Men's Premier 10: Karthikeyan beats Vidit
We had predicted the possibility of the tournament becoming a two-way race if Vidit was beaten by Murali Karhikeyan, and he succeeded! Will this result become the turning point in the tournament, a cruel twist in the fate of the leader? Only time can answer this question. In other notable games, Sethu breezed to an easy win, while Praneeth brought down yet another grandmaster -- this time an out of sorts Shyam Sundar, whose tournament has gone for a toss after a bad cold hit him hard. Neelotpal scored his second victory by beating Shyaamnikhil.
Without a doubt, the game of the day was between the two young stars: second placed Murali Karthikeyan took on the might of the leader Vidit Gujrathi. The game developed into a 3...c5 French Tarrasch with...
Vidit managed to equalize effortlessly, and was staring at possibilies of gaining an advantage when this happened:
Black chose to go ahead with 18...Bxe3, when simply 18...Qb8 instead would have given him an edge. What followed was: 19. Nxc7 Bxf3 20. gxf3 Bc5
Here, M. Karthikeyan found the accurate road to advantage with 21. Bc1! Ne2+ 22. Kg2 Nxc1 23. Nxe6! Ne2 24. Rd2 Nd4 25. Nxd8 Rxd8 26. b4!, winning back his piece, thus going an exchange up!
That was some classy play by the lad, don't you agree? This win enables him to join the leader Vidit Gujrathi at the top, as both sprint towards the finish line in the final three rounds.
[Site "Tiruvarur"]
[Date "2015.11.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Karthikeyan, Murali"]
[Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C07"]
[WhiteElo "2498"]
[BlackElo "2651"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]
exd5 {58} Qxd5 {50} 6. Ngf3 {93} Qxc5 {20} 7. Bd3 {80} Nbd7 {10} 8. O-O {111}
Qc7 {14} 9. c4 {518} Be7 {292} 10. b3 {136} b6 {16} 11. Bb2 {271} Bb7 {8} 12.
Qe2 {113} Rd8 {135} 13. Rad1 {647} O-O {82} 14. Ne4 {726} Nh5 {537} 15. Qe3 {
1759} Nf4 {632} 16. Bb1 {157} f5 {187} 17. Nc3 {245} Bc5 {326} 18. Nb5 {80}
Bxe3 {574} 19. Nxc7 {3} Bxf3 {179} 20. gxf3 {56} Bc5 {19} 21. Bc1 {119} Ne2+ {
100} 22. Kg2 {203} Nxc1 {338} 23. Nxe6 {43} Ne2 {39} 24. Rd2 {365} Nd4 {358}
25. Nxd8 {62} Rxd8 {590} 26. b4 {31} Nxf3 {23} 27. Rd5 {100} Nh4+ {237} 28. Kg3
{19} Bxb4 {392} 29. Kxh4 {18} Be7+ {75} 30. Kh3 {41} Nc5 {177} 31. Rxd8+ {33}
Bxd8 {2} 32. Rd1 {42} Bf6 {11} 33. Bxf5 {11} g6 {52} 34. Bc2 {19} Kf7 {52} 35.
f4 {19} Be7 {223} 36. Kg4 {83} Kg7 {29} 37. h4 {71} Kf7 {158} 38. Rd5 {48} Kg7
{89} 39. Rd1 {47} Kf7 {29} 40. h5 {24} Kf6 {184} 41. Rd2 {1911} gxh5+ {652} 42.
Kxh5 {0} Ne6 {8} 43. Kg4 {0} h6 {384} 44. Kf3 {0} Bc5 {398} 45. Rg2 {0} Nd4+ {
212} 46. Ke4 {0} a5 {21} 47. Rh2 {0} Nf5 {64} 48. Bd1 {0} Nd6+ {96} 49. Kd5 {0}
Nf5 {20} 50. Kc6 {0} Ne3 {194} 51. Be2 {0} Kf5 {54} 52. Rxh6 {0} Kxf4 {29} 53.
