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Grand Swiss R03: Adhiban and Vidit lead the Indian contingent

by Satanick Mukhuty - 13/10/2019

Adhiban Baskaran made an enterprising use of the white pieces and employed the aggressive advanced variation against Radosław Wojtaszek's Caro-Kann. However, the number one Polish player remained unfazed by the Indian Grandmaster's ambitiousness and put up a steady defense to force the split of point. Meanwhile, Fabiano Caruana and Wang Hao defeated Alexei Shirov and Bu Xiangzhi respectively to register their third consecutive victory and emerged as the leaders of the event. Vidit Santosh Gujrathi refuted Maksim Chigaev's unusual King's Indian sideline, while Harikrishna Pentala positionally outplayed Erwin L'ami in the Catalan. It was the third round of FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss 2019 and in this comprehensive report we bring you the highlights of all the important Indian performances.

Vidit faces an unusual sideline!

Vidit Gujrathi faced a rather strange variation of the King's Indian defense from his Russian opponent Maksim Chigaev. The India no.3 got a commanding position with White out of the opening and by move 23 ended up having two extra pawns. Black really didn't have any compensation for the material and Vidit converted his advantage quite smoothly. The game was resigned in just 39 moves.

Vidit has moved to 2.5/3 with his third round victory and is just half a point behind the leaders | Photo: John Saunders 

In round four he has been paired up with black pieces against Parham Maghsoodloo. It surely won't be an easy encounter against the current World Junior Champion | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Vidit Gujrathi - Maksim Chigaev, Round 3

Maksim's choice of 5...Nc6 followed by 6...e5 provoking d4-d5 was definitely unusual. The online database shows only 17 games played in this system.

Giving up a pawn with 16...d5?! was another dubious decision. Instead 16...d6 17.fxe5 Rxf1+ 18.Kxf1 Bxe5 looks much more logical.

After White played 22.Qf2, Black had the chance to make things complicated by exchanging queens but he went 22...Qb4?! which allowed Vidit to simply remain with two extra pawns. Check out the full game below with brief annotations.

Harikrishna's sublime positional play outwits L'ami

One of the most anticipated encounters from an Indian perspective was that between Harikrishna Pentala and Erwin L'ami. The latter, a strong Dutch Grandmaster, has formerly been a second of Veselin Topalov and is currently working with Anish Giri. The game opened with a Catalan, it was interesting to see what L'ami had up his sleeve.

Harikrishna Pentala has shifted to Europe lately and this decision has evidently worked out quite well for the India no.2! | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Harikrishna Pentala - Erwin L'ami, Round 3

8...Be7 was sort of an unusual choice. Although it has been played in quite a few games before but 8...Bc5 remains by far the most popular move and leads to even chances for both sides. 

10...d3?! next looked a bit dubious. 10...Bc5 once again would have been better.

As early as move 13, White's position started looking superior. The bishops were excellently placed on g2 and b2 dominating the long diagonals, and the d-file too was White's to take.

16.a4 stopped b5, now there was no way to dislodge the strong knight on c4 and Black had to give up his lightsquared bishop with Bxc4

18.a4-a5 further clamped down the queenside!

The rook on b1 and bishop on g2 kept an imposing eye on b7. Owing to the growing pressure, Black soon lost an important pawn on the queenside just after a few moves from here.

And this was the position that was reached after 45.Rc8. Harikrishna was able to convert his extra pawn with flawless technique. See full game below.

