The 1st Gujarat Grandmaster Open kicked off on Friday, October 5, 2018. The first two rounds of the event saw some intense action: upsets were abundant, games were exciting and there were some opening debacles too! In this report, we bring you games, pictures and some off the board accounts of sportsmanship from the first two days.
Upsets, heartbreaks and time scrambles
The 1st Gujarat Grandmaster Open went underway at the Karnavati club, one of the most prestigious clubs in the Gujarati city of Ahmedabad, on Friday afternoon. The event is a 9 round Swiss which will be played over 7 days, until October 12, 2018. The rate of play is 90 minutes for the entire game, with a 30-second increment from move 1.
As is the case with so many Grandmaster opens, most of the games of the initial rounds were rather one-sided. However, there are always some spicy exceptions.
The biggest upset of the inaugural round came on the third board where 2615 rated Alexandr Predke was held to a draw by Maulik Raval (1993), a young local lad who overcame a rating difference of over 500 points! Of course, earning this half point was an arduous task for Raval as GM Predke tested him for over 90 moves before conceding a draw.
A game that lasted more than five hours: Alexandr Predke vs Maulik Raval | Photo: Aditya Pai
IM Anup Deshmukh also had a tough time in the opening round against Srithan Saypuri, a 13-year-old from Telangana. The Nagpur based International Master erred quite early in the game and Srithan pounced immediately with an enterprising knight sacrifice. Over the next few moves, the Telangana boy displayed excellent tactical prowess to put his opponent in a dead lost position.
However, IM Deshmukh, too, is not an easy nut to crack. He found his best possible chances and put up stiff resistance. Luckily for IM Deshmukh, Saypuri failed to find his best chances. Saypuri’s position slowly deteriorated and went from being a clear win to a heartbreaking loss.
After the game, IM Deshmukh, in a heartwarming gesture, acknowledged that he was completely lost and congratulated the boy on his excellent play. A hearty handshake followed before the players parted ways to prepare for their next battle.
IM Anup Deshmukh survived an opening catastrophe in his game against Srithan Saypuri | Photo: Aditya Pai
A similar situation was seen on the 24th board where another teenager, Aryan Polakhare, had IM Fenil Shah walk a tightrope. In an incredibly complicated position, Aryan had generated a strong attack on his opponent’s king. A time scramble had worsened matters for both sides. On several occasions, IM Shah was seen waiting until the last second to make his move. But here again, it was the younger player whose nerves gave in. As the clock ticked down, Aryan blundered his queen and was forced to resign a few moves later.
IM Fenil Shah had a rough time winning his game against Aryan Polakhare | Photo: Aditya Pai .
Day 2
In another day full of excitement, the second round saw the second wave of title aspirants hit the top seeds. And this time, there were even more casualties.
On the fourth board, Ukrainian GM Adam Tukhaev had to sue for peace against Bangladeshi FM Mehdi Hasan Parag. A central pawn break in the Pirc Austrian attack had induced the exchange of a pair of rooks when Parag found a nice tactical sequence that forced more exchanges. By the 30th move, both sides had a rook, a knight and three pawns. After about 10 more moves, Tukhaev repeated the position to call it a day.
Bangladeshi FM Mehdi Hasan Parag held GM Adam Tukhaev to a draw rather comfortably | Photo: Aditya Pai
Two boards below on the pairing list, another Ukrainian Grandmaster, GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy was held to a draw Vinayak Kulkarni (2208). In fact, in this game, it was GM Bernadskiy who was in trouble at one point. Tons of exchanges in the game had led to an equal endgame by the 25th move. But just when it had begun to look innocuous, Bernadskiy let white take control of the position.
