Baku 03: My points are my favourite thing so far!

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 05/09/2016

The Indian team in the Open was able to make it 3.0-1.0 against the second team of Azerbaijan, thus moving to 3.0/3. The route was not that simple as after two draws, a blunder by Bajarani against Vidit Gujrathi meant that the floodgates were opened. Both Vidit and Adhiban cashed in and India took the match. The women's team did not find it particularly difficult to beat the Philippines. An onerous task lies ahead for both the Indian teams, as you can clearly see by looking at coach Vishal Sareen's eyes in our thumbnail picture! We bring you an illustrated report with games, analysis, and a video interview with Vidit Gujrathi.

Baku 03: My points are my favourite thing in Baku so far!

Vidit Gujrathi and B. Adhiban sat pondering over their positions, while the scores were tied 1.0-1.0. The Indian team was entering the final lap of its campaign against Azerbaijan-2. Although not as strong as their first team, Azerbaijan-2 is no pushover -- two players were 2600+, and two others 2500+. The team saw it fit to play the ace card -- P. Harikrishna (2752) -- on the first board with the black pieces, and he was held to a draw by Vasif Durarbayli (2612). On the fourth board, Sethuraman battled hard against Gadir Guseinov (2625), but a draw is all the team earned.

Harikrishna chatting with Vidit [Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran]

Vidit, playing black, sacrificed an exchange yet again and was most probably aiming for equality this time. He had just given a check to GM Ulvi Bajarani (2509) with 16...Qh4+, to which white replied 17.Ke3, and Vidit tacitly offered a repetition with 17...Qg5+. Maybe White could have gone Kf2-Kg1, and continued pressing, or maybe, worst case scenario, just repeat the position.

White, instead, blundered with the unnatural 18.Kd3?? and went down in flames!

[Event "42nd Olympiad Baku 2016 Open"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.04"]
[Round "3.11"]
[White "Bajarani, Ulvi"]
[Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2509"]
[BlackElo "2669"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[WhiteTeam "Azerbaijan"]
[BlackTeam "India"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "AZE"]
[BlackTeamCountry "IND"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]

1. e4 {0} e5 {0} 2. Nf3 {0} Nc6 {9} 3. Bb5 {0} Nf6 {16} 4. d3 {60} Bc5 {8} 5.
Bxc6 {8} dxc6 {7} 6. Nbd2 {51} O-O {101} 7. Nc4 {23} Ng4 {24} (7... Nd7 {
is the main move but Vidit goes for something more active.}) 8. O-O {270 Black
must do something soon or else the knight on g4 would just be pushed back with
h3.} f5 $1 {6} 9. Bg5 {202} (9. h3 Nxf2 10. Rxf2 Bxf2+ 11. Kxf2 fxe4 $19) 9...
Qe8 {6} 10. h3 {192} fxe4 {540} 11. dxe4 {198} Be6 $1 {58} 12. Qe2 {836} (12.
Ncxe5 Nxe5 13. Nxe5 Bd5 $1 14. exd5 Qxe5 $11) 12... Nxf2 {994} (12... Rxf3 $5
13. Qxf3 (13. gxf3 b5 $44) 13... Bxc4 14. Qxg4 Bxf1 15. Rxf1 Qg6 $11) 13. Rxf2
{113} Bxf2+ {92} 14. Kxf2 {12} Qh5 {6} 15. Bd2 {504} Rxf3+ {533} 16. gxf3 {66}
Qh4+ {12} 17. Ke3 {80} Qg5+ {1559} 18. Kd3 $4 {13} ({It was time to take a
draw with} 18. Kf2 Qh4+ 19. Kg1 {There are chances that White can push a bit
here after} Qg3+ 20. Qg2 $1 Qxg2+ 21. Kxg2 Bxc4 22. Bc3 Re8 23. Rd1 $14) 18...
Qd8+ $1 {40 The rest is just easy!} 19. Kc3 {55} (19. Ke3 Qd4#) 19... Qd4+ {24}
20. Kb3 {35} b5 {165 Did Ulvi miss this move?} 21. c3 {12} Bxc4+ {390} 22. Kc2
{7} Bxe2 {409} 23. cxd4 {7} exd4 {37} 24. Bb4 {110} Re8 {31} 25. Bc5 {204} Bxf3
{291} 26. Re1 {239} Bxe4+ {295} 27. Kd2 {16} a5 {87} 28. Bxd4 {35} Rd8 {65} 29.
Ke3 {41} Bf5 {111} 30. h4 {19} Kf7 {139} 31. Be5 {146} Rd3+ {31} 32. Kf2 {200}
Be6 {65} 33. a3 {145} Bc4 {5} 34. Bc3 {167} a4 {2} 35. Re3 {119} Rd1 {59} 36.
Re1 {239} Rd6 {43} 37. Rg1 {61} g6 {21} 38. h5 {51} c5 {16} 39. hxg6+ {161}
hxg6 {10} 40. Rh1 {0} c6 {0} 41. Re1 {374} Rd3 {530} 42. Re3 {329} Rxe3 {154}
43. Kxe3 {6} Ke6 {5} 44. Bg7 {64} Kd5 {100} 45. Bf8 {46} Bf1 {128} 46. Be7 {135
} Kc4 {9} 0-1

