Praggnanandhaa in Reyk - the boy is turning into a man!
With 2.5/4, Praggnanandhaa decided to take things more seriously. He scored two wins against players rated 2200 and then was up against four times USSR champion GM Alexander Beliavsky. Pragga dominated throughout the game but had to settle for a draw towards the end. The big breakthrough occurred in the eighth round when the 11-year-old put up a brilliant defensive effort to down Gawain Jones. Abhijeet Gupta and Vidit Gujrathi were up against each other and drew their game. They are still the leaders with 6.5/8. We have a caption contest for you to win Vidit's latest released Caro Kann DVD!
Photos by Lennart Ootes
Sometimes when an 11-year-old boy sits on his knees on a chair, rests his elbow on the table and stretches out his hand to reach his piece, it becomes difficult to take him seriously. You know he is the youngest IM in the world, but you feel that as a player he would not be fully developed. How much can a boy who has been playing chess for just 5 years really know! Well, Pragga's two games at the Reykjavik Open put this question, of how strong he is, to rest. The answer is: "He is really, really strong!"
Beliavsky is the former World Junior Champion, four-time USSR Champion and Candidates Quarter Finalist, losing only to the great Garry Kasparov. With years of experience behind him, he took on the little boy from Chennai. Praggnanandhaa played like a champion! He had Beliavsky on the ropes and was very close to winning the game. In the end, the old master had to use all his tricks in the book to wriggle out with the half point.
[Site "Reykjavik ISL"]
[Date "2017.04.24"]
[Round "7.9"]
[White "Praggnanandhaa, R."]
[Black "Beliavsky, Alexander G"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "2447"]
[BlackElo "2597"]
[Annotator "Sagar,Shah"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2017.04.19"]
to delay castling as much as he can.} 7. Bb3 (7. d4 Ba7 $1 8. dxe5 Nxe5 9. Nxe5
dxe5 10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 11. Nd2 (11. Bxf7 Rf8 $15) 11... Ke7 $11) 7... Ba7 8. Nbd2
O-O 9. h3 Be6 10. Bc2 d5 {It seems like Black has achieved everything that he
would like to. But Pragga shows that White still has many ideas up his sleeve.}
11. exd5 Qxd5 12. Re1 Rad8 {If I were a player who was just beginning to learn
chess I would have preferred Black. Look at his space advantage, piece
development and just about everything seems perfect. But White is slowly going
to unravel and use the e5 pawn weakness in doing so.} 13. Qe2 Bc8 $2 (13... Bf5
14. Ne4 $14) (13... Rfe8 $1 14. Nxe5 Nxe5 15. Qxe5 Bf5 $19) 14. Nc4 $1 Nd7 (
14... Rfe8 15. Ncxe5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 {Next comes d4 and White is just a pawn up.}
Nd7 17. d4 f6 $4 18. Bb3 $18) 15. b4 {Keeping the tension.} (15. Ncxe5 Ncxe5
16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. Qxe5 Qxe5 18. Rxe5 c5 {Maybe Pragga didn't like this
position.}) 15... b5 16. Ne3 Bxe3 17. Bxe3 $16 {White has the bishop pair and
a clearly preferable position.} Nf6 18. Ng5 $1 h6 19. Ne4 Nxe4 20. dxe4 $16 {
The two bishops, the ability to open the position with a4 and it is all so
much in White's favour that Pragga would have been really upset that he
couldn't score the full point.} Qe6 21. Bc5 Rfe8 22. a4 Ne7 23. axb5 axb5 24.
Qxb5 {A pawn is a pawn!} Ng6 25. Be3 Nh4 26. Qf1 $18 {Keeping things under
control. White is a pawn up and if nothing bad happens, he should be able to
convert.} Qg6 27. Kh1 Rd6 28. Red1 (28. f4 $1 exf4 29. Bxf4 Rf6 30. g3 $18 {
All this seems risky, but it works.} (30. e5 Rxf4 $15)) 28... Rxd1 29. Rxd1 Ba6
30. Qg1 {Black has some activity now.} Qc6 31. Bc5 Be2 32. Rd5 (32. Rd2 Bh5 33.
Qf1 Bg6 34. f3 $18) 32... Qg6 33. Be3 $6 (33. f4 $5 exf4 34. Bf2 $18) 33... Ra8
34. Ra5 Rd8 {Black now has some counterplay.} 35. Ra1 (35. f3 $5 $16) 35... Qc6
36. Qe1 Qg6 37. Qg1 Qc6 38. Qe1 (38. Bc5 $14 {Had to be played to continue the
game} Rd2 {It seems White is in trouble, but he can survive with} 39. Ra2 {
However, it already seems things have gone wrong. So I feel that Praggu made
the right call taking the draw.}) 38... Qg6 39. Qg1 Qc6 1/2-1/2
Once you go through the game you realize that Pragga had all the reasons to be upset with the draw. His opening play was really good, and kept the advantage deep into the middlegame. After this small mishap (if we may call so) the boy was really motivated to beat his next opponent.