Kb5 {0} Ke5 {90} 54. Rxb6 {0} Bxb6 {12} 55. Kxb6 {0} Kd4 {254} 56. Kb5 {0} a4 {
11} 57. c5 {0} Nd5 {70} 58. Bf3 {58} Ne7 {21} 59. c6 {15} a3 {33} 60. c7 {15}
Kc3 {37} 61. Bg4 {9} Kb2 {30} 62. Be6 {6} Kb1 {29} 63. Kc5 {11 1-0 (63)
Karthikeyan,M (2498)-Vidit,S (2651) Tiruvarur 2015} 1-0
[Site "Tiruvarur"]
[Date "2015.11.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Shyam, Sundar M"]
[Black "K Praneeth Surya"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2481"]
[BlackElo "2413"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]
Be6 9. Qd2 O-O 10. O-O-O a5 11. a4 Nc6 12. Kb1 Nb4 13. g4 Rc8 14. Rg1 d5 15. g5
Ne8 16. exd5 Bf5 17. Rc1 b6 18. f4 Nd6 19. fxe5 Ne4 20. Qd4 Nxc3+ 21. bxc3 Nxd5
22. Bd2 Bc5 23. Nxc5 bxc5 24. Qf2 c4 25. Re1 Qd7 26. Kc1 Qxa4 0-1
Deep Sengupta was 'rattacked' down the g-file and was lucky to scurry away with a draw, despite walking into this:
[Site "Tiruvarur"]
[Date "2015.11.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Sengupta, Deep"]
[Black "Rathnakaran, K."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C04"]
[WhiteElo "2589"]
[BlackElo "2447"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]
Nc6 9. O-O b6 10. Re1 Bb7 11. Nf1 Be7 12. Bd3 g5 13. Be3 h5 14. a3 g4 15. N3d2
Qc7 16. f4 gxf3 17. Nxf3 O-O-O 18. Rc1 Rdg8 19. Re2 c4 20. Bc2 f6 21. exf6 Bxf6
22. Bf2 e5 23. dxe5 Ndxe5 24. Nd4 h4 25. Be3 Kb8 26. Rf2 Ng4 27. Bf4 Be5 28.
Nxc6+ Bxc6 29. Bxe5 Nxe5 30. Bf5 Bd7 31. Qd4 Bxf5 32. Rxf5 Rh5 $1 33. Qxd5 (33.
Rxh5 Nf3+ $19) 33... Rxg2+ 34. Kxg2 Rxf5 35. Re1 Rg5+ 36. Kh1 Qb7 37. Qxb7+
Kxb7 38. Nd2 Nd3 39. Re2 b5 40. Nf3 Rg4 41. Nd4 a6 42. h3 Rg3 43. Kh2 Nf4 44.
Re4 Rxh3+ 45. Kg1 Rg3+ 46. Kh2 Rg2+ 47. Kh1 Rf2 48. b3 h3 49. bxc4 bxc4 50.
Re7+ Kb6 51. Rh7 Kc5 52. Rh6 Kd5 53. Rxa6 Ne2 54. Nxe2 Rxe2 55. Ra8 Rc2 56.
Rd8+ Ke5 57. Re8+ Kf4 58. a4 Rxc3 59. a5 Ra3 60. Rc8 Kg3 61. Rg8+ Kf2 62. Rc8
1/2-1/2
[Site "Tiruvarur"]
[Date "2015.11.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Neelotpal, Das"]
[Black "Shyaamnikhil P"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C60"]
[WhiteElo "2475"]
[BlackElo "2436"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]
c3 {2} dxc3 {392} 6. Nxc3 {47} h6 {8} 7. Bd2 {208} Bg7 {134} 8. Qc1 {23} Nge7 {
500} 9. O-O {143} Kf8 {797} 10. Nd5 {255} d6 {64} 11. Bc3 {1568} Nxd5 {750} 12.
