Asian Continental: Top Seeds Struggle

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 13/05/2017

The Asian Continental Championship 2017 has begun in Chengdu, China with most of the brightest stars of Asia in contention for the five World Cup spots in the Open and the Women's section. While India has Padmini Rout in the women's section, she suffered a painful defeat in the first round itself. Meanwhile, Vidit and Adhiban have also had sub-par starts. Report.

Asian Continental: Top Seeds Struggle

Photos by Lennart Ootes

The story developing in Chengdu, China, at the Asian Continental Championship 2017 is one with a curious narrative. Five spots at the upcoming World Cup are up for grabs and the biggest names from India and China are in contention.

But surprisingly, both the top two seeds, Yu Yangyi and Wei Yi, have already been held to draws by 2400 opponents. They are trailing the leaders by half a point. Speaking of leaders, there remain three--Surya Shekhar Ganguly of India, China's Bai Jinshi, and...

GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2588) has 2.0/2.

The top seed among Indians, GM Vidit Gujrathi (2687) managed to survive by the skin of his teeth in the first round by. In fact, even in the final position, he was losing! The second round with the white pieces was no better as he drew that as well.

[Event "Asian Continental-ch Open 2017"]
[Site "Chengdu"]
[Date "2017.05.12"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Liu, Guanchu"]
[Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2448"]
[BlackElo "2687"]
[Annotator "TA"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nc3 e6 5. g4 Bg6 6. Nge2 c5 7. h4 h5 8. Nf4 Bh7
9. Nxh5 Nc6 {B12: Caro-Kann: Advance Variation} 10. dxc5 Bxc5 11. Bb5 Qc7 {
White must now prevent ...d4.Black is slightly better.} 12. Bxc6+ (12. Nxg7+ $2
Kf8 $17) 12... Qxc6 13. Qf3 (13. Nxg7+ $2 Kf8 $19) 13... O-O-O 14. Nxg7 Ne7 15.
Bg5 $1 d4 16. Qxc6+ Nxc6 17. Na4 {[#]} Bf8 $146 18. Bxd8 Kxd8 19. O-O-O {
Strongly threatening Nh5.} Bxg7 20. f4 $1 Bh6 {Black has compensation.} 21. g5
Bf8 22. Nc3 $1 Ke8 23. Ne2 $1 Be4 24. Rh2 Bf3 25. Rd2 Bb4 $36 {Black is