A word about Gawain's form: In the year 2017 Gawain started off by winning the prestigious Wijk Aan Zee - B category. That gives him a direct entry into next year's A group. He then won the super strong Dubai Open as well. With 2671, he is very close to the highest rating of his chess career. In the eighth round he was paired against Praggnanandhaa.
Gawain spurned the three fold repetition twice in the game. He had the initiative and he wanted to win at all costs. But some of the defensive moves that Pragga made towards the end are worthy of being added to any defensive manual. Let's see if you can find the moves that Praggnanandhaa found under pressure.
The answers to all the five questions above are in the game annotations below.
[Site "Reykjavik ISL"]
[Date "2017.04.25"]
[Round "8.12"]
[White "Jones, Gawain C B"]
[Black "Praggnanandhaa, R."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2447"]
[Annotator "Sagar,Shah"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2017.04.19"]
g5 7. Bg3 Nh5 {Praggnanandhaa goes for an aggressive system, but at the same
time quite justified positionally because he gains the all important dark
squared bishop.} 8. Nc3 {Gawain changes his plans and develops the knight to
c3 instead of d2.} Bg7 9. Qe2 a6 10. a4 Qe7 11. a5 Nxg3 12. hxg3 c5 $1 {
I feel that Black's play has been more cohesive. He got rid of opponent's dark
squared bishop, placed his own on g7 and now is opening up the diagonal with
c5.} 13. g4 d5 $1 14. Qd2 Nf6 (14... h5 $5) 15. Ne5 Nd7 16. Nf3 Nf6 {Pragga is
fine with a draw, but Gawain wants more.} 17. dxc5 Bd7 18. Na4 Bxa4 19. Rxa4
Qxc5 $11 {The position is around even.} 20. c3 Qe7 21. Rb4 Rc8 22. Qd1 O-O {
With the bishop on g7, the king is very safe on the kingside.} 23. Nd4 Rc7 24.
f4 Re8 25. O-O Nd7 26. Bc2 Rec8 27. Qd3 Nf8 $6 (27... Nf6 $1 $11) 28. f5 $1 {
White is turning on the heat now.} Re8 (28... e5 29. f6 $1 Bxf6 30. Nf5 $18)
29. Rb6 Qd7 30. f6 Bh8 {It seems simply unbelievable that Pragga could have
won from this position.} 31. Qd1 (31. e4 $1 $16) 31... Qd8 32. Qf3 Nd7 33. Rd6
$2 {A big mistake.} (33. Qh3 Nxf6 34. Qxh6 Bg7 35. Qxg5 Ne4 $14 {And Black is
holding on.}) 33... Qxf6 $1 {Maybe Gawain just overlooked this simple move.}
34. Nf5 $6 (34. Qg3 $1 {The x-ray on the rook on c7 gives White enough
compensation.} Qe7 (34... Qd8 35. Qh2 Bg7 36. Bh7+ Kxh7 37. Rxf7 $16) 35. Rxe6
fxe6 36. Qxc7 Nf6 $13) 34... Nf8 $2 (34... Bg7 $1 $17) 35. Rb6 (35. Qg3 $1 $16)
35... Bg7 36. Qg3 Qd8 37. Nxg7 Kxg7 38. Qe5+ Kg8 (38... f6 39. Rxf6 Qxf6 40.
