Shubham Kumthekar

European Club Cup 06: Siberia, Nona unstoppable!

Open Section

With a narrow 3.5-2.5 victory over ‘Alkaloid’, 2nd-seeded ‘Siberia’ recorded their sixth straight win in as many rounds. Despite Wang Yue going down against Kryvoruchko, ‘Siberia’ were able to clinch the match courtesy of resounding victories by Kramnik and Li Chao over Ivanchuk and Andreikin respectively.

After 6 rounds, table-leaders ‘Siberia’ are being followed by 4 other teams on the second spot. They will be up against 4th-seeded ‘O. R. Padova’ in the 7th and final round of the tournament.

Complete Round 6 Results: Here

Women’s Section

In the women’s section, top-seeded ‘Nona’ maintained their lead in the tournament by overcoming 5th-seeded ‘SPB’ in a comfortable manner. They are being followed by ‘Gambit Asseko SEE’ on the second spot.

Complete Round 6 Results: Here

European Club Cup 05: Siberia, Nona on top

Open Section

The 5th round of the European Club Cup 2015 witnessed the top-two teams – ‘SOCAR’ and ‘Siberia’ – taking on each other in an all important encounter. Courtesy of important victories by Kramnik and Grischuk over Topalov and Caruana respectively, 2nd-seeded ‘Siberia’ succeeded in edging out top-seeded ‘SOCAR’, with Michael Adams being the only player to score a win for the latter.

Meanwhile, 4th-seeded ‘O. R. Padova’ overcame 3rd seeded ‘Alkaloid’, thanks to Leko’s crucial win against Ivanchuk in a game that was largely dominated by the Ukrainian Grandmaster.

At the end of Round 5, ‘Siberia’ leads with a perfect score of 10/10.

Complete Round 5 Results: Here

Women’s Section

A fantastic run for top-seeded ‘Nona’ continued as they recorded their fifth straight victory in this tournament by overcoming ‘De Stukkenjagers’ in a convincing manner. However, it was a smooth win for 3rd-seeded ‘Gambit Asseko SEE’ that hogged the limelight as they overcome 2nd-seeded ‘SHSM Legacy Square’ with a 3-1 scoreline.

After 5 Rounds, ‘Nona’ are right on the top of the table, followed by ‘Gambit Asseko SEE’ on the second spot.

Complete Round 5 Results: Here

European Club Cup 04: The top three prevail!

Open Section

The 4th round of the European Club Cup 2015 went favourably for the top three teams as they succeeded in overcoming their strong opponents without any damage. Although ‘SOCAR’ and ‘Siberia’ convincingly overcame ‘O. R. Padova’ and ‘Mednyi Vsadnik’ respectively, 3rd-seeded ‘Alkaloid’ were made to work hard by ‘Ave Novy Bor’. It was GM Yu Yangyi’s crucial win in a back-and-forth game against GM Zbynek Hracek that facilitated a 3.5-2.5 victory for ‘Alkaloid’.

As a result, the top 3 teams are jointly leading the table with a perfect score of 8/8.

The 5th round promises to be hugely exciting with the top two teams – ‘SOCAR’ and ‘Siberia’ – clashing against each other and ‘Alkaloid’ taking on ‘O. R. Padova’. With just 3 more rounds to go, these match-ups assume even more importance.

Complete Round 4 Results: Here

Women’s Section

In the Women’s section, top-seeded ‘Nona’ continued their dominance as they overcame 4th-seed ‘Ugra’ in a thumping fashion. With their fourth consecutive victory in as many rounds, ‘Nona’ now lead their nearest rivals ‘Gambit Asseko SEE’ with a two-point margin.

Complete Round 4 Results: Here

European Club Cup 03: Favourites Dominant!

Open Section

The 3rd round of the European Club Cup 2015 saw some top-notch teams clashing against each other. Top-seeded ‘SOCAR’ recorded a convincing 4.5-1.5 victory over ‘University Belorechensk’ while ‘Siberia’ overcame ‘SHSM Legacy Square’ with a 4-2 scoreline, despite GM Evgeniy Najer’s surprise win against GM Alexander Grischuk. In another important battle, ‘Alkaloid’ edged out ‘Odlar Yurdu’, thanks to GM Dmitry Andreikin’s crucial victory over GM Vugar Rasulov.

Meanwhile, 6th-seeded ‘Ave Novy Bor’, featuring Indian GMs Harikrishna and Sasikiran, white-washed ‘Rishon Lezion’.

At the end of Round 3, all the top six teams have notched up 6 points and are jointly leading the table.

Complete Round 3 Results: Here

Women’s Section

A 3-1 victory for ‘Nona’ over ‘Gambit Asseko SEE’ enabled the former to take up the sole lead after Round 3 with 6 points. ‘Nona’ is being closely followed by ‘Ugra’, whom they will face next.

Complete Round 3 Results: Here

European Club Cup 02: Nakamura and Giri shocked, 12 teams with perfect score

Open Section

The 2nd round of the European Club Cup 2015 saw the top teams record comprehensive wins, thus continuing their dominance. However, individual upsets were witnessed as World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura and World No. 5 Anish Giri succumbed to 2500 GMs Yannick Pelletier and Vlastimil Babula respectively. Despite these upsets, their respective teams had no trouble whatsoever in scoring comfortable victories.

