He was in fourth place, trailing three leaders by half a point, but GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov ended up winning the 2024 TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament as the player with the strongest nerves in a thrilling blitz tiebreak with GM Arjun Erigaisi and GM Peter Svidler.
Earlier in the day, Abdusattorov had scored a relatively easy win against GM Marc’Andria Maurizzi. This way, he caught two of the three leaders as Svidler drew with GM Vincent Keymer and Arjun escaped with a draw against GM Nils Grandelius. GM Anton Korobov dropped out of contention after losing a drawn rook ending against GM Ju Wenjun, who thus ended on a 50 percent score.
TePe Sigeman Round 7 Results
TePe Sigeman Standings After Round 7
It was a rather unexpected finish to a very entertaining edition of the annual TePe Sigeman tournament. We had three leaders going into the final round, but none of them actually winning the tournament was something few would have put their bets on.
Abdusattorov did what he had to do, and could only hope that none of the three leaders would win today. The Uzbek GM won the first game to end, against Maurizzi. The World Junior Champion started playing inaccurately soon after the opening phase and ended up in a bad endgame. There was one moment, though, where Abdusattorov spoiled the win, but as we now know, Caissa was very much on his side today.
While Abdusattorov could rest and watch the remainder of the round, the three leaders finished without a win one after another. First it was Svidler to draw his game with Keymer, using a sweet tactic that forced a perpetual.
Both players had shown to be Anti-Marshall experts in this event, but there was no further theoretical discussion today as Svidler went 5.d3 instead. With 6.Bxc6, he turned the game very much into an Anti-Berlin type of game, the only difference being Black’s pawn on a6 instead of a7.
“What I am doing here is: you don’t play the Berlin and you probably hate the Berlin, but the problem is I also don’t play the Berlin and I also hate the Berlin,” said Svidler. “So none of us are enjoying this!”
What I am doing here is: you don’t play the Berlin and you probably hate the Berlin, but the problem is I also don’t play the Berlin and I also hate the Berlin.
—Peter Svidler
The game was quite interesting in itself and the post-mortem by the players added more insights, on which the notes to the game are based:
The next leader to miss out on a win was Korobov. The Ukrainian GM even lost his spot in the playoff as he not only spoiled an advantage but then also blundered in a drawn rook endgame. This way, the women’s world champion finished on a very respectable 50 percent score, all the more impressive taking into account that she had started with two losses. Also in this field, she proved herself to be a great fighter, and whenever chances were offered, she took them.
Today Ju was under some pressure for a while against Korobov, who had the two bishops in an endgame and was playing for two results. In time trouble, however, he got confused, probably missed an intermediate check (40.b4+!) and suddenly found himself on the defending side.
He did well there, but then, on move 57 and with more than 20 minutes on the clock, he played too fast and blundered horribly in a rook endgame, after which Ju showed textbook technique to convert the full point. GM Rafael Leitao provides the analysis:
By then it was pretty clear that a tiebreak was going to happen; the only question was with how many players. Abdusattorov and Svidler were in, and they were eventually joined by Arjun as well. He was defending a difficult endgame and could only hope for a draw, which he got in the end as Grandelius missed a win. Here’s how it went wrong for Arjun, and how he escaped anyway:
The tiebreak consisted of a single round-robin and right away with pretty fast 3+2 games. In the first, Abdusattorov miraculously survived a lost position and drew with Arjun. Then, he was actually outplayed once again, this time by Svidler, who played a very strong blitz game, spoiled a win and then, when the draw seemed inevitable, blundered a knight fork.
Blame @FressinetL! pic.twitter.com/l5pSF6StZU
— chess24 (@chess24com) May 3, 2024
Repeating the theme, Svidler missed another knight fork in the next game, which this time was part of a pretty little combination. He fought back to (at least) a draw, but with little time on the clock it was Arjun who prevailed after all—Svidler was out.
feels appropriate after that tiebreak pic.twitter.com/ACW7TPzlpo
— Peter Svidler (@polborta) May 3, 2024
This meant that the two ‘A’s would play two more games against each other. Abdusattorov was winning in the first, but incredible defense by Arjun saved the draw. The Indian player missed a golden chance in the next one to trap his opponent’s queen and win the tournament, but fatigue was setting in and he missed it. It was not his day–it clearly was Abdusattorov’s.
The Tepe Sigeman Chess Tournament took place April 27-May 3, 2024, at the Elite Plaza Hotel in Malmo, Sweden. The players competed in an eight-player single round-robin. The time control was 90 minutes for 40 moves, with 30 more minutes for the rest of the game and a 30-second increment per move.
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