Aravindh leads National Premier with 2.0/2

by Sagar Shah - 19/11/2016

The 54th National Premier 2016 is being held in the Lucknow Public School. After initial hiccups of not being able to find the venue, the tournament has begun. Aravindh Chithambaram is currently on 2.0/2 and surprisingly is the only person on a perfect score. A group of four players follow him with 1.5/2. Top seed Vidit Gujrathi had a cruel encounter with fate in round two which saw him lose to the defending national champion Murali Karthikeyan. Analysis, pictures, and full story from Lucknow.

After some huge problems of finding a venue for the players, the 54th National Premier Championships kicked off on the 17th of November 2016.

Starting rank list of players

No.		Name	FideID	FED	Rtg	Club/City
5	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	5029465	IND	2689	PSPB
12	GM	Adhiban B.	5018471	IND	2666	PSPB
8	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	5072786	IND	2565	T N
11	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	5074452	IND	2530	T N
7	GM	Kunte Abhijit	5002265	IND	2494	PSPB
4	GM	Bakre Tejas	5004195	IND	2450	I A
10	GM	Sriram Jha	5001668	IND	2426	LIC
2	IM	Nitin S.	5018277	IND	2415	RSPB
1	IM	Abhishek Kelkar	5019257	IND	2389	MAH
14	FM	Praneeth Surya K	5091411	IND	2388	TEL
6	GM	Laxman R.R.	5005361	IND	2387	RSPB
9	IM	Ravi Teja S.	5017220	IND	2384	RSPB
3		Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	25005812	IND	2316	A P
13	IM	Mishra Neeraj-Kumar	5000106	IND	2307	JHAR

It is clear that two players are superior to others in terms of their rating and level of play. The tournament is especially interesting from the point of view of how Vidit Gujrathi and B. Adhiban fare against the other twelve participants. However, at the end of two rounds neither of them is on the lead with 2.0/2. GM Aravindh Chithambaram is the sole leader with a perfect score.

The tournament hall

Rank after Round 2

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	8	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2565	T N	2,0	0,0	1,50	2,0
2	11	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	IND	2530	T N	1,5	0,0	1,25	1,0
	12	GM	Adhiban B.	IND	2666	PSPB	1,5	0,0	1,25	1,0
4	3		Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	IND	2316	A P	1,5	0,0	0,75	1,0
5	6	GM	Laxman R.R.	IND	2387	RSPB	1,5	0,0	0,50	1,0
6	14	FM	Praneeth Surya K	IND	2388	TEL	1,0	0,0	1,00	1,0
7	1	IM	Abhishek Kelkar	IND	2389	MAH	1,0	0,0	1,00	1,0
8	9	IM	Ravi Teja S.	IND	2384	RSPB	1,0	0,0	1,00	0,0
9	2	IM	Nitin S.	IND	2415	RSPB	1,0	0,0	0,00	1,0
	5	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2689	PSPB	1,0	0,0	0,00	1,0
11	4	GM	Bakre Tejas	IND	2450	I A	0,5	0,0	0,75	0,0
12	7	GM	Kunte Abhijit	IND	2494	PSPB	0,5	0,0	0,50	0,0
13	10	GM	Sriram Jha	IND	2426	LIC	0,0	0,0	0,00	0,0
	13	IM	Mishra Neeraj-Kumar	IND	2307	JHAR	0,0	0,0	0,00	0,0

Aravindh is the third seed at the event and with wins over Abhijit Kunte and Praneeth Surya, he is currently the sole leader with 2.0/2

