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St. Joseph: Game Notes by Saravana Krishnan

by Saravana Krishnan - 29/08/2016

P. Saravana Krishnan started the St. Joseph FIDE Rating tournament as the second seed but ended up winning the event. A word about the tournament -- the entry was free for players rated above 1800, and the players were provided free boarding and lodging. Saravana Krishnan sent us some notes of his games from the tournament. Enjoy! 

Game Notes by Saravana Krishnan

P. Saravana Krishnan started the St. Joseph FIDE Rating tournament as the second seed but ended up winning the event. The tournament was a nine round swiss held at the St. Joseph College of Engineering.

 

A word about the tournament -- the entry was free for players rated above 1800, and the players were provided free boarding and lodging. Saravana Krishnan sent us some notes of his games from the tournament. Enjoy! 

Saravana Krishnan (2313) before the start of one of his games (Photo: Sa Kannan)

Saravana Krishnan:

I was on 4.0/4 before this round. Statistically speaking, in a rating tourney, the next few rounds from this point are where the lower rated players snatch at least half a point from you, and it's important to stay focused.

 

In a French Advance variation, I managed to exchange the light squared bishop and achieved equality.

Round 05: Black to play
[Event "St Josephs Rating 2016"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.07.15"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Malleswara Rao, J."]
[Black "Saravana Krishnan, P."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B28"]
[WhiteElo "2057"]
[BlackElo "2313"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r2qk2r/1p2bp2/p3p3/4Pn1p/1P4p1/P1N1P3/3NQ1PP/R1R3K1 b kq - 0 19"]
[PlyCount "13"]
[EventDate "2016.01.24"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.20"]
{In the following position I played..} 19... Nxe3 $1 20. Qxe3 Bg5 21. Qe4 Qxd2
22. Nd1 Rd8 {threatening Rd4} 23. Rc7 O-O 24. Nf2 Be3 25. Rf1 Qxf2+ 0-1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 06: White to play

After an equal opening, I had managed to get some advantage and it was time for conversion.

[Event "St Josephs Rating 2016"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.07.16"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Saravana Krishnan, P."]
[Black "Parthasarathy, R."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C72"]
[WhiteElo "2313"]
[BlackElo "1860"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6rk/2R4p/5b2/5p2/1p3B1P/1P3P2/r5P1/4R2K w - - 0 34"]
[PlyCount "25"]
[EventDate "2016.01.24"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.20"]
34. Re6 $1 Raxg2 35. Rxf6 Rg1+ 36. Kh2 R1g2+ 37. Kh3 Rf2 38. Bg5 Rxf3+ 39. Kg2
Rc3 40. Rb7 {seemed best to me.} Ra8 41. Rxf5 Ra2+ 42. Rf2 Rxf2+ 43. Kxf2 Rxb3
44. Bh6 {The easiest way to win ! I had seen this before I played Rb7} Kg8 45.
Rg7+ Kh8 46. Rf7 (46. Rf7 Rb2+ 47. Kf3 Rb3+ 48. Kf4 $16) 1-0

 

 

 

Round 07: Black to play

In a French Defence game, I had equalised comfortably and had been placing some small problems for White when my opponent erred with Bd4 and I played...

[Event "St Josephs Rating 2016"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.07.16"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Prasanna , S."]
[Black "Saravana Krishnan, P."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C03"]
[WhiteElo "2131"]
[BlackElo "2313"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r2k1/5pp1/1bp5/p2p1q1p/P2B4/1P4P1/2P1QP1P/3R2K1 b - - 0 29"]
[PlyCount "23"]
[EventDate "2016.01.24"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.20"]
29... Qe4 $1 {Black wins a pawn by force.} 30. Qd3 (30. Be3 d4 $19) (30. Qxe4
dxe4 31. c3 c5 $19) 30... Bxd4 31. Qxd4 Qxc2 32. Re1 Qxb3 33. Re5 Qb4 34. Qe3
Qxa4 35. Re8+ Rxe8 36. Qxe8+ Kh7 37. Qxf7 Qg4 38. Qc7 h4 39. Qxc6 Qe4 40. gxh4
Qg6+ 0-1

Saravana Krishnan with his seventh round opponent Prasanna S., who finished second. (Photo: Sa Kannan)

Before the round, I was on 7.0/7 and a bunch of players, including my opponent, were on 6.0/7. My opponent had been playing e4-e5 in all the even number of rounds so far in the tournament.

