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Asian Continental: Event opens with early upsets

by Aditya Pai - 11/12/2018

The Asian Continental Championship began with some startling results on the top boards. Top seeded GM Wang Hao and India's Vidit Gujrathi were both held to draws by much lower rated opponents on boards one and four respectively. But the biggest upset of the day was GM Le Quang Liem's loss to Paulo Bersamina. The 20-year-old Filipino IM found a brilliant queen sac towards the end of the game to bring down the Vietnamese number one. We have a report with games.

Asian Continental Championship, 2018

The Asian Continental Chess Championship went underway on Monday in Makati City, Philippines. The nine-round Swiss is a qualifier to the 2019 Chess World Cup -- the top five finishers will book their seat into the Candidates qualifier. Besides, there is a prize fund of $50,000 ($35000 for the Open and $15000 for the Women's leg) to play for. Rate of play is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by another 30 minutes for the rest of the game with a 30-second increment from move 1.

 

Since the tournament serves as a World Cup qualifier, the field is naturally very strong, with four grandmasters rated above 2700 in the fray. Chinese GM Wang Hao (2730) is the top seed followed by Wei Yi (2728) and Le Quang Liem (2714). The Indian charge is led by GM Vidit Gujrathi (2701), who is the fourth seed at the event. Other members from the contingent include Adhiban Baskaran (2695), SP Sethuraman (2664), Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2621), Abhimanyu Puranik (2544), Lalith Babu MR (2529), Shardul Gagare (2504) and Abhijit Kunte (2469). In the women's group, India will be represented by Padmini Rout (2345), Nandhidhaa PV (2267) and Aashna Makhija (2181).

Tough day for the top seeds

The inaugural round of the event turned out to be a tough one for some of the top players. While Wang Hao and Vidit Gujrathi were held to draws, the third seed of the tournament, Le Quang Liem suffered a shocking loss against local IM Paulo Bersamina (2444). For the rest of the Indian squad, the round went rather well as all the other Indian GMs pulled out wins.

 

On the top board, Wang Hao opened with a bishop's opening and tried to get an attack going on the kingside. The almost symmetrical pawn structure, however, did not provide much in terms of an advantage and his opponent, FM Taher Yoseph Theolifus (2454), had no problems holding ground. 

For the top rated Indian, GM Vidit Gujrathi, the situation wasn't any better. He had sacrificed a pawn from the black side of a Gruenfeld Defence in his game against Haridas Pascua (2442) but after the Filipino IM returned his extra pawn, it was Vidit who had to be careful not to lose the game.

Position after 29.Kg1

If the white knight is allowed to reach g5, mate would be unavertable. Vidit, therefore, rightly sacrificed the exchange here with 29...Rxe5. There followed 30.Nxe5 Qxe5 31.Rd4 Qc7 and 32.Rcd1, after which, white remained an exchange ahead.

Position after 32.Rcd1

Vidit immediately tried to repeat the position with 32...Nb2 33.Rd2 Nc4 and, surprisingly, Pascua chose not to push on and acceded to the repetition.

Vidit Gujrathi managed to evade a loss despite being an exchange down | Photo: John Saunders

While the first and the fourth seeds struggled to win their games, GM Le Quang Liem, the third-seeded player in the tournament, suffered a catastrophic loss to IM Paulo Bersamina. Bersamina had the black pieces in the game and chose to castle his king long in an Italian Opening game. As players tried to break through to each other's king, the following position was reached.

Position after 34.Re7

Le had just brought his rook to the seventh rank -- perhaps, assuming that this was the knock out punch. And black would have been a dead duck had he tried protecting his queen. But Bersamina found the stunning counter-punch 34...h3!! Now, after 35.Rxc7 hxg2 36.Nh2, Black found 36...Bf3, forcing immediate resignation.

