THE second round of the on-going 81st Armenian Championship Highest League at Yerevan produced five decisive results that saw top seed GM Robert Hovhannisyan staying in the lead and second seed GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan falling in an upset.
Hovhannisyan defeated GM Tigran Petrosian and now leads the Category 14 (average Elo: 2577) event with 8th seed GM Arman Pashikian who upset Ter-Sahakyan. The other winners of the round were GMs Haik Martirosyan, Hovhannes Gabuzyan and Tigran Harutyunian who flogged GMs Levon Babujian, Shant Sargsyan, and IM Mamikon Gharibyan, respectively. Babujian and Gharibyan remain scoreless in the event. The only drawn game in Round 2 was the interesting bout between GMs Manuel Petrosyan and Zaven Andriasian.
The standings after Round 2: 1-3. Hovhannisyan, Pashikian, 2; 3-5. Martirosyan, Harutyunian, Gabuzyan, 1½; 6-7. Ter-Sahakyan, Petrosyan, 1; 8-10. Sargsyan, Petrosian, Andriasian, ½; 11-12. Babujian, Gharibyan, 0.
Babujian, L (2455)-Martirosyan, HM (2622) [B30]
Yerevan (2.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.d3 Ne7 6.Nc3 Ng6 7.h4 h5 8.e5 Qc7 9.Qe2 f6 10.exf6 gxf6 11.Ne4 Be7 12.Be3 d5 13.Nxc5 e5 14.d4 Bg4 15.Qa6 Rb8 16.dxe5 fxe5 17.Nb3 0-0 18.0-0-0 Nf4 19.Rhg1 e4 20.Rde1 c5 21.Ng5 Rf6 22.Qa4 Ne2+ 23.Rxe2 Bxe2 24.Qa5 Qxa5 25.Nxa5 Ra6 26.Nb3 Bc4 27.Bxc5 Bxc5 28.Nxc5 Rxa2 29.Kd2 Rbxb2 30.Rc1 Bb3 31.Ke3 Bxc2 32.g4 hxg4 33.Rg1 g3 34.Rxg3 Ra3+ 35.Kf4 Rxg3 36.fxg3 a5 37.h5 a4 38.h6 e3 39.Kxe3 a3 40.Nd7 a2 41.Nf6+ Kf8 0-1
Gabuzyan, H (2557)-Sargsyan, S (2596) [C44]
Yerevan (2.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Bd3 d5 8.Bd2 0-0 9.0-0 Bxc3 10.Bxc3 Nxe4 11.Bxe4 dxe4 12.Re1 Qd5 13.Qc1 Bf5 14.Qf4 Rad8 15.Qxc7 Rd7 16.Qf4 h6 17.a4 Re8 18.h3 Bg6 19.a5 Qg5 20.Qe3 Qxe3 21.fxe3 a6 22.Red1 Red8 23.Rxd7 Rxd7 24.Ra4 c5 25.Rc4 Rd5 26.b4 cxb4 27.Bxb4 Rd8 28.Rc6 Ra8 29.Bd6 Bf5 30.c4 Rc8 31.Rxa6 Rxc4 32.Rb6 Ra4 33.a6 Kh7 34.Rc6 Be6 35.Bc5 Bd5 36.Rd6 Ba8 37.a7 Ra2 38.g4 Ra1+ 39.Kf2 Ra5 40.Bd4 f6 41.h4 h5 42.Rd8 Bc6 43.Rc8 Bd5 44.gxh5 Ra4 45.Rc5 Ba8 46.Rc7 Ra6 47.Kg2 Bd5 48.Kg3 Ba8 49.Rd7 Ra3 50.Kf4 Ra2 51.Kg3 Ra3 52.Kg2 Ra2+ 53.Kh1 Bc6 54.Rc7 Ba8 55.Kg1 Ra6 56.Rd7 Ra2 57.Bxf6 Kh6 58.Rxg7 Kxh5 59.Rg5+ Kh6 60.Bg7+ Kh7 61.Bd4 Kh6 62.Rg2 Ra6 63.Rg8 Bd5 64.Rd8 Bb7 65.Rb8 Bd5 66.Rb6+ Rxb6 67.Bxb6 Kh5 68.Bd8 1-0
Harutyunian, TK (2549)-Gharibyan, M (2423) [A06]
Yerevan (2.3) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.d4 Nd7 5.0-0 Ngf6 6.a4 a5 7.c4 c6 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.e4 Nb4 10.Bg5 h6 11.Be3 e5 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Qxd8+ Kxd8 14.Nxe5 Bxe5 15.Nc3 Kc7 16.Rac1 Nd3 17.Rc2 Be6 18.f4 Bg7 19.f5 Bb3 20.f6 Bxc2 21.fxg7 Rhg8 22.Rxf7+ Kd6 23.Bh3 Rad8 24.Bb6 Bb3 25.Rxb7 Nc5 26.e5+ Kxe5 27.Bxc5 Bc2 28.Bf8 Rgxf8 29.gxf8Q Rxf8 1-0
Petrosian, TL (2601)-Hovhannisyan, R (2642) [C65]
Yerevan (2.4) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.0-0 Qe7 7.Be3 Bg4 8.Nbd2 Nd7 9.h3 Bh5 10.Qe1 0-0-0 11.a3 Kb8 12.b4 Bxe3 13.fxe3 g5 14.Qg3 f6 15.Rf2 Rdg8 16.Raf1 g4 17.Nh4 gxh3 18.Qxh3 Bg4 19.Nf5 Bxf5 20.Rxf5 h5 21.Rxh5 Rxh5 22.Qxh5 Qg7 23.Qf3 Rh8 24.Kf2 a6 25.Nb3 Rh6 26.Qg3 Rg6 27.Qh3 Rh6 28.Qg3 Rg6 29.Qh3 Rh6 30.Qf5 Qe7 31.Qg4 Ka7 32.Qg8 f5 33.exf5 Nf6 34.Qc4 Qg7 35.Na5 Ka8 36.Ke2 Qxg2+ 37.Rf2 Qg1 38.Qe6 Qg4+ 39.Ke1 Kb8 40.Qxe5 Rh1+ 41.Rf1 Qh4+ 42.Ke2 Rh2+ 43.Kd1 Qg4+ 0-1
Pashikian, A (2606)-Ter-Sahakyan, S (2640) [E10]
Yerevan (2.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 a5 6.Qc2 0-0 7.Bg2 c5 8.a3 Bxd2+ 9.Nbxd2 cxd4 10.Nxd4 e5 11.Nb5 Bd7 12.a4 Bc6 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.0-0 Nb4 15.Qc3 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 N8c6 17.Rad1 Qe7 18.Ne4 Rad8 19.Qc5 Qe6 20.Nbd6 Rd7 21.Qc4 Qxc4 22.Nxc4 Rfd8 23.Rxd7 Rxd7 24.Nc5 Rc7 25.Rd1 f6 26.Rd7 Rxd7 27.Nxd7 Na6 28.Nd6 Nc7 29.Nxb7 Kf7 30.Ndc5 Nd5 31.Nd6+ Ke7 32.Nc4 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nc7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…dxe5/d5 2.f8=Q#; 1…Ra5 2.Bxb4#; 1…Bxe5 2.Qd4#./PN
