Qatar 05: India vs. India?!

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 25/12/2015

Quite a few games today were between Indians themselves. There were no friendly draws as the players chose to fight to the bitter end. Surya Shekhar Ganguly defeated Englishman David Howell to lead the Indian contingent with 4.0/5. A detailed report with some beautiful pictures, games, tactics and more!

Qatar 05: India vs. India?!

A number of games in the fifth round at the Qatar Masters Open 2015 turned out to be India vs. India affairs. With 21% of the players being Indians, this is not so surprising.

The youngsters displayed another strong showing as IM Vignesh NR, IM Aryan Chopra, FM Rohan Ahuja, Harshit Raja, and WIM Bodda Pratyusha drew with higher rateds. The only reversal of the day was Adhiban's poor game against Qatar's GM Mohammed Al-Sayed. Meanwhile, Harika had a rest day of sorts when her opponent GM Sam Shankland of USA failed to turn up!

Going into the rest day, Indians aren't doing too badly, especially our boys like IM Shardul Gagare (2470), who has a rating performance of 2756, and IM Vignesh NR, who is performing at 2809!

Pentala Harikrishna defeated Alexander Ipatov (2619) to move to 3.5/5.

IM Shardul Gagare (2470) drew with the Ukrainian genius Vassily Ivanchuk (2710).

IM Vignesh NR (2422) held Russian GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2669). At the end of five rounds, Vignesh has a rating performance of 2809!

Harshit Raja (2325) held compatriot GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2638).

Ganguly (2648) beat GM David Howell (2688). He is the best among the Indians, right now, at 4.0/5.

Analysis by IM Sagar Shah:

[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"]
[Site "Doha QAT"]
[Date "2015.12.24"]
[Round "5.10"]
[White "Howell, David W L"]
[Black "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A14"]
[WhiteElo "2688"]
[BlackElo "2648"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2015.12.20"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. c4 O-O 6. d4 dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4
Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bg5 Bd5 11. Qc2 Be4 12. Qd1 {This is the line where White
has been scoring really well recently. Giri beat Leko with White and Nakamura
got the better of Anand. In both the games Black played c5 in this position.
Surya goes for the second most popular move ...h6.} h6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Nc3
Bxf3 15. Bxf3 c6 {Black makes the typical exchange of light squared bishop and
putting his pawn on c6. This position should be slightly better for White but
bordering very much on the edge of equality.} 16. Qb3 Qc7 17. e3 (17. Rfd1 {
is definitely more popular.}) 17... a5 18. Be2 Na6 19. Ne4 Be7 20. Rac1 Nb4 21.
Bc4 Rae8 22. f4 Bd8 23. Qd1 Qe7 {Ganguly tries to remain as solid as he can
without making any committments.} 24. Qf3 Nd5 25. Rc2 Qb4 26. Nc5 Re7 27. e4
Bb6 $1 {Being tactically alert. Now it was important to get the king out to g2.
However, Howell seemed to surprised with the move Bb6 and instead took on d5.}
28. exd5 $6 (28. Kg2 $1 Bxc5 29. dxc5 Nf6 30. e5 Nd5 31. Qe4 $11 {With a round
about equal position.}) 28... cxd5 $1 {The bishop cannot move as Qxd4 will
lose two pawns as well as the c5 knight.} 29. Qb3 (29. Ba2 Qxd4+ 30. Qf2 Qxf2+
$1 31. Rfxf2 Rc7 $1 $19 {The knight on c5 is lost.}) 29... Bxc5 30. dxc5 Qxc5+
31. Rff2 dxc4 32. Qxc4 Qa7 $17 {For a player of Ganguly's calibre rest is not
very difficult. He is not only a pawn up but also has the safer king. It took
him so time to convert but the result wasn't really in doubt at any point in
the game.} 33. Kg2 Rd7 34. Rfd2 b6 35. Qc6 Rfd8 36. Rxd7 Rxd7 37. h4 h5 38. Kh2
Kh7 39. Qe4+ g6 40. Qc6 Rd1 41. b3 Rd3 42. Qb5 Rd6 43. Rc8 Rd2+ 44. Kh3 Qb7 45.
Qc6 Qa6 46. Rh8+ Kxh8 47. Qc3+ e5 48. Qxd2 exf4 49. gxf4 Qc8+ 50. Kh2 Qc5 51.
Qb2+ Kh7 52. Qd2 Qe7 53. Qf2 Qf6 54. Kh1 Qe6 55. Qg3 Qg4 56. Qe3 Qxh4+ 57. Kg2
Qf6 58. Kh2 Qe6 59. Qd3 Qf5 60. Qe3 Qc2+ 61. Kg3 Qc5 62. Qe1 Qd4 63. Qe8 Qg1+
64. Kf3 Qg4+ 65. Ke3 Qe6+ 0-1

