chessbase india logo

Qatar 05: India vs. India?!

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 25/12/2015

Quite a few games today were between Indians themselves. There were no friendly draws as the players chose to fight to the bitter end. Surya Shekhar Ganguly defeated Englishman David Howell to lead the Indian contingent with 4.0/5. A detailed report with some beautiful pictures, games, tactics and more!

Qatar 05: India vs. India?!

A number of games in the fifth round at the Qatar Masters Open 2015 turned out to be India vs. India affairs. With 21% of the players being Indians, this is not so surprising.

 

The youngsters displayed another strong showing as IM Vignesh NR, IM Aryan Chopra, FM Rohan Ahuja, Harshit Raja, and WIM Bodda Pratyusha drew with higher rateds. The only reversal of the day was Adhiban's poor game against Qatar's GM Mohammed Al-Sayed. Meanwhile, Harika had a rest day of sorts when her opponent GM Sam Shankland of USA failed to turn up!

 

Going into the rest day, Indians aren't doing too badly, especially our boys like IM Shardul Gagare (2470), who has a rating performance of 2756, and IM Vignesh NR, who is performing at 2809!

Pentala Harikrishna defeated Alexander Ipatov (2619) to move to 3.5/5.

IM Shardul Gagare (2470) drew with the Ukrainian genius Vassily Ivanchuk (2710).

IM Vignesh NR (2422) held Russian GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2669). At the end of five rounds, Vignesh has a rating performance of 2809!

Harshit Raja (2325) held compatriot GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2638).

Ganguly (2648) beat GM David Howell (2688). He is the best among the Indians, right now, at 4.0/5.

Analysis by IM Sagar Shah:

[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"]
[Site "Doha QAT"]
[Date "2015.12.24"]
[Round "5.10"]
[White "Howell, David W L"]
[Black "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A14"]
[WhiteElo "2688"]
[BlackElo "2648"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2015.12.20"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. c4 O-O 6. d4 dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4
Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bg5 Bd5 11. Qc2 Be4 12. Qd1 {This is the line where White
has been scoring really well recently. Giri beat Leko with White and Nakamura
got the better of Anand. In both the games Black played c5 in this position.
Surya goes for the second most popular move ...h6.} h6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Nc3
Bxf3 15. Bxf3 c6 {Black makes the typical exchange of light squared bishop and
putting his pawn on c6. This position should be slightly better for White but
bordering very much on the edge of equality.} 16. Qb3 Qc7 17. e3 (17. Rfd1 {
is definitely more popular.}) 17... a5 18. Be2 Na6 19. Ne4 Be7 20. Rac1 Nb4 21.
Bc4 Rae8 22. f4 Bd8 23. Qd1 Qe7 {Ganguly tries to remain as solid as he can
without making any committments.} 24. Qf3 Nd5 25. Rc2 Qb4 26. Nc5 Re7 27. e4
Bb6 $1 {Being tactically alert. Now it was important to get the king out to g2.
However, Howell seemed to surprised with the move Bb6 and instead took on d5.}
28. exd5 $6 (28. Kg2 $1 Bxc5 29. dxc5 Nf6 30. e5 Nd5 31. Qe4 $11 {With a round
about equal position.}) 28... cxd5 $1 {The bishop cannot move as Qxd4 will
lose two pawns as well as the c5 knight.} 29. Qb3 (29. Ba2 Qxd4+ 30. Qf2 Qxf2+
$1 31. Rfxf2 Rc7 $1 $19 {The knight on c5 is lost.}) 29... Bxc5 30. dxc5 Qxc5+
31. Rff2 dxc4 32. Qxc4 Qa7 $17 {For a player of Ganguly's calibre rest is not
very difficult. He is not only a pawn up but also has the safer king. It took
him so time to convert but the result wasn't really in doubt at any point in
the game.} 33. Kg2 Rd7 34. Rfd2 b6 35. Qc6 Rfd8 36. Rxd7 Rxd7 37. h4 h5 38. Kh2
Kh7 39. Qe4+ g6 40. Qc6 Rd1 41. b3 Rd3 42. Qb5 Rd6 43. Rc8 Rd2+ 44. Kh3 Qb7 45.
Qc6 Qa6 46. Rh8+ Kxh8 47. Qc3+ e5 48. Qxd2 exf4 49. gxf4 Qc8+ 50. Kh2 Qc5 51.
Qb2+ Kh7 52. Qd2 Qe7 53. Qf2 Qf6 54. Kh1 Qe6 55. Qg3 Qg4 56. Qe3 Qxh4+ 57. Kg2
Qf6 58. Kh2 Qe6 59. Qd3 Qf5 60. Qe3 Qc2+ 61. Kg3 Qc5 62. Qe1 Qd4 63. Qe8 Qg1+
64. Kf3 Qg4+ 65. Ke3 Qe6+ 0-1