Kulkarni vs Bernadskiy
Position after 27...Ne7
Here, after 27…Ne7, white simply hacked off the e7 knight with his bishop and pocketed a pawn after 29.Qb5. But in the next phase, Kulkarni rushed into a queen exchange that rendered the position equal. It is hard to believe at first that the position was equal since Kulkarni had an extra pawn in a knight endgame. But soon, the black knight turned out to be too active and this compensated for the pawn deficit. Forty-nine moves into the game, a draw was agreed via move repetition.
The biggest upset of the round was scored by the 14-year-old Tarun Kanyamarla who defeated IM Ponnuswamy Konguvel of Tamil Nadu with the black pieces. Players had castled on opposite wings in the Velimirovich attack of the Sicilian Defence. Out of the opening, IM Konguvel seemed to have the better position. His attack looked faster as his pawns had already broken into the enemy lines. But Kanyamarla defended well and, after a few mistakes by his opponent, was able to manoeuvre his queen into the white camp with decisive effect.
14-year-old Tarun Kanyamarla won with black in a complicated Sicilian against IM P Konguvel! | Photo: Aditya Pai
It wasn’t, however, all David slaying Goliath all around. It was indeed the grandmasters who won convincingly on several boards. A rather distinct game was the one on board 9 between India’s latest GM, Karthik Venkataraman and WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty.
Venkataraman went off road very early with 1.b3. Mohanty, perhaps, hadn’t expected her opponent to play this opening and ended up in a worse position quite early in the game. Her central pawn break on the 18th turn immediately spelt doom. The tactical sequence that followed left white with a decisive material advantage. By the 25th move, it was curtains.
If you would like to add 1.b3 to your opening arsenal, do check out Wesley So’s DVD, My secret weapon: 1.b3 which is currently on sale in the ChessBase India shop.
GM Karthik Venkataraman scored a quick 25-move victory over WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty in round 2 | Photo: Aditya Pai
Day three of the 1st Gujarat International Chess tournament brought big news for Indian chess. In the fourth round, Harsha Bharathakoti defeated GM Farrukh Amonatov to breach the 2500 Elo threshold and become India's 56th grandmaster. Indians also scored some other upsets in the day. In the third round, Vinayak Kulkarni of Karnataka drew a wild tactical game against GM Adam Tukhaev. An illustrated report.
अहमदाबाद ,गुजरात में हो रहे इंटरनेशनल ग्रांड मास्टर शतरंज टूर्नामेंट में भारत के वर्तमान राष्ट्रीय नेशनल जूनियर चैम्पियन हर्षा भारत कोठी नें खिताब के बड़े दावेदार तजाकिस्तान के ग्रांड मास्टर फारुख ओमाण्टोव को पराजित करते हुए अपने ग्रांड मास्टर खिताब का इंतजार खत्म कर लिया । पिर्क डिफेंस में हुए इस मुक़ाबले हर्षा नें शुरू से ही आक्रामक रुख अपनाया और खतरे उठाए और एक समय जब उनका राजा खतरे में नजर आ रहा था पर फारुख उसका फायदा लेने के लिए कुछ गलत चालें चल गए और हर्षा नें एक शानदार जीत दर्ज कर दी । इसके पहले हर्षा नें पहले ही तीनों ग्रांड मास्टर नार्म हासिल कर लिए थे और अब उन्होने 2500 रेटिंग का आंकड़ा छूते हुए भारत के 56वे ग्रांड मास्टर होने का रिकार्ड अपने नाम कर लिया । प्रतियोगिता में 16 देशो के 250 खिलाड़ी भाग ले रहे है और टॉप सीड उक्रेन के मार्टिन कार्वस्टीव को दी गयी है । भारतीय खिलाड़ियों में कार्तिक वेंकटरमन ,रोहित ललित बाबू ,जीए स्टेनी और हर्षा पर सबकी नजरे है । जबकि महिला खिलाड़ियों में मेरी गोम्स और नंधिधा पीवी से अच्छे प्रदर्शन की उम्मीद है । फिलहाल 5 राउंड के बाद भारत के स्टेनी जीए अपने पांचों मैच जीतकर अर्मेनिया के लेवान बाबूजीयन के साथ सयुंक्त बढ़त पर चल रहे है ।
The fifth round of the 1st Gujarat International Grandmaster Open saw two players share lead at its conclusion -- Levon Babujian and Stany GA. Stany benefitted from his opponent's overzealous play and won his fifth straight game against Vitaly Sivuk. On board three, Babujian defeated Lalith Babu to make it to the joint lead. The round also saw three big upsets. While Niranjan Navalgund brought down GM Ziaur Rahman, Kumar Gaurav and N Surendran held Sergey Kasparov and Neelotpal Das to draws. Round five report.