S.P. Sethuraman (2639) managed to outplay S.L. Narayanan (2494).

Sundararajan Kidambi (2513) gave up a pawn for no compensation, and then even lost a piece against Vidit Gujrathi (2644).

[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2015.12.24"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Black "Sundararajan, Kidambi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2644"]
[BlackElo "2513"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]

1. d4 {1} Nf6 {0} 2. c4 {9} e6 {0} 3. Nf3 {13} Bb4+ {58} 4. Bd2 {19} Qe7 {91}
5. g3 {49} Bxd2+ {143} 6. Qxd2 {8} O-O {43} 7. Bg2 {32} d5 {26} 8. O-O {67} Nc6
{173} 9. b3 {1149} Rd8 {330} 10. Qb2 {53} Ne4 {202} 11. Nc3 {261} Bd7 {662} 12.
cxd5 {93} exd5 {96} 13. Nxd5 {14} Qd6 {24} 14. Ne3 {295} Qf6 {194} 15. Rad1 {
442} Be6 {123} 16. Qc2 {128} Ng5 {268} 17. Nxg5 {66} Qxg5 {5} 18. d5 {60} 1-0

GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2486) defeated IM Padmini Rout (2437).

IM Eesha Karavade (2379) thrashed GM Irina Krush (2468) and moved to 2.5/5.

Black (Karavade) found a beautiful tactical shot, as natural as a baby's smile...

[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"]
[Site "Doha, Qatar"]
[Date "2015.12.24"]
[Round "5.48"]
[White "Krush, Irina"]
[Black "Karavade, Eesha"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A10"]
[WhiteElo "2468"]
[BlackElo "2379"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4rrk1/N2p1qpp/1p6/2b2p2/P1b1n3/6P1/1B2PPBP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 22"]
[PlyCount "9"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[WhiteClock "0:31:03"]
[BlackClock "0:33:32"]

22. Nb5 $2 Nxf2 $1 23. Rxf2 Bxf2+ 24. Kxf2 Rxe2+ 25. Qxe2 Bxe2 26. Kxe2 $19 0-1

Vaishali R. (2313) defeated 11-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2429)

Mohammed Nubairshah Shaikh (2414) is at 2.0/5. He played the former World Junior Champion Lu Shanglei (2618)...

Lu Shanglei - Mohammed Nubairshah Shaikh

... and landed in this position. What did the Chinese grandmaster present Nubair with?

Analysis by IM Sagar Shah:

