Grand Swiss R08: Vishy inches closer to the top

by Satanick Mukhuty - 19/10/2019

In the eighth round of FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss Isle of Man Vishy Anand registered a crushing victory against Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia to inch closer to the top of the leaderboard. The Madras Tiger is now just half a point behind Fabiano Caruana, David Anton Guijarro, and Levon Aronian who share the lead with 6.0/8 points each. The other notable Indian victory came on the sixtieth board where Soumya Swaminathan beat Zahar Efimenko of Ukraine rated more than 200 Elo points above her. Gukesh D too displayed some very steady chess to outplay Vadim Zvjaginsev who attempted to surprise the youngster with some rather irregular stuff in the opening. In this report we bring you photos, games, analyses, and much more.

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

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