exd5 {341} Ne7 {1359} 13. Re1 {246} Bd7 {635} 14. Bxg7+ {576} Kxg7 {7} 15. Qc3+
{107} f6 {7} 16. Nd4 {603} Nxd5 {65} 17. Qg3 {208} c6 {58} 18. Bd3 {216} g5 {36
} 19. Re6 {178} Nf4 {7} 20. Nf5+ {196} Kf8 {6} 21. Rxd6 {41} Bxf5 {6} 22. Rxd8+
{36} Rxd8 {5} 23. Bf1 {24} Kg7 {22} 24. Qa3 {36} Rd7 {10} 25. Qxa7 {71} h5 {31}
26. Qc5 {150} Kg6 {11} 27. h4 {177} Ne6 {162} 28. Qb4 {58} gxh4 {193} 29. Qxh4
{178} Rd4 {13} 30. Qg3+ {3} Ng5 {405} 31. Qe3 {204} c5 {199} 32. Bb5 {121} Ne6
{104} 33. Re1 {108} h4 {9} 34. f3 {45} Rhd8 {28} 35. b3 {103} Rd2 {103} 36. Re2
{53} R2d4 {28} 37. Kh2 {38} Nf4 {103} 38. Re1 {72} Ne6 {48} 39. Re2 {37} Nf4 {
52} 40. Re1 {24} Ne6 {91} 41. Bc4 {1821} Ng5 {1821} 42. Qe7 {0} Rd2 {0} 43. Re2
{0} b6 {0} 44. Bb5 {0} Rxe2 {0} 45. Qxe2 {0} Ne6 {0} 46. Qe1 {0} Rd4 {0} 47.
Bc4 {0} Ng5 {0} 48. Qe8+ {0} Kh6 {0} 49. Qe7 {0} Kg6 {0} 50. Bb5 {0} Be6 {0}
51. Be8+ {0} Kf5 {0} 52. Bh5 {0} Rd7 {0} 53. Qe8 {60} Rd6 {0} 54. Qg6+ {24} 1-0
[Site "Tiruvarur"]
[Date "2015.11.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Sethuraman, S P."]
[Black "Swapnil, S Dhopade"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2651"]
[BlackElo "2497"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]
5. Nc3 {14} g6 {85} 6. d4 {82} cxd4 {31} 7. Nxd4 {278} Bg7 {34} 8. Be3 {234}
O-O {28} 9. h3 {286} Nc6 {841} 10. Bxc6 {327} bxc6 {95} 11. c5 {17} Qb8 {910}
12. Nb3 {722} a5 {800} 13. O-O {437} Be6 {303} 14. Qc2 {833} Bxb3 {737} 15.
axb3 {46} d5 {4} 16. Ra4 {112} Nxe4 {459} 17. Nxe4 {20} dxe4 {2} 18. Rxe4 {12}
Ra7 {206} 19. Bf4 {531} Qb5 {169} 20. Rfe1 {279} Bf6 {31} 21. Rd1 {125} Rfa8 {
108} 22. Ra4 {110} h5 {133} 23. Rda1 {481} Ra6 {1} 24. Bc7 {94} e6 {157} 25.
Rd1 {52} Qb7 {168} 26. Bb6 {61} Be5 {18} 27. g3 {377} Qe7 {131} 28. Qe4 {85}
Bc7 {54} 29. Qxc6 {6} Bxb6 {4} 30. cxb6 {10} Rb8 {7} 31. Qc7 {36} Qe8 {123} 32.
Rad4 {13} Kg7 {43} 33. Rd8 {58} Rxd8 {31} 34. Rxd8 {6} Qb5 {2} 35. b7 {31} 1-0
That said, the game had a funny knight maneuver:
[Site "Tiruvarur"]
[Date "2015.11.24"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Karthikeyan Pandiyan"]
[Black "Kunte, Abhijit"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2441"]
[BlackElo "2515"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]
Bd3 {39} Nf6 {21} 6. O-O {88} Qc7 {23} 7. Qe2 {92} d6 {8} 8. f4 {192} Nbd7 {206
} 9. c4 {26} Be7 {226} 10. Nc3 {124} b6 {159} 11. Kh1 {111} O-O {29} 12. Bd2 {
1099} Bb7 {74} 13. Rae1 {23} Rfd8 {73} 14. b4 {784} Rac8 {640} 15. a3 {78} Bf8
{49} 16. Nc2 {280} g6 {544} 17. Ne3 {204} Bg7 {101} 18. Rc1 {62} Qb8 {17} 19.