 

S.P. Sethuraman (2639) managed to outplay S.L. Narayanan (2494).

Sundararajan Kidambi (2513) gave up a pawn for no compensation, and then even lost a piece against Vidit Gujrathi (2644).
[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2015.12.24"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Black "Sundararajan, Kidambi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2644"]
[BlackElo "2513"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]
1. d4 {1} Nf6 {0} 2. c4 {9} e6 {0} 3. Nf3 {13} Bb4+ {58} 4. Bd2 {19} Qe7 {91}
5. g3 {49} Bxd2+ {143} 6. Qxd2 {8} O-O {43} 7. Bg2 {32} d5 {26} 8. O-O {67} Nc6
{173} 9. b3 {1149} Rd8 {330} 10. Qb2 {53} Ne4 {202} 11. Nc3 {261} Bd7 {662} 12.
cxd5 {93} exd5 {96} 13. Nxd5 {14} Qd6 {24} 14. Ne3 {295} Qf6 {194} 15. Rad1 {
442} Be6 {123} 16. Qc2 {128} Ng5 {268} 17. Nxg5 {66} Qxg5 {5} 18. d5 {60} 1-0

 

GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2486) defeated IM Padmini Rout (2437).

IM Eesha Karavade (2379) thrashed GM Irina Krush (2468) and moved to 2.5/5.

Black (Karavade) found a beautiful tactical shot, as natural as a baby's smile...
[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"]
[Site "Doha, Qatar"]
[Date "2015.12.24"]
[Round "5.48"]
[White "Krush, Irina"]
[Black "Karavade, Eesha"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A10"]
[WhiteElo "2468"]
[BlackElo "2379"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4rrk1/N2p1qpp/1p6/2b2p2/P1b1n3/6P1/1B2PPBP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 22"]
[PlyCount "9"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[WhiteClock "0:31:03"]
[BlackClock "0:33:32"]
22. Nb5 $2 Nxf2 $1 23. Rxf2 Bxf2+ 24. Kxf2 Rxe2+ 25. Qxe2 Bxe2 26. Kxe2 $19 0-1

 

Vaishali R. (2313) defeated 11-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2429) 

Mohammed Nubairshah Shaikh (2414) is at 2.0/5. He played the former World Junior Champion Lu Shanglei (2618)...

Lu Shanglei - Mohammed Nubairshah Shaikh

... and landed in this position. What did the Chinese grandmaster present Nubair with?

