Tata Steel 05: Adhiban stuns Karjakin!

by Sagar Shah - 20/01/2017

How does it feel to beat the World Champion in Defence by showing some excellent defensive skills? Ask B. Adhiban! The Indian grandmaster played the French Defence for the first time in his life and beat the World Championship Challenger Sergey Karjakin. Harikrishna slumped to a defeat against Wesley So. So is now the leader after Aronian beat Eljanov. The fifth round was held in the Feyenoord Football stadium and we have pictures, detailed analysis and videos.

Pictures by Alina L'Ami

The Tata Steel Chess 2017 moved to the Feyenoord Football Stadium in Rotterdam for the fifth round

The huge football ground was the view outside the glass pane

Today it was just the Masters section who were playing here

Results of round 5 in the Masters tournament

Round 5 - Thursday, January 19
Eljanov, P.	0-1	Aronian, L.
Karjakin, S.	0-1	Adhiban, B.
So, W.	1-0	Harikrishna, P.
Wojtaszek, R.	1-0	Van Wely, L.
Andreikin, D.	½-½	Rapport, R.
Wei, Y.	½-½	Giri, A.
Nepomniachtchi, I.	½-½	Carlsen, M.

The big news of the day was Adhiban's victory over Sergey Karjakin

Key moments of the game

It was for the first time in his life that Adhiban played the French Defence as Black against 1.e4. On his Facebook page Adhiban summed up the situation quite aptly.

Karjakin played the 3.Nc3 Classical Variation against the French as he normally does. Four top level games reached the above position. Most of the players continued with either ...b6 or ...Qa5. But Adhiban played the move 11...Nd7. The Chennai grandmaster attributed this novelty to his coach. Although he did not name him, we can be sure that it was K. Visweswaran, who has been Adhiban's coach for quite some time now.

On the right side of Adhiban is his coach V. Kameswaran who is an FM rated 2202, but very experienced and strong when it comes to chess coaching

Adhiban was well prepared and made the typical French break on the kingside. It's true that Black wins a pawn with this move, however his king is weakened.

Karjakin was in an aggressive mood. He had already given up a pawn, and now sacrificed another one to open more lines towards Adhiban's king.

Adhiban gobbled the pawns and co-ordinated himself perfectly. The a8 rook was coming to f8 and the bishop would defend the vulnerable point on g6 with Be8. Black would face no issues after that.

In the end Karjakin got desperate and sacrificed his rook on g6. His idea was that ...Qxg6 would be met with dxe4. However, Adhiban played the intermediate ...Bxd3+ and all that Sergey could do was extend his hand in resignation! A great defensive effort by the Indian grandmaster.

[Event "79th Tata Steel Chess 2017-Masters"]
[Site "Rotterdam"]
[Date "2017.01.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Adhiban, Baskaran"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2785"]
[BlackElo "2653"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "playchess.com"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. e4 {0} e6 {6 This is the first time in his career that Adhiban has played
the French Defence? What motivated him to play this with black? Your guess is
as good as mine!} 2. d4 {0} d5 {1} 3. Nc3 {50} Nf6 {5} 4. e5 {5} Nfd7 {4} 5. f4
{5} c5 {5} 6. Nf3 {5} Nc6 {4} 7. Be3 {6} Be7 {9} 8. Qd2 {56} a6 {5} 9. a3 {394}
O-O {21} 10. dxc5 {31} Nxc5 {4} 11. Qf2 {9 All of this has been played before
and has been seen in top level encounters like Kramnik-Meier, Ragger-Bluebaum,
Sethuraman-Korobov and Salem-Svane. The main moves for Black have been either
b6 or Qa5. Adhiban unleashes a novelty.} Nd7 $5 $146 {4 The credit for finding
this move was given by Adhiban to his coach, most likely K. Visweswaran.} 12.
Nd4 {632 Karjakin thinks for 10 minutes and goes for the most critical line.}
Nxd4 {7} 13. Bxd4 {4} f6 {4 Adhiban is still in his preparation. Facing
Adhiban when he is well prepared ccan be an unnerving experience. He moves
very quickly and can often unsettle you. But this is common for players at the
level of Karjakin. They are used to this.} 14. exf6 {48} Bxf6 {3} 15. Bxf6 {308
} (15. O-O-O $5 b5 $13 (15... e5 16. Bc5 $1 $14)) 15... Qxf6 {2} 16. g3 {8} g5
$1 {5 The f4 pawn can no longer be held. That being said, no one would like to
weaken his kingside with a move like g5 in an opposite side castling situation.
} 17. O-O-O {242} gxf4 {4} 18. Kb1 {245 This move surprised Adhiban.} (18. Rd4
{should have been preferred by Karjakin.} f3 19. Rf4 Qh6 20. Qxf3 e5 (20...
Rxf4 21. gxf4 $16) 21. Qg4+ Kh8 22. Qh4 {The only way not to lose a rook.} Qxh4
23. Rxh4 Nf6 24. Bg2 Be6 {Black looks fine with the strong central pawns, but
after} 25. Re1 e4 26. Bh3 $14 {White should have a small edge.}) 18... f3 {488}
19. g4 {491} (19. Rd4 Qg7 20. Bh3 Nf6 21. Qxf3 e5 22. Rh4 Bxh3 23. Rxh3 Ne4 24.
Qe2 Nxc3+ (24... Nf2 25. Rh4 $1 Nxh1 26. Rg4 $18) 25. bxc3 e4 $13) 19... Ne5 {
373} 20. g5 {67} Qg7 {508} 21. g6 {573 Karjakin plays with great energy. He
realizes that he must open the position of the black king. He is a pawn down
already, so he throws another pawn into the fire. Objectively it might not be
a great idea, but as Adhiban says, practically it was quite a challenging one
to face.} hxg6 $1 {424} (21... Nxg6 22. Bd3 {Followed by Rg1 and h4 should
give White good attacking chances.}) 22. Bd3 $6 {786 Once again, not the most
challenging move, as this bishop can be chopped off by the knight anytime.} (
22. Rg1 Bd7 23. h4 Rf5 {Black maintains control.}) (22. h4 Bd7 23. Bh3 {
This might be the most complicated way to play the position. But still Black
has the advantage is beyond any doubt.}) 22... Bd7 {156 Once Adhiban made this
move, he was happy because the bishop could always drop back to e8 and defend
the g6 pawn.} 23. Rdg1 {56} Nxd3 {234} 24. cxd3 {16} Rf5 {19} 25. Rg4 {104}
Raf8 {45} 26. Rhg1 {138} Be8 $19 {265 The bishop defends the g6 pawn and the
rest is not too difficult.} 27. Nd1 {373} Rh5 $6 {1254} (27... Qf6 28. Ne3 Rf4
29. Rxf4 Qxf4 $19 {was easily winning.}) 28. h4 {309} Re5 {543} 29. Ne3 {458}
Bb5 $1 {228} 30. Rd4 {170} (30. Kc2 Rc8+ 31. Kb3 Bxd3 32. Qxf3 Be4 $19) (30.
Nc4 Bxc4 31. dxc4 Rf6 $19) 30... Re4 $5 {217} 31. Rxg6 $2 {423} Bxd3+ $1 {
20 This clear shot ends the game. Karjakin is known as a Master of Defence.
The fact that Adhiban could beat him without any glitches makes it a highly
commendable victory.} (31... Qxg6 {is also winning after} 32. dxe4 dxe4 $19) (
31... Bxd3+ 32. Rxd3 Qxg6 $19) 0-1

