Month: January 2016

IIFLW Juniors 02: Top players sail smoothly

The top players at the IIFL Wealth Junior Chess Championship 2016 continued with their winning ways in the second round as well. Top seed FM Mohammad Fahad Rahman of Bangladesh cruised to a convincing victory over Alaina Vincent of India, thus moving on to 2/2. As many as 40 players boast of a perfect score at the moment.

Meanwhile, the ‘Game of the Day’ prize for the first round was won by CM Mendonca Leon Luke. Mendonca’s victory over Krishnan Ritvik helped him win this prize sponsored by Chessbase India.

Complete Round 2 Results: Here

Tata Steel 08: Carlsen in sole lead

Masters

The 8th round of the Tata Steel Masters 2016 proved to be an eventful one. GM Caruana’s loss to GM Navara helped World Champion Magnus Carlsen grab the sole lead with 5.5/8.

Prior to round 8, Carlsen and Caruana were leading the field jointly with 5 points each. The former had little trouble drawing against GM Sergey Karjakin in round eight. However, the Navara-Caruana encounter saw the Czech Grandmaster display impeccable technique in overcoming Caruana from a seemingly quiet position. This result allowed Carlsen to move into sole lead.

In other interesting games of the day, GM Eljanov failed to capitalize on his huge advantage against GM Adams while GM Van Wely won a nice attacking game against GM Hou Yifan.

Results:

Karjakin

 ½-½ Carlsen

Adams

 ½-½ Eljanov
Giri ½-½

Tomashevsky
So Wesley ½-½

Mamedyarov

Ding Liren

 ½-½ Wei Yi
Hou Yifan 0-1

Van Wely

Navara

 1-0 Caruana

Challengers

Indian GM Adhiban survived a worse position against GM Erwin L’Ami to maintain his sole lead at the end of round eight. Adhiban has notched up 6.5 points so far, half a point clear of 2nd-placed GM Safarli.

Results:

L’Ami E

 ½-½ Adhiban
Bok ½-½

Abasov

Van Foreest

 ½-½ Admiraal
Dreev ½-½

Safarli

Ju Wenjun

 0-1 Sevian
Haast 1-0

Batsiashvili

Antipov

 ½-½

Nisipeanu

Tata Steel 07: Carlsen’s hat-trick and Adhiban’s gem!

Masters

World Champion Magnus Carlsen recorded his third victory in as many rounds by accounting for GM Pavel Eljanov in the 7th round of the Tata Steel Masters 2016. The Carlsen-Eljanov clash turned out to be extremely exciting, with Eljanov sacrificing his Knight for a couple of pawns. However, Carlsen accurately neutralized White’s initiative, going on to win the game courtesy of his powerful double bishops.

The Caruana-Ding Liren game was another highly anticipated match-up of Round 7. With excellent strategic play, Caruana beat the Chinese GM in a convincing fashion. Caruana and Carlsen are currently leading the event with 4/7.

Meanwhile, GM Mamedyarov defeated Hou Yifan whilst in the ‘battle of the Danes’, Anish Giri had no problems overcoming Van Wely.

Results:

Caruana

 1-0 Ding
Eljanov 0-1

Carlsen

Navara

 ½-½ Karjakin
Wei Yi ½-½

So Wesley

Mamedyarov

 1-0 Hou Yifan
Van Wely 0-1

Giri

Tomashevsky

 ½-½

Adams

Challengers

The battle between the tournament leaders – Adhiban and Dreev – proved to be the most exciting one of the day. Against Dreev’s favourite …b6 line in the Semi-Slav, Adhiban came up with a fantastic move which posed huge problems to his experienced opponent. Dreev found it anything but easy to handle the pressure against his uncastled king, allowing Adhiban to score a quick win. The game can be seen here.

Meanwhile, WGM Anne Haast, who had lost all her games so far, registered an upset by defeating top-seed GM Nisipeanu.

After 7 rounds, Adhiban is leading the field solely, half a point ahead of GM Eltaj Safarli.

Results:

Adhiban

 1-0 Dreev
L’ami E 0-1

Van Foreest

Safarli

 1-0 Antipov
Nisipeanu 0-1

Haast

Batsiashvili

 ½-½ Ju Wenjun

Sevian

 ½-½ Bok
Abasov ½-½

Admiraal

Tata Steel 02: All Draws

Masters

All the seven games in the second round of the ongoing Tata Steel Masters 2016 resulted in draws. Although the Carlsen-Caruana clash, which witnessed a fairly non-standard opening, proved to be exciting, the rest of the games were pretty sedate affairs.

Going into the third round, GMs Caruana, Wesley So and Ding Liren are in lead with 1.5 points each.

Results:

Carlsen

 ½-½ Caruana
Eljanov ½-½

Wei Yi

Tomashevsky

 ½-½ Mamedyarov

Adams

 ½-½ Navara
Giri ½-½

Ding Liren
Karjakin ½-½

Van Wely

Hou Yifan

 ½-½

So Wesley

Challengers

On the other hand, the Challengers section continued to generate entertaining battles. As many as 5 games ended decisively in the second round of this tournament. After two rounds of fighting chess, GM Adhiban and GM Dreev are jointly leading the field with perfect scores.

Results:

van Foreest

 0-1 Batsiashvili
Abasov ½-½

Safarli

Sevian

 ½-½ Nisipeanu

Admiraal

 0-1 Adhiban
Bok 1-0

L’ami E
Haast 0-1

Antipov

Ju Wenjun

 0-1

Dreev

Delhi Final: A thrilling finish!

The 14th edition of the Delhi Open was won by Russian GM Ivan Popov with a tally of 8/10.

