Chengdu GP 01+02: Harika off to a perfect start
The Chengdu Grand Prix is being hosted by China from 1-15th July 2016. In a range of stars, two Indians are in the fray, and not surprisingly, both of them have always been there for the nation in the Grand Prix cycle for quite some years now. Harika has begun with two consecutive victories putting her in the lead with 2.0/2. Humpy, the top seed, won her second round game and is at the second spot with 1.5/2. A successful start for the Indians illustrated in our report.
Chengdu GP 01+02: Harika off to a perfect start
The Chengdu Grand Prix is being hosted by China from 1-15th July 2016. The organizer of the tournament is the Chinese Chess Association, in partnership with the International Chess Federation (FIDE). This is the fourth stage of the 2015-16 FIDE grand Prix cycle.
In a range of stars, two Indians are in the fray, and not surprisingly, both of them have always been there for the nation in the Grand Prix cycle for quite some years now.
Harika was off to a splendid start to the tournament. She had the black pieces against the Chinese WGM Tan Zhongyi (2509).
Harika, playing the black pieces, found that her knight on g7 was looking a bit strange. But the knight had things going her way, it seems.
Tan Zhongyi, playing the white pieces, lashed out with 17. h4?!, when 17... Nxe5 18. dxe5 Qc5 19. h5 Qxe3+ 20. Kb1 fxg4 21. hxg6 h5, and it turns out that Ng7 is doing quite well!
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.07.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Tan, Zhongyi"]
[Black "Harika, Dronavalli"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2495"]
[BlackElo "2526"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
7... g6 8. e3 Bf5 9. Bd3 {is another well-known path.}) 8. e3 Nh5 (8... O-O 9.
Bd3 Re8 10. O-O Nf8 {is the much more famous way of playing.}) 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10.
h3 (10. O-O-O Nb6 11. Bd3 Bg4 12. Kb1 $11) 10... g6 11. Be2 Ng7 12. Bd3 Nf6 13.
g4 {The knight on g7 looks a tad silly. Even the one on f6, actually.} Be6 14.
Ne5 Nd7 15. O-O-O O-O {Opposite side castling.} 16. f4 f5 17. h4 $6 Nxe5 18.
dxe5 Qc5 19. h5 Qxe3+ 20. Kb1 fxg4 21. hxg6 h5 {thanks to the h4-h5 push, Ng7
has turned out to be useful after all!} 22. Ne2 c5 23. Qc1 (23. b3 Rac8 $15)
23... Qxc1+ $17 24. Rxc1 c4 25. Bc2 Rad8 26. Rcd1 d4 $1 {inducing the trades
that simplifies Black's task.} 27. Nxd4 Rxf4 28. Ne2 Rxd1+ 29. Rxd1 Rf2 30. Ng3
Kf8 31. Ne4 Re2 32. Kc1 Ke7 33. Rf1 Bf5 34. Kd1 Rxc2 35. Ng3 Bxg6 36. Rf6 Bd3
0-1
GM Koneru Humpy was facing GM Bela Khotenashvenili of Georgia in the first round. In the Catalan opening, both sides played logical and solid moves.
Since neither side could make progress, the game ended with moves repetition after the time control.
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.07.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Khotenashvili, Bela"]
[Black "Koneru, Humpy"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E01"]
[WhiteElo "2454"]
[BlackElo "2575"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
Bb7 9. e4 Na6 10. a3 c5 11. exd5 exd5 12. dxc5 Nxc5 13. b4 Ne6 14. Bb2 dxc4 15.
Rfd1 c3 16. Qxc3 a5 17. bxa5 Rxa5 18. Nc4 Rd5 19. Ne3 Ne4 20. Rxd5 Bxd5 21. Qc2
Bb7 22. Rd1 Qa8 23. Ne5 Rc8 24. Qb3 N4c5 25. Bxb7 Qxb7 26. Qd5 Rd8 27. Qxb7
Rxd1+ 28. Nxd1 Nxb7 29. Ne3 Bc5 30. Nd5 Nd6 31. a4 f6 32. Nd7 Nc4 33. Bc3 Kf7
34. Kf1 Ke8 35. Nb8 Bd6 36. Na6 Kd7 37. Ke2 Kc6 38. Nab4+ Bxb4 39. Nxb4+ Kd6
40. Nd3 Kd5 41. Nb4+ Kd6 42. Nd3 Kd5 43. Nb4+ 1/2-1/2
In Ragozin Queen's Gambit white parted with bishops pair in order to get greater space and maneuvering liberty.
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.07.03"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Koneru, Humpy"]
[Black "Zhao, Xue"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2575"]
[BlackElo "2510"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:00:15"]
[BlackClock "0:00:23"]
{30} 5. Bg5 {31} h6 {30} 6. Bxf6 {30} Qxf6 {30} 7. e3 {30} O-O {34} 8. Rc1 {30}
Qd8 {40} 9. Qb3 {37} Ba5 {32} 10. Bd3 {32} c6 {44} 11. O-O {32} Nd7 {31} 12.
