How an 1826 player outplayed a 2545 GM

Before we get into the specifics of the article, here is a position that I would like you to spend some time on. What according to you should Black play here:

The first thought that comes to my mind when I read something like an 1800 player beating a 2500+ GM is "I need to see the game!" Of course it is quite possible for such results to occur every now and then in chess. After all chess is a sport and anything can happen when two players are locked with each other in a fight. However, it is also very important to see how the lower rated player was able to overcome an Elo difference of 700 rating points.

In the third round of the Sardar Prakash Singh Memorial tournament, that is taking place in Sonipat, Haryana, top seed GM Swapnil Dhopade (2545) was pitted against 12-year-old Aaryan Varshney.

GM Swapnil Dhopade is known as the swiss king of Indian chess. This is because of the tremendous number of tournaments he has won in the past and his excellent track record against lower rated players. His third round opponent was...

The game was a complete massacre. You would be forgiven to believe that it was Swapnil who had the black pieces. In reality it was the 12-year-old Aaryan who played some fantastic chess with black. From move 13 to move 44 he didn't make even one bad or substandard decision. All of his moves and ideas were the best! This is truly remarkable.

Swapnil, who was naturally upset after such a defeat, spoke to ChessBase India, "I went to game confidently since I have a heavy score against lower rated players in India. In the opening I felt I got a slight edge. I played a bit faster in the early middlegame trying to break his kingside structure. At one point I was threatening Ng4 and expected him to play g5 but he played Qc7 which was just an amazing move! I realized that I am going to have a hard time so I went to damage control mode trying to equalize. I also offered him a draw which he declined. There was absolutely no way back. I made a few more inaccuracies and I was finished with perfection."

The answer to the position at the start of the article is ...Qc7! A superb move accepting the broken kingside structure. A very deep idea to see that the kingside weaknesses cannot be exploited and the double bishops will reign supreme.

Here's the game where I have broken all the records for giving exclamations because Varshney kept making one strong move after another.

You have to agree that the way black played was excellent. He played much higher than what his rating suggests. In the evening round Varshney was pitted against the experienced G.B. Joshi. The 12-year-old had the white pieces. In this game he came nowhere close to the class that he had shown in the morning. The game wasn't live and was sent to us by chief arbiter Gopakumar Sudhakaran. Here's how it went.

Of course there were plenty of moves made by White that I didn't like in the above game, but two moves which stood out were:

There was a huge difference in level in the games played in the morning against a 2545 rated player and in the evening against 2107. At the age of 12 years such fluctuations are surely possible. It will be interesting to follow how Aaryan manages to fare in this and his next tournaments. Congratulations to him for an excellent victory in round three against a very strong grandmaster.

Rank after Round 4

Pairings for round 5