Daniel King analyzes Karjakin vs Adhiban as his game of the day

Sergey Karjakin is the highest rated player that Adhiban has defeated in his chess career until now

Following the words of the great Akiba Rubinstein, Adhiban wrote on his Facebook page: Today I played against the white pieces!

Anna Rudolf gives a big hand to the man of the moment as he analyzed the game in the press room

"I just want to play strong in each game against these monsters!"

Harikrishna slumped to a defeat against Wesley So in the fifth round

[Event "79th Tata Steel Chess 2017-Masters"]
[Site "Rotterdam"]
[Date "2017.01.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2766"]
[Annotator "ChessBase"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]

1. Nf3 {0} Nf6 {17} 2. g3 {0} g6 {24} 3. Bg2 {53} Bg7 {14} 4. c4 {104} c5 {131}
5. Nc3 {131} d5 {267} 6. d4 {815} cxd4 {415} 7. Nxd4 {799} dxc4 {703} 8. Qa4+ {
833} Nbd7 {171} 9. O-O {9} O-O {136} 10. Rd1 {128} Nb6 {794} 11. Qa3 {365} Qd6
{768} 12. Qxd6 {86} exd6 {6} 13. a4 {114} a6 {1815} 14. Bf4 {382} d5 {180} 15.
a5 {1038} Nbd7 {8} 16. Rac1 {60} Rd8 {261} 17. Bc7 {331} Re8 {9} 18. Bd6 {232}
Ne5 {287} 19. Bxd5 {223} Nxd5 {42} 20. Nxd5 {4} Bg4 {5} 21. Rd2 {445} Red8 {319
} 22. Nb6 {66} Rxd6 {101} 23. Nxa8 {2} Nc6 {44} 24. Nf3 {15} Rxd2 {67} 25. Nxd2
{2} Bxb2 {11} 26. Rxc4 {3} Bxe2 {17} 27. Re4 {9} Bd3 {40} 28. Re3 {7} Nb4 {104}
29. Nb6 {151} Bd4 {57} 30. Re7 {70} Nc6 {8} 31. Rxb7 {9} Nxa5 {27} 32. Rd7 {5}
Nc6 {49} 33. Nb3 {271} Bf5 {12} 34. Rxd4 {22} Nxd4 {6} 35. Nxd4 {2} Bd3 {18}
36. Kg2 {77} Kf8 {31} 37. Kf3 {2} Ke7 {10} 38. Ke3 {9} Bf1 {72} 39. Nf3 {65}
Kd6 {89} 40. Kd4 {0} f6 {35} 41. Nd2 {93} Be2 {305} 42. Nd5 {88} f5 {21} 43.
Nc3 {164} Bh5 {47} 44. Nc4+ {29} Ke6 {23} 45. f4 {25} Kd7 {160} 46. Kc5 {265}
h6 {67} 47. Nd5 {90} Ke6 {18} 48. Nc7+ {5} 1-0