.jpeg)
In Malmö, the penultimate round of the traditional TePe Sigeman & Co tournament was played on Tuesday. Unlike rounds 1 to 6, the final round on Wednesday will kick off at 12 o’clock, three hours earlier than usual.
Round 6 was the first in the tournament to see draws on all four boards.
Facing Jorden van Foreest, Vincent Keymer got an interesting position with the black pieces out of a Nimzo-Indian Defence. The young German had attacking chances, since his Dutch opponent castled long. White, however, also had attacking possibilities, which prompted Keymer — who is not having a great tournament in Sweden — to settle the game with a piece sacrifice that led to a perpetual check.
The game between Arjun Erigaisi and Abhimanyu Mishra also ended without a winner. In the Jobava-London system, Arjun attacked on the kingside and kept his king in the centre. Abhimanyu, however, successfully kept the lines closed.
Co-leader Abhimanyu played 23...h6, 24...f5 and 25...b6 on the next three moves, creating a completely closed structure. Arjun, who came from suffering a painful loss against Van Foreest, soon agreed to repeat the position and call it a day.
Arjun Erigaisi went for an unusual yet dangerous line with the white pieces against co-leader Abhimanyu Mishra | Photo: David Llada
Peter Svidler, the other co-leader in Malmö, was also unable to extend his score. Svidler played a sideline against Grandelius’ Najdorf, but did not get much out of it. The game eventually petered out into a draw in a heavy-piece endgame.
In the game between Boris Gelfand and Dommaraju Gukesh, the young Indian castled long with black out of a principled Slav Defence. He got a better endgame after the exchange of queens, but the experienced Gelfand was able to defend the position successfully.
Battle of generations — Boris Gelfand played white against Dommaraju Gukesh in round 6 | Photo: David Llada
