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Isle of Man 07: Harika beats Hou Yifan!

by Sagar Shah - 08/10/2016

This was the 23rd encounter between them and it was the first time that the Indian emerged victorious! Yes, Harika Dronavalli was able to beat the reigning World Champion Hou Yifan at the seventh round of the Isle of Man International 2016. In another positive result for Indians, 18-year-old S.L.Narayanan crushed his Armenian opponent Sergei Movsesian in just 27 moves! Vidit Gujrathi lost on the top board against Pavel Eljanov when he overstretched in what was an equal position. Check out the illustrated report.

Photos by Harry Gielen

 

It was a mixed day for the Indian fans at the seventh round of the chess.com Isle of Man International 2016. While Vidit Gujrathi slumped to a loss on the top board against Pavel Eljanov with the white pieces, two positive results more than made up for this. Harika was able to get the better of the reigning World Women's Champion Hou Yifan and S.L. Narayanan crushed his highly rated Armenian opponent Sergei Movsesian in just 27 moves! Let's have a look at these two exciting games.

Harika vs Hou Yifan

Harika and Hou Yifan have been playing against each other since a decade now. The Chinese player has five wins to her credit with 17 draws. This was the first win in any format for the Indian!

Harika opened the game with 1.c4 and Hou Yifan chose the slightly rare 1...b6. The Botvinnik setup is what Harika went for and her position out of the opening was quite solid. But then came a critical moment where the Indian showed her real intentions.

White could have played 13.d4 here and gained a comfortable slight edge. However, the position is also easier for Black to play as a couple of minor pieces come off the board. Hence, Harika went for 13.Rac1 which kept more tension on the board. It was a clear indication that she wanted to fight for the full point.

Hou Yifan was able to secure the e5 square for her knight. However, the d6 pawn was weak and this gave White the advantage in the middlegame.

Exchanging the queens was an excellent decision by Harika. The pawn on f6 was really a thorn in Black's camp.

Isn't this a picturesque position! Everything went downhill for the World Champion as Harika was able to create two passers in the middle of the board!
[Event "chess.com IoM Masters"]
[Site "Douglas ENG"]
[Date "2016.10.07"]
[Round "7.13"]
[White "Harika, Dronavalli"]
[Black "Hou, Yifan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A10"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2649"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2016.10.01"]
{Harika and Hou Yifan have played 22 times against each other in the last 10
years. The Chinese grandmaster has won five times and rest 17 games have ended
in draws. This was the first time that Harika managed to outwit the reigning
World Champion.} 1. c4 b6 $5 {Hou Yifan tries to mix it up out of the opening.}
2. Nc3 Bb7 3. e4 c5 4. Nge2 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. g3 g6 7. Bg2 Bg7 8. O-O {The
Botvinnik setup chosen by Harika is one of the easiest way for White to play.
It can be used against many openings and hence a knowledge of it can be highly
useful. Whatever Black does, White's setup remains the same. The pawns are on
c4-d3-e4 and g3, the knights stand on c3 and e2 and the bishop goes to g2.
After this the plans vary. Sometimes White can go for Be3-Qd2 and Bh6.
Sometimes Rb1 followed by queenside expansion with a3-b4, and as Harika played
in the game - f4-g4 with a kingside attack. The system is highly flexible and
quite easy to understand.} Nc6 9. h3 {Stopping Ng4 and getting ready to play
Be3.} O-O 10. Be3 Rc8 11. Qd2 {d4 is not yet possible because the c4 pawn
would be hanging.} Re8 12. b3 Nd7 13. Rac1 (13. d4 {This was definitely
possible.} cxd4 14. Nxd4 Nxd4 15. Bxd4 Bxd4 16. Qxd4 Qc7 17. Rac1 $14 {
According to me White has the slightly preferable position thanks to her space
advantage, but the position is simplified and hence easier for Black to play.
It is interesting to note that Harika didn't go for this. Maybe she wanted to
keep the position more complicated and fight for the full point.}) 13... a6 14.
f4 $5 {And there we go! White starts the kingside offensive.} Nd4 15. g4 e6 16.
Ng3 Rc7 17. g5 b5 {Overall Black's position looks very cohesive. White cannot
easily play f5 as then the knight on d7 is waiting to jump into e5. Meanwhile
it is not so clear What Harika must do.} 18. Rce1 b4 19. Nce2 Nxe2+ 20. Rxe2
Nb8 21. d4 $5 cxd4 22. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 23. Qxd4 e5 {Hou Yifan gets the e5 square
for her knight with this move, but in return the f-file is opened up for the
white pieces and the d6 pawn is weakened. The position should be round about
equal.} 24. Qd2 exf4 25. Qxf4 Nc6 26. Rd2 Ne5 27. Rfd1 {Both sides have their
own trumps, but it seems that the knight on e5 is not as dangerous as it looks
and the d6 pawn weakness definitely counts for something more.} Rd7 28. h4 {
Bh3 is a big threat now.} Qe7 29. Nh1 $5 {A Nimzovian idea! The knight will go
from f2-d3 in order to evict the one on e5.} (29. Bh3 Rdd8 30. Kg2 $1 {
Threatening c5 which is not so easy to meet.} (30. c5 d5 31. exd5 Qxc5+ $17))
29... Kg7 30. Rf1 Red8 31. Qf6+ $5 Qxf6 32. gxf6+ Kf8 {The pawn on f6 is a
thorn in Black's position and Harika quite correctly realized that when she
went for the queen exchange.} 33. Rfd1 Rc7 34. Nf2 Ke8 35. Kh2 Rc6 36. Kg3 Kd7
37. Nd3 $1 Ke6 $2 (37... Nxd3 38. Rxd3 Re8 39. e5 $1 $18) 38. Nxe5 Kxe5 39.
Rd5+ Kxf6 40. e5+ Ke6 41. c5 (41. R5d2 Rb6 42. c5 $18 {was the fastest way to
win.}) 41... f5 42. exd6 {Out of nowhere Harika has two amazingly strong
passers and they are on dark squares which means that the bishop can remove
the blockaders!} Rd7 43. Re1+ Kf6 44. Rde5 Rc8 45. Re6+ {Hou Yifan rightly
resigned as Re7 comes next and Harika would win an entire piece and her two
strong pawns would still remain. A very interesting battle and great fighting
chess showcased by the Indian.} 1-0

