India wins the Asian Nations Cup 2016
The ninth round saw the leaders India take on the Vietnamese, with even a draw assuring the title. But the team was raring to go and they roared to a class victory. India lifted the Asian Nations Cup 2016 and qualified to the World Teams Championship! The women's team ended its disappointing campaign by drawing the match with Iran, finishing fourth. We bring you a detailed report with comments by the players and the coach of the winning team!
India wins the Asian Nations Cup 2016
The Asian Nations Cup Chess Championship began at the Novotel Abu Dhabi Al Bustan hotel with 20 countries competing for the right to represent Asia in the World Chess Team Championship.
When the tournament began, everybody knew that the race would eventually be contested between the two Asian superpowers. However, the waters were testing—in the very second round, the Mongols surprised the Indians. Says Adhiban,"At some point we really lost control. We were even very close to losing the match. You could have congratulated a different champion maybe." "It was a bit surprising for us. But the Mongolian chess players increased their level lately and they were very strong when playing against us. I was also playing in that round and I saw the games. I think we are actually lucky to have made a draw," Vidit recounted.
With renewed winds in their sails, the team then punched victory after victory, even overcoming China, the main rival. After that, it was a matter of doing the needful and winning the remaining games against much weaker opposition. "Once we beat China, we knew it was a tournament for us to win or lose. Every player understood the responsibility and did not let it reach the extent that it becomes a burden," commented coach R.B. Ramesh.
The ninth round saw the leaders India take on the Vietnamese, with even a draw assuring the title. Ramesh adds,"We were the favourites going into last round against Vietnam. Each player knew their role and was eager to fulfill it. We had no special plans—just wanted to play good chess and that's what the boys did." The team was in no mood to relent and attacked with all cylinders blazing.
R.B. Ramesh: "Sethuraman could have avoided taking risks but he boldly went for it by sacrificing a piece, supported by good calculation, and won a nice game. It is important that we try to play as normally as possible in crucial rounds without getting too overwhelmed by the situation."
[Site "Abu Dhabi"]
[Date "2016.04.05"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Sethuraman, S P."]
[Black "Nguyen, Huynh Minh Huy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2658"]
[BlackElo "2455"]
[Annotator "ChessBase"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[WhiteTeam "India"]
[BlackTeam "Vietnam"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "VIE"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]
g6 9. Nc3 Bg7 10. Rd1 O-O 11. Nf3 Nc6 12. Bc2 Nd7 13. Bf4 Nde5 14. Rac1 Nxf3+
15. Qxf3 Ne5 16. Qg3 b6 17. b4 Bb7 18. Bb3 Rac8 19. Qe3 Ba8 20. Na4 Rb8 21. c5
dxc5 22. bxc5 b5 23. Nb6 Rfd8 24. h3 Qc6 25. Bd5 exd5 26. exd5 Qe8 27. c6 Bxc6
28. dxc6 Rxd1+ 29. Rxd1 Qxc6 30. Bxe5 Qxb6 31. Bxb8 Qxb8 32. Qe7 1-0
[Site "Abu Dhabi"]
[Date "2016.04.05"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Sasikiran, Krishnan"]
[Black "Nguyen, Anh Khoi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2637"]
[BlackElo "2412"]
[Annotator "ChessBase"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[WhiteTeam "India"]
[BlackTeam "Vietnam"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "VIE"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]
e3 {9} O-O {12} 6. Be2 {12} Nbd7 {30} 7. O-O {34} c5 {10} 8. c3 {25} Re8 {269}
9. Qb3 {1197} Qb6 {1578} 10. Rfd1 {479} h6 {1038} 11. Bh4 {140} a6 {622} 12.
Bxf6 {762} Bxf6 {16} 13. Qxd5 {27} Qxb2 {56} 14. Rab1 {309} Qxc3 {218} 15. Nc4
{851} Qc2 {498} 16. Bd3 {46} e6 {7} 17. Qe4 {50} Qa4 {24} 18. d5 {178} Nf8 {512
} 19. d6 {98} Bd7 {249} 20. Bc2 {102} Qc6 {202} 21. Qf4 {195} Kg7 {53} 22. Nce5
{213} g5 {162} 23. Qg4 {18} Qc8 {99} 24. Qh5 {11} Bxe5 {176} 25. Nxe5 {7} f5 {
32} 26. Qf7+ {179} Kh8 {4} 27. Qf6+ {32} Kh7 {56} 28. Ng4 {25} 1-0
Adhiban and Vidit drew their games with the black pieces. The result was a 3-1 decimation in India's favour. With that ends the seven-year reign of China as the Asian champions.
The women's team had another subpar result as it barely held Iran to a tie. Soumya's loss was compensated by Bhakti Kulkarni's win, with other games ending in a draw. A win in this match could have actually resulted in a third place finish and a bronze medal for the team. Not the prize of qualifying for the World Teams, yet better than the fourth place finish.
[Site "Abu Dhabi"]
[Date "2016.04.05"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Harika, Dronavalli"]
[Black "Khademalsharieh, Sarasadat"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2515"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[Annotator "ChessBase"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[WhiteTeam "India"]
[BlackTeam "Iran"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "IRI"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]
5. b3 {255} Be7 {50} 6. Bb2 {21} O-O {8} 7. c4 {6} d5 {69} 8. e3 {186} c5 {113}
9. Nc3 {218} dxc4 {622} 10. bxc4 {56} Nc6 {4} 11. Qe2 {66} Qc8 {442} 12. Ne1 {
829} Na5 {200} 13. f4 {531} Rd8 {168} 14. Rd1 {183} Bxg2 {821} 15. Nxg2 {15}
Qd7 {4} 16. d3 {371} a6 {367} 17. a4 {82} Rac8 {677} 18. g4 {116} Rc6 {257} 19.
g5 {819} Ne8 {99} 20. Ne4 {125} Nd6 {219} 21. Ng3 {565} Nf5 {308} 22. Be5 {262}
Bd6 {69} 23. Bc3 {42} Be7 {70} 24. Be5 {77} Bd6 {5} 25. Bc3 {5} Be7 {7} 26. Ne4
{292} Nd6 {78} 27. Nd2 {67} Nf5 {211} 28. Ne4 {411} Nd6 {13} 29. Nd2 {36} Nf5 {
5} 30. Ne4 {58} 1/2-1/2
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