Qxc7+ Re7 $11) 39. Qh2 Kg7 40. Qe5+ Kg8 41. Qh2 Kg7 42. Ba4 {Gawain surely has
the initiative and continues to play.} Nd7 43. Rd6 Qe7 44. c4 {Now this is
going a little bit too far.} Rec8 $1 45. cxd5 Nf8 $6 (45... Nf6 $1 46. dxe6 Rc1
{Black has tremendous bit of counterplay.}) 46. dxe6 Nxe6 47. Qe5+ Kg8 48. Rxf7
(48. Bb3 $16) 48... Qxf7 49. Bb3 $2 (49. Rxe6 $44) 49... Rc1+ 50. Kh2 R8c5 $1 {
Pragga finds the only move to keep himself in the game.} 51. Qe4 Kf8 $1 {
Once again the only move!} 52. Rxe6 (52. Bxe6 Qc7 $1 $17 {White has absolutely
no checks and is worse.}) 52... Qc7+ $1 53. g3 Qf7 $1 {A brave move! There is
no good discovered attack.} 54. Qg2 Qxe6 $1 55. Qf2+ (55. Qf3+ Rf5 $3 {is what
Gawain must have missed.}) 55... Ke7 {A good game by Gawain, but towards the
end, Pragga's defensive efforts were simply mind blowing.} 0-1
[Site "Reykjavik ISL"]
[Date "2017.04.25"]
[Round "8.4"]
[White "Donchenko, Alexander"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E09"]
[WhiteElo "2554"]
[BlackElo "2771"]
[Annotator "Sagar,Shah"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2017.04.19"]
b6 9. e4 Bb7 10. e5 Ne8 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. Re1 Rc8 13. Qa4 Nc7 14. Bf1 (14. Qxa7
Bc6 $19) 14... Qe8 15. Kg2 Nb8 $2 {A very bad move by Anish, just giving up
the a7 pawn.} 16. Qxa7 Ba8 (16... Bc6 17. Qxb6 $16) 17. Qxb6 {Another pawn
falls. At this point Donchenko would have been celebrating!} Nc6 18. Qb3 f6 {
Black has nothing to lose and goes all out.} 19. Qe3 (19. exf6 $1 Bxf6 20. Qe3
Qf7 21. Bd3 e5 22. dxe5 Nxe5 23. Nxe5 (23. Bxh7+ $5 Kxh7 24. Qxe5 Bxe5 25. Ng5+
Kg8 26. Nxf7 $16) 23... Bxe5 24. Qf3 Qe8 25. Qg4 $18) 19... Qf7 20. exf6 Bxf6
21. Kg1 Rce8 22. Qf4 g5 $1 {Already Black has good compensation!} 23. Nxg5 Qg7
24. Nh3 Nxd4 $17 {White is in trouble. All of Black's pieces are really very
active.} 25. Bd3 e5 26. Qe3 e4 27. Bb1 Nce6 28. Kh1 Kh8 29. a4 {White is
helpless, all of these Black pieces are sooner or later going to mate his king.
} Qg4 30. Nf4 Nxf4 31. Qxf4 Qg7 32. Qe3 Bg5 33. f4 Bf6 (33... exf3 $1 34. Qxe8
f2 $19) 34. Ra3 Nf5 35. Qb6 Bd4 36. Qb5 Bf2 37. Rf1 Ba7 38. Ba2 d4 {The two
central pawns, backed by two bishops and rooks, this is a dream position!} 39.
Bd5 Rb8 40. Qc4 Rfc8 41. Qa2 Ne3 42. Rxe3 dxe3 43. Nxe4 Qf7 $1 {Finishing off
in style.} (43... Qf7 44. Bxf7 Bxe4+ 45. Kg1 e2+ $19) 0-1
Player overview for India
| SNo | Name | Rtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pts. | Rk. | Rp | K | rtg+/- | ||
| 8 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | 2670 | IND | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 6,5 | 4 | 2766 | 10 | 10,90 | |
| 14 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet | 2607 | IND | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 6,5 | 3 | 2751 | 10 | 15,90 | |
| 25 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2521 | IND | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 6,0 | 18 | 2517 | 10 | 2,40 | |
| 29 | GM | Panchanathan Magesh Chandran | 2494 | IND | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 5,5 | 28 | 2508 | 10 | 3,10 | |
| 30 | GM | Kunte Abhijit | 2491 | IND | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6,0 | 16 | 2481 | 10 | 0,70 | |
| 38 | IM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2447 | IND | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 6,0 | 17 | 2539 | 10 | 11,10 | |
| 41 | IM | Tania Sachdev | 2429 | IND | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4,5 | 79 | 2317 | 10 | -9,90 | |
| 42 | IM | Saptarshi Roy | 2425 | IND | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5,5 | 39 | 2322 | 10 | -8,50 | |
| 43 | FM | Sarin Nihal | 2424 | IND | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5,5 | 36 | 2461 | 10 | 4,90 | |
| 45 | GM | Sundararajan Kidambi | 2422 | IND | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 5,0 | 61 | 2474 | 10 | 7,00 | |
| 50 | IM | Karavade Eesha | 2405 | IND | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 4,5 | 97 | 2224 | 10 | -16,00 | |
| 60 | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2349 | IND | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 5,0 | 67 | 2343 | 20 | 2,60 | |
| 64 | Garg Aradhya | 2315 | IND | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 5,0 | 65 | 2322 | 20 | 4,60 | ||
| 75 | FM | Rajdeep Sarkar | 2273 | IND | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4,5 | 80 | 2297 | 20 | 7,20 | |
| 79 | WIM | Vaishali R | 2259 | IND | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5,0 | 46 | 2411 | 20 | 31,60 | |
| 186 | Gopakumar Siddharth | 1826 | IND | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4,5 | 99 | 2052 | 20 | 36,20 |