Attractive Chess By Future Stars At Lake Sevan

Lots of young, talented players have been invited to the Lake Sevan tournament in Martuni, Armenia where GMs David Anton and Santosh Vidit are tied for first place after three rounds.

The seventh international Lake Sevan tournament is organized by the Chess Academy of Armenia under the auspices of the Armenian Chess Federation. It takes place July 11-21 at the Culture Palace in Martuni, Armenia.

This 10-player round robin is full of future stars, such as Vladislav Artemiev (Russia), who won the Russian Higher League in Kaliningrad last week to qualify for the Russian Championship Superfinal. Also playing is the youngest grandmaster in the world, Sam Sevian (USA).

2015 Lake Sevan | Participants

 The players at the opening ceremony. | Photo official website.

 Any chess tournament in Armenia is guaranteed an impressive opening ceremony...

 ...with a chess president who also runs the country — Serzh Sargsyan, fourth from
the right — and organizer GM Smbat Lputian (right of him). | Photo official website.

The young lions are not holding back so far. After three rounds, only three out of 15 games have ended in a draw!

Sevian, the youngest player in the field (as the only GM born in the 21st century), had a rough start. With lot number six, the American player started with two Blacks and lost to both Duda and Petrosian. 

 Sevian picking his (unlucky) lot number at the opening ceremony. | Photo official website.

But in the third round Sevian bounced back with a win over Hovhannisyan. Tactics started early on in the game, and led to an ending that was roughly equal — well, with a bishop versus a knight most people would prefer Black. On move 53, Sevian found a nice tactic based on a mating net and a loose bishop on h2: 

The third round in action. | Photo official website.

David Anton, Spain's big talent, is one of the two players on 2.5/3. He played a remarkable game in the first round that fits in Tim Krabbé's Steel King collection. Amazing courage by that monarch throughout the game!

David Anton Guijarro of Spain. | Photo official website.

The co-leader is less known. Santosh Vidit Gujrathi is a strong, 20-year-old grandmaster from India who in fact won the tournament last year. He is a four-time national youth champion who won the world U14 in 2008 and came second at the world U16 a year later and third at the World Juniors in 2013.

Vidit defeated top seed Artemiev with a nice queen sac, after dominating for most of the game:

Another good game was Duda vs Ter Sahakyan, where Black's play for the attack was really instructive. Getting his knight towards the kingside, where Qh1+ and Qxg2 seemed so obvious, was a key moment in the game.

Six more rounds will be played in Martuni, a town in the Gegharkunik Province of Armenia, located on the southern shores of Lake Sevan. It used to be called Nerkin Gharanlugh, but, as Wikipedia tells us, in 1926 it was changed to Martuni in honor of the first Soviet premier of Armenia, Aleksandr Myasnikyan, whose nom de guerre was “Martuni.”

2015 Lake Sevan | Round 3 Standings

#	Name	Rtg	Perf	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	Pts	SB
1	Anton,D	2626	2914					½	1	1				2.5/3	3.25
2	Vidit,S	2643	2900					1	½				1	2.5/3	2.75
3	Ter Sahakyan,S	2593	2747				1	0					1	2.0/3	2.50
4	Duda,J	2632	2714			0					1	1		2.0/3	1.50
5	Artemiev,V	2660	2621	½	0	1								1.5/3	3.25
6	Salem,AR	2615	2633	0	½					1				1.5/3	2.25
7	Petrosian,TL	2630	2486	0					0		1			1.0/3	1.00
8	Sevian,Samuel	2578	2504				0			0		1		1.0/3	0.50
9	Hovhannisyan,R	2611	2321				0				0		½	0.5/3	0.25
10	Gabuzyan,H	2589	2337		0	0						½		0.5/3	0.25