Vishy Anand is now just half a point behind the leaders
He started off with a devastating loss in the first round but in the last seven rounds he has shown what exceptional feat of resilience he is capable of. At the age of almost fifty, Vishy Anand still continues to be an inspiration. An epitome of concentration, discipline, and will-power; the Madras Tiger again and again keeps proving his detractors wrong. In the ninth round of Grand Swiss yesterday, Vishy stunned his opponent Vladimir Fedoseev with uncommon dynamism. The Russian had the black pieces and he curiously wasted a couple of tempi with his queen in the opening. This was a good enough cue for Vishy to go all in and storm out his kingside pawns.
Vishy's theoretical preparation is still one of the best in the world. Playing against him, you simply can't expect to be careless in the opening and go unpunished! | Photo: Maria Emelianova
Vishy Anand - Vladimir Fedoseev, Round 8
With 14...Qa6 Black already moved his queen the fourth time in the opening. His pieces are still underdeveloped, while White's forces look all set to go on the offensive!
15.g4 was lashed out immediately and here Black once again carelessly played the move 15...Bd7-c6 which obviously allowed White to push 16.g5!
Vishy held nothing back and kept marching forward with 19.f5! Black was clearly in trouble here and was running short of moves. For instance, 19...exf5 itself is met by 20.exf5 Rae8 and the deadly 21. f6!
Black therefore played the move 19...Bd8 and here Vishy had the chance to seize a decisive initiative straightaway with 20.f6! but instead he went 20.Nd2?! Bd3 21.fxe6? and this last move was a serious error that blew away all his advantage.
After 21...fxe6 22.Qg4 Rxf2 23.Kxf2 Nf8 24.d5 e5 25.h4 the equilibrium was clearly restored. White now had to wait till move 31 for Black to make another decisive mistake.
Can you see what Black missed when he played 31...Re7? Well, it leaves a very important rank compromised!
Vishy didn't miss his chance this second time and correctly spotted the problem with 31...Re7, it clearly invites a lethal back-rank infiltration. The game followed 32.Bxd4 exd4 33.Rc8+ Rf7 34.e5 dxe5 35.Nfe4 h5 36.gxh6 Rf4 37.Qe6+ and it was on move 37 Black gave up. Check out the full game below with detailed annotations:
Soumya Swaminathan's wins her second game in a row!
Soumya Swaminathan had two consecutive rounds to play with the white pieces and it certainly seems she made the most out of it. In round seven she defeated the legendary Swedish GM Pia Cramling, while in the very next round she surprised even more by beating the strong Ukrainian Grandmaster Zahar Efimenko who is rated more than 200 Elo points above her. How did she do it? To know, check out the annotated game below | Photo: Maria Emelianova
Photo Gallery
Vidit Gujrathi drew his game against Rauf Mamedov and moved to 4.5/8 | Photo: Maria Emelianova
Raunak Sadhwani lost her first game in the event after drawing six games in a row | Photo: Maria Emelianova
Abhimanyu Puranik couldn't hold his own against Rustam Kasimdzhanov and lost with the white pieces | Photo: Maria Emelianova
Results of all Indians in eighth round
| Rd. | Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 8 | 6 | 4 | GM | Anand Viswanathan | 2765 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4½ | GM | Fedoseev Vladimir | 2664 | 47 | ||
| 8 | 13 | 73 | GM | Adhiban B. | 2639 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Robson Ray | 2670 | 43 | ||
| 8 | 17 | 65 | GM | Mamedov Rauf | 2645 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | 2718 | 17 | ||
| 8 | 24 | 32 | GM | Ragger Markus | 2684 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | IM | Sadhwani Raunak | 2479 | 129 | ||
| 8 | 25 | 94 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2624 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | GM | Korobov Anton | 2679 | 35 | ||
| 8 | 26 | 104 | GM | Narayanan.S.L | 2611 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | GM | Cheparinov Ivan | 2670 | 41 | ||
| 8 | 31 | 114 | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2571 | 4 | 0 - 1 | 4 | GM | Kasimdzhanov Rustam | 2657 | 56 | ||
| 8 | 32 | 90 | GM | Volokitin Andrei | 2627 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | 2748 | 9 | ||
| 8 | 40 | 96 | GM | Van Foreest Jorden | 2621 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Sasikiran Krishnan | 2675 | 37 | ||
| 8 | 43 | 54 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2658 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2610 | 105 | ||
| 8 | 50 | 119 | GM | Gukesh D | 2520 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Zvjaginsev Vadim | 2644 | 69 | ||