[Event "St Josephs Rating 2016"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.07.17"] [Round "8.1"] [White "Saravana Krishnan, P."] [Black "Ravi, T.S.."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E12"] [WhiteElo "2313"] [BlackElo "2312"] [PlyCount "123"] [EventDate "2016.01.24"] [SourceDate "2016.01.20"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 {The current world championship challenger Karjakin's favorite move and may be we could expect some games in the WC match later this year.} 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Qc2 c5 {Not the most popular move order although the best option by both sides transposes to the main line after e4.} 8. e3 {Thought of creating some problems for my opponent for early c5 with Bb5+ ideas} cxd4 9. exd4 Be7 10. Bb5+ Bc6 11. Bd3 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Bxf3 13. gxf3 Nd7 14. Bf4 (14. Bxh7 {wins a pawn but black gets complete control of the dark squares with Qc7} Qc7 {=+}) 14... Bg5 15. Bg3 {I believe I have a slight edge in this position as Black has not completely solved his problems. I did not play the next few moves accurately and allowed my opponent to equalise.} Qe7 16. Be4 ({May be the direct} 16. O-O {was better practically as the threat of Be4 still exists.}) 16... Rd8 17. O-O g6 18. f4 ({I did not like my position after} 18. Qa4 O-O 19. Qxa7 f5 20. f4) 18... Bh6 19. f5 { Tactically removing the doubled pawns..} O-O 20. fxg6 $6 {I took the wrong pawn and after this black had no problems at all.} (20. fxe6 {was clearly the better option with pressure on the e-file.}) 20... hxg6 21. Rfe1 Nf6 22. Bf3 Nd5 23. Be4 Qg5 24. Rad1 Rc8 {suddenly all of Black's pieces start looking good. Though position still being equal it is easier to play with Black} 25. c4 Nf4 26. Kh1 Qh5 27. Qb3 Rfd8 28. Bf3 Qf5 29. Be4 (29. Re5 Qf6 30. Re4 {and I could have kept it in balance still}) 29... Qf6 $1 30. d5 e5 31. Bf3 Qd6 32. Bg2 {it was time for defence and I wanted to get back my Bishop to f1. Both of us were almost less than 10 mins and I decided to play faster to have practically better chances in the last hour.} Rc5 {Black is better but it's not so easy to convert practically and also he always has to watch out for my favourable opposite colour bishop conversions.} 33. Bf1 Ra5 34. Ra1 f6 35. Qb4 Rc5 36. Rad1 Kf7 37. f3 Qd7 38. Bf2 Rcc8 39. a4 Bf8 40. Qb2 {There were some practical tricks he needed to solve after taking the pawn. we were already low on time and I thought it was my best shot.} Qxa4 41. Be3 Nh5 $6 {falling for the trick..} (41... Bh6 $1 $15) 42. Bh3 $1 Rxc4 (42... f5 {was the other alternative possible and which is not so easy to finalise upon.}) 43. Ra1 $1 { I was feeling very confident here and before my opponent played the next move , I got a huge time advantage of around 5 minutes more than my opponent because of the change in the nature of the position creating more practical problems for black.} Qb4 44. Rxa7+ Ke8 45. Qa1 Rh4 46. Rb1 (46. Bd2 {was my initial intention but I saw something more in the main line and stopped my analysis in half here. but black actually can play} Ng3+ 47. hxg3 Rxh3+ 48. Kg2 Qxd2+ 49. Kxh3 Qh6+ 50. Kg2 Qd2+ 51. Kf1 Qd3+ $11) 46... Qc4 47. Bf1 $2 {A huge mistake which both of us did not see initially but later spotted by both.} (47. Rxb6 $1 {was the winning move as after} Rxh3 48. Re6+ Be7 49. Raxe7+ Kf8 50. Re8+ Rxe8 51. Qa3+ Kf7 52. Qa7+ Kf8 53. Bh6+ $18) 47... Ng3+ 48. Kg2 Nxf1 49. Rxf1 { In one move the game has completely shifted, with accurate moves black should win but I did not allow my opponent's clock to reach more than 30-40 seconds and knew it was still not easy with the king on e8} Bc5 50. Qb1 {xg6} f5 51. Bxc5 Qxc5 (51... bxc5) 52. Qe1 {xe5 and h4} Qd4 53. Qg3 {xg6} Rd6 (53... Rh6 { was actually the correct defence.}) 54. Re1 {after this white is winning.} Qd2+ 55. Kg1 Qd4+ 56. Kh1 Qf4 (56... Rf4 57. Qg5) 57. Rxe5+ {I had seen White's 58th move 3-4 moves before itself and was hoping for it.} Kf8 (57... Kd8 { loses to} 58. Re8+ Kxe8 59. Qe1+ {though this was not spotted immediately.}) 58. Rxf5+ (58. Re8+ {is also possible.}) 58... Qxf5 (58... gxf5 59. Qg7+ Ke8 60. Qe7#) 59. Qxd6+ Kg8 60. Ra8+ (60. Qd8+ {and taking on h4 should also win but I wanted to finish this off.}) 60... Kg7 61. Qe7+ Qf7 62. Qe5+ {and with this win I got more nearer to defending my title.} 1-0 

GM Deepan Chakravarthy hands over the winner's trophy and the cash prize of Rs. 40,000/-  (Photo: Sa Kannan)

Final Standings:

Rk. SNo   Name FED Rtg Pts.  TB1   TB2   TB3 
1 2   Saravana Krishnan P. IND 2313 8,5 58,0 45,0 54,25
2 14   Prasannaa.S IND 2131 8,0 55,0 42,0 46,50
3 7   Phoobalan P. IND 2192 7,5 56,5 43,5 45,75
4 12 FM Vinoth Kumar M. IND 2149 7,5 52,0 41,0 42,50
5 1 IM Krishna C R G IND 2408 7,5 51,5 41,0 45,00
6 8 IM Ramnathan Balasubramaniam IND 2187 7,5 51,5 41,0 41,75
7 16   Ganesh R IND 2082 7,5 51,0 41,0 42,25
8 11 FM Matta Vinay Kumar IND 2158 7,5 49,5 39,5 42,25
9 9   Sekar B IND 2178 7,0 57,5 44,5 42,75
10 18 WIM Pon N Krithika IND 2058 7,0 55,5 42,5 42,00

See Full Standings here.