The March Lichess Blitz Titled Area was received by GM Shant Sargsyan, a younger Armenian superGM who’s a former World U16 champion. In what was one of many closest Titled Arenas ever, Sargsyan was solely actually in a position to clinch the event within the remaining jiffy as he received two video games back-to-back. Two different younger and rising stars, GM Mahammad Muradli and Aravindh Chithambaram Veerappan, completed in second and third place, respectively. The nameless GM BMWHero got here in fourth whereas GM Vahap Sanal took fifth place.
Underneath 10 Area factors separated 1st place from fifth place. Thus, within the remaining jiffy, it was all a battle of nerves! Sargsyan had the very best nerves as he amassed 9 factors out of his final 4 video games, although he did get some cement to construct his lead. Muradli, as a substitute, solely bought seven factors out of his final 4 video games, whereas Veerappan bought six, and BMWHero and Sanal solely bought three.
We’ll check out one spectacular recreation from every of the three podium finishers!
#1 – GM Shant Sargsyan
Early within the event, Sargsyan was paired along with his compatriot, Haik Martirosyan, chess prodigy extraordinaire. What began out as a peaceful Kasparov Variation of the Queen’s Indian Protection quickly changed into Kasparovian mayhem as Martirosyan determined to citadel queenside. Nevertheless, Martirosyan would quickly come to remorse that call; White’s assault appeared prefer it was going to crash by way of first, however appears might be deceiving! Take a look at how Sargsyan masterfully pushes his b-pawn and will get to arrange a standard checkmating sample in opposition to Martirosyan. On this battle of sevens, seven sevens was higher than six sevens.
#2 – GM Mahammad Muradli
If you happen to’re searching for an attention-grabbing and quite artistic setup in opposition to White’s double fianchetto setup, Muradli has you coated! On this recreation, Muradli merely aimed to put siege to the d4 sq., whereupon his robust heart would grant him quite a lot of exercise. Muradli proceeded to transform quite cleanly, including stress the backward pawn on d3 and ultimately going up a pawn.
#3 – GM Aravindh Chithambaram Veerappan
The c5-d6-e5 setup doesn’t at all times work in opposition to White’s double fianchetto! To get third place, Veerappan relied closely on 1. b3, and his experience was actually on full show on this recreation. To be goal, he did permit the d5 push twice within the opening, however after IM Mousavi Seyed Khalil missed these alternatives, Veerappan took management of the middle and assuredly made use of his double (bish)ops combo.
Puzzle Pack and the Subsequent TA
Take pleasure in our Puzzle pack with puzzles from the occasion!
https://lichess.org/examine/9q97uarB/T6uU4Ft8
The subsequent Titled Area is on March 19 and is a bullet event.
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