[Event "54th National Premier Chess Championship"]
[Site "Lucknow Public School,Vinamra "]
[Date "2016.11.17"]
[Round "1.7"]
[White "Kunte, Abhijit"]
[Black "Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2494"]
[BlackElo "2565"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2016.11.17"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "IND"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 a5 5. g3 d5 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O dxc4 8. Qc2
{This is all well known theory.} Bxd2 9. Nbxd2 b5 10. a4 c6 11. b3 {Abhijit
Kunte has already defeated Ni Hua in this line. It is natural that his
confidence was quite high.} cxb3 12. Nxb3 Ba6 (12... b4 13. e4 Nbd7 14. Rfd1
Qe7 15. Nfd2 c5 16. dxc5 Ba6 17. Nf3 Ng4 18. Rac1 Nde5 19. Nfd4 Nc4 20. Bf1
Nge5 21. Qa2 Na3 22. Bxa6 Rxa6 23. Qe2 Raa8 24. c6 Qc7 25. f4 Ng6 26. Nf3 Rfc8
27. Qe3 Nf8 28. Qc5 f6 29. Rd6 Qf7 30. e5 Qg6 31. Nbd4 Qd3 32. f5 Nb1 33. fxe6
Nc3 34. e7 Qe3+ 35. Kg2 Qxc1 36. exf6 gxf6 37. c7 Qb2+ 38. Kh3 Re8 39. Rd8 Ne6
40. Nxe6 Ne4 41. Qh5 {1-0 (41) Kunte,A (2470)-Ni,H (2654) Sharjah 2014}) 13.
Rfc1 bxa4 {Aravindh doesn't reall care for his structure. As long as his
position is active, he is fine with it.} 14. Rxa4 Bb5 15. Ra3 Nbd7 {Black
might lose his pawn, but he should be happy witht he outcome of the opening.
He has developed all his pieces and has an active position.} 16. e3 a4 17. Nbd2
Qe7 18. Qa2 Rab8 19. Nc4 Rfc8 20. Nb2 c5 $1 {Aravindh's play has been
consistent and logical and he is clearly better now.} 21. Rb1 (21. Nxa4 cxd4 $1
22. Rxc8+ Rxc8 23. Nxd4 Rc1+ $19) 21... Bc6 22. Rc3 Nd5 23. Rc4 Nxe3 $5 {
Always tactically alert!} (23... Bb5 24. Rcc1 cxd4 25. Nxd4 Nc3 $19 {would
have ended the game.}) 24. fxe3 Bd5 25. Nd2 Bxc4 26. Nbxc4 cxd4 27. exd4 Qf6 {
Although materially speaking White is not so worse, his pieces are not
co-ordinated.} 28. Rxb8 Qxd4+ 29. Kf1 $2 (29. Kh1 Rxb8 30. Qxa4 {And the fight
is still on.}) 29... Rxb8 30. Qxa4 Ne5 $1 31. Qa2 Ng4 32. Nf3 Rb1+ 33. Ne1 Qf6+
{A great game by Aravindh.} 0-1

Abhijit Kunte is a tough fighter, but Aravindh made it look easy

Adhiban drew his first round game against Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad in a solid London system