Adhiban's aggression not quite enough for Wojtaszek

Adhiban slipped down from the leader's group after he was held to a draw by Radosław Wojtaszek in round three. In the next round he will have the black pieces against Grandmaster Luke McShane of England | Photo: John Saunders

Abhimanyu pulls off an emphatic victory

Abhimanyu Puranik suffered an unfortunate defeat in the hands of Anton Korobov in the previous round but came back with a fine victory with black pieces against Sergei Movsesian | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Nihal registers his first win in the event

Nihal Sarin lost his last round encounter against Boris Gelfand. In the third round he was paired up against the much lower rated WGM Vera Nebolsina. The Indian wunderkind registered a crushing victory in just 25 moves to move to 1.5/3

Nihal faces the experienced Hungarian Grandmaster Peter Leko in the next round. The 15-year-old boy is surely getting a lot of experience playing this event | Photo: Amruta Mokal 

Nihal Sarin - Vera Nebolsina, Round 3

Position after 10.Bxe5: Black erred here by going 10...Bxg4 which brought the white queen to a very active square after Bxg4 hxg4 Qxg4. 10...Bxe5 11.dxe5 Qb6 would have been a more active plan for Black. 

Nihal finished off his opponent gracefully by opening up further lines on the kingside and bringing the a1 rook into the foray via 16.0-0-0. The full game is presented below.

The ever solid, ever strong Raunak

He is just 13-year-old and is unbeaten with a score of 2.0/3 so far in the event. Against the former World Champion challenger Sergey Karjakin, he drew easily with black | Photo: Maria Emelianova

And in round three, Surya Sekhar Ganguly too didn't find any chances against this prodigious talent. Raunak Sadhwani is rated 2492 and already has two GM norms to his credit | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Vishy's creative play fizzles out

Vishy Anand was held to a draw in round three by the Azerbaijani Grandmaster Nijat Abasov. The Madras Tiger tried to create some very interesting play but a series of rapid exchanges rendered the position dead.

Vishy has the white pieces in the next game and would surely be looking for a win | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nijat Abasov - Vishy Anand, Round 3

The position looked really sharp at this point as White had these beautifully placed pair of bishops but Vishy's trump was his opponent's weakened king stuck in the middle. Can you guess how White reacted here? Check out the full game below.

Sasikiran gets the better of Harika

Krishnan Sasikiran versus Harika Dronavalli was another match-up that was very much looked forward too. Harika had defended well against all her higher-rated opponents in the previous rounds and it remained to be seen how she would fair against fellow compatriot Sasikiran.

Krishnan Sasikiran - Harika Dronavalli, Round 3

Sasikiran played the surprising 7.h4!? against Harika...But this wasn't a new move. In fact, Daniil Dubov had once in 2016 used it with success against Boris Gelfand. See the full annotated game below to know how Sasikiran exploited this idea.

Losses for the day included Gukesh D losing to Ivan Saric (2667), Soumya Swaminathan going down against Yuri Kuzubov and Prithu Gupta losing to Jovanka Houska (2430). S. L. Narayanan, on the other hand, has had three draws against higher-rated opponents, which is a very good result for the Kerala lad. In round three he drew his game against Daniil Dubov.

Results of all Indian players (Round 3)

Rd.Bo.No. NameRtgPts. ResultPts. NameRtg No.
3373
GMAdhiban B. 26392 ½ - ½ GMWojtaszek Radoslaw 2748
10
31117
GMVidit Santosh Gujrathi 2718 1 - 0 GMChigaev Maksim 2644
68
325129
IMSadhwani Raunak 2479 ½ - ½ GMGanguly Surya Shekhar 2658
54
32783
GMAbasov Nijat 26321 ½ - ½1 GMAnand Viswanathan 2765
4
3309
GMHarikrishna Pentala 27481 1 - 01 GML'ami Erwin 2619
98
33423
GMDubov Daniil 26991 ½ - ½1 GMNarayanan.S.L 2611
104
34137
GMSasikiran Krishnan 26751 1 - 01 GMHarika Dronavalli 2495
122
347119
GMGukesh D 25201 0 - 11 GMSaric Ivan 2667
46
356149
WGMSoumya Swaminathan 23651 0 - 11 GMKuzubov Yuriy 2636
78
36159
GMMovsesian Sergei 2654½ 0 - 1½ GMPuranik Abhimanyu 2571
114
369105
GMNihal Sarin 2610½ 1 - 0½ WGMNebolsina Vera 2252
152
373140
IMBulmaga Irina 24420 0 - 10 GMSethuraman S.P. 2624
94
375142
IMHouska Jovanka 24300 1 - 00 GMPrithu Gupta 2493
124

