Laxman remains undefeated in Playchess simul

16-year old Tarun V Kanth of Tamil Nadu was the only player to draw with Laxman | Photo: Prashant Mullick
Tarun V Kanth had a friendly conversation with GM R Praggnanandhaa couple of years ago

In Catalan Opening, Tarun managed to equalize very easily with Black pieces. Between move no. 17 and 23, six out of seven moves involved exchanging of pieces which resulted in an equal double rook and knight and five pawns each endgame.

Laxman started the series of exchange with 17.cxd5

The resultant double rook and knight endgame was not that difficult for the young one. He managed to trade off one of his weak pawns and went on to draw the game in a knight ending.

Tarun kept his cool and managed to trade off his weak c-pawn to get a comfortable draw

Here is the full game:

15-year old Tanmay Ajmera was the first one to succumb to defeat in Semi-Slav defence when he blundered an exchange in the 17th move after losing a pawn.

Tanmay (Get the feel) blundered by playing 17...Rxd5. What should he have played instead?

Avatanshu had several chances to hold a draw but he missed them all | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Avatanshu Bhat might be just 13-year old and rated 1385 which was the lowest among all six players, however even Laxman is familiar with his writing skills. He had the golden opportunity to impress the Grandmaster with his game too, but unfortunately it was not meant to be. He missed all the chances of securing a draw in the endgame.

Opportunity 1: Here Black played 37...Kxa4. Find a better continuation for Black

Opportunity 2: Black played 42...Ka4 which of course leads to a loss. There were easy drawing chances

Shamil wants to improve his game and never give up | Photo: Shamil

28-year old Software Engineer by profession at Microsoft, Mohammed Shamil managed to equalize the position with Black pieces in Semi-Slav opening. However, he blundered a pawn and tried to stay afloat but a tactical error cost him another pawn and eventually the game.

Shamil's last move 37...g6 was a mistake. Find out why

Dipankar Kamble got his fair chances of draw but he missed it

In Semi-Slav, Dipankar decided to give up a pawn in the opening at the cost of his King safety which he managed to regain in the next 8 moves

Dipankar went for the safer choice and played 10...Qxe7

Dipankar got into an equal same color Bishop endgame which liquidated into an equal King-Pawn endgame.

Black blundered here with 37...bxa4. What was the better continuation for Black here?

Former district level champion and current HR manager at an IT company, Arunkumar loves the rapid format of the game | Photo: Arunkumar

Arunkumar opted for King's Indian Defence with the Black pieces. However he was unable to launch any substantial attack on the Kingside. The loss of queenside pawns eventually became surmountable.

All players were given an opportunity to talk with GM R R Laxman after everyone finished their matches. Here are the feedback of both Laxman and the players:

 

"The simul organised by Chessbase India team which got underway on the 24th of November 2018 was a marvellous initiative to propel the quality of Indian chess and take it to the next level .Hats off and best wishes to the entire Chessbase India team for discovering novel ideas to make chess a more popular sport in India. I thoroughly enjoyed the simul. and firmly beleive that the other players too will have similar feelings."

- GM R R Laxman

 

"I would like to thank chessbase India and RR Laxman sir for this wonderful opportunity. The playing conditions were great with no drawbacks. The analysis session with RR Laxman sir was fabulous. The simul was conducted professionally and I am really happy as I could get a draw against RR Laxman sir. I hope chessbase India conducts more simul's against strong GM's."

- Tarun V Kanth, 16-year old chess player

 

"Simply enjoyed the game with GM Laxman.

I am almost a daily follower of Chess Base India blog. When I noticed the SIMUL announcement immediately I have registered. Glad to be part of this Well organized event. Key highlight of event is the on call post game analysis with GM Laxman, when he provided nice analysis on the piece placement, change of pawn structure and weakness was much more valuable. Over all, It was a worth spent time and money. 1 month Chess Base premium extension is an added bonus. I am looking forward to play all future Chess Base India SIMUL events.

 

Thanks to Chess Base India Team. You people are doing great service to Indian Chess. Kudos to Chess Base India Team."

- Mohammed Shamil, Software Engineer at Microsoft