IM Stany GA of Karnataka is simply on a roll at the 1st Gujarat International Grandmaster Open. On day five, he won both of his games and took sole lead in the tournament. In round six, he defeated his co-leader GM Levon Babujian and in the seventh round, he brought down the top seed of the tournament, GM Martyn Kravtsiv. With two rounds to go, Stany is already a full point ahead of his nearest rival and is now a very strong favourite to take the title prize. Some other Indian youngsters also scored important upsets on the fifth day. In round six, Pranav V managed to beat GM Lalith Babu in merely 29 moves. One round later, West Bengal's Srijit Paul completely dominated GM
Samvel Ter-Sahakyan on board 11. An illustrated report
After round 7, it seemed IM Stany GA would cruise to the title with a full point's lead over his nearest rival. But the antepenultimate round made some drastic changes to the tournament situation. Stany lost with the white pieces to IM Vignesh NR. Now, as many as 10 players have the possibility of catching up in the tournament lead. But despite his loss, Stany's stupendous run so far has ensured him his second GM norm, with a round to spare. The top board victor, IM Vignesh NR also scored his third Grandmaster norm with his win over Stany. Vignesh only needs to cross Elo 2500 now to become a Grandmaster.
गुजरात इंटरनेशनल ग्रांडमास्टर शतरंज का आठवाँ राउंड प्रतियोगिता को और रोमांचक बना गया है और अब देखना होगा की अंतिम दो राउंड में कौन विजेता बन के सामने आता है । राउंड आठ में सबसे आगे चल रहे स्टेनी जीए को हमवतन विघनेश एनआर नें पराजित करते हुए उनकी एकल बढ़त खत्म कर दी और अब दोनों सयुंक्त बढ़त पर है। खैर स्टेनी के लिए अच्छी बात यह है की 9वे राउंड का मैच खेलते साथ ही वह अपना दूसरा ग्रांड मास्टर नार्म हासिल कर लेंगे ,उनके अलावा विघनेश का भी ग्रांड मास्टर नार्म लगभग तय है।अंतिम दो राउंड में निश्चित तौर पर हमें कड़े मुक़ाबले देखने को मिलेंगे।खैर उनके अलावा मैच के बाद आयोजको नें खिलाड़ियों को गरबा उत्सव में ले जाकर गुजरात की संस्कृति से सभी का परिचय कराया । रंग बिरंगी पोशाकों में गरबा का महौल देखते ही बनता था और सभी नें शतरंज के काले और सफ़ेद रंगो में जैसे सारे रंग भर दिये । पढे यह लेख ।
अहमदाबाद , गुजरात में 16 देशो के 250 खिलाड़ियों के बीच चल रहे गुजरात इंटरनेशनल शतरंज चैंपियनशिप का खिताब उक्रेन के ग्रांड मास्टर और प्रतियोगिता के टॉप सीड मार्टिन
क्राव्टसिव नें जीत लिया । उन्होने अंतिम राउंड में सिसिलियन रोजोलिमों ओपनिंग में भारत के विघनेश एनआर को पराजित करते हुए लगातार तीसरी जीत दर्ज करते हुए कुल 8.5 अंको के साथ खिताब अपने नाम कर लिया । खैर विघनेश नें 8 अंक के साथ उपविजेता का स्थान हासिल किया । और 8 ही अंको के साथ भारत के जीए स्टेनी टाईब्रेक के आधार पर तीसरे स्थान पर रहे ,अंतिम राउंड में उन्होने बेलारूस के वादिम मलखटकोव को हार का स्वाद चखाया । उनके अलावा भारत के हर्षा भारतकोठी छठे तो कार्तिक वेंकटरमन 11 वे स्थान पर रहे । अंतिम राउंड में ग्रांडमास्टर ललित बाबू की हार बड़ी चर्चा का विषय रही । खैर प्रतियोगिता अपने शानदार इंतज़ामों की वजह से सभी खिलाड़ियों को आकर्षित करने में सफल रही और लगभग हर खिलाड़ी नें एक बार फिर गुजरात आने और खेलने की इच्छा जताई तो अगले संस्करण की उम्मीद लिए गुजरात का यह बड़ा आयोजन सफलतापूर्वक खत्म हुआ । तस्वीरों और विडियो के जरिये गुजरात का अनुभव लेते हुए पढे यह लेख