However, Popov, who was leading the field for a major part of the tournament, was unable to secure the sole first place. Ukrainian GM Valeriy Neverov threw a spanner in Popov’s works by beating the Russian GM in the 10th and final round of the event. With GM Atilla Czebe drawing against GM Sivuk Vitaly, three Grandmasters – Popov, Neverov and Czebe – ended up on 8 points each. Thanks to his superior tie-break score, Popov was declared the winner, with Czebe and Neverov finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Amongst Indians, GM Lalith Babu, IM Sayantan Das and GM Vaibhav Suri tied for the 4th-10th places. IM Sayantan Das’s impressive performance helped him achieve his second Grandmaster Norm.

Four more players (all from India) were also successful in making norms: Pradeep Kumar, Himal Gusain and Mehar Chinna Reddy made IM norms while Srija Seshadri made a WIM norm.

Final Standings

Tata Steel 01: Three white victories

Masters

The opening round of the Tata Steel Masters 2016 witnessed three decisive results and four draws, with all the three decisive games resulting in favour of the white side. The highlight of the day was GM Wesley So’s seemingly effortless win over the super-solid GM Anish Giri. In other decisive games, GM Caruana won convincgly against GM Eljanov while GM Ding Liren overcame GM Adams.

Meanwhile, World Champion Magnus Carlsen had to settle for a draw against GM Navara.

Results:

Caruana 1-0 Eljanov
Ding Liren 1-0 Adams
Navara ½-½ Carlsen
Mamedyarov ½-½ Van Wely
Wesley So 1-0 Giri
Hou Yifan ½-½ Karjakin
Wei Yi ½-½ Tomashevsky

 

Challengers:

The first round of the Challengers section turned out to be massively exciting with all the 7 games ending decisively. To single out, GM Baskaran Adhiban, the only Indian in the fray, scored a fascinating victory over GM Abasov.

Results:

Haast 0-1 Van Foreest
Antipov 0-1 Ju Wenjun
Dreev 1-0 Bok
Safarli 1-0 Sevian
Adhiban 1-0 Abasov
L’Ami 1-0 Admiraal
Nisipeanu 1-0 Batsiashvili

Delhi 09: Czebe closes in on Popov

The 9th and penultimate round of the Delhi Open 2016 saw Hungarian GM Czebe Atilla score a resounding victory over GM Lalith Babu of India. With the top-board encounter between GMs Ivan Popov and Solodovnichenko ending in a quick draw, Czebe’s victory helped him inch closer to Popov, who is currently leading the field with 8/9. Czebe is sole second with 7.5/9.

Earlier in the day, the Czebe – Lalith clash took off with a strange kind of Reti opening that offered equal chances to both the sides. However, Lalith Babu quickly went astray after the opening, allowing Czebe to gain a significant advantage. From that point on, the Hungarian GM never looked back as he went on to convert his advantage in an extremely swift fashion.

With the top two players separated by only half a point and three players following them on the third spot, the 10th and final round promises an exciting finish to this premier open event.

Complete Round 9 Results

Delhi 08: Exciting draw in Grachev-Popov

The top-board clash between top-seed GM Boris Grachev and second-seed GM Ivan Popov lived up to its hype, despite the game resulting in only a draw. Typically for the Botvinnik Variation of the Semi-Slav Defence, the game took an extremely sharp course with White offering a handful of material for an attack on the black king. However, Popov, playing black, was able to put up the best possible defence which forced Grachev to opt for a perpetual check. The game ended in a draw on move 29. (You can check the complete game here)

Meanwhile, GMs Yuri Solodovnichenko, Lalith Babu and Czebe Atilla inched closer to the tournament leader GM Popov with victories over IMs Vignesh NR, Sayantan Das and Ravi Teja respectively. Popov is currently leading the tournament in a dominating fashion with 7.5 points while Solodovnichenko, Lalith Babu and Czebe have scored 6.5 points each.

The 9th and penultimate round of the tournament promises to be an immensely exciting one, with as many as five GM vs GM battles to be witnessed today.

Complete Round 8 Results

Delhi 06: Ivan Popov 6/6!

GM Ivan Popov of Russia continued his dominance at the Delhi Open 2016 by registering his sixth consecutive victory in as many rounds. Popov, playing black, overcame GM Czebe Atilla of Hungary in yesterday’s round. On sole second place is GM Vitaly Sivuk of Russia with 5.5 points. Sivuk won a crucial game against GM David Alberto in round 6 of this 10-round event.

Meanwhile, untitled Pradeep Kumar R. A. of India continued with his excellent run of  form by beating GM Ernst Sipke to move on to 5/6.

Round 6 Results: Here

Delhi 04: Three Grandmasters in lead

The top-board clash in Round 4 of the Delhi Open 2016 saw GM Ivan Popov score an enterprising victory over GM Nguyen Duc Hoa. Playing the black side of a Modern Benoni, Popov wheeled out a theoretical exchange sacrifice right after the opening. Soon, the battle turned complex and a few mutual mistakes were observed. However, White’s blunder on the 41st move enabled Popov to clinch the matters almost immediately.

On the 2nd and 3rd boards, GMs Anton Demchenko and Sivuk Vitaly overcame Himal Gusain and IM Rahul Sangma respectively.

The star of the round, however, turned out to be Pradeep Kumar R. A of India. The untitled Indian registered an upset by defeating Russian GM Artur Gabrielian.

After four rounds of this 10-round open, GMs Ivan Popov, Anton Demchenko and Vitaly Sivuk are leading the pack with 4/4 each.

Round 4 Results: Here