Photos by Amruta Mokal

Doeberl Cup 2016: Ganguly finishes second

In 1963, Mr. Erich Doeberl envisioned a chess tournament that would become an institution for Australian chess. So rich in heritage that chess down under would be identified by its name. Half a century has passed since then and chess, slowly but steadily, is making its presence felt in the sport-crazy nation.

 

More than half a century and the tournament still lives on. Over the years, Indians have been making trips to the Oz to play this tournament. This time, we had a representative in the form of:

GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2646), who started as the second seed

Ganguly had a comfortable start to the tournament by racing to 3.0/3. He earned an aggressive victory in the third round, a game he played in spectacular fashion by sacrificing a piece on the queenside, for unclear reasons. Australian IM Junta Ikeda, however, misplayed his advantage to end up losing.

[Event "Doeberl Cup 2016"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.03.25"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Ikeda, Junta"]
[Black "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2397"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:00:33"]
[BlackClock "0:41:48"]
1. Nf3 {0} Nf6 {0} 2. c4 {0} b6 {17} 3. g3 {0} c5 {38} 4. Bg2 {2} Bb7 {8} 5.
Nc3 {46} g6 {41} 6. O-O {16} Bg7 {7} 7. d4 {44} cxd4 {27} 8. Qxd4 {7} d6 {37}
9. Be3 {13} Nbd7 {18} 10. Rac1 {20} Rc8 {74} 11. Rfd1 {41} O-O {24} 12. Qh4 {10
} a6 {6} 13. b3 {43} Re8 {49} 14. Bh3 {814} Ba8 15. g4 {185} b5 {186} 16. cxb5
{802} Qa5 {14} 17. Bd2 {223} Bxf3 {105} 18. exf3 {1263} Ne5 {10} 19. Qg3 {147}
Nd3 {152} 20. Rc2 {260} Nb4 {115} 21. Rcc1 $11 {114} axb5 {328} 22. Nb1 $1 $16
{440} Qxa2 {703} 23. Bxb4 {36} Nd5 {108} 24. Bd2 {208} b4 {142} 25. f4 {204}
Bb2 {100} 26. Rxc8 {249} Rxc8 {5} 27. Qd3 {204} Nc3 {26} 28. Nxc3 {110} Qxb3 {
569} 29. Qd5 {440} Qc2 {78} 30. Qe4 {283} b3 {39} 31. Re1 {50} Qxd2 {348} 32.
Nd5 {42} Rc2 {178} 33. Nxe7+ {28} Kg7 {5} 34. Rf1 {27} Bd4 {11} 35. Kh1 {35} b2
{292} 36. g5 {33} Qxf2 {102} 37. Bg2 {38} Rc1 {40} 0-1

 

A draw and a loss

Then came a dark phase where Ganguly had to settle for a draw with IM James Morris (2423) in the fourth round, and in the fifth round, ended up being squeezed to a loss by the top seed GM Hrant Melkumyan (2653) of Armenia.

[Event "Doeberl Cup 2016"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.03.26"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Melkumyan, Hrant"]
[Black "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E21"]
[WhiteElo "2653"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:43:08"]
[BlackClock "0:33:51"]
1. d4 {64} Nf6 {0} 2. c4 {85} e6 {0} 3. Nc3 {132} Bb4 {14} 4. Nf3 {19} b6 {118}
5. Bd2 {19} Bb7 {381} 6. g3 {108} Bxc3 {86} 7. Bxc3 {11} Ne4 {5} 8. Rc1 {30} d6
{130} 9. Bg2 {16} Nd7 {13} 10. O-O {39} Nxc3 {431} 11. Rxc3 {23} Be4 {5} 12.
Bh3 {340} Qe7 {603} 13. d5 {551} O-O {924} 14. Re3 {769} Bxf3 {266} 15. dxe6 {
574} Nc5 {77} 16. exf7+ {240} Qxf7 {6} 17. exf3 {13} Rae8 {669} 18. b4 {679}
Nd7 {182} 19. Bxd7 {352} Rxe3 {142} 20. fxe3 {29} Qxd7 {5} 21. e4 {173} Kh8 {
183} 22. c5 {300} bxc5 {536} 23. bxc5 {24} Qc6 {164} 24. cxd6 {33} Qc5+ {21}
25. Kg2 {32} cxd6 {5} 26. Rf2 {53} Rb8 {215} 27. Rc2 {399} Qb4 {216} 28. Rd2 {
411} Qa5 {337} 29. Qc2 {55} Qb4 {277} 30. Qd3 {85} h6 {165} 31. a3 {35} Qc5 {10
} 32. Qxd6 {32} Qxd6 {3} 33. Rxd6 {9} Rb2+ {3} 34. Kh3 {9} Rb3 {3} 35. f4 {35}
Rxa3 {3} 36. Kg4 {10} a5 {41} 37. Ra6 {17} a4 {5} 38. h4 {15} Kh7 {112} 39. h5
{9} Ra1 {6} 40. Kf5 {0} a3 {0} 41. g4 {0} Ra2 {0} 42. e5 {0} Ra1 {0} 43. e6 {0}
1-0

