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Gukesh gets a lucky win, Wang Hao takes sole lead after round 8 in 9th HDBank International 2019

by Shahid Ahmed - 12/03/2019

Top seed of 9th HDBank International Open 2019 GM Wang Hao defeated the overnight sole leader GM Stanislav Bogdanovich of Ukraine after the latter blundered an exchange in a Rook-Knight vs. Rook-Bishop and few pawns endgame which was seemingly equal. With this win, Hao jumped into a sole lead and he will be looking forward to win the HDBank title for the second time since his first triumph in 2016. Gukesh was completely lost against GM Anton Demchenko of Russia, however Demchenko made a terrible blunder which turned the result into Gukesh's favor. Photo: Shahid Ahmed 

Gukesh holds on to his nerve and it pays off

In case you are wondering why there is a person in this photo, because there was a huge crowd in front of Gukesh's board. He is one of the spectators | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Gukesh played a side line in Closed Sicilian. In the late middlegame, Gukesh's position became inferior and he had to give up an exchange. But the 12-year old brave kid did not give up. He fought till the end and eventually his opponent blundered and he won.

Gukesh has to give up exchange, otherwise 23.e5 and 24.f6 will be over for Black. So Gukesh played 22...Re5

We all know that Gukesh is a fighter. Put yourself in Gukesh's shoes and find out the correct continuation for Black here.

White King has only two choices. Which is the better one?

One last attempt left for Black which relies a lot on hoping White would make a mistake. What is that trick?

Bogdanovich blundered an exchange in time pressure and lost the lead | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

The game between Wang Hao and Stanislav Bogdanovic was a battle of equals. Bogdanovic blundered an exchange in the endgame which was seemingly equal and then it was just a matter of technique which we know for sure that Hao can convert.

The position was absolutely calm but Bogdanovich brought a storm that he got himself wrecked into

The move 53...Rd3 gave an instant joy to Wang Hao and why wouldn't it be? When you are the top seed and looking for the second title it is bound to bring a lot of joy.

GM Wang Hao talks about what makes him come back to HDBank every year, Indian chess, World teams and more | Video: Shahid Ahmed
Final moments: GM Wang Hao showcases how to win a won Rook vs. Bishop endgame | Video: Shahid Ahmed

In this position it seemed like Raghunandan might win it but he missed an opportunity to capitalize his advantage | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

GM Tran Tuan Minh managed to escape with a draw

Photo Gallery:

WIM Nandhidhaa P V must be foreshadowing her round 8 victory. She is already gaining 68 ELO Rating with a performance rating of 2585| Photo: Shahid Ahmed

FM Pranesh M needs a draw in the final round to score his second IM-norm | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

FM Niranjan Navalgund must have remembered a funny joke | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

How many Indian chess players can you spot in this photo? | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

FM Villanueva Nelson of Philippines is one of the leaders at 7.0/8 going into the final round... | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

...Pham Minh Hieu of Vietnam is the other leader | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich will be present at the Closing Ceremony tomorrow. It was published in the HDBank official fb page:

Round 8 results:

Bo.No. NameTypFEDRtgPts.ResultPts.NameTypFEDRtg No.
11
GMWang HaoCHN271861 - 0GMBogdanovich StanislavUKR2536
13
26
GMIturrizaga Bonelli EduardoVEN2639½ - ½GMPopov IvanRUS2581
11
335
Zhao YuanheCHN24310 - 1GMWen YangCHN2599
9
47
GMVan Wely LoekNED261251 - 0GMCao SangVIE2385
53
53
GMDemchenko AntonRUS267850 - 15IMGukesh DU16IND2529
15
64
GMMareco SandroARG266650 - 15IMLiu GuanchuCHN2445
31
75
GMNguyen Ngoc Truong SonVIE26475½ - ½5IMXu YiCHN2520
18
88
GMPredke AlexandrRUS261151 - 05FMHoang Canh HuanVIE2394
49
912
GMTran Tuan MinhVIE2556½ - ½5IMRaghunandan Kaumandur SrihariIND2352
70
1016
GMMegaranto SusantoINA25261 - 0IMNitin S.IND2408
46
11100
WIMNandhidhaa P VIND22401 - 0FMNasanjargal UrtnasanMGL2503
19
1220
GMKarthik VenkataramanIND24941 - 0IMRahul Srivatshav PIND2400
47
1324
IMNguyen Anh KhoiVIE2484+ - -IMPham ChuongVIE2383
55
1426
GMNguyen Anh DungVIE24581 - 0IMChu Wei ChaoCHN2373
62
1530
CMMendonca Leon LukeU16IND2446½ - ½Wang Shixu BCHN2362
65
1638
IMNguyen Van HuyVIE24281 - 0FMPranesh MU16IND2309
79
1761
IMPham Le Thao NguyenVIE2374½ - ½GMLaxman R.R.IND2425
40
1841
IMBulmaga IrinaROU24240 - 1IMMiciano John MarvinPHI2317
76
1945
IMLe Quang LongVIE24120 - 1Xu MinghuiCHN2293
86
202
GMCheparinov IvanGEO268341 - 04FMNguyen Dang Hong PhucVIE2376
59

Round 9 Pairings:

Bo.No. NameTypFEDRtgPts.ResultPts.NameTypFEDRtg No.
19
GMWen YangCHN25997GMWang HaoCHN2718
1
213
GMBogdanovich StanislavUKR25366GMPredke AlexandrRUS2611
8
331
IMLiu GuanchuCHN244566GMIturrizaga Bonelli EduardoVEN2639
6
411
GMPopov IvanRUS258166GMVan Wely LoekNED2612
7
515
IMGukesh DU16IND25296GMMegaranto SusantoINA2526
16
653
GMCao SangVIE2385GMNguyen Ngoc Truong SonVIE2647
5
718
IMXu YiCHN2520IMNguyen Van HuyVIE2428
38
870
IMRaghunandan Kaumandur SrihariIND2352GMKarthik VenkataramanIND2494
20
924
IMNguyen Anh KhoiVIE2484WIMNandhidhaa P VIND2240
100
1076
IMMiciano John MarvinPHI2317GMNguyen Anh DungVIE2458
26
1186
Xu MinghuiCHN2293Zhao YuanheCHN2431
35
1256
IMSukandar Irine KharismaINA238155GMCheparinov IvanGEO2683
2
1349
FMHoang Canh HuanVIE239455GMDemchenko AntonRUS2678
3
1458
FMSetyaki Azarya JodiINA237855GMMareco SandroARG2666
4
1512
GMTran Tuan MinhVIE255655IMPham Le Thao NguyenVIE2374
61
1669
IMVo Thanh NinhVIE235855CMMendonca Leon LukeU16IND2446
30
1765
Wang Shixu BCHN236255Chen Qi BCHN2443
32
1875
FMMithil AjgaonkarIND233255Li YankaiCHN2434
34
1940
GMLaxman R.R.IND242555IMQuizon DanielU16PHI2268
91
2057
FMNavalgund NiranjanIND2378GMPichot AlanARG2584
10