 

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S.L. Narayanan vs Sergei Movsesian

There is absolutely no doubt about the fact that Sergei Movsesian is a world class player. His currently rating is 2677, but a few years ago when he was on the peak of his career, his highest rating was 2752!

But when you have a close look at the game between S.L. Narayanan and the Armenian grandmaster, you will see that the latter could do absolutely nothing in the game. It was clear that Sergei had a bad day at the office, but the perfection with which he was wiped out speaks volumes about S.L. Narayanan's talent.

After 15 moves of the opening White had each and every piece in the game, while Black lacks space and plans

Deja vu? Harika and S.L. Narayanan had a similar strategy today! Get the pawns on e5 and c5 and finish off the game!
[Event "chess.com IoM Masters"]
[Site "Douglas ENG"]
[Date "2016.10.07"]
[Round "7.9"]
[White "Sunilduth Lyna, Narayanan"]
[Black "Movsesian, Sergei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2536"]
[BlackElo "2677"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2016.10.01"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 d6 $5 {These
systems are more positional in nature.} (6... d5 {is the other main move in
the position that leads to very aggressive positions after} 7. e5 Nfd7 8. Bd3
c5 9. h4 $5) 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8. O-O e5 9. b4 exd4 10. Nxd4 Re8 11. Bb2 Bf8 {
Black plays in typical Nimzowitsch style. Restraint against the e4 pawn and
then slowly and steadily looking out for the d6-d5 break.} 12. Qc2 c6 13. N4b3
b6 $6 (13... Ne5 14. Be2 Ng6 {looked more to the point, but after} 15. f4 Bd7
16. Rae1 {White looks better.}) 14. f4 $1 g6 15. Rae1 {White's play is just so
natural!} Bb7 16. e5 $1 {The best part about White's play is that he hardly
wastes time. Everything is in place so let's get going!} Nh5 17. c5 $1 {
Amazing move. White wants to destroy the d6 pawn so that he can either play
f4-f5 or open the f-file for his rooks. And the other interesting point to
note is that Harika too beat Hou Yifan with her pawns on e5 and c5!} (17. f5
dxe5 {is better for White but not as much as in the game.}) 17... d5 (17...
dxc5 18. f5 $1 $18) (17... dxe5 18. fxe5 Bg7 19. Bc4 $18) 18. f5 {S.L.
Narayanan makes it look so easy!} Qg5 19. Nf3 Qg4 20. e6 fxe6 21. fxe6 (21.
fxg6 {was also quite strong.}) 21... Ndf6 (21... Rxe6 22. h3 $18) 22. h3 Qf4
23. Bxg6 hxg6 24. Qxg6+ Bg7 25. Ng5 Qg3 26. Be5 Qh4 27. Nd4 {The knight is
coming to f5 and in general the black king is just a few moves away from being
mated! What a resounding victory for the GM from Kerala!} 1-0

