chessbase india logo

LCC Open 05-07: Aravindh defeats Smirin to keep sole lead

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 15/12/2016

Seven rounds of play have come to close at the London Chess Classic FIDE Open 2016. India's 17-year-old Aravindh Chithambaram has surprised many with his smooth 6.5/7. He leads the event comfortably. But now, he must maintain the crown on his head to become the winner. As we know, often, it is more difficult than winning the crown. We have an illustrated report.

LCC Open 05-07: Aravindh defeats Smirin to keep sole lead

Photos by Lennart Ootes

 

Seven rounds of play have come to close at the London Chess Classic FIDE Open 2016. India's 17-year-old Aravindh Chithambaram has surprised many with his smooth 6.5/7. He leads the event comfortably. But now, he must maintain the crown on his head to become the winner. As we know, often, it is more difficult than winning the crown.

 

Abhijeet Gupta is not far behind and has clawed back to joint third — with ten others — on 5.5/7. Indian champion Karthikeyan Murali is also in the contention with similar number of points.

Aravindh Chithambaram beat co-leader  Swiss GM Sebastian Bogner (2564) in the fifth round and settled for a draw with defending champion Dutch GM Benjamin Bok (2598) in the sixth round.

In the seventh round, Israeli GM Illya Smirin (2664) went out all guns blazing against the young Indian. Aravindh calculated precisely, kept his cool, collected all the material on offer, and won.
[Event "London Classic FIDE Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.12.14"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Aravindh, Chithambaram VR"]
[Black "Smirin, Ilia"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2566"]
[BlackElo "2669"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:05:05"]
[BlackClock "0:01:55"]
1. e4 {0} c5 {5} 2. Nf3 {0} e6 {46} 3. d4 {5} cxd4 {14} 4. Nxd4 {7} a6 {3} 5.
Bd3 {22} Bc5 {19} 6. Nb3 {13} Ba7 {14} 7. O-O {47} Nc6 {45} 8. Qg4 {26} Nf6 {32
} 9. Qxg7 {82} Rg8 {4} 10. Qh6 {6} Ne5 {70} 11. Be2 {35} b5 {652} 12. Bg5 {1214
} Rg6 {326} 13. Qh4 {8} Bb7 {155} 14. N1d2 {24} h6 {557} 15. Bxf6 {48} Rxf6 {
163} 16. Qg3 {2170} Ng6 {479} 17. a4 {455} Bb8 {605} 18. Qc3 {27} Be5 {385} 19.
Qe3 {59} Nf4 {676} 20. axb5 {509} d5 {526} 21. bxa6 {643} d4 {41} 22. Bb5+ {89}
Kf8 {57} 23. Qf3 {209} Nxg2 {469} 24. Qh5 {261} Rg6 {505} 25. Qxe5 {20} Ne3+ {
11} 26. Kh1 {23} Ng4 {5} 27. Qh8+ {116} Rg8 {7} 28. Qxd4 {7} Qg5 {94} 1-0

 

IM Praggnanandhaa R. (2452) is having a torrid time and is stuck on 3.5/7.

IM Karthikeyan P. (2474) is on 5.0/7. 

WGM Mary Ann Gomes is on 4.0/7.

 

A banana a day keeps the brain awake?

John Nunn's annual simul at the Classic in progress. He could have contributed to and given pleasure to any community that he could become a part of. Luckily for us, he chose chess. The English grandmaster is a strong player, mathematician, and a terrific chess writer with many books to his credit.

Nigel Short has pulled ahead! In the fourth game of their six-game Final, Nigel activated his king early in the middlegame and the result was an easy Lucena:
[Event "British Knockout Ch'ship"]
[Site "Olympia Conference Centre"]
[Date "2016.12.14"]
[Round "14.1"]
[White "Short, Nigel"]
[Black "Howell, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A35"]
[WhiteElo "2679"]
[BlackElo "2644"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[WhiteClock "0:07:57"]
[BlackClock "0:33:58"]
1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. e3 e6 5. d4 d5 6. a3 cxd4 7. exd4 Ne4 8. Bd3
Nxc3 9. bxc3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Be7 11. Bf4 O-O 12. Qd3 Bf6 13. Kf1 e5 14. dxe5
Qxd3+ 15. Bxd3 Be7 16. Ke2 Rd8 17. Rhd1 h6 18. Nd4 g5 19. Nxc6 bxc6 20. Be3 Rd5
21. Bd4 Ra5 22. a4 Be6 23. Rdb1 Bf8 24. Be4 Bd5 25. Kd3 Bxe4+ 26. Kxe4 Bg7 27.
f4 gxf4 28. Kxf4 Re8 29. Re1 Rd5 30. Rab1 Ra5 31. Rb7 Bf8 32. Rxa7 Rxa7 33.
Bxa7 Ra8 34. Bf2 Rxa4+ 35. Re4 Ra2 36. Kf3 Bg7 37. Bg3 Ra5 38. Bf4 Rc5 39. c4
h5 40. g4 hxg4+ 41. Kxg4 Ra5 42. h4 Kh7 43. Kf5 Ra1 44. e6 fxe6+ 45. Kxe6 Kg6
46. Be5 Bxe5 47. Rxe5 Rd1 48. Rg5+ Kh6 49. Rc5 Rd4 50. Rxc6 Kg7 51. Rc7+ Kf8
52. Rc8+ Kg7 53. c5 Rxh4 54. c6 Rc4 55. Kd6 Rd4+ 56. Kc5 Rd1 57. Re8 Kf7 58.
Re4 Rc1+ 59. Kb6 Rb1+ 60. Ka7 Rc1 61. Kb7 Rb1+ 62. Kc8 Rb2 63. c7 Rb1 64. Kd7
Rd1+ 65. Kc6 Rc1+ 66. Kd6 Rc2 67. Re5 1-0

 

Young Dushyant Sharma (2066) is among the 21 Indians fighting it out in the London cold.

Anuradha Beniwal is a chess player and Hindi writer. She is a regular visitor at the Classic. You can read her book 'Azadi Meri Brand' by buying it here.

Games in PGN

Contact Us