20-year-old Paulo Bersamina brought down Le Quang Liem with a stunning queen sac! | Photo: wjcc2016india.com

On board 5, Adhiban Baskaran went all guns blazing against GM Darwin Laylo (2438) in a Gruenfeld Defence. As white, Adhiban sacrificed a pawn early in the game and provoked complications. Laylo also played enterprisingly, in response, and even managed to get a better position.

 

A few exchanges later, by the 30th move, the players had reached an equal endgame by the 30th move. But just when the position seemed innocuous, Laylo rushed with a rook exchange and shed a pawn. This proved to be enough for Adhiban to convert.

Adhiban Baskaran during his game against GM Darwin Laylo | Photo: National Chess Federation of the Philippines

ChessBase India's star annotator, GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly (right) also scored a fine win in the opening round in a complex Averbakh King's Indian.

In the women's group, IM Padmini Rout was the only Indian to score a full point. She defeated WIM Bernadette Galas in the opening round | Photo: FIDE Women's World Championship

WIM Nandhidhaa PV was held to a draw by WFM Anisa Aay Aisyah | Photo: Amruta Mokal

WFM Aashna Makhija lost to IM Nakhbayeva Guliskhan after a 55 move long

Round 1 results (Open)

Bo.No. NameBdldFEDRtgPts.ResultPts.NameBdldFEDRtg No.
11
GMWANG HaoCHN27300½ - ½0FMTAHER Yoseph TheolifusINA2454
33
234
GMGOMEZ John PaulPHI245000 - 10GMWEI YiCHN2728
2
33
GMLE Quang LiemVIE271400 - 10IMBERSAMINA PauloPHI2444
35
436
IMPASCUA HaridasPHI24420½ - ½0GMVIDIT Santosh GujrathiIND2701
4
55
GMADHIBAN B.IND269501 - 00GMLAYLO DarwinPHI2438
37
638
CHEN Qi BCHN243700 - 10GMMAGHSOODLOO ParhamIRI2688
6
77
GMNI HuaCHN268301 - 00IMDIMAKILING OliverPHI2434
39
840
GMANTONIO Rogelio JrPHI243100 - 10GMSETHURAMAN S.P.IND2664
8
99
GMNGUYEN Ngoc Truong SonVIE264101 - 00IMCUHENDI Sean WinshandINA2429
41
1042
IMGARCIA Jan EmmanuelPHI242900 - 10GMLU ShangleiCHN2636
10

Round 1 results (Women)

Bo.No. NameBdldFEDRtgPts.ResultPts.NameBdldFEDRtg No.
120
LI XueyiCHN218700 - 10WIMZHU JinerCHN2409
1
22
IMNAKHBAYEVA GuliskhanKAZ237101 - 00WFMMAKHIJA AashnaIND2181
21
322
WFMMENDOZA Shania MaePHI21650½ - ½0IMGUO QiCHN2368
3
44
WGMWANG JueCHN236701 - 00WIMSECOPITO CatherinePHI2145
23
524
WIMFRONDA Jan JodilynPHI213900 - 10WGMAULIA Medina WardaINA2366
5
66
IMPHAM Le Thao NguyenVIE236301 - 00WFMBACH Ngoc Thuy DuongVIE2131
25
726
WIMSAN DIEGO Marie AntoinettePHI21110½ - ½0WGMVO Thi Kim PhungVIE2352
7
88
IMPADMINI RoutIND234501 - 00WIMGALAS BernadettePHI2100
27
928
WCMMORDIDO Kylen JoyPHI204500 - 10WGMHOANG Thi Bao TramVIE2314
9
1010
WGMGONG QianyunSGP231201 - 00ZHANG XiaoCHN2017
29

Standings (Open)

Rk.SNo NameFEDRtgIBdldPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4  TB5 Rpnwwew-weKrtg+/-
12
GMWEI YiCHN27281,00,0100,00,00110,830,17101,7
5
GMADHIBAN B.IND26951,00,0100,00,00110,820,18101,8
6
GMMAGHSOODLOO ParhamIRI26881,00,0100,00,00110,810,19101,9
7
GMNI HuaCHN26831,00,0100,00,00110,810,19101,9
8
GMSETHURAMAN S.P.IND26641,00,0100,00,00110,790,21102,1
9
GMNGUYEN Ngoc Truong SonVIE26411,00,0100,00,00110,770,23102,3
10
GMLU ShangleiCHN26361,00,0100,00,00110,770,23102,3
11
GMGANGULY Surya ShekharIND26211,00,0100,00,00110,750,25102,5
12
GMFIROUZJA AlirezaIRI26071,00,0100,00,00110,770,23102,3
13
GMWEN YangCHN26041,00,0100,00,00110,790,21102,1

Standings (Women)

Rk.SNo NamesexFEDRtgIBdldPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4  TB5 Rpnwwew-weKrtg+/-
11
WIMZHU JinerwCHN24091,00,0100,00,00110,780,22204,4
2
IMNAKHBAYEVA GuliskhanwKAZ23711,00,0100,00,00110,750,25205,0
4
WGMWANG JuewCHN23671,00,0100,00,00110,780,22102,2
5
WGMAULIA Medina WardawINA23661,00,0100,00,00110,790,21102,1
6
IMPHAM Le Thao NguyenwVIE23631,00,0100,00,00110,790,21102,1
8
IMPADMINI RoutwIND23451,00,0100,00,00110,800,20102,0
9
WGMHOANG Thi Bao TramwVIE23141,00,0100,00,00110,830,17101,7
10
WGMGONG QianyunwSGP23121,00,0100,00,00110,850,15203,0
11
WIMALINASAB MobinawIRI22951,00,0100,00,00110,850,15203,0
14
WFMMUNKHZUL TurmunkhwMGL22551,00,0100,00,00110,840,16406,4

Round 2 pairings (Open)

Bo.No. NameBdldFEDRtgPts.ResultPts.NameBdldFEDRtg No.
12
GMWEI YiCHN272811IMXU YiCHN2536
20
222
GMTRAN Tuan MinhVIE252411GMADHIBAN B.IND2695
5
36
GMMAGHSOODLOO ParhamIRI268811GMLALITH Babu M RIND2529
21
424
GMTAN ZhongyiCHN250811GMNI HuaCHN2683
7
58
GMSETHURAMAN S.P.IND266411GMMEGARANTO SusantoINA2512
23
626
IMBILGUUN SumiyaMGL249711GMNGUYEN Ngoc Truong SonVIE2641
9
710
GMLU ShangleiCHN263611GMGAGARE ShardulIND2504
25
830
IMVOKHIDOV ShamsiddinUZB248011GMGANGULY Surya ShekharIND2621
11
912
GMFIROUZJA AlirezaIRI260711IMLIU YanCHN2495
27
1032
GMKUNTE AbhijitIND246911GMWEN YangCHN2604
13

Round 2 pairings (Women)

Bo.No. NameBdldFEDRtgPts.ResultPts.NameBdldFEDRtg No.
11
WIMZHU JinerCHN240911WGMGONG QianyunSGP2312
10
211
WIMALINASAB MobinaIRI229511IMNAKHBAYEVA GuliskhanKAZ2371
2
314
WFMMUNKHZUL TurmunkhMGL225511WGMWANG JueCHN2367
4
45
WGMAULIA Medina WardaINA236611WIMGU TianluCHN2231
16
515
NING KaiyuCHN224711IMPHAM Le Thao NguyenVIE2363
6
619
WFMLI YunshanCHN219611IMPADMINI RoutIND2345
8
79
WGMHOANG Thi Bao TramVIE231411WIMCITRA Dewi Ardhiani AnastasiaINA2215
18
83
IMGUO QiCHN2368½½WIMSAN DIEGO Marie AntoinettePHI2111
26
97
WGMVO Thi Kim PhungVIE2352½½WFMMEJIA Cherry AnnPHI1980
32
1017
WGMFRAYNA Janelle MaePHI2228½½WIMNANDHIDHAA P VIND2267
12