[Event "54th National Premier Chess Championship"]
[Site "Lucknow Public School,Vinamra "]
[Date "2016.11.17"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Dhulipalla, Bala Chandra Prasad"]
[Black "Adhiban, B."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2316"]
[BlackElo "2666"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2016.11.17"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "IND"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 {Dhulipalla is an expert in the London System.} g6 3. e3 Bg7
4. Nf3 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. h3 b6 8. a4 a6 9. Nbd2 Bb7 10. Bh2 Ne4 11.
Nxe4 Bxe4 12. Nd2 Bb7 13. Bf3 Qc8 14. Bxb7 Qxb7 15. Qf3 Rab8 16. Qxb7 Rxb7 {
White has played the opening in unambitious fashion and Black has equalized
with ease. Usually there is a problem when playing in this fashion against a
higher rated player. You keep exchanging pieces and one inaccuracy is enough
to land is a minus position. That's how Capablanca used to score wins. But
Dhulipalla doesn't go down the same road.} 17. c3 c5 18. Ra3 Rc8 19. Rfa1 cxd4
20. exd4 Bh6 21. Nf3 Nf6 22. Kf1 Ne4 23. Ke2 f5 24. Rb3 b5 (24... Kf7 {and
slowly improving the position is another idea.}) 25. Ne1 Nd2 26. Rb4 Rc4 27.
Nd3 Rxb4 28. Nxb4 Nb3 $6 (28... a5 $1 29. Nd3 b4 $11) 29. Ra3 $1 Nc1+ 30. Kd1 {
The knight is suddenly trapped.} a5 31. Nc6 Nd3 (31... b4 32. cxb4 axb4 33. Rf3
$16) 32. Nxa5 b4 33. Rb3 Rc7 34. Kc2 Ne1+ 35. Kd1 Nd3 36. c4 $1 {White is a
pawn up and Black has clearly overestended his position.} Nxf2+ 37. Ke2 Ne4 38.
d5 $2 (38. Rxb4 $16) 38... Rc5 $1 {Suddenly it is Black who is winning now.}
39. Nb7 Rxc4 40. a5 Rc2+ 41. Kd3 Rc1 (41... Rd2+ 42. Kc4 Rxg2 {And the game is
over because after} 43. a6 Rxh2 44. a7 Rc2+ 45. Rc3 bxc3 46. a8=Q+ Kg7 47. bxc3
Rxc3+ 48. Kb5 Nf6 $19 {Although Black has a piece and rook for a queen, he has
plenty of pawns.}) 42. Ke2 Rc2+ 43. Kd3 Rc1 44. Ke2 Kg7 45. Rxb4 Rc2+ 46. Kd3
Rd2+ 47. Kc4 Rxg2 48. a6 Rxh2 (48... Be3 $1 49. Bf4 Bxf4 50. a7 Rc2+ 51. Kd3
Rc8 52. Na5 Ra8 53. Nc6 Nf2+ 54. Ke2 Nxh3 55. Rb8 Rxa7 56. Nxa7 Bg5 $17) 49. a7
Rc2+ 50. Kd4 Rd2+ (50... Rc8 51. Na5 Ra8 52. Nc6 {The position is still even.
Eventually the rook will have to be sacrificed for the a7 pawn. When Black can
be risking quite a bit. Hence, Adhiban went for a draw.}) 51. Kc4 Rc2+ 52. Kd4
Rd2+ 1/2-1/2

GM Vidit Gujrathi started off with a clean win over Sriram Jha in round one. However, he had a horrible strike of fate against Murali Karthikeyan in the second round.

[Event "54th National Premier Chess Championship"]
[Site "Lucknow Public School,Vinamra "]
[Date "2016.11.18"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Karthikeyan, Murali"]
[Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2530"]
[BlackElo "2689"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2016.11.17"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "IND"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 a6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Qf3 g6 7. h3 Bg7 8. Be3
Nc6 9. g4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 Nb4 13. a3 Qa5 $1 {An
enterprising choice by Vidit.} 14. axb4 Qa1+ 15. Kd2 Qxb2 {The position is
already clearly inferior for White. He is a piece up but his king is in a
terrible situation.} 16. Qe4 f5 $1 17. gxf5 Qxb4+ 18. Ke2 Bxf5 19. Qh4 Bxc2 20.
Rd2 O-O $1 21. Qg4 (21. Rxc2 Rxc2+ 22. Nxc2 Qxh4 $19) 21... Ba4 22. f3 Rc3 23.
Ne6 Rxe3+ $1 24. Kxe3 Bh6+ 25. f4 Rf5 {Vidit is now a rook down, but he plays
with great fire and has clearly put his opponent under pressure.} 26. Rd4 Qc3+
27. Bd3 Bd7 28. Rc4 $2 (28. Rd1 {And White is still doing not so bad.}) 28...
Re5+ 29. Kf2 Qd2+ (29... Qxd3 30. fxe5) 30. Be2 Qe3+ 31. Kg2 Bxe6 32. dxe6
Qxe2+ 33. Qxe2 Rxe2+ 34. Kf3 Rxe6 {Things have settled down. Black has four
pawns for an exchange and is better.} 35. Rc7 b5 36. Ra1 d5 37. Ra7 Re4 38.
R1xa6 Bxf4 {At this point with two more moves to go in order to reach move
forty, Vidit pressed his clock. However, his time kept running and his flag
fell. A very depressing end to a highly original and fighting game.} 1-0

Let Vidit explain what happened at the end of 38 moves in his game.

Two things that are clearly to be learnt from Vidit's post:

1. Playing good chess alone is not enough

2. Never give up!

The National Premier is going to be highly exciting and ChessBase India will bring round by round coverage of all the happenings.