 

S.L. Narayanan showed the world that he is not a player to be messed with!

Vidit's loss on the top board against Pavel Eljanov was perhaps the worst news for Indian supporters in round seven

Vidit played the same line that was witnessed in the Anand vs Carlsen Match in 2014 in Sochi. It had been proved that White gets absolutely no advantage out of the opening. Yet, Vidit employed the line. Clearly he had a new idea up his sleeve which he revealed with the move d6!? The pawn on d6 was both a strength and a weakness. At a certain moment it would have been wise for Gujrathi to settle for a draw. However, he was overambitious and pushed his pawn to g4 after which Eljanov played with precision, won the d6 pawn and converted the endgame.

[Event "chess.com IoM Masters"]
[Site "Douglas ENG"]
[Date "2016.10.07"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Black "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2686"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2016.10.01"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Nc3 Bb7 7. Bg2 c6 8. e4 {
The players are following the game Anand-Carlsen from their World Championship
Match in 2014. Sergei Tiviakov in his video on CBM 168 mentions that if White
wants to fight for an advantage he must refrain from the move 8.e4 and instead
go for castling. As things went in this game, we cannot really argue with what
Tiviakov says.} d5 9. exd5 cxd5 10. Ne5 O-O 11. O-O Nc6 12. cxd5 Nxe5 $1 {
Of course the line that Black is walking is quite narrow. He has to make all
the accurate moves in order to equalize. But you can be rest assured that a
player of Eljanov's calibre has it all worked out at home.} 13. d6 Nc6 14. dxe7
Qxe7 15. Bg5 h6 16. d5 Na5 17. d6 {This is the first move where the game
deviates from the Anand-Carlsen World Championship Match. Vishy had taken on
f6. Vidit comes up with this natural move, but now it is open for debate
whether the pawn on d6 is a strength or a weakness.} (17. Bxf6 Qxf6 18. dxe6
Bxg2 $1 19. exf7+ Qxf7 20. Kxg2 Nc4 21. Qb3 Rad8 $11 {And with some further
analysis it has been proved that Black is equal in this position.}) 17... Qd8
18. Bxf6 Qxf6 19. Qe2 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 Qd8 21. Rfd1 Qd7 22. Rd4 Rac8 23. Rad1 Nc6
24. R4d2 Na5 {Vidit could have settled for a draw here with Rd4 but instead he
went for something more ambitious. Not that the position warrants it, but his
age definitely does!} 25. g4 $5 {I would say after this move, all three
results are possible. White tries to play acctively but at the sam time
weakens his own king. Objectively this is not a great move.} Rfd8 26. Ne4 Nc4
27. Rc2 Ne5 28. Rdc1 Rxc2 29. Rxc2 Qb7 30. f3 Qd5 31. Rd2 Qc4 32. Qe1 f5 33.
gxf5 exf5 34. Qg3 Qe6 (34... Nxf3 $5 $17) 35. Nc3 Nc4 36. Re2 Qxd6 37. Qxd6
Rxd6 {The pawn is lost and the rest was not so difficult for Eljanov.} 38. b3
Rd3 39. Nb5 Ne3+ 40. Kf2 Nd1+ 41. Ke1 Nc3 42. Nxc3 Rxc3 43. Re7 Rxf3 44. Rxa7
Rh3 45. Rb7 Rxh2 46. a4 h5 47. Rxb6 h4 48. Kf1 h3 49. Rb4 Ra2 50. Kg1 g5 51.
Rb5 Rg2+ 52. Kh1 Rf2 53. Kg1 h2+ 54. Kh1 g4 55. Rc5 g3 56. Rc1 f4 57. a5 f3 0-1

 

Tiviakov in CBM 168 discusses this line played by Vidit and comes to the conclusion that if White wants to play for an advantage he should stay away from 8.e4 and instead go for 8.0-0.

