Abhimanyu Mishra stuns Gukesh, seeds crash @ Samarkand
Abhimanyu Mishra, the youngest Grandmaster in the history of chess, added another feather to his cap defeating World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju in the tumultuous fifth round of $ 855,000 FIDE Grand Swiss at Samarkand. GM Parham Maghsoodloo defeated GM Richard Rapport in the top board staying ahead with 4.5/5 on a day that saw 2700+ Grandmasters fall like ninepins. Sharing the second spot with 4.0 points were GMs Abhimanyu Mishra, Maurizzi Marcandria, Erigaisi Arjun and Bluebaum Matthias. In the women’s section, four players shared the lead with 4/5 score as IMs Dinara Wagner and Ulviyya Fataliyeva joined leaders GMs Vaishali Rameshbabu and Kateryna Lagno on the top.
Grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra extended his unbeaten 60 game streak overcoming world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in a game that will be much talked about. In the process, 16 year old Mishra also broke a 33 year old record that stood in the name of GM Gata Kamsky who at 17 years of age beat the then world champion Garry Kasparov at Sparkassen Dortmund, 1992. The Giuoco Piano – Italian game saw Gukesh miss his way as early as the 12th move after which Mishra had the Indian Grandmaster defending a tricky position till the very end. The double rook ending with an extra pawn demanded great precision and Mishra played it close to perfection wrapping the game after more than five hours.
Unlike the previous round, seven of the top ten games produced results. It was the Indian Grandmaster Erigaisi Arjun who stemmed the slide of the seeds, overcoming GM Nikita Vitiugov in a complicated game. The English Opening game saw both the players willing to take the plunge into complications. The Russian English Grandmaster gave up his queen for two rooks for greater activity and piece play. It came down greater maneuvering in the middle game where Erigaisi excelled. Using his queen like a wand in the hands of a conductor of a famed orchestra, Erigaisi outwitted his opponent in 37 moves.
Another piece of history was recorded on the day when two gladiators fought it out for close to nine hours. Grandmasters Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş fought until the last drop of blood. The Uzbek had the upper-hand for major part of the game and was unwilling to settle for a draw. Having missed his chances the local star faced resolute defense from Erdogmus who hung on to his precious life. The ending where a king, queen and pawn faced the opposite king and queen lasted a whopping 190 moves ending close to midnight local time. The game incidentally, was inaugurated by Uzbek legend & former FIDE knock-out World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov.
The fifth round will be remembered long for huge upsets, when higher seeds viz., Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, Keymer, Rapport, Fedoseev went down to their respective lower rated opponents viz., Bluebaum, Mishra, Maurizzi, Parham, Puranik. One can tip their hats to the underdogs who held their own against the very best. Close to the mid-way mark the Grand Swiss tournament is interestingly poised with numerous possibilities.
Round six starts by Tuesday, 9th September, at 6 AM ET / 12:00 CEST / 3:30 PM IST.
Round 5 Results (Open): Rapport Richard (3.0) lost to Maghsoodloo Parham (4.5), Bluebaum Matthias ((4.0) beat Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (3.0), Erigaisi Arjun (4.0) beat Vitiugov Nikita (3.0), Mishra Abhimanyu (4.0) beat Gukesh Dommaraju (3.0), Maurizzi Marcandria (4.0) beat Keymer Vincent (3.0), Abdusattorov Nodirbek (3.5) drew with Erdogmus Yagiz Kaan (3.5), Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (3.0) drew with Cheparinov Ivan (3.0).
Round 5 Results (Women): Vaishali Rameshbabu (4.0) drew with Lagno Kateryna (4.0), Stefanova Antoaneta (3.5) drew with Khamdamova Afruza (3.5), Bulmaga Irina (3.0) lost to Wagner Dinara (4.0), Kosteniuk Alexandra (2.5) lost to Fataliyeva Ulviyya (3.0), Danielian Elina (2.5) lost to Tan Zhongyi (3.5), Assaubayeva Bibisara (3.5) beat Salimova Nurgyul (2.5), Kamalidenvoa Meruert (2.5) drew with Dronavalli Harika (2.5), Muzychuk Anna (2.5) beat Vantika Agrawal (1.5).
Erigaisi Arjun (2771) – Vitiugov Nikita (2666) 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. d4 dxc4 7. Ne5 Nc6 8. Bxc6 bxc6 9. Nxc6 Qe8 10. Nxe7+ Qxe7 11. Qa4 e5 12. dxe5 Qxe5 13. Re1 Qc5 14. Be3 Qh5 15. f3 Qe5 16. Bf2 Qxb2 17. Na3 Bd7 18. Nxc4 Qxa1 19. Qa3 Qxe1+ 20. Bxe1 Bb5 21. Qc5 Rab8 22. Bc3 Rfe8 23. Ne3 Bxe2 24. Kf2 Rb5 25. Qxa7 Bd3 26. Bxf6 gxf6 27. Qd4 Bg6 28. Nd5 Ra8 29. Nxf6+ Kf8 30. a4 Rba5 31. Nd5 Rxd5 32. Qh8+ Ke7 33. Qxa8 Rd2+ 34. Ke3 Rd3+ 35. Ke2 Ra3 36. Qc6 Ra2+
37. Kd1 1-0
Bluebaum Matthias (2671) – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2785) 1. d4 e6 2. c4 Bb4+ 3. Nc3 Bxc3+ 4. bxc3 f5 5. e4 fxe4 6. Qg4 Qe7 7. Qxe4 Nf6 8. Qc2 b6 9. Nf3 Bb7 10. Be2 d6 11. O-O Nbd7 12. Be3 O-O 13. Nd2 e5 14. Rae1 Kh8 15. Bd1 Rae8 16. f4 exf4 17. Rxf4 Qf7 18. Rff1 Re7 19. Qd3 Rfe8 20. Bf2 Rxe1 21. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 22. Bxe1 Nf8 23. Qe3 Ng6 24. Bg3 Qd7 25. h3 Qf5 26. d5 Ba6 27. a3 Kg8 28. Be2 Ne5 29. Bxe5 dxe5 30. Nf3 Qe4 31. Qxe4 Nxe4 32. Nxe5 Nxc3 33. Bd3 b5 34. c5 Nxd5 35. Nc6 Bb7 36. Nxa7 c6? (Here, Pragg can play 36…Nf4! & sustain the position. But he played 36…c6? blocking his own bishop & eventually lost)
37. Be4 Nc3 38. Bxc6 Bxc6 39. Nxc6 Kf7 40. Nd4 Kf6 41. c6 Ke7 42. Kf2 Kd6 43. Kf3 g6 44. h4 h6 45. Kg4 Nd5 46. Nxb5+ Kxc6 47. Nd4+ Kc5 48. Nc2 Kc4 49. Kf3 Kb3 50. Ne3 Nf6 51. Ng4 Ng8 52. Ke4 Kxa3 53. Ke5 h5 54. Ke6 hxg4 55. Kf7 1-0
Photo Courtesy: Michal Walusza / FIDE (International Chess Federation)
Official Site: https://grandswiss2025.fide.com/