My points are my favourite thing so far! Vidit is currently on 3.0/3. Watch the video to know what Vidit thinks about the tournament until now.

GM B. Adhiban (2671) [Photo: Davil Llada]

Vidit's somewhat lucky win meant that Adhiban could press his opponent Nijat Abasov (2552) forever, and Abasov found it difficult to hold his nerve after seeing that his compatriot had already lost.

White to move: Maybe it is near equality, but White has fewer pawn islands. Adhiban converted this position.

[Event "42nd Olympiad Baku 2016 Open"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.04"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Adhiban, B."]
[Black "Abasov, Nijat"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/p5pp/2p1k3/1r2pp2/8/1P1RPP2/P2K2PP/8 b - - 0 28"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

28... Rb4 {237} 29. Rd8 {89} Rb5 {209} 30. e4 {83} fxe4 {23} 31. fxe4 {1} Rb4 {
119} 32. Kd3 {206} c5 {232} 33. Re8+ {183} Kd6 {48} 34. Ra8 {34} Rb7 {59} 35.
g3 {438} g6 {112} 36. Kc3 {354} Rb4 {175} 37. Rxa7 {69} Rxe4 {3} 38. Rxh7 {13}
Re2 {2} 39. a4 {290} e4 {10} 40. a5 {0} Kc6 {0} 41. a6 {342} Ra2 {287} 42. a7 {
499} e3 {356} 43. Re7 {25} Kd5 {5} 44. h4 {76} e2 {26} 45. Rxe2 {146} Rxa7 {6}
46. Rd2+ {81} Kc6 {7} 47. g4 {391} Rh7 {381} 48. Rh2 {5} Kd5 {171} 49. h5 {13}
Rh6 {4} 50. Rh3 {125} Rh7 {150} 51. Rh1 {150} Rh6 {43} 52. Rh2 {10} Rh7 {69}
53. hxg6 1-0

Thus, the Indian team in the Open was able to make it 3.0-1.0 and moving to 3.0/3. [Photo: Paul Truong]

Pairings for Round 04:

Women's Section:

All Photos by Eteri Kublashvili

In the Women's section, India took on the Filipinos, who had defeated the World Team Champions Georgia in the previous round. GM Dronavalli Harika was held to a draw by WIM Frayna Janelle Mae.

IM Padmini Rout was able to score in a beautiful game.