Koneru Humpy played her first tournament game after a break of nearly two years. How would she play was the question on everyone's mind. Well it seems as if she picked up from where she had left and played some excellent chess to beat New Zealand's Helen Milligan. The Indian women's team blanked the Kiwis 4-0. Tania was in trouble but managed to survive. Anand took rest for the first round against El Salvador in the open section. India scored 3.5-0.5 with just Sasikiran drawing his game. It has been a good start for Team India, but we are just beginning here. It will be interesting to see as the rounds progress as to how we hold up. Check out this detailed report with pictures from Amruta Mokal and Niklesh Jain and in-depth analysis of Humpy's game by GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly.
Round two was an excellent one for India at the Batumi Olympiad 2018. In the open section our boys were able to demolish the decently strong Austrian team 3.5-0.5 and in the women's section the girls were extremely clinical to beat Venezuela 4-0. The news of the day was Vishy Anand making a comeback to Olympiad and making his first move after a gap of 12 years! Anand played a nearly flawless game to beat the very strong Markus Ragger with the white pieces. In this report Surya Sekhar Ganguly analyzes that game in depth. Coach Jacob Aagaard provides us with an overview of the Indian women's team performance. We also have post game video interviews with Vishy Anand and Vidit Gujrathi. Don't miss this power packed report from Batumi, Georgia.
The third round at the Batumi Chess Olympiad 2018 was a mixed day for India. In the open section we played nearly flawless chess to beat Canada with a score of 3.5-0.5 but in the women's section team India was stopped by Serbia with a score of 2-2. In this article we bring you all the photos of the round, videos of Vishy Anand's victory over Eric Hansen, coaches Ramesh and Jacob Aagaard speaking about their respective teams and also of the happenings in the initial minutes of the round. Apart from this we have extremely and instructive analysis sent to us by GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly talking about Harikrishna's game. Do not miss it.
Indian teams were up against two teams from South America. The men took on Paraguay and the women's team was up against Argentina. Both the matches were one sided and India managed to score 3.5-0.5 victories in both of them. Anand led from the front as he beat Neruis Delgado with the white pieces, Humpy had no difficulty in overpowering Carolina Lujan. In this report you can find four interviews with Adhiban, Harikrishna, Jacob Aagaard and R.B. Ramesh. Also you will be able to enjoy the excellent annotations of GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly and his take on the game Anand - Delgado. In the sixth round India takes on Russia and the women's team is up against USA!
The sixth round of the Batumi Olympiad 2018 saw some extremely exciting chess from both the men and women's team of India. While in the men's section we were able to hold Russia to a draw, in the women's section USA managed to survive after we had a 2-0 lead. Anand was struggling against Nepomniachtchi, but he drew the game, Adhiban was pressing against Jakovenko, but couldn't breakthrough. Tania and Humpy played excellent games, while Harika and Eesha got outplayed by their opponents. We have Harika's loss annotated by GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly who explains how Harika could have maintained the equality and given India a win.