Ned1 {519} Qa8 {192} 20. Nf2 {214} Re8 {49} 21. Qf3 {272} Nh5 {787} 22. g4 {367
} Nhf6 {7} 23. Kg1 {54} d5 {260} 24. g5 {338} dxe4 {209} 25. Ncxe4 {61} Nh5 {11
} 26. Qh3 {201} Qb8 {22} 27. Ng4 {161} f5 {396} 28. gxf6 {45} Ndxf6 {19} 29.
Ngxf6+ {374} Nxf6 {9} 30. Ng5 {36} Qd6 {431} 31. Bc3 {65} Nh5 {35} 32. Qe3 {129
} Rcd8 {233} 33. Be4 {141} Bxe4 {47} 34. Nxe4 {29} Bd4 {24} 35. Bxd4 {45} Qxd4
{7} 36. Qxd4 {46} Rxd4 {7} 37. Rce1 {56} Rc8 1/2-1/2
[Site "Tiruvarur"]
[Date "2015.11.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Venkatesh, M R."]
[Black "Das, Arghyadip"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C06"]
[WhiteElo "2464"]
[BlackElo "2456"]
[PlyCount "260"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]
{7} c5 {4} 6. c3 {5} Nc6 {3} 7. Ne2 {6} cxd4 {68} 8. cxd4 {5} f6 {3} 9. exf6 {7
} Nxf6 {5} 10. O-O {7} Bd6 {2} 11. Nf3 {7} O-O {4} 12. Bf4 {17} Bxf4 {6} 13.
Nxf4 {4} Ne4 {52} 14. Qc1 {41} Ng5 {44} 15. Nxg5 {56} Qxg5 {4} 16. Bxh7+ {33}
Kxh7 {14} 17. Nxe6 {5} Qf5 {68} 18. Nxf8+ {8} Qxf8 {3} 19. Re1 {67} Kg8 {713}
20. Qg5 {383} Bf5 {226} 21. Rad1 {735} Qf7 {192} 22. f3 {79} Rf8 {675} 23. h4 {
230} Bg6 {791} 24. Kf2 {1070} Be4 {915} 25. Re3 {127} Qc7 {422} 26. Kg1 {341}
Bf5 {322} 27. Rd2 {910} Qa5 {502} 28. Rb3 {227} Qa6 {231} 29. h5 {142} Kh7 {321
} 30. a3 {155} Rf7 {52} 31. Kh2 {300} Na5 {183} 32. Rc3 {71} Qd6+ {89} 33. Kg1
{81} Nc4 {53} 34. Re2 {150} Qb6 {5} 35. Qh4 {5} Nxb2 {64} 36. h6 {480} g5 {2}
37. Qxg5 {645} Qxd4+ {19} 38. Qe3 {67} Qf6 {21} 39. Rc1 {42} Nc4 {278} 40. Qc5
{30} Qb6 {184} 41. Qxb6 {1823} Nxb6 {18} 42. Rd1 {0} Kxh6 {235} 43. Rd4 {0} Kg7
{413} 44. g4 {0} Bg6 {236} 45. Kg2 {0} Rc7 {4} 46. Kg3 {0} Kf6 {377} 47. Kf4 {0
} Rc4 {137} 48. g5+ {0} Kf7 {6} 49. Ke5 {0} Rc3 {101} 50. Rf4+ {0} Kg7 {65} 51.