Analysis by IM Sagar Shah:

[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"]
[Site "Doha QAT"]
[Date "2015.12.24"]
[Round "5.34"]
[White "Lu, Shanglei"]
[Black "Mohammad, Nubairshah Shaikh"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B10"]
[WhiteElo "2618"]
[BlackElo "2414"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2015.12.20"]
1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Nxe4 6. Qxe4 Nd7 7. Bc4 Nf6
8. Ne5 e6 9. Qe2 Be7 10. c3 O-O 11. d4 Nd7 12. h4 Nxe5 13. dxe5 c5 14. Qe4 Bd7
{It looks like Black is going to have a fine position if he is going to get in
the move Bc6. Taking the pawn on b7 doesn't look appetising with the king
still on e1. Here the former World Junior Champion found a brilliant move.} 15.
Bh6 $3 {You can bank on a tactical genius like Lu Shanglei to find moves like
this.} f5 (15... gxh6 16. Bd3 f5 17. exf6 Rxf6 18. Qxh7+ Kf8 19. Bg6 Rxg6 20.
Qxg6 $16 {White is not 100% winning yet but there is no doubt that he is
better.}) (15... Bc6 16. Qg4 $18) 16. exf6 Rxf6 17. O-O-O $1 (17. Bg5 {was
also strong.}) 17... Rxh6 18. Qxb7 Rb8 19. Qxa7 Bxh4 20. Kb1 $1 {Getting out
of the Bg5+ threats.} Qf8 21. Rxd7 $18 {White has won back his piece and has a
clearly winning position.} Kh8 22. f3 Qf5+ 23. Bd3 Qe5 24. Qc7 Bf6 25. Rc1 Rh2
26. Qxe5 Bxe5 27. Bf1 h5 28. Re7 h4 29. Rxe6 h3 30. Rxe5 hxg2 31. Be2 Rd8 32.
Kc2 Kh7 33. Rg1 Kh6 34. a4 g5 35. a5 1-0

 

The Torch is an iconic hotel in Qatar and is the centerpiece of Doha's majestic sports city -- Aspire Zone. As regal as it looks, it all comes at a cost.

Video Report from Qatar by Vijay Kumar:

Pairings of Round 06:

 

