Super Heroes Cup QF: Karthik eliminates Shashikant
Krishna Karthik Venkata eliminated top seed of the tournament IM Shashikant Kutwal as the latter ran out of time in a completely winning position in Armageddon. Despite losing the first game, Karthik bounced back and won the second game to level the score and force Armageddon. He will face Ashwin Makwana in the Semi-Finals who has been super solid in the event so far. Ashish Desai blundered his queen in the second game after putting up a good fight against Ashwin in their encounter. Samarth Rao will face Kishan Gangolli in the Semi-Finals who had a grueling battle against Aryan Joshi. Photo: ChessBase India live stream
Both Kishan and Ashwin are still undefeated
Venkata Krishna Karthik scored the biggest upset of the tournament so far as he beat the top seed of the tournament IM Shashikant Kutwal in Armageddon to advance to the Semi-Finals. He will face Ashwin Makwana who has showcased very strong play, in the Semi-Finals. Samarth J Rao won his match with ease to setup a clash with Kishan Gangolli who won a fantastic battle against Aryan Joshi.
Karthik - Shashikant: 2*-1
First game was a very close battle. Karthik was able to match Shashikant's strength and put up a good fight until he misplayed in the king-pawn endgame.
Karthik - Shashikant, Game 1
36.Kc3 is a blunder as it allows to get a much breakthrough with 36...g5 and now black's king is faster in grabbing the pawns, white's king is completely misplaced, unable to stop the black's king entry. White needed to play 36.Ke2 to be able save the game. Shashikant took 0-1 lead.
In the second game, Shashikant was completely winning after his opponent made an incorrect offer of a queen exchange.
Shashikant - Karthik, Game 2
It is evident that 33...Qf6 is a big mistake because it destroys black's pawn structure on the kingside and exposes the king but how can white capitalize on it? White continued with 34.Qxf6 gxf6 but then he played 34.Rd5 which allows black to equalize by trading the rook.
White needed to let go of the d5-pawn. Sure the position still looks difficult but it was a fight. Instead 49.Be4 finishes the game for white immediately after 49...Rxe4 as the c3-pawn promotes and black gains decisive advantage by gaining material. Karthik levelled the score 1-1, forcing Armageddon.
Shashikant thought for almost four minutes at a critical moment in Armageddon but much to his chagrin, he played the incorrect move.
Shashikant - Karthik, Armageddon
Position after 21...Bf8
The game continued with 22.Nxc4. Find out the better continuation for white. After a few moves, Shashikant got a better position again but he was running low on time and eventually ran out of it. Thus Karthik advanced to the Semi-Finals.
Ashwin - Ashish: 1.5-0.5
Ashwin got a fantastic position in the first game but he decided to make a draw by repeating moves.
Ashwin - Ashish, Game 1
White is the one who is in total control of the position. Find out the correct plan for white here. Both Ashwin and Ashish repeated moves to draw the first game. The score is now 0.5-0.5
Ashwin dominated for the better part of the second game. However under time trouble he blundered which Ashish missed.
Ashish - Ashwin, Game 2
Black had a very good advantage until he played 34...e3. It is a big mistake because black needed to cover something first. Find out why it is a blunder which causes black to lose. Unfortunately for Ashish, he missed this opportunity and after a few moves Ashwin misplayed and the game was heading towards a draw but then Ashish blundered his queen and lost the game. Ashwin won the match 1.5-0.5 and advanced to the Semi-Finals.
Megha - Samarth: 0-2
Megha blundered early on in the first game against Samarth which he missed.
Megha - Samarth, Game 1
13.N3d2 causes white to lose material immediately. Find out how. Black missed the opportunity and the game continued with 13...Ndf6. Soon afterwards white made another mistake and this time black capitalized on it and went on to win the game. Samarth gained 0-1 lead.
Second game was heading towards a draw but it was not enough for Megha to force Armageddon. Thus she blundered in the final moments of the game and lost. Samarth won the game and the match 0-2 to advance to the Semi-Finals.
Aryan - Kishan: 0-2
Aryan made an incorrect tactics in the endgame which gave Kishan the upper hand.
Aryan - Kishan, Game 1
27.Ne4 is incorrect for white as after 27...dxe4 28.Rxb2 exf3 black is the one who gets decisive advantage.
Despite black having a decent advantage, 33...Re7 allows white to get back in the game as 34.Rxd5 Nxd5 35.Rxd5 removes black's advantage and white has nothing to worry about his back rank. White missed this opportunity and played 34.Kf1 instead.
Position after 35.Rxd5
While the game continued with the obvious 35...Nxd5, the win is no longer obvious for black any longer, in fact it becomes obtuse. Instead black had a better spectacular continuation in the above diagram, try to find it. Soon white made another blunder which allowed black to score a victory and Kishan took 0-1 lead.
Kishan capitalized on his opponent Aryan's mistake which allowed him to do tactics in the endgame.
Kishan - Aryan, Game 2
27...Rg6 allows white to do tactics which costs black two important pawns after 28.Rxc6. Kishan had no trouble converting his advantage into a victory and securing his place in the Semi-Finals where he will battle against Samarth Rao.
* - Won by Armageddon
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