Rfd1 {34} Qe7 {34} 13. a3 {36} Nf6 {33} 14. Qc2 {35} Bc7 {35} 15. h3 {32} Bd7 {
32} 16. Ne5 {44} Rad8 {34} 17. Qe2 {39} Bc8 {32} 18. Bb1 {43} c5 {36} 19. cxd5
{34} exd5 {36} 20. f4 {32} a6 {30} 21. Qf3 {32} Rfe8 {37} 22. Ba2 {36} cxd4 {34
} 23. exd4 {30} Bb6 {31} (23... Be6 $11) 24. Bxd5 {36} Be6 {36} 25. Bxb7 {30}
Rxd4 {30} 26. Kh1 {31} Rxf4 {30} 27. Qxf4 {30} Qxb7 $16 {30} 28. Qf3 {31} Qc7 {
31} 29. Nd3 {31} Qb8 {31} 30. Nf4 {30} Bb3 {29} 31. Re1 {29} Rd8 {30} 32. Ne4 {
30} Nxe4 {30} 33. Rxe4 {29} Ba5 {30} 34. Re3 {31} Ba4 {31} 35. b4 {30} Bb6 {30}
36. Rd3 {30} Re8 {30} 37. Nd5 {30} Bb5 {31} 38. Rd2 {32} Bd8 {29} 39. Rf2 {30}
Bh4 {32} 40. Qxf7+ {0} Kh8 {0} 41. Rc7 {40} Re1+ {30} 42. Kh2 {29} Be7 {29} 43.
g3 {37} Be8 {39} 44. Qf4 {30} 1-0
Meanwhile, Harika was facing IM Lela Javakhishvili with the white pieces. In fact, Harika opened with the kings pawn, which may have thrown her opponent off-balance in the beginning.
White has space in the centre. What should she do to increase her advantage?
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.07.03"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Harika, Dronavalli"]
[Black "Javakhishvili, Lela"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "2526"]
[BlackElo "2487"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[BlackClock "0:00:07"]
e6 {30} 5. Nc3 {31} a6 {30} 6. Be2 {30} d6 {35} 7. O-O {33} Nf6 {30} 8. Be3 {31
} Be7 {29} 9. f4 {30} O-O {30} 10. a4 {30} Bd7 {30} 11. Nb3 {30} Na5 {37} 12.
e5 {34} Ne8 {31} 13. Nxa5 {33} Qxa5 {30} 14. Ne4 {32} Qc7 {39} 15. a5 {48} d5 {
31} 16. Bb6 {40} Qc6 {35} 17. Ng5 {32} Bc5+ {31} 18. Bxc5 {30} Qxc5+ {29} 19.
Kh1 {30} f6 {42} 20. Nf3 {36} Qb4 {35} 21. Qc1 {36} b6 {37} 22. c3 {32} Qc5 {30
} 23. b4 {31} Qc7 {30} 24. Qe3 {31} b5 {30} 25. Nd4 {32} g6 {35} 26. Rac1 {41}
Ng7 {31} 27. g4 {34} Rf7 {33} 28. Kg1 {31} Raf8 {30} 29. Rf3 {31} g5 {32} 30.
exf6 {30} gxf4 {30} 31. Qxf4 {33} Qxf4 {31} 32. Rxf4 {30} Rxf6 {30} 33. Rxf6 {
30} Rxf6 {29} 34. Bf3 {33} Rg6 {44} 35. Kf2 {31} Kf7 {32} 36. Re1 {30} Kf6 {30}
37. Nb3 {31} Bc8 {38} 38. Nc5 {30} h6 {31} 39. Nd3 {31} h5 {32} 40. gxh5 {2}
Rh6 {0} 41. Rg1 {33} Nf5 {34} 42. Rg8 {35} Ne7 {30} 43. Rf8+ {32} Kg7 {30} 44.
Re8 {31} Kf6 {32} 45. Nf4 {36} Bb7 {35} 46. Rb8 {31} Bc6 {30} 47. Rb6 {31} Kf5
{34} 48. Ng6 {30} Nxg6 {30} 49. hxg6 {29} Be8 {30} 50. g7 {32} Bf7 {30} 51.
Rxa6 {33} Rxh2+ {30} 52. Bg2 {30} Rh7 {38} 53. Rb6 {31} Rxg7 {30} 54. a6 {30}
Rg8 {31} 55. Bf1 {31} Rc8 {31} 56. Bxb5 {31} Be8 {30} 57. a7 {30} Ra8 {30} 58.
Bxe8 {30} Rxa7 {30} 59. Ke3 {30} e5 {30} 60. Bg6+ {30} Kg5 {29} 61. Bc2 {30}
Rc7 {30} 62. Kd2 {30} d4 {31} 63. cxd4 {30} exd4 {29} 64. Bd3 {30} Kf4 {30} 65.
Re6 {34} 1-0
Round 03 Pairings (12:00 IST):
SNo. | Name | Rtg | Res. | Name | Rtg | SNo. | ||
2 | GM | Khotenashvili Bela | 2454 | - | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | 2545 | 12 |
3 | GM | Zhao Xue | 2510 | - | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 2512 | 1 |
4 | WGM | Girya Olga | 2444 | - | GM | Koneru Humpy | 2575 | 11 |
5 | WGM | Tan Zhongyi | 2495 | - | GM | Muzychuk Anna | 2545 | 10 |
6 | IM | Javakhishvili Lela | 2487 | - | GM | Cramling Pia | 2463 | 9 |
7 | GM | Ju Wenjun | 2578 | - | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2526 | 8 |