Andanik Margaryan Memorial Comes to the End

The 10th Andranik Margaryan Memorial comes to the end. Games of round 8 of the tournament were played at the Chess Academy of Armenia yesterday.

Victor Matviishen - Evgeny Levin played a new Indian defense. Blacks managed to come out of the opening with equal chances, and on move 21 the sides agreed to a draw.

In the match Anna Sargsyan VS Armen Barseghyan one of the sharpest versions of Benoni defense was applied. Blacks succeeded in resolving the issues derived at the opening, and on move 19, after the blunder made by Whites:

19.b3? -K fxd5! (Whites couldn't play because of 20.ed? –Rxe3! move) Blacks got a pawn and quality advantage and clearly made use of their material advantage.

Artur Davtyan - Zurab Sturua played a Catalan opening where Whites performed more successfully gaining positional advantage. Gradually increasing the pressure on the weak Black pawns and taking advantage of their slight inaccuracies:

After 47. Kd7+ - Kb7 48. Ke5 – Kb5 49. Rc6 – Ra3+ 50. Kf4 moves they won a pawn and clearly reached a victory.

In the game David Shahinyan VS Stefan Pogosyan an English opening was played. In the middle game Whites got an advantage of two bishops and a good chance of attacking on the king’s side.

24… Kհ7 move only accelerated the victory of Whites. 25. h4!, then passed g5 by opening the line g and reaching the weak field g7. As a result, Whites won a figure and on move 36 reached a victory.

Platon Galperin - Hovik Hayrapetyan played Sicilian defense. The competitors made moves on different wings. In the middle game Blacks performed more clearly and got a favorable endgame. Before move 22 the following situation was created:

22. Kg4? move deprived Whites of the chance to counterattack (it was better to defend against Be3+ through

22. Kb1 move, leaving the knight in the centre). 22… Bb6 23. c3-f6 24. h3-Rc4! Blacks got a won position and on move 39 reached a victory becoming the sole leader of the tournament.

Thus, after the 8th round Hovik Hayrapetyan is the sole leader of the tournament with 6 points. Artur Davtyan is in the 2nd place with 5 points, while Zurab Sturua retreated to the 3rd place with 5 points. Victor Matviishen and David Shahinyan share 4-5 places with 4.5 points each.

The 9th final round of the tournament will be held today.