pushing.} 26. c3 dxc3 27. Nxc3 Bh5 28. Rd3 Bg6 29. Rdh3 $1 Bf5 30. Rg3 Rh5 31.
Ne2 (31. a3 $11 Bc5 32. Ne2) 31... Be1 $17 32. Rb3 b6 (32... Rxh4 $6 33. Rxh4
Bxh4 34. Rxb7 $11) (32... Bxh4 $17 33. a3 (33. Rxb7 Nxe5 34. Rb5 Nd3+ 35. Kc2
Bg6 $17) 33... Kf8) 33. Ng3 $11 Bxg3 $1 34. Rxg3 Nb4 35. Kd2 a5 36. a3 (36. Rc3
$11) 36... Nd5 $17 37. Rf3 Kf8 38. Ke1 Kg7 39. Kf2 Be4 40. Rg3 Kg6 {...Kf5 is
the strong threat.} 41. Rg1 $1 Rh8 (41... Nxf4 $2 42. Ke3 $18) 42. Kg3 Kh5 43.
Re1 (43. Re2 $1 $15 Bg6 44. Rc1) 43... Bf5 (43... Bg6 $1 $17) 44. Rc1 $1 $11 a4
45. Rd2 Rb8 $2 {[#]} (45... Bg6 $11) 46. Rc6 $2 (46. Rxd5 $1 $18 exd5 47. Rc6)
46... Rh8 $2 {[#]} (46... Ne3 $11 47. Kf3 Nf1) 47. Rxd5 $1 $18 exd5 {Endgame
KRB-KR} 48. Rf6 $1 Bc2 49. f5 $2 (49. Rxf7 $18 {is the precise move to win.}
Kg6 50. e6) 49... d4 $2 (49... Rh7 $16) 50. Rxf7 d3 51. Rd7 $2 (51. g6 Kh6 $11)
({Only move:} 51. e6 $1 $18 {Threatening mate with e7.} d2 52. e7 Bxf5 53. Rf8)
51... d2 $1 $11 52. Rxd2 Bxf5 53. Rd6 {White wants to play e6.} b5 $2 (53...
Rh7 $11) 54. Rf6 $2 (54. e6 $18 {aiming for Kf4.} Kg6 55. e7+ Kg7 56. h5) 54...
Bg6 55. e6 Rd8 $2 (55... Rh7 $11) 56. e7 $1 $18 Re8 ({Weaker is} 56... Rd3+ 57.
Kf4 $18) 57. Re6 Rb8 58. Kf4 $2 (58. Kf3 $18) 58... b4 $1 $11 59. Ke5 bxa3 60.
bxa3 {Threatens to win with Rf6.} Rb5+ $2 (60... Re8 $11) 61. Kd4 $2 ({White
has to play} 61. Kf6 $18 Be8 62. Kg7) 61... Rb8 62. Kc5 {next Rf6 is good for
White.} Rc8+ $2 (62... Ra8 $11) 63. Kd6 $1 $18 Rg8 {[#]} 64. Ke5 $2 (64. Rxg6
$1 $18 Rxg6+ 65. Kd7 Kxh4 66. e8=Q Rxg5 67. Qe7) 64... Rb8 $2 (64... Re8 $1 $11
) 65. Kf6 $2 ({Better is} 65. Rd6 $18) 65... Be8 $2 (65... Rg8 $11) 66. Rd6 Rb3
67. Rd8 $2 (67. Kg7 $18) 67... Rf3+ $11 68. Ke5 Re3+ 69. Kd6 Bg6 70. Rh8+ Kg4
71. Kd7 Rxa3 72. Rg8 Rd3+ $2 (72... Bf5+ $1 $11 73. Kd6 Rd3+ 74. Kc6 Rc3+ 75.
Kd5 (75. Kd6 Rd3+ 76. Kc6 Rc3+ 77. Kd6 Rd3+ $11) 75... Rd3+ 76. Kc6 (76. Kc4
Re3 $11) 76... Bd7+ 77. Kc7 a3) 73. Ke6 $18 Bf5+ $2 (73... a3 74. Rxg6 a2) 74.
Kf7 {White is clearly winning.} Bd7 75. e8=Q {Qe4+ would kill now.} Bxe8+ 76.
Rxe8 Rd7+ 77. Kg6 {Precision: White = 53%, Black = 40%. . An unexpected result.
} (77. Kf6 $142 Rd6+ 78. Kg7) 1/2-1/2