As you can see reading the ChessBase Magazine can give you an edge over your opponents in terms of opening trends and knowledge. The latest issue CBM 174 has been released just a few days ago. You can now get it from our online shop for just Rs. 699/-

Check out the contents of CBM 174

Hemant Sharma's dream tournament continued as he was able to hold the reigning Dutch Champion Jorden van Foreest (above) to a draw

GM Vishnu Prasanna has scored three consecutive victories and is now on 4.5/7

Rank after Round 7

Rk. SNo     Name sex FED Rtg  TB1  Rp n w we w-we K rtg+/-
1 5   GM Eljanov Pavel   UKR 2741 6,5 2972 7 6,5 5,12 1,38 10 13,8
2 1   GM Caruana Fabiano   USA 2813 6,0 2913 7 6 5,27 0,73 10 7,3
3 2   GM So Wesley   USA 2794 5,5 2784 7 5,5 5,46 0,04 10 0,4
4 3   GM Nakamura Hikaru   USA 2787 5,0 2697 7 5 5,56 -0,56 10 -5,6
  4   GM Adams Michael   ENG 2745 5,0 2726 7 5 5,04 -0,04 10 -0,4
  8   GM Rodshtein Maxim   ISR 2687 5,0 2784 7 5 4,00 1,00 10 10,0
  9   GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi   IND 2686 5,0 2713 7 5 4,63 0,37 10 3,7
  10   GM Naiditsch Arkadij   AZE 2684 5,0 2766 6 4,5 3,81 0,69 10 6,9
  11   GM Shirov Alexei   LAT 2679 5,0 2757 6 4,5 3,84 0,66 10 6,6
  15   GM Melkumyan Hrant   ARM 2653 5,0 2570 7 5 5,48 -0,48 10 -4,8
  21   GM Howell David W L   ENG 2644 5,0 2683 7 5 4,47 0,53 10 5,3
  22   GM Grandelius Nils   SWE 2642 5,0 2759 7 5 3,78 1,22 10 12,2
  26   GM Bok Benjamin   NED 2594 5,0 2740 7 5 3,54 1,46 10 14,6
  29   GM Donchenko Alexander   GER 2581 5,0 2534 7 5 5,31 -0,31 10 -3,1
  35   GM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan   IND 2536 5,0 2692 7 5 3,46 1,54 10 15,4
  36   GM Harika Dronavalli w IND 2528 5,0 2698 7 5 3,36 1,64 10 16,4
  74   IM Wallace John Paul   AUS 2355 5,0 2683 7 5 2,05 2,95 10 29,5