[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"]
[Site "Doha QAT"]
[Date "2015.12.24"]
[Round "5.34"]
[White "Lu, Shanglei"]
[Black "Mohammad, Nubairshah Shaikh"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B10"]
[WhiteElo "2618"]
[BlackElo "2414"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2015.12.20"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Nxe4 6. Qxe4 Nd7 7. Bc4 Nf6
8. Ne5 e6 9. Qe2 Be7 10. c3 O-O 11. d4 Nd7 12. h4 Nxe5 13. dxe5 c5 14. Qe4 Bd7
{It looks like Black is going to have a fine position if he is going to get in
the move Bc6. Taking the pawn on b7 doesn't look appetising with the king
still on e1. Here the former World Junior Champion found a brilliant move.} 15.
Bh6 $3 {You can bank on a tactical genius like Lu Shanglei to find moves like
this.} f5 (15... gxh6 16. Bd3 f5 17. exf6 Rxf6 18. Qxh7+ Kf8 19. Bg6 Rxg6 20.
Qxg6 $16 {White is not 100% winning yet but there is no doubt that he is
better.}) (15... Bc6 16. Qg4 $18) 16. exf6 Rxf6 17. O-O-O $1 (17. Bg5 {was
also strong.}) 17... Rxh6 18. Qxb7 Rb8 19. Qxa7 Bxh4 20. Kb1 $1 {Getting out
of the Bg5+ threats.} Qf8 21. Rxd7 $18 {White has won back his piece and has a
clearly winning position.} Kh8 22. f3 Qf5+ 23. Bd3 Qe5 24. Qc7 Bf6 25. Rc1 Rh2
26. Qxe5 Bxe5 27. Bf1 h5 28. Re7 h4 29. Rxe6 h3 30. Rxe5 hxg2 31. Be2 Rd8 32.
Kc2 Kh7 33. Rg1 Kh6 34. a4 g5 35. a5 1-0

The Torch is an iconic hotel in Qatar and is the centerpiece of Doha's majestic sports city -- Aspire Zone. As regal as it looks, it all comes at a cost.

Video Report from Qatar by Vijay Kumar:

Pairings of Round 06:

