Nat. Teams 02-04: Top Seeds AAI lose to Air India

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 04/02/2017

Defending champions Railways-A and third seed Air India share the lead with eight match points at the end of fourth round of the National Team Chess Championship which is in progress at Bansal Institute of Science and Technology. Pictures, Tactics and Report.

Nat. Teams 02-04: Top Seeds AAI lose to Air India

There is no doubt that the Indian Teams Championship is one of the most colourful events in the country's chess calendar. The dynamics change completely. Suddenly, it is not about personal results anymore. You don't play your opponent, nor does your opponent play you; your team plays the opposing team. You play by keeping an eye on your team-mates' boards as well.

The 37th edition of the prestigious tournament is in progress at the Bansal Institute of Science and Technology in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The time-control in force is 90 mins. + 30 secs. per player. This year's tournament has something glaringly missing — the PSPB teams are not playing! Therefore, Airport Authority of India started as the top seeds.

The top-seeded teams were having comfortable outings until in the fourth round, the top table saw the Airport Authority of India take on Air India. The first, second, and fourth board produced peaceful results.

But on the third board, IM N. Srinath (2474) played a beautiful game from the black side of a Sicilian Defence against GM Shyam Sundar M. (2554). This enabled Air India to walk into the lead.

[Event "Indian National Team Chess Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.02.04"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Shyam, Sundar M"]
[Black "Narayanan, Srinath"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B56"]
[WhiteElo "2554"]
[BlackElo "2474"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3
Be6 9. Nd5 Bxd5 10. exd5 Nb4 11. c4 a5 12. Qd2 b6 13. Be2 O-O 14. O-O Nh5 15.
g3 f5 16. f4 Nf6 17. Bf3 Rc8 18. a3 Na6 19. Rad1 Nd7 20. Nc1 a4 21. Na2 Bf6 22.
Rc1 Ndc5 23. Bd1 exf4 24. Rxf4 Re8 25. Rxf5 Bxb2 26. Rb1 Bf6 27. Bc2 Nb3 28.
Bxb3 axb3 29. Rxb3 Rxc4 30. Bxb6 Qc8 31. Rf2 Nc5 32. Bxc5 Qxc5 33. Nb4 Bd4 34.
Kg2 Bxf2 35. Qxf2 Qb5 36. Re3 Rce4 37. Rxe4 Rxe4 38. Qf5 Re2+ 39. Kh3 g6 40.
Qg5 Re8 41. Qg4 Qf1+ 42. Kh4 Qg2 43. Nd3 Qxh2+ 44. Kg5 Qd2+ 45. Nf4 Re5+ 46.
Kf6 Qd4 47. Qd7 Rf5+ 48. Ke7 Rf7+ 49. Kxd6 Rxd7+ 50. Kxd7 g5 0-1

Railways-A, the defending champions are playing with a minor change — IM Himanshu Sharma (2484) and IM M.S. Thejkumar (2461), both of whom played for railways-B last year are now playing for the first team. They lead the tournament along with Air India.

Railway-B team moved to the sole third spot with seven match points after defeating Tamil Nadu-A 3 -1 in the fourth round encounter.

In the women's section, Airport Authority of India emerged as sole leaders after the third round matches. AAI beat Gujarat comfortably with 4–0 score line.

Black to move. To solve more tactics, click here... Log in and enjoy!

On the first board, WFM Rucha Pujari sacrificed her bishop on b6. The Gods were appeased and allowed her to carry out the final rites for the white king. Rest in peace.

[Event "Indian National Team Chess Championships"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.02.04"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Laheri Nitya"]
[Black "Pujari, Rucha"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C26"]
[WhiteElo "1462"]
[BlackElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. exd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Nc6 7. Ne2 Be6 8.
O-O Bd5 9. f3 Bc5+ 10. d4 Bb6 11. Ba3 Qf6 12. Kh1 O-O-O 13. Qd3 h5 14. c4 Be6
15. d5 h4 16. f4 exf4 17. Nxf4 Bf5 18. Bh3 g6 19. Bxf5+ gxf5 20. c5 Ne5 21. Qc3
hxg3 22. cxb6 g2+ 23. Nxg2 Rxh2+ 24. Kg1 Rxg2+ 25. Kxg2 Rg8+ 26. Qg3 Rxg3+ 27.
Kxg3 Qg5+ 28. Kh3 f4 29. Rg1 Qh5+ 30. Kg2 Qg4+ 31. Kf2 Qf3+ 32. Ke1 Qxa3 0-1

But in a crucial encounter in the third round (women have played only three rounds), Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) held top seed Air India. For LIC, Kiran Manisha Mohanty defeated Michelle Catherina on third board while Aarthi Ramaswamy won without issues on the fourth board.

Air India registered a favourable result on the second board through Bhakti Kulkarni who beat Bindu K Saritha. WGM Swati Ghate scored the equalizer for LIC by beating IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman!

More Choice Tactics:

Black can win with two methods. But Tejas Bakre found a flashy move.

[Event "Indian National Team Chess Championships"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.02.03"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Varma, Shabdhik"]
[Black "Bakre, Tejas"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1973"]
[BlackElo "2457"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2b2rk1/1pb3pp/2p3n1/2Ppnp2/1P5q/1N1PPB1P/3Q1RPN/B5K1 b - - 0 21"]
[PlyCount "14"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]

{[#]} 21... Nxd3 (21... Ng4 {is also winning.}) 22. Qxd3 Bxh2+ 23. Kxh2 Qxf2
24. b5 Nh4 25. Nd2 f4 26. exf4 Rxf4 27. Qc3 d4 28. Qc4+ {-error} 0-1

Deflection: White to move.

[Event "Indian National Team Chess Championships"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.02.03"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Anuj Shrivatri"]
[Black "Lokesh, N."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "1942"]
[BlackElo "2208"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1b2k2/p5pQ/2p1Pb2/1p2q3/2p1B3/2P1B1P1/P6P/5RK1 w - - 0 24"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]

{[#]} 24. Rxf6+ Qxf6 25. Bc5+ 1-0

You have to be alert when you have a big advantage. White to play.

[Event "Indian National Team Chess Championships"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.02.04"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Sandya M"]
[Black "Santosh Kumari"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C64"]
[WhiteElo "1729"]
[BlackElo "1432"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2b1r1k1/1np2rp1/2p3qp/b1P2N2/3BP3/5PNP/2Q3P1/RR4K1 w - - 0 32"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]

{[#]} 32. Rxb7 Bxb7 33. Rxa5 $18 1-0

Black to play and win a pawn.

[Event "Indian National Team Chess Championships"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.02.03"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Bindu, Saritha K"]
[Black "Shristi, Gautam"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "1666"]
[BlackElo "1601"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r2rk1/pp3ppp/4p3/6q1/3P1n2/7P/PP1Q1PP1/R1R1N1K1 w - - 0 25"]
[PlyCount "4"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]

{[#]} 25. Kh2 Nxh3 26. Qxg5 Nxg5 $19 0-1

To solve more tactics, click here... Log in and enjoy!

Also Read:

Round Four Pairings for Women

Round Five Pairings for Open

All Photos by Gopakumar Sudhakaran. Check out more pictures by him on the ChessBase India Facebook Page!