Player overview for IND

SNo   Name Rtg FED 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pts. Rk. Rp K rtg+/- Group
9 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2686 IND 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 5,0 7 2713 10 3,70 Master
23 GM Gupta Abhijeet 2626 IND 1 ½ 1 0 1 0 1 4,5 23 2589 10 -1,70 Master
28 GM Lalith Babu M R 2586 IND 1 ½ ½ 1 0 0 1 4,0 41 2435 10 -11,60 Master
32 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2564 IND 1 0 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 4,5 26 2498 10 -4,50 Master
33 GM Shyam Sundar M. 2552 IND 0 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 4,5 27 2442 10 -8,10 Master
35 GM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan 2536 IND 1 0 1 1 ½ ½ 1 5,0 15 2692 10 15,40 Master
36 GM Harika Dronavalli 2528 IND 1 ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 5,0 16 2698 10 16,40 Master
37 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V 2522 IND 1 0 ½ 0 1 1 1 4,5 29 2527 10 1,10 Master
43 GM Gagare Shardul 2480 IND ½ 1 0 0 1 ½ 1 4,0 44 2389 10 -7,50 Master
45 IM Puranik Abhimanyu 2471 IND 1 0 1 ½ 1 0 1 4,5 32 2470 10 1,40 Master
52 IM Visakh N R 2456 IND 0 0 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 4,0 48 2367 10 -6,50 Master
54 IM Praggnanandhaa R 2442 IND 1 0 1 ½ 0 1 0 3,5 62 2440 10 1,10 Master
55 GM Sundararajan Kidambi 2429 IND 1 0 ½ 1 1 0 0 3,5 63 2426 10 0,80 Master
60 IM Karavade Eesha 2421 IND 1 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 4,0 49 2506 10 9,60 Master
62 IM Tania Sachdev 2414 IND 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 4,0 50 2473 10 8,30 Master
64 IM Das Arghyadip 2400 IND 1 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 3,5 67 2386 10 1,20 Master
71   Hemant Sharma (del) 2371 IND 0 1 1 1 0 1 ½ 4,5 35 2543 20 34,80 Master
72   Harsha Bharathakoti 2363 IND ½ 0 1 0 1 0 1 3,5 69 2414 20 8,20 Master
82 FM Karthik Venkataraman 2317 IND ½ 0 1 1 0 0 1 3,5 75 2411 20 16,40 Master
93 FM Rakesh Kumar Jena 2247 IND 0 1 0 1 ½ 0 0 2,5 104 2249 20 -3,20 Master
97 WIM Parnali S Dharia 2228 IND ½ 0 0 1 1 0 0 2,5 105 2269 20 4,60 Master
110 AGM Vardan Nagpal 2117 IND 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 3,0 99 2156 40 7,60 Master
115 FM Tiwari Ashwani 2090 IND 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 2,0 119 2067 20 -8,00 Master
126 WIM Gagare Shalmali 1989 IND ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 3,0 101 2285 20 37,60 Master
127 WFM Swati Mohota 1948 IND 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 2,5 113 2122 20 24,60 Master
128 WFM Kotepalli Sai Nirupama 1944 IND 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 2,5 114 2130 20 24,80 Master

Pairings of the next round for IND

Rd. Bo. No.     Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts.   Name Rtg   No.
8 5 21   GM Howell David W L 2644 5   5 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2686   9
8 6 10   GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2684 5   5 GM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan 2536   35
8 7 11   GM Shirov Alexei 2679 5   5 GM Harika Dronavalli 2528   36
8 10 33   GM Shyam Sundar M. 2552   GM Fressinet Laurent 2676   13
8 14 37   GM Vishnu Prasanna. V 2522   GM Gupta Abhijeet 2626   23
8 16 45   IM Puranik Abhimanyu 2471   GM L'ami Erwin 2605   25
8 17 71     Hemant Sharma (del) 2371   GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2564   32
8 20 62   IM Tania Sachdev 2414 4   4 GM Meier Georg 2648   19
8 21 52   IM Visakh N R 2456 4   4 GM Bachmann Axel 2645   20
8 23 28   GM Lalith Babu M R 2586 4   4 IM Lou Yiping 2458   50
8 24 31   GM Brunello Sabino 2566 4   4 IM Karavade Eesha 2421   60
8 26 43   GM Gagare Shardul 2480 4   4   Balint Vilmos 2334   76
8 29 39   GM Hillarp Persson Tiger 2513     Harsha Bharathakoti 2363   72
8 33 54   IM Praggnanandhaa R 2442   IM Peek Marcel 2319   81
8 34 84   FM Jackson James P 2311   GM Sundararajan Kidambi 2429   55
8 35 58   IM Alvarado Diaz Alejandro 2425   FM Karthik Venkataraman 2317   82
8 38 64   IM Das Arghyadip 2400   FM Lyell Mark 2190   103
8 45 75     Van Foreest Lucas 2350 3   3 AGM Vardan Nagpal 2117   110
8 49 126   WIM Gagare Shalmali 1989 3   3 WIM Osmanodja Filiz 2299   87
8 53 93   FM Rakesh Kumar Jena 2247     Pasini Nicolo 2101   114
8 54 97   WIM Parnali S Dharia 2228     Harari Zaki 2061   118
8 56 107   CM Herbold Manfred 2155   WFM Kotepalli Sai Nirupama 1944   128
8 57 112   WFM De Rosa Mariagrazia 2102   WFM Swati Mohota 1948   127
8 61 115   FM Tiwari Ashwani 2090 2   2   Fathallah Joe 1990   125