| 8 | 52 | 122 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2495 | 3½ | 0 - 1 | 3½ | GM | Moiseenko Alexander | 2635 | 80 | ||
| 8 | 60 | 149 | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2365 | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | GM | Efimenko Zahar | 2604 | 107 | ||
| 8 | 71 | 135 | GM | Jansa Vlastimil | 2452 | 2 | 0 - 1 | 2 | GM | Prithu Gupta | 2493 | 124 |
Pairings of all Indians for the next round
| Rd. | Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 9 | 3 | 38 | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | 2674 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Anand Viswanathan | 2765 | 4 | |||
| 9 | 9 | 5 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2763 | 5 | 5 | GM | Adhiban B. | 2639 | 73 | |||
| 9 | 16 | 17 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | 2718 | 4½ | 5 | GM | Tari Aryan | 2630 | 85 | |||
| 9 | 26 | 47 | GM | Fedoseev Vladimir | 2664 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2624 | 94 | |||
| 9 | 28 | 51 | GM | Dreev Aleksey | 2662 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Narayanan.S.L | 2611 | 104 | |||
| 9 | 32 | 63 | GM | Melkumyan Hrant | 2650 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Gukesh D | 2520 | 119 | |||
| 9 | 34 | 9 | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | 2748 | 4 | 4 | GM | Durarbayli Vasif | 2617 | 100 | |||
| 9 | 38 | 37 | GM | Sasikiran Krishnan | 2675 | 4 | 4 | GM | Volokitin Andrei | 2627 | 90 | |||
| 9 | 42 | 99 | GM | Vovk Andriy | 2618 | 4 | 4 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2658 | 54 | |||
| 9 | 45 | 129 | IM | Sadhwani Raunak | 2479 | 4 | 4 | GM | Motylev Alexander | 2651 | 62 | |||
| 9 | 47 | 105 | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2610 | 4 | 4 | GM | Chigaev Maksim | 2644 | 68 | |||
| 9 | 48 | 70 | GM | Bluebaum Matthias | 2643 | 4 | 4 | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2571 | 114 | |||
| 9 | 50 | 81 | GM | Najer Evgeniy | 2635 | 4 | 4 | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2365 | 149 | |||
| 9 | 60 | 87 | GM | Bachmann Axel | 2629 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2495 | 122 | |||
| 9 | 67 | 124 | GM | Prithu Gupta | 2493 | 3 | 3 | IM | Erenberg Ariel | 2463 | 133 |
Results of top ten boards in eighth round
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 2 | GM | Caruana Fabiano | 2812 | 5½ | ½ - ½ | 5½ | GM | Aronian Levon | 2758 | 8 | ||
| 2 | 15 | GM | Wang Hao | 2726 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Carlsen Magnus | 2876 | 1 | ||
| 3 | 39 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | 2674 | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5 | GM | Grischuk Alexander | 2759 | 7 | ||
| 4 | 48 | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | 2664 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | 2732 | 13 | ||
| 5 | 3 | GM | So Wesley | 2767 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | 2674 | 38 | ||
| 6 | 4 | GM | Anand Viswanathan | 2765 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4½ | GM | Fedoseev Vladimir | 2664 | 47 | ||
| 7 | 49 | GM | Shirov Alexei | 2664 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2763 | 5 | ||
| 8 | 6 | GM | Karjakin Sergey | 2760 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4½ | GM | Dreev Aleksey | 2662 | 51 | ||
| 9 | 10 | GM | Wojtaszek Radoslaw | 2748 | 4½ | 0 - 1 | 4½ | GM | Kovalev Vladislav | 2661 | 53 | ||
| 10 | 12 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2745 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4½ | GM | Melkumyan Hrant | 2650 | 63 |
Top ten board pairings for the next round
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 8 | GM | Aronian Levon | 2758 | 6 | 6 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | 2674 | 39 | |||
| 2 | 1 | GM | Carlsen Magnus | 2876 | 5½ | 6 | GM | Caruana Fabiano | 2812 | 2 | |||
| 3 | 38 | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | 2674 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Anand Viswanathan | 2765 | 4 | |||
| 4 | 48 | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | 2664 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Karjakin Sergey | 2760 | 6 | |||
| 5 | 53 | GM | Kovalev Vladislav | 2661 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2745 | 12 | |||
| 6 | 13 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | 2732 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Wang Hao | 2726 | 15 | |||
| 7 | 18 | GM | Matlakov Maxim | 2716 | 5 | 5½ | GM | Gelfand Boris | 2686 | 30 | |||
| 8 | 34 | GM | McShane Luke J | 2682 | 5 | 5 | GM | So Wesley | 2767 | 3 | |||
| 9 | 5 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2763 | 5 | 5 | GM | Adhiban B. | 2639 | 73 | |||
| 10 | 7 | GM | Grischuk Alexander | 2759 | 5 | 5 | GM | Shirov Alexei | 2664 | 49 |