At the end of Round 2, as many as 12 teams boast a perfect score of 4/4.

Women’s Section

In the Women’s Section, the top two teams – Nona and SHSM Legacy Square – were pitted against each other right in the second round of the tournament. Riding on wins by Dzagnidze and Batsiashvili, ‘Nona’ notched up a narrow 2.5-1.5 victory over their arch-rivals.

After 2 rounds, a total of 3 teams are jointly leading the table with 4/4.

European Club Cup 01: Top-seeds record easy victories

Open Section

The 31st European Club Cup 2015 commenced yesterday at Skopje, FYROM. The tournament is a 7-round Swiss event featuring 50 club teams from all over the Europe. As many as 5 teams boast an average rating of above 2700. Also, two Indians players – Harikrishna and Sasikiran – form a part of this event, with both of them representing the 6th-seeded Czech team ‘Ave Novi Bor’.

The first round went as per expectations with most of the top-seeded teams recording easy victories. However, in individual battles, a few top-level players like Grischuk, Li Chao, Ivanchuk, Vachier-Lagrave, Leko, Dominguez and Navara could only manage draws against their much less-fancied opponents whilst GM David Howell suffered a shock defeat at the hands of IM Diermair Andreas. This victory by Diermair also allowed his 43rd seeded team to notch up a surprise 3-3 draw against 18th seeded ‘Cheddleton’.

Complete Round 1 Results: Here

Women’s Section

The Women’s Section features a total of 12 teams, with the Georgian team ‘Nona’ starting as the top-ranked side. Just as in the open section, the first round matches were won easily by the top-seeded teams.

Complete Round 1 Results: Here

World Cup Final 04: Karjakin’s stellar comeback!

With a nice technical win over Svidler in the 4th game of the FIDE World Cup 2015 Finals, Karjakin successfully equalized the scores to take the match into the tie-breaks. This was Karjakin’s second win in as many games after being 2-0 down at the halfway point of the classical match.

Owing to the fact that a draw would help him clinch the title, Svidler opted for a calm approach against Karjakin’s Queen’s Pawn Opening. However, the opening battle resulted in a positional supremacy for Karjakin. Slowly but surely, Svidler made a comeback into the game, thus ensuring near-equality in the endgame. But his mistake on the 44th move helped Karjakin gain a huge advantage in the ensuing Rook endgame. Karjakin’s conversion of the advantage was smooth and he duly won the game on move 57.

With the tie-breaks to be played today, it would be interesting to see if Karjakin is able to maintain his momentum or Svidler succeeds in halting it. All in all, this 25-day long event is set for an exciting finish!

World Cup Final 03: Svidler blunders, Karjakin stays put in the Finals!

A shocking blunder by Svidler in the third game of the FIDE World Cup 2015 Final helped Karjakin stay alive in the finals, although Svidler still leads the match with a 2-1 scoreline.

With Karjakin trailing Svilder by a deficit of 2 points before the 3rd game, the former resorted to the Sicilian defence with a view to securing a complex battle. But Svidler chose the offbeat move 3. Qxd4 and the resulting middlegame seemed pretty level. Karjakin, in a bid to complicate the matters, made an inferior capture which enabled Svidler to acquire good control over the position. However, Svidler’s advantage was short-lived as he committed a devastating blunder with 29. Qd2, allowing Karjakin to decide the matters immediately in his favour.

Going into the fourth and last game of the Final, Svidler only requires a draw to clinch the World Cup title for the second time in his career.

World Cup Final 02: Karjakin blunders, Svidler 2/2!

The second game of the FIDE World Cup 2015 Finals witnessed a surprising sequence of events as Karjakin went on to lose after committing a couple of shocking blunders in an equal position.

The game took off with Karjakin opting for the Ruy Lopez opening and Svidler responding with the Breyer Variation. After a complex middlegame battle, an equal position arose and the game seemed to be heading towards a draw. However, Karjakin, in a desperate attempt to create winning chances, blundered on two successive moves which simply left him a piece down. Karjakin had no choice but to resign immediately.

Having won both the games in the final so far, Svidler requires only half a point more from the remaining two games to clinch the World Cup title for the second time in his career.

World Cup Final 01: Svidler’s Convincing Victory!

The first game of the World Cup Final between Peter Svidler and Sergey Karjakin saw the former score a convincing victory over his younger compatriot. This important win has put Svidler 1-0 ahead in this best-of-four finals.

The Svidler-Karjakin game took off with the King’s Indian Attack, a slightly surprising decision on Svidler’s part. Although the opening battle resulted in equality, Svidler was successful in grabbing the initiative as soon as the middlegame commenced. Karjakin, a strong defender in general, failed to tackle Svidler’s initiative effectively and soon, Svidler’s position was quite better. As the game progressed, Karjakin went further astray which allowed the 7-time Russian Champion to decide the matters on move 29.

Having suffered a disappointing defeat, Karjakin would be raring to equalize the scores at the earliest with just 3 more games to go in the classical section of the match.