxh6 is in the air. Specifically, Rxf7 is threatened. Nh8 Covers f7, but a knight on h8 is the maximum penalty for the piece. 25.axb5 axb5 26.b3 After 26.Bxh6 gxh6 27.Nf6+ Kg7 28.Qc1 with an attack, one could think. But White first clears the queenside. 26...Bb8 27.bxc4 bxc4 28.Qf2 Qb7 29.Qh4 Nfg6 30.Qg4 Qc6 31.Nb4 Qd6 Black should try 31...Qc8 32.d5 Bc7 Better was 32...Nf4 but after 33.Nc6 White has a superior position. Black's idea is 33.Bxf4 exf4 34.Rxf4? Ng6 and the rook cannot move because of mate. 33.Ba2 The c4-pawn cannot be covered. White takes the gift. Nf4 34.Bxc4 Nhg6

35.Nc6 Takes control of e7. 35.g3? h5 36.Qf5 Ne7 capturing the queen. White has 37.Qxf7+ Kxf7 38.gxf4 Kg8 39.fxe5 Qxe5 40.Bf4 Qxe4 41.Bd3 grabbing the queen himself! Qxf3+ 42.Rxf3 Bxf4 43.Rxf4= 35...Ra8 36.g3 Ra4 37.Bb3 Rxe4 38.Qf5 Here, many roads lead to Rome for White. 38.gxf4 exf4 39.Bf2+- 38.c4+- 38...Rxe3 39.Rxe3 Qc5 40.Rfe1 Nxd5 41.Qd7 It's cracking everywhere. Re6 42.Qxd5 Qxc6 43.Qxc6 Rxc6 44.Rf1 White has emerged from the complications an exchange to the good. The attack on f7 costs further material. Rf6 45.Rxf6 gxf6 46.Rd3 Nf8 47.g4 Kg7 48.Bd5 Bb6 49.c4 Ng6 50.Rb3 Bd4 51.Rb7 Nf4 52.Kh2 Kg6 53.Kg3 Ne2+ 54.Kf3 Ng1+ 55.Kg2 Ne2 56.h4 h5 57.Bxf7+ Kh6 58.Bd5 1–0

The other three games ended drawn. Alexey Shirov and Jorden van Foreest had a wild battle in the Advance Variation of the Caro-Kann, in which the Spaniard never castled. The game between Michael Adams and Nils Grandelius in the Najdof Variation with 6.Be2 was calmer. David Navara and Hans Niemann also split the point after an interesting game in which White gave up his queen for a rook and a minor piece.

Round 2 results

Standings after round 2

All games

Links

• Official site
• Sigeman & Co: Van Foreest loses and wins, Keymer scores (2021)
• TePe Sigeman & Co: Jones secures the win (2019)
• Grandelius and Vidit co-champions at TePe Sigeman & Co (2018)