Gukesh scores a hat-trick by winning Chessable Sunway Formentera Open, now World no.66

by Shahid Ahmed - 09/05/2022

GM D Gukesh won his third consecutive tournament in Spain. He scored an unbeaten 8.0/10 to win Chessable Sunway Formentera International Chess Festival. After missing several tournament triumphs on tie-breaks, Gukesh won three events in Spain, 48th La Roda Open, Menorca Open and now Formentera Open, a half point ahead of the field, removing the question of tie-breaks. The youngest GM of India, gained 15.6 Elo rating points, taking his live rating to 2674.6 and becoming World no.66. IM Soham Das scored an impressive 7.0/10 to finish fifth, the highest finisher who is not a GM. Total prize fund of the tournament was €14500. Top three prizes were €3000, €2000 and €1000 along with a trophy each. Photo: Gukesh's twitter

Gukesh wins three in-a-row convincingly at Spain

Gukesh won three tournaments in-a-row at Spain without conceding a single game. His unbeaten streak is now at 26 games since 12th April 2022. He won three events, played 26 games in 25 days (20 tournament days) and moved to World no.66 in the live ratings. That is certainly an incredible feat!

Chessable Sunway Formentera International Chess Festival champion - GM D Gukesh 8.0/10

Top 3 (L to R) - 3rd GM Shant Sargsyan (ARM) 7.5/10, 1st GM D Gukesh 8.0/10 and 2nd GM Jaime Santos Latasa (ESP) 7.5/10

Jose Fernando - Gukesh, Round 3

Position after 36.f3

36.bxc6 bxc6 would have been fine for White when the pawn was at f2. However, after 36.f3 Nd6 37.bxc6 bxc6 it is not the same. In fact, it is much worse for White. Now the threat of f4 is devastating as there are too many ideas like Nc4-e3, if Bd2 is played Nxd2 Qxd2 and then dxe4 just completely weakens the white king.

Sasikiran - Gukesh, Round 9

Position after 34...Qb7

Black's pawns on the queenside became a menace after White declined the queen exchange. 35.Qxb7 Rxb7 would have probably not affected the outcome of the game, still it would give some fighting chances. 36.Qc2 suffocated White's own pieces b3 37.Qc1 a4 and now white pieces are cramped due to the lack of space. Earlier Gukesh had declined a threefold repetition and made his intentions clear about playing only for a win.

Gukesh beats Sasikiran, reaches 2675, wins Formentera Open 2022 | Video: ChessBase India

Gukesh dared and won against Sasikiran

Gukesh scored an unbeaten 8.0/10, performed at 2755 and gained 15.6 Elo rating points

Gukesh is now World no.66 in the live ratings | Source: 2700chess.com

Replay Gukesh's games

Soham - Miguel, Round 10

Position after 20...Ba6

20...Ba6 allowed White to launch a relentless attack starting with 21.Qg4. Black succumbed to the attack in another ten moves.

IM Soham Das scored an impressive 7.0/10 despite missing the first round | Photo: Lennart Ootes

IM Soham Das scored 7.0/10 and gained 50.2 Elo rating points

Gukesh tweeted his thoughts on his hat-trick triumph

How he celebrated his victory

Sunway Chess Open congratulated Gukesh

A total of 52 players including 11 GMs, 7 IMs, a WGM and 2 WIMs took part from 20 countries across the world in Group A. The tournament was organized by Hotel Club Sunway Punta Prima from 29th April to 5th May 2022 at Hotel Club Sunway Punta Prima, Formentera, Spain. The ten-round Swiss league tournament had a time control of 90 mins/40 moves + 30 minutes + 30 seconds per move from the first move.

Replay Round 1-10 games

Round 10 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	4	GM	Gukesh Dommaraju	2637	7½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Martirosyan Haik M.	2633	5
2	1	GM	Santos Latasa Jaime	2656	7	½ - ½	7	GM	Sargsyan Shant	2639	3
3	22	IM	Soham Das	2303	6	1 - 0	6½	GM	Santos Ruiz Miguel	2597	6
4	7	GM	Cuenca Jimenez Jose Fernando	2558	6	½ - ½	6	IM	Song Julien	2373	17
5	12	GM	Jarmula Lukasz	2434	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2650	2
6	8	GM	Narciso Dublan Marc	2477	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Romanishin Oleg M	2415	13
7	10	IM	Yankelevich Lev	2468	5½	½ - ½	5½	FM	Eugene Floryan	2375	16
8	27	FM	Neiman Emmanuel	2248	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Batsiashvili Nino	2463	11
9	20	IM	Bergez Luc	2331	5	½ - ½	5	FM	Papadiamandis Elliot	2385	15
10	18	IM	Chiku-Ratte Olivier-Kenta	2364	5	1 - 0	5	WIM	Alinasab Mobina	2355	19

Details

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	RtgN	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	4	GM	Gukesh Dommaraju	IND	2637	0		8,0	57,0	62,0	48,25
2	1	GM	Santos Latasa Jaime	ESP	2656	2613		7,5	58,0	63,0	46,00
3	3	GM	Sargsyan Shant	ARM	2639	0		7,5	57,5	62,0	44,75
4	5	GM	Martirosyan Haik M.	ARM	2633	0		7,0	57,0	61,5	41,00
5	22	IM	Soham Das	IND	2303	2387		7,0	51,0	55,0	38,00
6	7	GM	Cuenca Jimenez Jose Fernando	ESP	2558	2534	Club de Ajedrez Silla	6,5	58,0	62,0	36,50
7	6	GM	Santos Ruiz Miguel	ESP	2597	2580	Club de Ajedrez Solvay	6,5	57,0	61,5	37,00
8	12	GM	Jarmula Lukasz	POL	2434	0		6,5	52,5	56,5	33,50
9	17	IM	Song Julien	FRA	2373	0		6,5	50,5	53,5	31,00
10	13	GM	Romanishin Oleg M	UKR	2415	0	Chess Club of Lviv	6,5	50,0	53,5	32,00
11	11	GM	Batsiashvili Nino	GEO	2463	2488		6,0	56,0	60,5	33,25
12	10	IM	Yankelevich Lev	GER	2468	0		6,0	49,5	53,5	28,50
13	16	FM	Eugene Floryan	FRA	2375	0		6,0	48,5	52,5	30,75
14	18	IM	Chiku-Ratte Olivier-Kenta	CAN	2364	0		6,0	47,0	50,0	27,75
15	2	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	IND	2650	0	Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd	5,5	58,5	63,5	32,25