Gukesh gets a lucky win, Wang Hao takes sole lead after round 8 in 9th HDBank International 2019

Gukesh holds on to his nerve and it pays off

In case you are wondering why there is a person in this photo, because there was a huge crowd in front of Gukesh's board. He is one of the spectators | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Gukesh played a side line in Closed Sicilian. In the late middlegame, Gukesh's position became inferior and he had to give up an exchange. But the 12-year old brave kid did not give up. He fought till the end and eventually his opponent blundered and he won.

Gukesh has to give up exchange, otherwise 23.e5 and 24.f6 will be over for Black. So Gukesh played 22...Re5

We all know that Gukesh is a fighter. Put yourself in Gukesh's shoes and find out the correct continuation for Black here.

White King has only two choices. Which is the better one?

One last attempt left for Black which relies a lot on hoping White would make a mistake. What is that trick?

Bogdanovich blundered an exchange in time pressure and lost the lead | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

The game between Wang Hao and Stanislav Bogdanovic was a battle of equals. Bogdanovic blundered an exchange in the endgame which was seemingly equal and then it was just a matter of technique which we know for sure that Hao can convert.

The position was absolutely calm but Bogdanovich brought a storm that he got himself wrecked into

The move 53...Rd3 gave an instant joy to Wang Hao and why wouldn't it be? When you are the top seed and looking for the second title it is bound to bring a lot of joy.

GM Wang Hao talks about what makes him come back to HDBank every year, Indian chess, World teams and more | Video: Shahid Ahmed

Final moments: GM Wang Hao showcases how to win a won Rook vs. Bishop endgame | Video: Shahid Ahmed

In this position it seemed like Raghunandan might win it but he missed an opportunity to capitalize his advantage | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

GM Tran Tuan Minh managed to escape with a draw

Photo Gallery:

WIM Nandhidhaa P V must be foreshadowing her round 8 victory. She is already gaining 68 ELO Rating with a performance rating of 2585| Photo: Shahid Ahmed

FM Pranesh M needs a draw in the final round to score his second IM-norm | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

FM Niranjan Navalgund must have remembered a funny joke | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

How many Indian chess players can you spot in this photo? | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

FM Villanueva Nelson of Philippines is one of the leaders at 7.0/8 going into the final round... | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

...Pham Minh Hieu of Vietnam is the other leader | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich will be present at the Closing Ceremony tomorrow. It was published in the HDBank official fb page:

Round 8 results:

Bo.	No.		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Wang Hao		CHN	2718	6	1 - 0	6½	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav		UKR	2536	13
2	6	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo		VEN	2639	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Popov Ivan		RUS	2581	11
3	35		Zhao Yuanhe		CHN	2431	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Wen Yang		CHN	2599	9
4	7	GM	Van Wely Loek		NED	2612	5	1 - 0	5½	GM	Cao Sang		VIE	2385	53
5	3	GM	Demchenko Anton		RUS	2678	5	0 - 1	5	IM	Gukesh D	U16	IND	2529	15
6	4	GM	Mareco Sandro		ARG	2666	5	0 - 1	5	IM	Liu Guanchu		CHN	2445	31
7	5	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son		VIE	2647	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Xu Yi		CHN	2520	18
8	8	GM	Predke Alexandr		RUS	2611	5	1 - 0	5	FM	Hoang Canh Huan		VIE	2394	49
9	12	GM	Tran Tuan Minh		VIE	2556	4½	½ - ½	5	IM	Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari		IND	2352	70
10	16	GM	Megaranto Susanto		INA	2526	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Nitin S.		IND	2408	46
11	100	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V		IND	2240	4½	1 - 0	4½	FM	Nasanjargal Urtnasan		MGL	2503	19
12	20	GM	Karthik Venkataraman		IND	2494	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Rahul Srivatshav P		IND	2400	47
13	24	IM	Nguyen Anh Khoi		VIE	2484	4½	+ - -	4½	IM	Pham Chuong		VIE	2383	55
14	26	GM	Nguyen Anh Dung		VIE	2458	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Chu Wei Chao		CHN	2373	62
15	30	CM	Mendonca Leon Luke	U16	IND	2446	4½	½ - ½	4½		Wang Shixu B		CHN	2362	65
16	38	IM	Nguyen Van Huy		VIE	2428	4½	1 - 0	4½	FM	Pranesh M	U16	IND	2309	79
17	61	IM	Pham Le Thao Nguyen		VIE	2374	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Laxman R.R.		IND	2425	40
18	41	IM	Bulmaga Irina		ROU	2424	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Miciano John Marvin		PHI	2317	76
19	45	IM	Le Quang Long		VIE	2412	4½	0 - 1	4½		Xu Minghui		CHN	2293	86
20	2	GM	Cheparinov Ivan		GEO	2683	4	1 - 0	4	FM	Nguyen Dang Hong Phuc		VIE	2376	59

Round 9 Pairings:

Bo.	No.		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	No.
1	9	GM	Wen Yang		CHN	2599	6½		7	GM	Wang Hao		CHN	2718	1
2	13	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav		UKR	2536	6½		6	GM	Predke Alexandr		RUS	2611	8
3	31	IM	Liu Guanchu		CHN	2445	6		6	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo		VEN	2639	6
4	11	GM	Popov Ivan		RUS	2581	6		6	GM	Van Wely Loek		NED	2612	7
5	15	IM	Gukesh D	U16	IND	2529	6		5½	GM	Megaranto Susanto		INA	2526	16
6	53	GM	Cao Sang		VIE	2385	5½		5½	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son		VIE	2647	5
7	18	IM	Xu Yi		CHN	2520	5½		5½	IM	Nguyen Van Huy		VIE	2428	38
8	70	IM	Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari		IND	2352	5½		5½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman		IND	2494	20
9	24	IM	Nguyen Anh Khoi		VIE	2484	5½		5½	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V		IND	2240	100
10	76	IM	Miciano John Marvin		PHI	2317	5½		5½	GM	Nguyen Anh Dung		VIE	2458	26
11	86		Xu Minghui		CHN	2293	5½		5½		Zhao Yuanhe		CHN	2431	35
12	56	IM	Sukandar Irine Kharisma		INA	2381	5		5	GM	Cheparinov Ivan		GEO	2683	2
13	49	FM	Hoang Canh Huan		VIE	2394	5		5	GM	Demchenko Anton		RUS	2678	3
14	58	FM	Setyaki Azarya Jodi		INA	2378	5		5	GM	Mareco Sandro		ARG	2666	4
15	12	GM	Tran Tuan Minh		VIE	2556	5		5	IM	Pham Le Thao Nguyen		VIE	2374	61
16	69	IM	Vo Thanh Ninh		VIE	2358	5		5	CM	Mendonca Leon Luke	U16	IND	2446	30
17	65		Wang Shixu B		CHN	2362	5		5		Chen Qi B		CHN	2443	32
18	75	FM	Mithil Ajgaonkar		IND	2332	5		5		Li Yankai		CHN	2434	34
19	40	GM	Laxman R.R.		IND	2425	5		5	IM	Quizon Daniel	U16	PHI	2268	91
20	57	FM	Navalgund Niranjan		IND	2378	4½		4½	GM	Pichot Alan		ARG	2584	10

Gukesh gets a lucky win, Wang Hao takes sole lead after round 8 in 9th HDBank International 2019