Venkata Krishna Karthik wins Super Heroes Cup with a photo finish

An Epic Finale: The tale of triumph and heartbreak

ChessBase India Super Heroes Cup had an absolutely photo finish. It is difficult to fathom a better and fitting finale of the Armageddon as Venkata Krishna Karthik won a uber exciting Armageddon which is arguably the greatest finish ever for ChessBase India event. While Karthik etched a storybook ending for himself in the event, it was a matter of heartbreak for Kishan who played valiantly from the very beginning of the tournament. Despite making an early blunder in the first game of the Final, he fought back and almost won the game. After losing the first game, he beat Karthik in the second game with a beautiful tactical finish and then had an epic Armageddon.

Semi-Final: Karthik - Ashvin: 2-0

Karthik started the first game with a very aggressive play against Ashvin in their first Semi-final game.

Karthik - Ashvin, Game 1

13.Bh6 definitely looks scary for black. Especially if you are playing in the Semi-final and stakes are absolutely high. For a human to refute and defend after 13...gxh6 is quite difficult, computers will almost immediately say that it's winning for black. The game was being played by humans so naturally Ashvin played the quiet 13...Ne8 instead.

Despite Karthik having the upper hand for the better part of the game, Ashvin managed to equalize in the end, only to blunder in the final moments before running out of time. Black can save this game if he plays 55...Rb7 but the game continued with 55...Rd2 and after 56.Rc6 white is completely winning as b6-pawn is guaranteed to fall. Karthik took 1-0 lead.

In the second game, Ashvin got himself in a difficult position.

Ashvin - Karthik, Game 2

19.Qa2 actually does not drop the c3-pawn for nothing because white can regain the a7-pawn but the most important part is to figure out what happens after 19...Nxe5 20.fxe5 Qxc3 21.Rxa7. The game continued with 21...Rxa7 but there was something better for black. What is it?

27.Ba6 was the final mistake by white as after 27...Rc6, the queen becomes an overworked piece and white loses material. Thus Ashvin resigned and Karthik won the Semi-final 2-0 and advanced to the Finals.

Kishan - Samarth: 2-0

Kishan played his natural game and scored an emphatic victory in the first game of the Semi-Finals.

Kishan - Samarth, Game 1

15...Bb4 is a huge positional mistake as white gets a much needed breakthrough. What is it?

White is ready with his onslaught on the kingside and on the brink of victory. Try to think like Kishan and find out the correct continuation for white in the above diagram. Kishan won the game with ease and took 1-0 lead.

Samarth got an early opportunity against Kishan in the second game to cause some serious damage.

Samarth - Kishan, Game 2

The game went on with 13.f3. Find out the better continuation for white instead.

In the final moments of the game, both players blundered consecutively which cost Kishan the game. Since a draw was not enough for white to force a tie-break, white had to desperately score a win. 63.Rxa7 is a blunders as after 63...Rh5/6 is an immediate victory for black. The only way white gets to win this if black blunders with 63...Kc8 which is exactly what was played and white won it after 64.Ra8+ Kxc7 65.Ra7+ Kb6 68. Rxh7. Due to a violation of fairplay policy as per tournament regulations (Samarth had only one camera on due to internet issues), the result was reversed and Kishan was given a win. Thus Kishan won the Semi-Finals 2-0 and advanced to the Finals.

Q&A session with Vishy Anand

Vishy Anand answered all players questions individually. One of the participant Soundarya Kumar Pradhan put it beautifully, "In fact, I like this interaction even more than the in-person interaction I had... There in person, we all were a little obsessed with taking selfies." You can watch the Q&A session here.

Finals: Kishan - Karthik: 1-2*

Kishan blundered his knight early on in the first game against Karthik in the Finals.

Kishan - Karthik, Game 1

18.Nc5 causes white to lose material immediately because of 18...b6. Kishan being a fighter, continued fighting valiantly till the end and Karthik's fast play almost cost him in the end.

36...Bb5 was a mistake in black's part as that allowed white to get back in the game with 37.c6. Instead black should have played 36...Kb7 and stopped all attempts by white.

The game eventually liquidated into a complex king and few pawns endgame. While it might be easy calculating it in practice, during the finals when clock is counting down to the final seconds, it certainly is not easy for either player. Harikrishna being the endgame maestro he is, spotted 54.h4 in no time but Kishan unfortunately was unable to find it and got another chance in the next move but he missed it too and black eventually managed to outflank him to grab his opponents kingside pawns and win the game. Karthik won the first game and took 0-1 lead.

In the second game, Karthik played a bit ambitiously and he made a tactical error which Kishan being a very strong player grabbed the opportunity.

Karthik - Kishan, Game 2

35.Ne5 is a huge blunder. Try to find out the entire calculation till the end. Kishan brought his best and saw himself through the end to deliver the equalizer by winning the game which levelled the score 1-1, thus enforcing Armageddon.

The Armageddon in the finals was as exciting as one could expect and some more. Despite the game arriving at an opposite color bishop ending after 37 moves, it was far from over. In another 21 moves, we got the following position:

Karthik - Kishan, Armageddon

58.Bc2 weakens the fortress which white needed to maintain with 58.Ka6 to prevent black getting any chance to advance his e-pawn with 58...Kd5. Armageddon in this event meant 10 vs. 8 minutes with the usual draw odds for black. That means black was down to his last few seconds to make the pawns. Naturally spotting 58...Kd5 became that much difficult for black. After 58...Bd4 59.Ka6 black had one more opportunity to sacrifice the bishop for the pawn with 59...Bxb6 60.Kxb6 and then Kd5 and go for the win. It was explained by both Harikrishna and Vidit during the live commentary but the pressure of the championship was so high that black missed it.

71.Be8 was the final mistake by white. He just needed to play either 71.Be4 or Kd4 to survive the last seven seconds. Having no increment on the clock because it was Armageddon, Kishan made his premoves as fast as he possibly could and managed to promote a queen.

If you are playing regular chess then 75...Qe7+ followed by Ke5-f6-Qg7/d8 checkmate idea works but if you are playing Armageddon here and thinking about 75...Kg4 and then 76...Qxh5 will be a draw, think again if white doesn't take the queen, there is a possible helpmate. Kishan made a premove of 75...Qxh5 which made things difficult for him. Eventually the extra h-pawn cost Kishan the game and the championship. Karthik won the game and the finals by 2-1.

Harikrishna was the Special Guest in the above event as he won the World Junior Open in 2004. Fast forward to 2021, 17-years later, Karthik won ChessBase India Super Heroes Cup where Harikrishna was doing live commentary of the entire Finals, not only that, both Harikrishna and Vidit enjoyed the battle between Karthik and Kishan.

Final moments of the Armageddon

* - Won by Armageddon

Replay the live stream

Final Results

Replay all games

Links

Chess-results

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