Adhiban Baskaran (2672) also drew both his games and is on 1.0/2.

Indian champion Karthikeyan Murali (2585) is on 1.5/2.

Deep Sengupta (2586) held Chinese phenom Wei Yi (2732) to a draw and is on 1.5/2.

Lalith Babu (2529) has lost a hat full of rating points in the recent past and would be keen to make amends. He is on 1.5/2.

IM Padmini Rout (2380) had a forgettable start to her campaign with a loss to compatriot Kiran Manisha Mohanty (2160)

[Event "Asian Continental-ch Women 2017"]
[Site "Chengdu"]
[Date "2017.05.12"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kiran, Manisha Mohanty"]
[Black "Padmini, Rout"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "2160"]
[BlackElo "2380"]
[Annotator "TA"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. a3 f6 7. Bd3 fxe5 {C02:
French: Advance Variation} 8. dxe5 c4 9. Bc2 g6 10. h4 {LiveBook: 3 Games} Bg7
11. h5 Nge7 12. hxg6 hxg6 13. Rxh8+ Bxh8 14. Qe2 Bd7 15. Be3 {[#]} Qa5 $146 16.
Bf4 O-O-O ({Black should play} 16... Qb6 $11) 17. Nbd2 $14 Bg7 18. O-O-O Rh8
19. g4 b5 20. Bg5 Qd8 21. Bxg6 (21. Qe3 $142) 21... Qf8 22. Bc2 Be8 23. Bh4 (
23. Qe3 $16) 23... Ng6 $11 24. Bg3 (24. Bxg6 $5 Bxg6 25. Qe3 $14) 24... Bh6 (
24... Nf4 $11 {keeps the balance.} 25. Qe3 Ng2) 25. g5 $16 Bg7 26. Qe3 $1 Kb7 (
26... Kb8 $16) 27. Nd4 Nxd4 28. Qxd4 {Strongly threatening Ne4!} ({Reject} 28.
cxd4 $6 Ne7 $11) 28... Ne7 29. Qc5 Nf5 {[#]} (29... Nc8 $16 30. Qxf8 Bxf8) 30.
Qxf8 (30. Ne4 $1 $18) 30... Rxf8 {[#]} 31. Bxf5 $1 Rxf5 32. f4 Rf8 33. Rh1 Bg6
34. Rh2 Kc6 35. Nf3 Kd7 36. Kd2 a6 37. Ke3 Re8 38. Nd4 Bf8 {[#]} (38... Rf8 $16
39. Rh1 Be4) 39. f5 $1 $18 exf5 40. Kf4 Bg7 41. Re2 Rh8 (41... Kc7 $142 42. Re1
Bf8) 42. e6+ ({Don't blunder} 42. Nxf5 $2 Rf8 $19) 42... Ke8 43. Nc6 Rh1 44.
Re1 Rh5 $2 (44... Rxe1 45. Bxe1 Bf8) 45. Rd1 {White is clearly winning.} Bf8
46. Rxd5 Be7 47. Ke5 {Precision: White = 57%, Black = 34%.} 1-0

WGM Soumya Swaminathan (2359) is on 1.5/2.

WGM Mary Ann Gomes (2318) has scored 2.0/2

The coach of the Indian contingent GM R.B. Ramesh.

Playing hall

Pairings of the next round for IND

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
3	1	8	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	IND	2653	2		2	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2588	15
3	4	2	GM	Wei Yi	CHN	2732	1½		1½	GM	Sandipan Chanda	IND	2575	21
3	5	4	GM	Bu Xiangzhi	CHN	2697	1½		1½	GM	Lalith Babu M R	IND	2529	25
3	7	22		Xu Yinglun	CHN	2560	1½		1½	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	IND	2633	9
3	11	24	IM	Xu Xiangyu	CHN	2534	1½		1½	GM	Sengupta Deep	IND	2586	17
3	12	18	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	IND	2585	1½		1½		Zhang Ziji	CHN	2312	62
3	14	41	IM	Nguyen Van Huy	VIE	2442	1		1	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2687	5
3	15	45	IM	Wang Yiye	CHN	2421	1		1	GM	Adhiban B.	IND	2672	7
3	23	37	IM	Atabayev Yusup	TKM	2455	½		1	GM	Sriram Jha	IND	2390	54
3	1	1	GM	Lei Tingjie	CHN	2482	2		2	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	IND	2318	10
3	4	19	IM	Mohota Nisha	IND	2260	1½		1½	IM	Khademalsharieh Sarasadat	IRI	2450	2
3	6	37		Du Yuxin	CHN	2046	1½		1½	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	IND	2359	6
3	7	17	WIM	Vaishali R	IND	2272	1½		1½	WIM	Gong Qianyun	SGP	2298	12
3	8	5	WGM	Hoang Thi Bao Tram	VIE	2371	1		1½	WIM	Pratyusha Bodda	IND	2269	18
3	9	31		Ning Kaiyu	CHN	2134	1		1	IM	Padmini Rout	IND	2380	4
3	11	29	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	IND	2160	1		1	WFM	Xiao Yiyi	CHN	2287	14
3	14	33	WFM	Tan Li Ting	MAS	2091	1		1	WIM	Nandhidhaa Pv	IND	2252	22
3	19	39		Hu Yu A.	CHN	2043	½		½	WGM	Swati Ghate	IND	2280	16