Baku 02: Harika loses on time
The biggest news of the day from the Indian camp was the loss of GM Dronavalli Harika in a winning position, in India's match against Brazil. Nevertheless, the Indian team had already taken an unassailable lead and won the match. The team in the open section was perfect in execution as a 4.0-0.0 sweep was achieved without any issues. Of note was Vidit's beautiful win with the black pieces. Check out our illustrated report to know more.
Baku 02: Harika loses on time
Although the Olympiad began with promises of being the biggest team event ever in chess history, the final numbers on day one fell short of the mark set by Tromso 2014. 166 teams eventually made it to play in the first round of the mega-event taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan. But the numbers may increase from the second round onwards, and we will tell you why soon.
Baku, as the aficionados may notice, is also the birthplace of the legendary Garry Kasparov. Travel content provider Lonely Planet has a rather sweet way of introducing Baku to its readers: 'Azerbaijan’s capital is the architectural love child of Paris and Dubai…albeit with plenty of Soviet genes floating half-hidden in the background.' So, here we are.
The biggest news of the day from the Indian camp was the loss of GM Dronavalli Harika in a winning position. India was pitted against Brazil, and Harika was playing Juliana Sayumi Terao with the black pieces. After her opponent lashed out aggressively, Harika fought back very well, refusing the repetition and eventually building a winning position.
It is fairly straightforward that Black can go 74...Kd6 75.Nxg6 Nh4+, and win the game. Harika, in the process of playing ...Kd6, lost on time!
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.03"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Terao, Juliana Sayumi"]
[Black "Harika, Dronavalli"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2268"]
[BlackElo "2542"]
[PlyCount "148"]
[EventDate "2016.09.03"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
a3 {44} O-O {133} 6. d3 {23} Re8 {375} 7. g4 {745} Bc5 {724} 8. g5 {117} Nh5 {
126} 9. Rg1 {1536} g6 {400} 10. Bc4 {1043} d6 {410} 11. Nd5 {65} Be6 {216} 12.
c3 {90} Nb8 {326} 13. h4 {702} Nd7 {481} 14. b4 {234} Bb6 {129} 15. Nh2 {34} c6
{453} 16. Nxb6 {296} Nxb6 {180} 17. Bxe6 {76} Rxe6 {13} 18. Ng4 {29} a5 {402}
19. Be3 {307} Nd7 {86} 20. Qf3 {30} Kg7 {208} 21. Nh6 {51} Qf8 {85} 22. Nf5+ {
165} Kh8 {69} 23. Nh6 {37} Kg7 {25} 24. Nf5+ {7} Kh8 {4} 25. Nh6 {3} axb4 {211}
26. cxb4 {10} Kg7 {92} 27. Nf5+ {37} Kh8 {5} 28. Nh6 {74} Re7 {287} 29. a4 {57}
f6 {157} 30. Qh3 {279} d5 {105} 31. a5 {50} fxg5 {129} 32. hxg5 {11} Nf4 {70}
33. Qf1 {4} Ree8 {61} 34. Bd2 {34} Ne6 {14} 35. Qh3 {77} Re7 {15} 36. Rh1 {78}
Nd4 {69} 37. Ra2 {43} Nf3+ {122} 38. Ke2 {3} Nxd2 {86} 39. Rxd2 {5} Qf4 {54}
40. Qh4 {0} Qxh4 {0} 41. Rxh4 {123} Nf8 {53} 42. Kf1 {732} Rd8 {359} 43. Rc2 {
193} Ne6 {153} 44. Rg4 {204} dxe4 {368} 45. dxe4 {11} Red7 {63} 46. Kg2 {125}
Kg7 {39} 47. a6 {160} bxa6 {381} 48. Rxc6 {18} Rd6 {21} 49. Rc4 {166} Rf8 {179}
50. Rc2 {62} Rd4 {208} 51. Rc6 {73} Nxg5 {119} 52. Rc7+ {21} Kf6 {48} 53. Rc6+
{43} Ne6 {85} 54. Rxa6 {20} Rxb4 {50} 55. f3 {141} Rb2+ {33} 56. Kg1 {108} Ke7
{98} 57. Rg2 {57} Rb1+ {65} 58. Kf2 {5} Nd4 {40} 59. Ra3 {129} Rb2+ {60} 60.
Kg3 {11} Rxg2+ {27} 61. Kxg2 {7} Nc6 {23} 62. Ng4 {104} Rb8 {35} 63. Rc3 {21}
Rb2+ {21} 64. Kh3 {46} Rb6 {41} 65. Ne3 {6} Ra6 {17} 66. Rb3 {57} Kd6 {26} 67.