[Event "42nd Olympiad Baku 2016 Women"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.04"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Padmini, Rout"]
[Black "Fronda, Jan Jodilyn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2408"]
[BlackElo "2128"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. e4 {0} c5 {21} 2. Nf3 {0} Nc6 {8} 3. d4 {119} cxd4 {144} 4. Nxd4 {9} Nf6 {
257} 5. Nc3 {42} e5 {141} 6. Ndb5 {14} d6 {30} 7. Bg5 {28} a6 {173} 8. Na3 {11}
b5 {182} 9. Nd5 {54} Be7 {197} 10. Bxf6 {62} Bxf6 {6} 11. c3 {79} Bg5 {109} 12.
Nc2 {56} Rb8 {78} 13. g3 {479} O-O {208} 14. Bg2 {16} a5 {36} 15. a3 {340} Be6
{286} 16. O-O {165} Ne7 {192} 17. Nde3 {296} Bb3 {298} 18. Qe2 {135} Qb6 {522}
19. h4 {476} Bh6 {135} 20. Ng4 {351} Bc4 {809} 21. Nxh6+ {86} Kh8 {5} 22. Qf3 {
86} Bxf1 {23} 23. Rxf1 {72} d5 {596} 24. Nf5 {106} dxe4 {92} 25. Qxe4 {28} Nxf5
{7} 26. Qxf5 {10} Qd6 {22} 27. Ne3 {150} g6 {31} 28. Qc2 {150} f5 {228} 29. Rd1
{25} Qc7 {90} 30. Qe2 {138} e4 {355} 31. Nd5 {660} Qf7 {336} 32. Bf1 {58} Rfd8
{56} 33. Nf4 {224} Rd7 {215} 34. Rd2 {100} Kg7 {156} 35. Qe3 {93} Rbb7 {164}
36. Rxd7 {87} Qxd7 {6} 37. Qc5 {25} Qe8 {263} 38. Qd4+ {281} Kh6 {30} 39. Qf6 {
52} Rf7 {22} 40. Qg5+ {0} Kg7 {0} 41. Bxb5 {364} Qe5 {196} 42. Nh5+ {74} 1-0

WGM Soumya Swaminathan (2379) made good use of her central pawns to win and move to 3.0/3.

[Event "42nd Olympiad Baku 2016 Women"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.04"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Soumya, Swaminathan"]
[Black "Secopito, Catherine"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2379"]
[BlackElo "2119"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. e4 {0} e5 {0} 2. Nf3 {0} Nf6 {0} 3. Nxe5 {13} d6 {7} 4. Nf3 {5} Nxe4 {17} 5.
c4 {15} Be7 {226} 6. d4 {197} O-O {299} 7. Bd3 {41} d5 {264} 8. O-O {836} Be6 {
200} 9. Re1 {594} f5 {1096} 10. Qc2 {758} Nc6 {235} 11. a3 {3} Bf6 {91} 12.
cxd5 {362} Bxd5 {128} 13. Be3 {71} Qd6 {897} 14. Nc3 {506} Nxc3 {130} 15. bxc3
{2} g6 {14} 16. Bh6 {88} Rfe8 {97} 17. Nd2 {55} Bg7 {443} 18. Nc4 {162} Qf6 {
133} 19. Bxg7 {597} Kxg7 {71} 20. f4 {475} Qf7 {788} 21. Ne5 {53} Nxe5 {16} 22.
fxe5 {44} Bc4 {160} 23. Rab1 {37} Bxd3 {219} 24. Qxd3 {3} c6 {2} 25. c4 {29}
Rad8 {15} 26. Qc3 {64} Re6 {81} 27. Rbd1 {428} Qc7 {149} 28. Qb2 {2} Kg8 {61}
29. Rd2 {246} Rde8 {83} 30. Rde2 {3} R8e7 {46} 31. Kh1 {56} Rd7 {72} 32. Rd2 {
198} Rde7 {2} 33. Rde2 {13} Rd7 {10} 34. h3 {49} Kf7 {184} 35. Rd1 {77} Qa5 {
114} 36. d5 {23} cxd5 {79} 37. cxd5 {3} Ke8 {38} 38. Qb3 {56} Rb6 {30} 39. Qc4
{132} Qb5 {8} 40. Qa2 {0} Qb3 {0} 41. Qd2 {630} Qxa3 {626} 42. e6 {40} Rd8 {399
} 43. Qd4 {113} Ke7 {20} 44. Qh4+ {38} Ke8 {81} 45. Qxh7 {13} 1-0

IM Tania Sachdev, too, won her game and India soundly defeated Philippines 3.5-0.5.

Those eyes say it all! IM Vishal Sareen, the coach of Team India, is seen contemplating the challenges that lie ahead.

Pairings for Round 04:

Games in PGN for Open and Women

Other Pairings

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