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	4	GM	So Wesley	2775	4		4½	GM	Carlsen Magnus	2834	1
2	2	GM	Kramnik Vladimir	2796	4		4	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2748	7
3	30	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2648	4		4	GM	Giri Anish	2784	3
4	34	GM	Swiercz Dariusz	2646	4		4	GM	Karjakin Sergey	2766	5
5	6	GM	Li Chao B	2750	3½		4	GM	Yu Yangyi	2736	11
6	24	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	2664	3½		3½	GM	Harikrishna P.	2743	9
7	10	GM	Jakovenko Dmitry	2737	3½		3½	GM	Bologan Viktor	2654	27
8	36	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	2642	3½		3½	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2724	13
9	14	GM	Wojtaszek Radoslaw	2723	3½		3½	GM	Sjugirov Sanan	2646	33
10	62	GM	Al-Sayed Mohammed	2520	3½		3½	GM	Ponomariov Ruslan	2710	17
11	18	GM	Ni Hua	2693	3½		3½	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	2644	35
12	52	GM	Tregubov Pavel V.	2589	3½		3½	GM	Matlakov Maxim	2684	21
13	22	GM	Hou Yifan	2683	3½		3½	IM	Vignesh N R	2422	102
14	43	GM	Salem A.R. Saleh	2622	3½		3	GM	Korobov Anton	2713	15
15	8	GM	Tomashevsky Evgeny	2744	3		3	GM	Lu Shanglei	2618	47
16	16	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2710	3		3	GM	Esen Baris	2562	53
17	44	GM	Bartel Mateusz	2620	3		3	GM	Howell David W L	2688	20
18	48	GM	Hamdouchi Hicham	2597	3		3	GM	Duda Jan-Krzysztof	2663	25
19	26	GM	Dubov Daniil	2655	3		3	IM	Lin Chen	2532	57
20	28	GM	Khismatullin Denis	2654	3		3	GM	Xu Jun	2526	59
21	63	GM	Harika Dronavalli	2513	3		3	GM	Akopian Vladimir	2648	29
22	56	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2542	3		3	GM	Khairullin Ildar	2647	31
23	66	IM	Yuffa Daniil	2504	3		3	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2639	37
24	38	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2638	3		3	IM	Gagare Shardul	2470	78
25	79		Xu Yinglun	2470	3		3	GM	Piorun Kacper	2637	39
26	40	GM	Grandelius Nils	2632	3		3	IM	Wang Yiye	2438	92
27	124		Raja Harshit	2325	3		3	GM	Naroditsky Daniel	2628	41
28	42	GM	Lenderman Aleksandr	2626	3		3	IM	Pham Le Thao Nguyen	2319	126
29	12	GM	Wei Yi	2730	2½		2½	GM	Bromberger Stefan	2521	60
30	64	GM	Sundararajan Kidambi	2513	2½		2½	GM	Moiseenko Alexander	2689	19
31	75	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2486	2½		2½	GM	Adhiban B.	2669	23
32	45	GM	Ipatov Alexander	2619	2½		2½	IM	Ma Zhonghan	2463	82
33	46	GM	Zhang Zhong	2619	2½		2½	IM	Ali Marandi Cemil Can	2454	84
34	99	FM	Rohan Ahuja	2426	2½		2½	GM	Vocaturo Daniele	2597	49
35	50	GM	Bok Benjamin	2594	2½		2½	IM	Abhishek Kelkar	2393	109
36	51	GM	Bluebaum Matthias	2590	2½		2½	IM	Aryan Chopra	2436	96
37	54	GM	Rambaldi Francesco	2560	2½		2½	WGM	Abdumalik Zhansaya	2390	110
38	58	IM	Svane Rasmus	2529	2½		2½	FM	Li Di	2389	111
39	115	IM	Karavade Eesha	2379	2½		2	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2521	61
40	90	IM	Sagar Shah	2441	2		2	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2559	55
41	93	FM	Basso Pier Luigi	2438	2		2	GM	Schroeder Jan-Christian	2511	65
42	94		Fang Yuxiang	2438	2		2	GM	Khotenashvili Bela	2496	68
43	69	IM	Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan	2494	2		2	IM	Nezad Husein Aziz	2425	100
44	97	GM	Carlsson Pontus	2433	2		2	WGM	Goryachkina Aleksandra	2493	70
45	105		Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2414	2		2	GM	Shoker Samy	2489	72
46	73	GM	Zhukova Natalia	2488	2		2	WGM	Saduakassova Dinara	2407	106
47	108	IM	Saiyn Zhanat	2394	2		2	IM	Sanal Vahap	2487	74
48	119		Roy Prantik	2370	2		2	IM	Tabatabaei M.Amin	2482	76
49	121	IM	Tissir Mohamed	2346	2		2	IM	Ly Moulthun	2462	83
50	85	IM	Lorparizangeneh Shahin	2454	2		2		Firouzja Alireza	2372	118
51	87	IM	Kashlinskaya Alina	2448	2		2	IM	Khademalsharieh Sarasadat	2380	114
52	128	WFM	Vaishali R	2313	2		2	IM	Firat Burak	2446	88
53	89	IM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2442	2		2	WIM	Pratyusha Bodda	2260	132
54	71	IM	Ezat Mohamed	2490	1½		2	IM	Guramishvili Sopiko	2368	120
55	101	IM	Seyb Alexander	2425	1½		1½	GM	Neelotpal Das	2475	77
56	103	FM	Gholami Aryan	2422	1½		1½	GM	Krush Irina	2468	80
57	81	FM	Moroni Luca Jr	2466	1½		1½	IM	Christiansen Johan-Sebastian	2385	113
58	86	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2451	1½		1½	WGM	Bartel Marta	2271	131
59	122	WIM	Bivol Alina	2344	1½		1½	IM	Vogel Roven	2439	91
60	127	FM	Goriatchkin Jouri	2318	1½		1½	IM	Padmini Rout	2437	95
61	123		Dai Changren	2328	1½		1	IM	Batsiashvili Nino	2498	67
62	116	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy	2377	1		1	FM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	2429	98
63	129	WIM	Derakhshani Dorsa	2307	1		1	FM	Haria Ravi	2416	104
64	125	WGM	Pourkashiyan Atousa	2322	1		½		Siva Mahadevan	2400	107
65	117	IM	Li Ruofan	2372	½		½	IM	Slavin Alexey	2388	112
66	130	IM	Piasetski Leon	2287	½	0			bye
67	32	GM	Shankland Samuel L	2646	2	0			not paired

Links:

Official Website and PGN.

Today is a rest day.

All photos by Amruta Mokal