विश्व शतरंज ओलंपियाड में भारत को अपनी रफ्तार पकड़ने का वक्त आ गया है राउंड 7 के बाद भारतीय टीम दोनों ही वर्गो में पदक की दौड़ में बनी हुई है पर अगर भारत को इतिहास बनाना है तो अब आने वाले चार राउंड में भारत को कम से कम 3 जीत दर्ज करनी होगी । बात करे पुरुष टीम को तो अमेरिका के खिलाफ हार और रूस के खिलाफ ड्रॉ के अलावा टीम नें 5 मैच में जीत दर्ज की है और 11 अंको के साथ टीम वाकई पदक की बड़ी दावेदार बनी हुई है सभी खिलाड़ी अच्छी लय में है और टीम किसी भी एक खिलाड़ी पर पूरी तरह निर्भर नहीं है । हालांकि आनंद का टीम में होना टीम के लिए एक प्रेरणा का काम कर रहा है हरिकृष्णा , विदित , शशिकिरण और अधिबन सभी अच्छी लय मे है । महिला वर्ग की बात करे तो भारत पदक का दावेदार तो साफ तौर पर बना हुआ है और अब तक भारत नें एक भी मैच नहीं हारा है टीम नें अब तक 4 जीत और 3 ड्रॉ के साथ टीम 11 अंक लेकर शीर्ष की टीमों मे शामिल है । पर टीम को अपने तीसरे और चौंथे बोर्ड की कमजोरी से उबरना होगा । हम्पी , तनिया और हारिका नें अब तक अपनी भूमिका टीम के लिए अच्छी से निभाई है जबकि ईशा और पदमिनी का अच्छा खेलना टीम के लिए बेहद जरूरी है । पढे यह लेख
It is not straightforward and a lot of results have to go our way, but if they do, then India has a realistic chance of winning a medal at the Batumi Olympiad 2018. India is playing against Poland in the last round and firstly we must win this match. After that we should hope that USA beats China and that the second board match between France and Russia ends in a 2-2 draw. If this happens, then winning a silver is very realistic. But if these results do not happen, then we can still fight for the bronze. In case if USA and China draw the match on top board and France or Russia beat each other, then our chance for the medal is lost. All of this is explained in much better depth in the article. We also explain to you how Sonneborn Berger is calculated so that you can have a better idea of how the tiebreak will work when the match points are the same between two teams.
It was an easy round for the Indians against the Egyptians, but it turned out to be extremely dangerous. Vishy Anand was held to a quick draw by Bassem Amin and Vidit Gujrathi who was pressing throughout the game suddenly landed in a bad position. The onus was now on Harikrishna and Sasikiran to deliver. And they did! India managed to win with the narrowest of margins, but as coach R.B. Ramesh said after the match, "A win is a win!" In the women's section Georgia 1 is one of the strongest teams in women's chess out there. The Indian girls fought bravely and managed to hold their own against the Georgian women players. Full report with analysis by GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly and videos of coaches of Indian teams.
The Batumi Chess Olympiad is one of the most eagerly anticipated events in the world. Team India begins as the fourth seeds in the open section and as the fifth seeds in the women' section. With Vishy Anand and Koneru Humpy back in the team, India has a realistic chance of winning a medal. On this page, you can follow the entire journey of the Indian team from the start until the end of the event. First of all, you can see the live games and commentary here, but apart from that, you will find all the relevant links required of previous reports, chess-results and other important sources. This page will be updated every day several times to give you live updates as well. We suggest that you bookmark this page on your browser to follow team India's journey at the Batumi Chess Olympiad 2018.
