Men’s Premier 02: Favourites sent packing

The rough weather here in coastal Tamil Nadu may give you an impression of the condition here at Kasi’s Inn, host of 2015 National Men’s Premier – it is stormier than ever! The day was marked by six decisive games, with yet another loss on time. Add to the drama, three grandmasters are yet to open their accounts! 

Blood spilled left and right as Caissa paid no heed to reputations. Many a higher rated seeds were left doing double takes at their own positions. The upset of the day was Neelotpal’s victory over the defending champion Sethu. P. Karthikeyan meanwhile accounted for M. Karthikeyan, and he leads the tournament with Vidit Gujrathi, who displayed yet another gem of a preparation.

The first game that finished turned out to be the only draw of the day. Swapnil Dhopade, playing White, split the point with Shyam Sundar M. in a Queen’s Gambit Ragozin where he sacrificed a pawn, resulting in a position with black pieces appearing suffocated. Dhopade did not manage to continue energetically enough, and the position petered out into a threefold repetition.

Both players are very good friends off the board. It was interesting to see the camaraderie they displayed during the post-game analysis. It turns out that Swapnil himself likes to play the positions arising out of the variation Shyam Sundar employed. On being asked if this was a ploy on his part, Shyam said, “I usually play different set ups. I was in the mood to play Ragozin, so I played it!”

A fair result one would say. After this game, a sea of upsets started rolling in.

Bengal's GM Neelotpal Das

Sethu and Neelotpal played an anti-Marshall, where the latter playing Black grabbed a pawn on the queenside while the former mounted a huge offensive on the kingside. The move f4 was the beginning of all the problems for Sethu and slowly, his position demanded accurate handling. Under time pressure, Qd2 did not turn out to be good enough, and Sethu was forced to resign.

Post-game chat with Neelotpal Das:

PB: Had you prepared the Marshall for this game or was it your general preparation from the Black side?

Neelotpal: Sethu plays many openings, and I had to check quite a few things. I did check some lines in this system, but not exactly the one that happened in the game.

PB: Was move 17, when Sethu went Ng5 and you replied Bc6, a critical point of the game? Both of you invested some time in that position.

Neelotpal: Yes, the position was a complete mess. It could have gone either ways. And then, we ended up in a mutual time-trouble.

PB: How far did you see before grabbing the a4 pawn?

Neelotpal: Sethu was evidently well prepared even here and was building up a strong kingside attack. I thought that if I sit still, he would maneuver and slowly build a winning attack on the kingside, so why not just grab the pawn and defend stoutly.

PB: The evaluation of the position during the game was fluctuating constantly.

Neelotpal: We analysed the game for a long time. Every time White builds up an aggressive scheme, Black finds concrete resources to save the position. I think Qd2 was the decisive mistake.

PB: You just beat the defending champion. Fancy your chances now? And what about tomorrow’s game?

Neelotpal: Of course, it is too early to comment on that. It’s a long tournament. Tomorrow, I am playing P. Karthikeyan. He is in good form it seems. I hope to play well.

Post-game chat with P. Karthikeyan:

PB: He plays the e6 Sicilian all the time, so you might have prepared for it?

P. Karthikeyan: Yes, I was hoping to play an improvement over his game with Shyam Sundar M. at National Challengers. I wasn't sure I would have played it because I doubted my analysis a bit.

PB: Around what point did this improvement occur?

P. Karthikeyan: Actually, he never allowed me to play it. He played 8...Nbd7, instead of the main line 8...g6 which I had prepared. The game developed normally, but I'm not sure about the 10...h5 plan.

PB: Actually, according to the livebook, it isn't a good plan.

P. Karthikeyan: Yes, I have seen some games with 10.0-0 instead. Anyway, I have also seen games where White gets cold feet seeing the kingside pawn push, and gives away some weaknesses. I think if I just play some normal moves there, the advanced pawn would just become a weakness eventually.

PB: Why not 23.Qxh3? Much simpler ending after 23...Nf2+ 24.Rxf2 Qxf2 and b5 is falling.

P. Karthikeyan: So is e4. Okay, it is a pawn up ending, but here in the other line I was just getting an exchange. I actually checked both the lines and decided on 23. gxh3, although it gives Black some counter, out of personal choice.

PB: This looks like it was an easy win for you.

P. Karthikeyan: It was easy, but took much longer than I expected!

Ranking Crosstable:

Pairings for Round 3: 

Watch the live games on the Playchess server!