Closing in on the 2700 mark
Ten Indian players currently belong to the world top 100 in the live ratings list, with half of them standing above the 2700 rating mark. After having a remarkable performance at the Dubai Police Global Tournament and starting strong at the Sharjah Masters, Aravindh Chithambaram is only 2.1 points away from surpassing the coveted mark.
Aravindh, aged 24, perhaps is less well-known than his younger compatriots Nihal Sarin or Raunak Sadhwani, but as pointed out by Thorsten Cmiel, he now has a real chance of making it to the extremely competitive Indian national team in the upcoming Chess Olympiad.
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#Chess @pawnof64squares is in amazing form in these days. Earlier I thought #5 in the Indian team for the olympiad might be decided between Nihal and Hari. If the trend is your friend – a way of saying at pattern recognition in finance – Aravindh has a big chance. pic.twitter.com/xcWoHfp63i
— Thorsten Cmiel (@CmielThorsten) May 18, 2024
Before tying for first in Dubai (and getting second place on tiebreak criteria), Aravindh emerged victorious at the La Roda Open in Spain, where he collected 7½/9 points and obtained a memorable win over 3-time Spanish champion Eduardo Iturrizaga.
Aravindh became the sole leader in Sharjah after obtaining a fine positional victory over Saleh Salem in round 5. The Indian GM stands a half point ahead of a 4-player chasing pack consisting of Amin Tabatabaei, Hans Niemann, Sam Shankland and Bardiya Daneshvar.
Out of the four chasers, only Niemann — who entered round 4 as a co-leader — signed a draw on Saturday. Tabatabaei beat Abhimanyu Puranik, Shankland got the better of Mahammad Muradli and Daneshvar managed to upset Javokhir Sindarov.
In Sunday’s sixth round, Aravindh will play with the black pieces against Shankland.
Aravindh Chithambaram facing Saleh Salem | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
Sindarov 0 – 1 Daneshvar
Analysis by Klaus Besenthal
Standings after round 5
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| 1 | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. | 2670 | 4,5 | 0 | |
| 2 | GM | Tabatabaei, M. Amin | 2707 | 4 | 0 | |
| 3 | GM | Niemann, Hans Moke | 2688 | 4 | 0 | |
| 4 | GM | Daneshvar, Bardiya | 2581 | 4 | 0 | |
| 5 | GM | Shankland, Sam | 2671 | 4 | 0 | |
| 6 | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | 2629 | 3,5 | 0 | |
| 7 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2706 | 3,5 | 0 | |
| 8 | GM | Murzin, Volodar | 2631 | 3,5 | 0 | |
| 9 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | 2701 | 3,5 | 0 | |
| 10 | GM | Yuffa, Daniil | 2617 | 3,5 | 0 | |
| 11 | GM | Sankalp, Gupta | 2531 | 3,5 | 0 | |
| 12 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2761 | 3,5 | 0 | |
| 13 | GM | Yu, Yangyi | 2728 | 3,5 | 0 | |
| 14 | GM | Puranik, Abhimanyu | 2629 | 3 | 0 | |
| 15 | GM | Theodorou, Nikolas | 2616 | 3 | 0 | |
| 16 | GM | Muradli, Mahammad | 2560 | 3 | 0 | |
| 17 | IM | Royal, Shreyas | 2463 | 3 | 0 | |
| 18 | GM | Maurizzi, Marc`andria | 2617 | 3 | 0 | |
| 19 | GM | Pranav, V | 2587 | 3 | 0 | |
| 20 | GM | Sindarov, Javokhir | 2684 | 3 | 0 | |
| 21 | GM | Iniyan, Pa | 2493 | 3 | 0 | |
| 22 | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | 2621 | 3 | 0 | |
| 23 | GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham | 2732 | 3 | 0 | |
| 24 | GM | Sevian, Samuel | 2698 | 3 | 0 | |
| 25 | GM | Adhiban, B. | 2520 | 3 | 0 |