Re1 {0} Rc8 {49} 52. Rh1 {0} Rc3 {144} 53. a4 {31} Rc5 {152} 54. Rd4 {76} Rc3 {
113} 55. f4 {142} Nc4+ {87} 56. Kxd5 {89} Bf7+ {20} 57. Kc5 {14} Ne3+ {27} 58.
Kb4 {45} Rb3+ {35} 59. Kc5 {1} Rc3+ {9} 60. Kb4 {2} Rc7 {66} 61. Rh2 {208} Nc2+
{15} 62. Rxc2 {2} Rxc2 {4} 63. f5 {9} Rf2 {69} 64. Rd7 {37} Rf4+ {77} 65. Ka3 {
10} Rxf5 {8} 66. Rxb7 {6} a6 {23} 67. g6 {48} Kxg6 {20} 68. Rb6+ {1} Kg7 {16}
69. Rxa6 {5} Kf8 {12} 70. Ra7 {101} Ke8 {31} 71. a5 {28} Kd8 {23} 72. Kb4 {6}
Kc8 {10} 73. a6 {36} Kb8 {56} 74. Re7 {52} Ka8 {36} 75. Rc7 {22} Bg6 {59} 76.
Rd7 {85} Bh5 {28} 77. Rc7 {32} Be2 {14} 78. Rc6 {29} Ka7 {14} 79. Rc7+ {19}
Kxa6 {6} 80. Rc6+ {4} Kb7 {14} 81. Re6 {10} Bf3 {6} 82. Rh6 {15} Bc6 {9} 83.
Rh8 {6} Kb6 {15} 84. Rb8+ {7} Bb7 {28} 85. Rg8 {6} Rf4+ {9} 86. Kc3 {4} Bd5 {21
} 87. Rd8 {10} Kc5 {17} 88. Kd3 {11} Rf3+ {10} 89. Ke2 {5} Rb3 {12} 90. Kd2 {12
} Kd4 {10} 91. Ke2 {10} Rb2+ {8} 92. Kd1 {8} Rh2 {19} 93. Kc1 {27} Ke4 {117}
94. Kd1 {16} Bc6 {74} 95. Rd2 {58} Rh1+ {32} 96. Kc2 {24} Ba4+ {20} 97. Kc3 {11
} Rc1+ {32} 98. Kb4 {6} Bc6 {11} 99. Rh2 {34} Bd5 {20} 100. Rh4+ {7} Kd3 {5}
101. Kb5 {14} Be4 {8} 102. Rg4 {73} Kd4 {10} 103. Rh4 {14} Rb1+ {5} 104. Ka4 {
25} Rb8 {54} 105. Rg4 {13} Kd5 {144} 106. Ka3 {5} Kd4 {42} 107. Ka4 {5} Kd3 {4}
108. Ka5 {4} Bd5 {40} 109. Rb4 {6} Rh8 {20} 110. Kb6 {13} Rh7 {11} 111. Kc5 {14
} Bc4 {5} 112. Rb1 {54} Rh5+ {17} 113. Kd6 {4} Kd4 {8} 114. Rd1+ {5} Bd3 {4}
115. Ke6 {12} Rh6+ {3} 116. Kd7 {11} Ke4 {29} 117. Ke7 {27} Bc4 {23} 118. Re1+
{6} Kf5 {16} 119. Kd7 {8} Bd5 {12} 120. Kc7 {21} Be4 {38} 121. Kd7 {31} Ke5 {11
} 122. Ke7 {6} Rh7+ {51} 123. Ke8 {5} Kd5 {32} 124. Kf8 {5} Ra7 {90} 125. Re2 {
14} Ke5 {4} 126. Ke8 {32} Kd5 {17} 127. Kf8 {8} Ra4 {76} 128. Ke7 {14} Ke5 {16}
129. Re1 {10} Ra2 {13} 130. Ke8 {22} Ra7 {54 1/2-1/2 (130) Venkatesh,M (2464)
-Das,A (2456) Tiruvarur 2015} 1/2-1/2
Pairings for Round 11:
Ranking Crosstable:
Watch games live at 14:00 IST.