The top board game in the 4th round of the Asian Continental Chess Championship 2015 between GMs Vishnu and Ganguly resulted in a fighting draw after 44 moves. This result allowed GM Darini Pouria and IM Lin Chen to catch up with the Indian duo by winning their respective games today. The aforementioned four players currently lead the pack with 3.5/4.
Meanwhile, as many as 10 players, including 4 Indians GMs, are placed joint-second with a tally of 3 points each.
The Indian dominance at the Asian Continental Chess Championship 2015 continued as GMs Ganguly and Vishnu Prasanna took up the joint lead with a perfect score after Round 3. In the third round, Ganguly overcame GM Vakhidov after the latter blundered on move 64 in a drawn position while Vishnu Prasanna masterfully outplayed his compatriot GM Lalith Babu in a largely one-sided game.
Meanwhile, as many as 8 players, including 3 Indians are tied for the second spot with 2.5/3.
The 4th round promises to be an exciting one with Ganguly and Vishnu all set to lock horns against each other in a crucial all-India battle. A win tomorrow for either player will definitely put the winner in a strong position for the upcoming rounds.
Round 3 Results: Here
The Asian Continental Chess Championship 2015 is being held from 2nd August to 10th August in Al-Ain, UAE. 83 players from 28 Asian federations are contesting this 9-round event, which is being played on the Swiss league basis.
After 2 rounds of the tournament, a total of eight players are jointly leading the pack with 2 points each. Quite notably, 4 of them are Indians, namely GMs Ganguly, Vishnu, Sandipan and Lalith Babu. With the tournament still in its early days, the leaders’ spot is expected to change hands quite a lot in the upcoming rounds.
Round 2 Results: Here
A final round draw against GM Vorobiov helped GM Laznicka clinch the title at the Pardubice Open 2015. Laznicka notched up a total of 7.5 points, half a point more than GM Movsesian, who finished a sole second courtesy of his better tie-break score.
Amongst Indians, IMs Konguvel and Diptayan finished impressively with 6.5 points each and a final ranking of 7th and 9th respectively. Both of them also added a GM-norm to their tally.
Final Rankings: Here
The 8th round of the Pardubice Open 2015 saw all the games on the top 5 boards resulting in draws. As such, GM Viktor Laznicka was able to maintain his sole lead, now with 7 points by his name. Laznicka is being closely followed by GM Movsesian, who is currently on 6.5 points.
Amongst the Indians, IMs Konguvel and Diptayan split points in their personal encounter. Going into the final round of the tournament, the duo are placed joint-3rd along with 10 others on 6 points.
Round 8 Results: Here
A resounding victory over GM Richard Rapport allowed GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France to notch up a total of 6.5 points and clinch the title at the Biel GM Tournament 2015. This was MVL’s third consecutive triumph in as many editions of the annual Biel Tournament and his 4th overall.
The second place was secured by GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek, the only player to defeat the winner in their personal encounter. Wojtaszek finished with a total of 6 points by his name.
Meanwhile, GMs Adams and Navara tied for the third place with 5.5 points each.
Round 10 Results:
| Vachier-Lagrave | 2731 | 1-0 | Rapport | 2671 |
| Wojtaszek | 2733 | ½-½ | Navara | 2724 |
| Eljanov | 2723 | 0-1 | Adams | 2740 |
Final Standings:
|
Rank |
Player | Rating |
Points |
|
1 |
Vachier-Lagrave | 2731 | 6.5 |
| 2 | Wojtaszek | 2733 |
6 |
|
3 |
Adams | 2740 | 5.5 |
| 3 | Navara | 2724 |
5.5 |
|
5 |
Eljanov | 2723 | 4.5 |
| 6 | Rapport | 2671 |
2 |
At the end of 7 rounds of the Pardubice International Open Chess Tournament 2015, GM Viktor Laznicka is in the sole lead with a tally of 6.5/7. The only draw that he has made so far came against the Indian IM Diptayan Ghosh in the 7th round of this 9-round event. Close on Laznicka’s heels is the experienced GM Sergei Movsesian with a score of 6/7.
The 8th round promises to be a crucial one with Laznicka and Movsesian paired against each other. A win here for Laznicka would help him clinch the title with a round to spare while a victory for Movesesian would leave the field wide open.
Round 7 Results: Here
A crucial victory by GM Vachier-Lagrave over GM Navara in the penultimate round of the Biel Grandmasters Tournament allowed him to catch up with GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek at the top of the table. The duo now lead the pack with a score of 5.5/9.
Meanwhile, GM Richard Rapport’s terrible run of form at Biel continued as he lost another game, this time to GM Pavel Eljanov. Rapport, so far, has only managed to score 2 points out of a possible 9 with no wins by his name.
Round 9 Results:
| Navara | 2724 | 0-1 | Vachier-Lagrave | 2731 |
| Rapport | 2671 | 0-1 | Eljanov | 2723 |
| Adams | 2740 | ½-½ | Wojtaszek | 2733 |
Rankings before the Final Round:
| Rank | Name | Pts |
| 1 | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 5.5 |
| 1 | Wojtaszek, Radoslaw | 5.5 |
| 3 | Navara, David | 5 |
| 4 | Adams, Michael | 4.5 |
| 4 | Eljanov, Pavel | 4.5 |
| 6 | Rapport, Richard | 2 |
A 6th Round loss for GM David Navara against GM Michael Adams allowed GMs Vachier-Lagrave and Wojtaszek to catch up Navara on the top spot. The Navara – Adams encounter, which took off with the Exchange Variation in the Queen’s Gambit Declined, didn’t go too well for Navara as he failed to obtain any advantage whatsoever from the opening. However, it was Navara’s 21st move which actually allowed Adams to dominate as the latter obtained 3 pawns for a minor piece along with plenty of activity. The matters were never in doubt after that and Navara resigned on move 37.
In the other games, GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek convincingly overcame GM Richard Rapport whilst GMs Eljanov and Vachier-Lagrave drew their personal encounter.
Rankings after Round 6:
|
Rank |
Players |
Points |
|
1 |
David Navara | 3.5 |
| 1 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
3.5 |
|
1 |
Radoslaw Wojtaszek | 3.5 |
| 4 | Michael Adams |
3 |
|
5 |
Pavel Eljanov | 2.5 |
| 6 | Richard Rapport |
2 |
With a convincing victory over IM Arghyadip Das in Round 7, GM David Howell of England took up a massive one-point lead over his nearest rivals. The Howell – Arghyadip game, which started with an in-trend line of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, turned out to be a complex affair right out of the opening. However, on move 17, Arghyadip made a crucial mistake with his Knight leap. Howell took perfect advantage of this and never allowed his opponent to sneak back into the game. The Indian IM resigned 10 moves later.
On the other top boards, GMs Postny and Tiviakov split points while GM Chatalbashev overcame FM Erwich. With this win, Chatalbashev joined Postny on the second spot with 5.5 points, a full point behind David Howell. The two Indians in the fray – IMs Arghyadip Das and Palit Somak – are currently placed joint 3rd and joint 4th respectively.