But Ganguly did not let the loss deter him and punched in three straight victories over three International Masters. He ended the campaign with a draw in the final round to reach 7.0/9, finishing second on tiebreak.

[Event "Doeberl Cup 2016"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.03.27"]
[Round "8.2"]
[White "Lane, Gary W"]
[Black "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B47"]
[WhiteElo "2366"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:04:35"]
[BlackClock "0:12:29"]
1. e4 {149} c5 {0} 2. Nf3 {62} e6 {12} 3. d4 {5} cxd4 {6} 4. Nxd4 {5} Nc6 {9}
5. Nc3 {7} Qc7 {13} 6. g3 {5} a6 {25} 7. Bg2 {41} Nf6 {11} 8. O-O {25} h5 {14}
9. a4 {531} h4 {226} 10. Nxc6 {595} bxc6 {27} 11. Re1 {30} Bd6 {625} 12. Be3 {
449} a5 {379} 13. f4 {696} e5 {40} 14. Qf3 {168} Rb8 {92} 15. Rab1 {75} Rb4 {
1093} 16. f5 {560} Be7 {115} 17. g4 {232} d5 {479} 18. exd5 {625} Rxg4 {111}
19. h3 {214} Rg3 {146} 20. Qf2 {22} Nxd5 {309} 21. Ne4 {616} Rxe3 {61} 22. Rxe3
{4} Nxe3 {8} 23. Qxe3 {4} Bxf5 {11} 24. Rf1 {8} Bg6 {85} 25. c3 {13} O-O {48}
26. Nd2 {21} Rd8 {94} 27. Nf3 {116} Bf6 {201} 28. Re1 {128} Rd3 {827} 29. Qf2 {
125} Qe7 {59} 30. Nd4 {56} c5 {123} 31. Nc6 {18} Qc7 {250} 32. Qxc5 {102} e4 {
12} 33. Qb5 {211} Kh7 {24} 34. Nxa5 {207} Qg3 {141} 35. Ra1 {50} Rd2 {25} 0-1

IM James Morris's (centre) 7.5/9 won him clear first place while GM S.S. Ganguly (extreme right) and GM Hrant Melkumyan (extreme left) were second and third respectively on tiebreak with 7.0/9.

Final Standings:

Rk. SNo   Name FED Rtg Pts.  TB1   TB2   TB3 
1 8 IM Morris James AUS 2423 7,5 41,0 51,5 41,75
2 2 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar IND 2646 7,0 41,0 52,5 38,75
3 1 GM Melkumyan Hrant ARM 2653 7,0 40,0 52,5 39,00
4 6 IM Smirnov Anton AUS 2464 6,5 42,0 54,0 36,75
5 17 IM Wohl Aleksandar H. AUS 2334 6,5 33,0 42,0 28,25
6 3 GM Zhao Zong-Yuan AUS 2546 6,0 39,5 51,0 32,75
7 19 FM Puccini Jack AUS 2304 6,0 34,5 44,5 27,75
8 13 IM Tao Trevor AUS 2384 6,0 32,5 43,5 25,25
9 7 IM Cheng Bobby AUS 2436 6,0 31,5 41,5 27,25
10 12 GM Johansen Darryl K AUS 2388 5,5 37,5 48,0 27,00

Check the complete standings here.