Rb7 {96} Kc5 {24} 68. Ng4 {53} h5 {19} 69. Nf6 {24} Ra3 {57} 70. Kg2 {32} Nd4 {
32} 71. Rc7+ {29} Kb5 {30} 72. Re7 {37} Nxf3 {27} 73. Nd7 {32} Kc6 {37} 74.
Nxe5+ {32} Kd6 1-0
Pairings for Round 03:
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.03"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Gonzalez Acosta, Bernal"]
[Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2481"]
[BlackElo "2669"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2016.09.03"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
Nc3 {25} O-O {12} 6. g3 {126} d6 {32} 7. Bg2 {4} e6 {25} 8. O-O {15} exd5 {5}
9. cxd5 {4} Re8 {1} 10. Bf4 {4} Ne4 {22} 11. Nxe4 {4} Rxe4 {8} 12. Nd2 {2} Rxf4
{11} 13. gxf4 {3} Bxb2 {9} 14. Rb1 {28} Bg7 {8} 15. Qc2 {562} Na6 {486} 16. a3
{658} Rb8 {51} 17. Rfe1 {502} Bh6 {735} 18. e3 {104} b5 {49} 19. Kh1 {706} Bd7
{376} 20. Be4 {661} Qf6 {805} 21. Rg1 {444} Bg7 {249} 22. f5 {361} c4 {137} 23.
a4 {541} Nc5 {113} 24. axb5 {637} c3 {26} 25. Nf3 {232} Nxe4 {120} 26. Qxe4 {3}
Bxf5 {9} 27. Qf4 {51} Bxb1 {77} 28. Qxf6 {3} Bxf6 {3} 29. Rxb1 {6} Rc8 {46} 30.
Ne1 {63} Rc5 {17} 31. e4 {68} c2 {46} 32. Rc1 {9} Rxb5 {2} 0-1
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.03"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Adhiban, B."]
[Black "Minero Pineda, Sergio"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2391"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2016.09.03"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
5. Nxd4 {3} Qc7 {28} 6. Be2 {405} a6 {35} 7. O-O {10} Nf6 {59} 8. Be3 {15} Be7
{59} 9. f4 {8} d6 {43} 10. Kh1 {56} O-O {54} 11. Qe1 {18} Nxd4 {21} 12. Bxd4 {2
} b5 {40} 13. Qg3 {10} Bb7 {9} 14. a3 {8} Bc6 {21} 15. Bd3 {88} Qb7 {38} 16.
Rae1 {28} b4 {51} 17. Nd1 {2} bxa3 {12} 18. bxa3 {2} Rac8 {95} 19. c4 {1814}
Qc7 {1845} 20. Ba1 {1305} g6 {1625} 21. Nf2 {435} Nh5 {294} 22. Qe3 {332} e5 {
173} 23. Ng4 {9} f6 {184} 24. f5 {2} Be8 {131} 25. c5 {642} Qxc5 {95} 26. Bxa6
{2} Ra8 {427} 27. Qxc5 {407} dxc5 {5} 28. Bc4+ {5} Kg7 {31} 29. Ne3 {448} Rxa3
{165} 30. Nd5 {1} Ra7 {114} 31. g4 {57} Nf4 {41} 32. Nxf4 {79} exf4 {4} 33. g5
{50} Bc6 {478} 34. Bd5 {36} Bxd5 {37} 35. exd5 {1} Bd8 {44} 36. Rxf4 {17} h6 {
49} 37. h4 {73} hxg5 {4} 38. hxg5 {1} Rh8+ {6} 39. Kg1 {7} Rh5 {12} 40. Rg4 {0}
gxf5 {0} 41. gxf6+ {291} Kf8 {145} 42. Re8+ {106} Kxe8 {164} 43. Rg8+ {1} Kd7 {
236} 44. Rg7+ {5} Kd6 {12} 45. Rxa7 {2} f4 {240} 46. f7 {16} Rf5 {70} 47. Bf6 {
46} Rxf6 {701} 48. Ra6+ {10} 1-0
Sethuraman and Karthikeyan too won their games, and India sealed the match with yet another brown wash.
Now that India is off to a perfect start, things are expected to become interesting as the team now faces Azerbaijan-2 team. Karthikeyan will be sitting out for this game to make way for Indian ace Harikrishna on the top board.
Pairings for Round 03:
Video Report by Vijay Kumar:
Games in PGN for Open and Women