The fifth round of the 2018 Batumi Chess Olympiad witnessed India lose its first match of the event by the slimmest possible margin. Playing against the top-seeded United States, the team fell short by a point, losing the game by a score of 2½ - 1½. While three games finished peacefully, Vishy Anand made an unfortunate blunder on the top board against Fabiano Caruana and lost in merely 26 moves. In the Women's segment, the team scored an emphatic 3-1 victory with wins by Harika Dronavalli and Tania Sachdev. Round 4 report.
Round 9 of the Batumi Chess Olympiad turned out to be a disastrous one for India. In the open segment, India lost to the eighth-seeded Armenian team after Sasikiran's loss against Haik Matirosyan on board 4. In the women's group, Tania Sachdev lost her second straight game, this time against the much lower rated Marina Brunello. Harika Dronavalli helped even out the scores with her win over Elena Sedina but this draw meant that the Indian team is out of contention for a podium finish. | Photo: Niklesh Jain
Chess gives you an ability to travel across the globe. There are tournaments held all over the world and one of the perks of being a chess player is that you can visit them and also play your favourite sport. But everything is not so rosy! Planning an international trip is never easy. There are always financial constraints, but even if you were to overcome them there are logistical issues, right from visas, to tickets to accommodations to paying the entry fee. It's exactly to do away with all such problems we introduced the concept of the ChessBase India Power tour! Apart from ensuring the logistical support, Ankit Dalal, who heads ChessBase India Power, accompanied the players from India to Barcelona and stayed with them for 50 days - the entire duration of the trip! What was his experience as a tour manager and how did he manage to ensure that Indian players came back with a rich haul of 4359 Elo points? Let's find out!
A few months ago ChessBase India came up with the innovative and at the same time enterprising idea of the ChessBase India Power Tour to the Catalan circuit in Barcelona. Young kids always need their parents to travel to tournaments. Many of the times the parents lose a lot of their time and money in accompanying their kids to the tournaments. In order to make it more efficient, we started with the ChessBase India Power Tour, where the parents could send their kids with a capable tour manager. The thought was that people would save money and also could continue with their daily work, while their children pursued their passion. While all of this happened, the benefits for the kids were much more! Travelling alone made them confident and self-sufficient. Kavisha Shah, one of the participants in this trip, sends us her account.
The eighth round encounter between India and the Czech Republic had gone neck to neck until the conclusion of the first two games. On the top board, Vishy Anand was held to a draw by David Navara. Adhiban was the first to finish his game against Zbynek Hracek. The two signed peace in merely 17 moves. Meanwhile, Krishnan Sasikiran showed some fantastic middle game play to bring down Jiri Stocek on board 4 and put his country in the lead. Vidit had the better position but was held to a draw in the end. In the women's group, losses on the first and the third board led to a disastrous loss for India against a lower rated Hungarian team. Round 8 report. | Photo: Niklesh Jain
The Quality Chess books have been received by great enthusiasm by chess lovers all over India. When the books arrived in the ChessBase India office towards the end of March, we quickly ran out of stock of the most popular titles within a few days. We did not anticipate this, so the next order took some time to come to India, but now it's here! Over 3,000 high "quality" chess books have arrived in Mumbai. Right from Shankland's small steps to giant improvement to Tikannen's Woodpecker Method to Jan Markos' under the surface we have all the books! And this time we also have hardbacks. Check out the latest books in this article and get them to your address in India without any shipping cost!
It's a historical moment for Indian chess. For the first time we will be hosting a super tournament in India - the Tata Steel Chess India 2018. It will be held in Kolkata from the 9th to the 14th of November 2018. India's best players Anand, Harikrishna, Vidit and Ganguly will fight it out against world stars like Aronian, Karjakin, Nakamura, Mamedyarov and Wesley So. We also have two of our best young talents playing in this tournament Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin. India has had a five-time World Champion, we have 55 grandmasters, we have over 70,000 players registered with FIDE, the big thing that was missing until now was a super tournament of this stature! This will be an excellent exposure for all our young talents to play against these world stars.
