Zurich Final: It’s Nakamura again!

American GM Hikaru Nakamura won the prestigious Zurich Chess Challenge 2016 for the second time on the trot. Despite scoring the same combined points as GM Viswanathan Anand, Nakamura’s better tie-break score enabled him to clinch the title.

Zurich Rapid

The Rapid event featured a unique time control of 40 mins + 10 seconds increment, which was dubbed as the ‘New Classical’ by the organizers. The scoring system was unique as well – 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw and none for a loss. After 5 rounds of interesting chess, Nakamura and Anand emerged on the top with 7 points each. Kramnik finished a close second with 6 points.

Zurich Blitz

In the Blitz event, a threefold tie was witnessed for the top spot. Nakamura, Anand and Kramnik notched up 3.5 points each.

As a result, both Nakamura and Anand emerged with a total of 10.5 points. It was Nakamura’s better ‘Sonneborn-Berger’ score that helped him edge out Anand in the final standings. Interestingly, the same players had tied for the top spot in the 2015 edition as well.

Teheran Women’s GP 01: An Exciting Start

The opening round of the Teheran FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2016 witnessed as many as four decisive games.

Top-seed GM Koneru Humpy of India started off her campaign with a fantastic victory over GM Zhao Xue of China. Playing the black side of a Queen’s Gambit Declined, Koneru exploited her opponent’s slow play on the Queen-side with a devastating offensive on the other flank. Koneru’s bold play brought her a well-deserved victory on move 41.

However, GM Harika Dronavalli, the only other Indian in the fray, suffered a defeat against WGM Natalia Pogonina of Russia.

Apart from Koneru and Pogonina, GM Ju Wenjun and GM Zhukova also won their first round games.

Results

GM Stefanova 2509 ½ – ½ IM Batsiashvili 2485
GM Zhao Xue 2506 0 – 1 GM Koneru 2583
GM Zhukova 2484 1 – 0 GM Gunina 2496
GM Dzagnidze 2529 ½ – ½ IM Khademalsharieh 2403
GM Harika 2511 0 – 1 WGM Pogonina 2454
GM Cramling 2521 0 – 1 GM Ju Wenjun 2558

IIFLW Open Final: Swapnil Dhopade triumphs

Second seed IM Swapnil Dhopade won the 1st edition of the IIFL Wealth International Open Chess Championship in a convincing fashion. The Indian IM, who recently completed all his requirements for the GM title, finished with an impressive tally of 8 points from 9 rounds.

In the 9th and final round, Dhopade drew against Amardeep Bartakke to move on to 8/9. The only player who could catch up with Dhopade on 8 points was IM Stany. However, the latter was held to a draw by Himal Gusain. As a result, Dhopade managed to finish sole first while Stany had to content himself with the second spot. Himal Gusain secured the third place.

Tournament winner Dhopade went home richer by a whooping 1.5 Lacs INR.

Final Standings

IIFLW Juniors Final: Raunak Sadhwani clinches the title

11 year old CM Raunak Sadhwani of Maharashtra, India emerged victorious at the 1st IIFL Wealth International Junior U-13 Chess Championship. Raunak, who started the event as the second seed, scored 7.5/9 and remained unbeaten throughout the course of the event.

The 9th and final round of the event turned out to be a massively exciting one. While CM Raunak Sadhwani and FM Mohammad Fahad Rahman won their games convincingly, the top-board clash between CM Gukesh and CM Aditya Mittal (the sole leader after round 8) went all the way down to the wire. Just when Aditya seemed to be coasting away to victory, he was unable to find the exact moves and the game ended in a draw. In the end, as many as 3 players viz. Raunak Sadhwani, Aditya Mittal and Mohammad Fahad Rahman finished with 7.5/9. Thanks to his better tie-break score, Raunak clinched the coveted title while Mohammad Fahad Rahman and Aditya finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.

The chief attraction of the event was a never-seen-before prize fund for a junior tournament of 7.5 Lacs INR. The winner – Raunak Sadhwani – went home richer by 1.5 Lacs INR.

Final Standings

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