Parham leads 5/6, Gukesh loses again @ Samarkand
GM Parham Maghsoodloo led the Open section with 5.0 points after the sixth round of the $ 855,000 FIDE Grand Swiss 2025, Samarkand. Sharing the second spot with 4.5 points were GMs Abhimanyu Mishra, Anish Giri, Erigaisi Arjun, Nihal Sarin & Bluebaum Matthias. In the women’s section, GMs Vaishali Rameshbabu & Lagno Kateryna shared the lead with 5.0 points defeating joint leaders IMs Fataliyeva Ulviyya & Dinara Wagner.
Seeded 21st, Iranian Grandmaster Parham Maghsoodloo is having the best time of career so far. WIth a tournament rating performance of ELO 2978 coming from four wins & two draws, a consistent Parham can hope to make the cut.
The English opening appeared on the top board between leader GM Parham Maghsoodloo and Indian spearhead GM Erigaisi Arjun. Neither player was worse right through the four hour game and were happy to leave with a draw. After a day of rest Parham, with black pieces, faces in-form Indian Nihal Sarin while Erigaisi Arjun will battle it out against German Bluebaum Matthias.
In the game of the day, Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin scored a stunning miniature victory over GM Gumularz Szymon of Poland. The Queen’s Gambit Accepted game ventured into known theory before white got swept by a stunning combination.
Gumularz, who’s having a good run at Samarkand, failed to notice the double danger of a weak back rank along with a checkmate threat. With 22…Ne2+!! Nihal left his knight en prise leaving it free for capture. Any of the three replies (23. Rxe2 Qc1+ followed by checkmate or 23. Qxe2 Qg2# or 23. Kf1 or Kh1 face 23…Nxf4 leaving white a full rook down) leaves white either a rook down or face a checkmate. Nihal Sarin’s elegant finish reminds one of the similar styled wins from the games of past legends Mikhail Tal & Alexander Alekhine.
On a come back from a loss to GM Abhimanyu Mishra, World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju received a further setback losing his second game in a row. Greek Grandmaster Theodorou Nikolas made the best of the chances that came his way, putting it across the youngest world champion in the history of chess. The solid Petroff game offered no real threats for Gukesh who appeared to be coasting along. After periodical trade-offs the rook and pawn ending drifted towards a draw, when disaster struck the Indian. With 34. Ra7+? Gukesh walked into a losing position which Theodorou converted without difficulty. The rest day tomorrow is a time for reflection and recovery for the world champion.
In the women’s section, GMs Vaishali Rameshbabu & Lagno Kateryna kept their lead defeating joint leaders IMs Fataliyeva Ulviyya & Dinara Wagner. In top pairings for the 7th round, former women’s world champion Stefanova faces joint leader Lagno, while Vaishali takes on Guo Qi in the second board.
Round seven starts by Thursday, 11th September, at 6 AM ET / 12:00 CEST / 3:30 PM IST after a day of rest.
Round 6 Results (Open): Maghsoodloo Parham (5.0) drew with Erigaisi Arjun (4.5), Bluebaum Matthias (4.5) drew with Mishra Abhimanyu (4.5), Maurizzi Marcandria (4.0) lost to Giri Anish (4.5), Tabatabaei M Amin (4.0) drew with Firouzja Alireza (4.0), Rodshtein Maxim (4.0) drew with Abdusattorov Nodirbek (4.0), Erdogmus Yagiz Kaan (4.0) drew with Mamedyarov Shakriyar (4.0), Gumularz Szymon (3.5) lost to Nihal Sarin (4.5), Gukesh Dommaraju (3.0) lost to Theodorou Nikolas (4.0), Demchenko Anton (3.0) lost to Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (4.0)
Round 6 Results (Women): Lagno Kateryna (5.0) beat Wagner Dinara (4.0), Fataliyeva Ulviyya (4.0) lost to Vaishali Rameshbabu (5.0), Tan Zhongyi (3.5) lost to Stefanova ANtoaneta (4.5), Khamdamova Afruza (4.0) drew with Assaubayeva Bibisara (4.0), Girya Olga (4.0) drew with Song Yuxin (4.0), Balajayeva Khanim (3.0) lost to Guo Qi (4.5)
Gumularz Szymon (2590) – Nihal Sarin (2693) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O cxd4 7. exd4 Be7 8. Nc3 O-O 9. Re1 a6 10. Bf4 b5 11. Bb3 Bb7 12. Rc1 Bb4 13. Bg5 Nbd7 14. a3 Bxc3 15. Rxc3 Rc8 16. Rce3 Qc7 17. Ne5 Nxe5 18. dxe5 Qc6 19. Rf3 Ne4 20. Bh4 h6 21. Rf4 Nc3 22. Qf3
22…Ne2+!! (23. Rxe2 Qc1+ followed by checkmate or 23. Qxe2 Qg2# or 23. Kf1 or Kh1 face 23…Nxf4 leaving white a full rook down) 0-1
Maurizzi MarcAndria (2610) – Giri Anish (2746) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Nb3 e6 7. Be3 Nc6 8. g4 b5 9. g5 b4 10. Na4 Nd7 11. Qe2 Be7 12. O-O-O Bb7 13. f4 Na7 14. Bg2 Bc6 15. Qf2 Bxa4 16. Bxa7 Bxb3 17. axb3 Qc7 18. Be3 a5 19. f5 a4 20. fxe6 fxe6 21. bxa4 Rxa4 22. Bh3 b3 23. c3 Nc5 24. Qe2 Qc6 25. Kd2 O-O 26. Rhf1 Rxf1 27. Qxf1
27…Qxe4 0-1
Fataliyeva (2385) – Vaishali Rameshbabu (2452) 1.e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nc6 4. d3 Bb4 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Ne2 Bg4 9. f3 Be6 10. Bxd5 Qxd5 11. c4 Qc5 12. Bd2 O-O-O 13. Qb1 Nd4 14. Bb4 Qb6 15. c5 Qc6 16. Nxd4 exd4 17. O-O Rd5 18. Qe1 h5 19. c4 dxc3 20. Qxc3 f6 21. Rae1 h4 22. Re3 h3 23. g3 Rhd8 24. Rd1 a5 25. Bxa5 Rxc5 26. Qe1 Bg4 27. Qe2 Rxa5 28. fxg4 Rxa3 29. g5 fxg5 30. Qg4+ Kb8 31. Qxh3 Qb6 32. Qe6 Qxe6 33. Rxe6 Raxd3 34. Rxd3 Rxd3 35. Re5 g4 36. Re4 Rd7 37. Rxg4 b5 38. Rb4 c6 39. h4 Kb7 40. g4 Kb6 41. g5
41…c5 0-1
Photo Courtesy: Michal Walusza / FIDE (International Chess Federation)
Official Site: https://grandswiss2025.fide.com/
