European Club Cup 2022 R5: Harikrishna beats Vishy Anand for the very first time

Novy Bor Chess Club bests the top seed CSU ASE Superbet

There is a reason Novy Bor Chess Club has claimed a podium finish in the last three editions of European Chess Club Cup 2022. One of the reason could possibly be that most of the players are playing for the team for a very long time. Harikrishna is playing for Novy Bor since 2014. He will face Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the penultimate sixth round, while Vidit Gujrathi who is back in his form, will be up against Yuriy Kryvoruchko.

Novy Bor Chess Club - CSU ASE Superbet: 4.5-1.5

Pentala Harikrishna (2717) and Vidit Gujrathi (2710) defeated Vishy Anand (2756) and Richard Rapport (2754) respectively. This was Harikrishna's first win ever against Anand of his career. D Gukesh (2732) drew with David Navara (2676).

Harikrishnha - Anand

Harikrishna played to his strength. It is well-known that he is very strong in the endgame. He exchanged pieces at a regular interval, arrived into a bishop and knight endgame in less than 25 moves. The endgame was very much equal. However, 31.e5 posed an innocuous question of where should the knight retreat. Both f7 and b5 are fine for Black. Yet, the maestro displaced it to e8 which was not the best choice. 31...Ne8 32.Nd4 Ng7 33.Kf2 h6 34.Ke3 Be8 35.Bc4 Bd7 36.b4 and soon the lack of squares for the black knight to move around freely became evident. It was almost trapped. White improved his position slowly and at an opportune moment exchanged his bishop with his opponent's knight which gave him a completely winning knight vs bishop endgame.

The Berlin Defence in Ruy Lopez is a solid opening for Black. It is considered drawish due to the nature of the opening. A draw with the black pieces against a strong opponent is often considered to be a good result. The last time Vidit Gujrathi defeated Richard Rapport with the black pieces in a rated game was in World Team 2015, over seven years ago.

Rapport - Vidit

Before playing Kf2, White needed to trade the pawns at b4. The difference is, exchanging the pawns first does not give Black the opportunity to get rid of the doubled c-pawns which is what happened in the game. 29.Kf2 c5 30.Ndc2 Bf5 31.cxb4 cxb4 32.Ke3 c5 and the position is completely in favor of Black. 33.h3 c4 34.bxc4 Nxc4+ and Vidit has shown over the years that he does not miss these opportunities of converting substantial advantages in the endgame.

Replay Novy Bor Chess Club - CSU ASE Superbet games

Magnus Carlsen tweeted on his game, replying to a GM Peter Svidler's analysis during the live stream

TAJFUN - SK Ljubljana - Schachclub Viernheim 1934 e.V. : 2.5-3.5

Arjun Erigaisi (2728) drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2747). Nihal Sarin (2673) missed a win against Yuriy Kuzubov (2612).

Nihal - Kuzubov

Black was completely lost after 63...Rxh6. White does not need to rush and take the g5-pawn. Instead, use it as a blockade to keep his g4-pawn alive. 64.Rxh6 + Kxh6 65.Nxc5 Kg6/7 66.Nb3 Kf6 67.Nxa5 Be1 68.Nc6+-. Black cannot even easily attack the g4-pawn, let alone capture it. A half point more would have drawn the match for the team.

Replay TAJFUN - SK Ljubljana - Schachclub Viernheim 1934 e.V. games

Everyday round starts at 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST from 3rd to 8th October 2022. The final round on 9th October starts 11 a.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. IST. The seven-round Swiss system tournament has a time control of 90min/40moves+30min/end+30sec increment per move starting from move 1. It is organized by SK Mayrhofen Zell/Zillertal and currently taking place at Europahaus Mayrhofen - Congress Zillertal in Austria.

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