It’s a rest day at the 83rd Tata Steel Chess Masters Tournament at Wijk aan Zee, so we’ll just finish our report on the 11thAndranik Margaryan Memorial which ended Jan. 17 in Yerevan, Armenia.
The eventual winner, GM Hovik Hayrapetyan, retained the Memorial championship in comfortable style, scoring seven points and finishing the Category 8 (average Elo: 2441) classic event a full point ahead of top seed IM Sergey Lobanov and GM Levon Baujian who tallied identical six points and shared second to third places.
The big story, however, is that Hayrapetyan has won the Memorial as early as the end of the sixth round after piling up a 1½-point lead, and gave him the luxury of drawing his last three games and still wound up retaining the title he won last year. It was also in Round 6 that Hayrapetyan defeated top seed Lobanov, ending the latter’s title quest.
Surprisingly, FM Denis Lazavik took solo fourth place, half a point ahead of GM Arman Mikaelyan and IM Rudik Makaryan who shared fifth to sixth places. FM Armen Barseghyan, on the other hand, lived up to his last place seeding and finished the event as the only winless player.
The final standings: 1. Hayrapetyan, 7; 2-3. Lobanov, Babujian, 6; 4. Lazavik, 5; 5-6. Mikaelyan, Makaryan, 4½; 7. Daneshvar, 4; 8. Gharibyan, 3½; 9. Sargsyan, 3; 10. Barseghyan, 1½.
Lobanov, S (2510)-Hayrapetyan, H (2488) [B48]
Yerevan (6.3) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Qf3 Nf6 8.0-0-0 Be7 9.Be2 0-0 10.g4 d6 11.g5 Nd7 12.h4 Nxd4 13.Rxd4 b5 14.Qg3 Bb7 15.Rhd1 Rac8 16.f4 Qa5 17.Bd2 b4 18.Nb1 d5 19.e5 Rc7 20.Qb3 Nc5 21.Qa3 Rfc8 22.Bxb4 Nb3+ 23.Qxb3 Rxc2+ 24.Qxc2 Rxc2+ 25.Kxc2 Bxb4 26.a3 Bc5 27.b4 Qa4+ 28.Kb2 Bxd4+ 29.Rxd4 Qc6 30.Nd2 Qb6 31.Nb3 Bc6 32.Kc3 Bb5 33.Bg4 Bc4 34.Na5 Bf1 35.Bd1 f6 36.gxf6 gxf6 37.exf6 Qc7+ 38.Kd2 Kf7 39.a4 Kxf6 40.Bc2 Qb6 41.Kc3 e5 42.fxe5+ Kxe5 43.Rd1 Be2 44.Rd2 Qe3+ 45.Bd3 Bxd3 46.Rxd3 Qc1+ 47.Kb3 Qb1+ 48.Kc3 d4+ 49.Rxd4 Qc1+ 0-1
Lazavik, D (2436)-Babujian, L (2440) [D84]
Yerevan (6.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 0-0 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Nxd5 Qxd5 8.Bxc7 Na6 9.Bxa6 Qxg2 10.Qf3 Qxf3 11.Nxf3 bxa6 12.Rc1 a5 13.0-0 a4 14.Rc5 f6 15.Rfc1 Bg4 16.Nd2 Rfc8 17.R1c4 Bd7 18.Ne4 Bf8 19.d5 a6 20.Ba5 Rab8 21.Bc3 Rxc5 22.Rxc5 Bf5 23.Ng3 Bd3 24.Rc7 f5 25.f3 a3 26.bxa3 Rb5 27.a4 Rxd5 28.e4 fxe4 29.fxe4 Rd8 30.Kf2 Kf7 31.Bb4 h5 32.Ke3 Bb1 33.a3 Bh6+ 34.Kf2 Bg5 35.Ra7 Bd3 36.Kf3 Ke6 37.Kf2 Rf8+ 38.Ke1 h4 39.Ne2 h3 40.Bc5 Rf7 41.Ng3 Bf4 42.Bf2 Be5 43.Ne2 Bxe2 0-1
Daneshvar, B (2399)-Lobanov, S (2510) [D84]
Yerevan (7.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 0-0 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Nxd5 Qxd5 8.Bxc7 Nc6 9.Ne2 Bf5 10.Nc3 Qd7 11.Bg3 Bxd4 12.exd4 Nxd4 13.Rc1 Qe6+ 14.Be2 Rfd8 15.0-0 Nc2 16.Qxc2 Bxc2 17.Rxc2 Qf5 18.Rcc1 Rd2 19.Bf3 Rxb2 20.Nd5 Kf8 21.Rfe1 Rc8 22.Rcd1 Rd8 23.Bf4 g5 24.Be4 Qxe4 25.Rxe4 Rxd5 26.Rc1 gxf4 27.g3 fxg3 28.hxg3 e6 0-1
Babujian, L (2440)-Sargsyan, A (2402) [D80]
Yerevan (8.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Ne4 5.Bh4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 dxc4 7.e3 Be6 8.Nf3 f6 9.Qb1 b6 10.Nd2 Qd7 11.Be2 Bg7 12.0-0 0-0 13.Nxc4 Bf7 14.a4 a5 15.Bg3 Nc6 16.Rd1 Rad8 17.Qb5 Na7 18.Qxd7 Rxd7 19.Na3 Bb3 20.Rdb1 Bxa4 21.Bc4+ Kh8 22.Be6 Rfd8 23.Bxd7 Rxd7 24.Nc4 Bc2 25.Rb2 Bd3 26.Nxa5 Kg8 27.Rd2 Bf5 28.Nb3 Nc6 29.Ra8+ Kf7 30.c4 Bh6 31.d5 Ne5 32.Bxe5 fxe5 33.Kf1 c6 34.dxc6 Rc7 35.c5 bxc5 36.Na5 Bg7 37.Rb8 e4 38.Rc2 Be5 39.Rxc5 Bd6 40.Rcb5 Bc8 41.Ra8 Kf6 42.Rbb8 Be6 43.Rb7 Ke5 44.Rxc7 Bxc7 45.Nb7 Kd5 46.Nd8 Bf5 47.h3 h5 48.Ke2 Kc5 49.Kd2 e5 50.Kc3 Kb5 51.Kb3 Kc5 52.Ka4 g5 53.Kb3 h4 54.Kc2 g4 55.hxg4 Bxg4 56.Nf7 h3 57.gxh3 Bxh3 58.Ng5 Bg2 59.Ne6+ Kxc6 60.Nxc7 Kxc7 61.Ra6 Kd7 62.Kc3 Bf1 63.Rb6 Ke7 64.Kb4 Bh3 65.Kc5 Be6 66.Rb7+ Kf6 67.Kd6 Bg4 68.Re7 Bf5 69.Rxe5 Kg5 70.Rxf5+ 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qe5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…fxe5 2.Sxg5#; 1…Se4 2.Qxe4#; 1…Sxd3 2.Qxd5#; 1…Rxe5 2.Sd4#; 1…Rxd3 2.Qf5#./PN