È

Bo. No.     Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts.   Name Rtg   No.
1 4   GM So Wesley 2775 4   GM Carlsen Magnus 2834   1
2 2   GM Kramnik Vladimir 2796 4   4 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2748   7
3 30   GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2648 4   4 GM Giri Anish 2784   3
4 34   GM Swiercz Dariusz 2646 4   4 GM Karjakin Sergey 2766   5
5 6   GM Li Chao B 2750   4 GM Yu Yangyi 2736   11
6 24   GM Fedoseev Vladimir 2664   GM Harikrishna P. 2743   9
7 10   GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2737   GM Bologan Viktor 2654   27
8 36   GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son 2642   GM Vitiugov Nikita 2724   13
9 14   GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2723   GM Sjugirov Sanan 2646   33
10 62   GM Al-Sayed Mohammed 2520   GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2710   17
11 18   GM Ni Hua 2693   GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2644   35
12 52   GM Tregubov Pavel V. 2589   GM Matlakov Maxim 2684   21
13 22   GM Hou Yifan 2683   IM Vignesh N R 2422   102
14 43   GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2622   3 GM Korobov Anton 2713   15
15 8   GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2744 3   3 GM Lu Shanglei 2618   47
16 16   GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2710 3   3 GM Esen Baris 2562   53
17 44   GM Bartel Mateusz 2620 3   3 GM Howell David W L 2688   20
18 48   GM Hamdouchi Hicham 2597 3   3 GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof 2663   25
19 26   GM Dubov Daniil 2655 3   3 IM Lin Chen 2532   57
20 28   GM Khismatullin Denis 2654 3   3 GM Xu Jun 2526   59
21 63   GM Harika Dronavalli 2513 3   3 GM Akopian Vladimir 2648   29
22 56   GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2542 3   3 GM Khairullin Ildar 2647   31
23 66   IM Yuffa Daniil 2504 3   3 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2639   37
24 38   GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2638 3   3 IM Gagare Shardul 2470   78
25 79     Xu Yinglun 2470 3   3 GM Piorun Kacper 2637   39
26 40   GM Grandelius Nils 2632 3   3 IM Wang Yiye 2438   92
27 124     Raja Harshit 2325 3   3 GM Naroditsky Daniel 2628   41
28 42   GM Lenderman Aleksandr 2626 3   3 IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen 2319   126
29 12   GM Wei Yi 2730   GM Bromberger Stefan 2521   60
30 64   GM Sundararajan Kidambi 2513   GM Moiseenko Alexander 2689   19
31 75   GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2486   GM Adhiban B. 2669   23
32 45   GM Ipatov Alexander 2619   IM Ma Zhonghan 2463   82
33 46   GM Zhang Zhong 2619   IM Ali Marandi Cemil Can 2454   84
34 99   FM Rohan Ahuja 2426   GM Vocaturo Daniele 2597   49
35 50   GM Bok Benjamin 2594   IM Abhishek Kelkar 2393   109
36 51   GM Bluebaum Matthias 2590   IM Aryan Chopra 2436   96
37 54   GM Rambaldi Francesco 2560   WGM Abdumalik Zhansaya 2390   110
38 58   IM Svane Rasmus 2529   FM Li Di 2389   111
39 115   IM Karavade Eesha 2379   2 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2521   61
40 90   IM Sagar Shah 2441 2   2 GM Dzagnidze Nana 2559   55
41 93   FM Basso Pier Luigi 2438 2   2 GM Schroeder Jan-Christian 2511   65
42 94     Fang Yuxiang 2438 2   2 GM Khotenashvili Bela 2496   68
43 69   IM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan 2494 2   2 IM Nezad Husein Aziz 2425   100
44 97   GM Carlsson Pontus 2433 2   2 WGM Goryachkina Aleksandra 2493   70
45 105     Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh 2414 2   2 GM Shoker Samy 2489   72
46 73   GM Zhukova Natalia 2488 2   2 WGM Saduakassova Dinara 2407   106
47 108   IM Saiyn Zhanat 2394 2   2 IM Sanal Vahap 2487   74
48 119     Roy Prantik 2370 2   2 IM Tabatabaei M.Amin 2482   76
49 121   IM Tissir Mohamed 2346 2   2 IM Ly Moulthun 2462   83
50 85   IM Lorparizangeneh Shahin 2454 2   2   Firouzja Alireza 2372   118
51 87   IM Kashlinskaya Alina 2448 2   2 IM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat 2380   114
52 128   WFM Vaishali R 2313 2   2 IM Firat Burak 2446   88
53 89   IM Puranik Abhimanyu 2442 2   2 WIM Pratyusha Bodda 2260   132
54 71   IM Ezat Mohamed 2490   2 IM Guramishvili Sopiko 2368   120
55 101   IM Seyb Alexander 2425   GM Neelotpal Das 2475   77
56 103   FM Gholami Aryan 2422   GM Krush Irina 2468   80
57 81   FM Moroni Luca Jr 2466   IM Christiansen Johan-Sebastian 2385   113
58 86   GM Venkatesh M.R. 2451   WGM Bartel Marta 2271   131
59 122   WIM Bivol Alina 2344   IM Vogel Roven 2439   91
60 127   FM Goriatchkin Jouri 2318   IM Padmini Rout 2437   95
61 123     Dai Changren 2328   1 IM Batsiashvili Nino 2498   67
62 116   IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy 2377 1   1 FM Abdusattorov Nodirbek 2429   98
63 129   WIM Derakhshani Dorsa 2307 1   1 FM Haria Ravi 2416   104
64 125   WGM Pourkashiyan Atousa 2322 1   ½   Siva Mahadevan 2400   107
65 117   IM Li Ruofan 2372 ½   ½ IM Slavin Alexey 2388   112
66 130   IM Piasetski Leon 2287 ½ 0     bye      
67 32   GM Shankland Samuel L 2646 2 0     not paired    

Links:

Official Website and PGN.

Today is a rest day.

All photos by Amruta Mokal