Pairings of all Indian players for the next round

Rd.Bo.No. NameRtgPts. ResultPts. NameRtg No.
4448
GMMaghsoodloo Parham 2664 GMVidit Santosh Gujrathi 2718
17
4634
GMMcshane Luke J 2682 GMAdhiban B. 2639
73
4854
GMGanguly Surya Shekhar 26582 2 GMYu Yangyi 2763
5
41156
GMKasimdzhanov Rustam 26572 2 GMHarikrishna Pentala 2748
9
42378
GMKuzubov Yuriy 26362 2 GMSasikiran Krishnan 2675
37
42746
GMSaric Ivan 26672 2 IMSadhwani Raunak 2479
129
4324
GMAnand Viswanathan 2765 GMParligras Mircea-Emilian 2629
89
44242
GMLeko Peter 2670 GMNihal Sarin 2610
105
447104
GMNarayanan.S.L 2611 GMZvjaginsev Vadim 2644
69
449114
GMPuranik Abhimanyu 2571 GMNguyen Ngoc Truong Son 2638
76
453122
GMHarika Dronavalli 24951 1 GMGrandelius Nils 2691
27
45429
GMJones Gawain C B 26881 1 GMGukesh D 2520
119
46394
GMSethuraman S.P. 26241 1 IMClarke Brandon G I 2445
139
467116
GMGonzalez Vidal Yuri 25521 1 WGMSoumya Swaminathan 2365
149
474152
WGMNebolsina Vera 2252½ 0 GMPrithu Gupta 2493
124

Results of top ten boards (Round 3)

Bo.No. NameRtgPts. ResultPts. NameRtg No.
149
GMShirov Alexei 26642 0 - 12 GMCaruana Fabiano 2812
2
215
GMWang Hao 27262 1 - 02 GMBu Xiangzhi 2721
16
373
GMAdhiban B. 26392 ½ - ½ GMWojtaszek Radoslaw 2748
10
41
GMCarlsen Magnus 2876 ½ - ½ GMKasimdzhanov Rustam 2657
56
55
GMYu Yangyi 2763 ½ - ½ GMSarana Alexey 2655
58
67
GMGrischuk Alexander 2759 1 - 0 GMOparin Grigoriy 2654
60
711
GMArtemiev Vladislav 2746 ½ - ½ GMMelkumyan Hrant 2650
63
857
GMDemchenko Anton 2655 ½ - ½ GMNakamura Hikaru 2745
12
913
GMVitiugov Nikita 2732 1 - 0 GMMotylev Alexander 2651
62
1066
GMPapaioannou Ioannis 2645 ½ - ½ GMSvidler Peter 2729
14

Top ten pairings for next round

Bo.No. NameRtgPts. ResultPts. NameRtg No.
12
GMCaruana Fabiano 28123 3 GMWang Hao 2726
15
238
GMAlekseenko Kirill 2674 GMGrischuk Alexander 2759
7
341
GMCheparinov Ivan 2670 GMVitiugov Nikita 2732
13
448
GMMaghsoodloo Parham 2664 GMVidit Santosh Gujrathi 2718
17
528
GMSargissian Gabriel 2690 GMFedoseev Vladimir 2664
47
634
GMMcshane Luke J 2682 GMAdhiban B. 2639
73
753
GMKovalev Vladislav 26612 2 GMCarlsen Magnus 2876
1
854
GMGanguly Surya Shekhar 26582 2 GMYu Yangyi 2763
5
96
GMKarjakin Sergey 27602 2 GMDemchenko Anton 2655
57
108
GMAronian Levon 27582 2 GMSevian Samuel 2654
61

Complete results and standings


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