Abu Dhabi 09: Adhiban finishes second

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 01/09/2016

Russian GM Dmitry Andreikin (2733) played true to his seeding, as he powered through in the end. After six rounds he had 4.5/6, half-a-point less than the leader, but then won three fine games in a row. This was enough to finish clear first with 7.5/9. GM B. Adhiban drew his final round game and settled for the second spot on the tie-break. There was a host of other Indians playing, and some really made a mark in the tournament. We have an illustrated report with pictures and games.

Abu Dhabi 09: Adhiban finishes second

In a field of 137 players, most of whom are rated above 2100, 56 competitors are Indians. The year 2016 has already seen a host of tournaments where Indians formed the bulk of the participants in the starting field. Abu Dhabi has been no different.

The Abu Dhabi Chess Festival is now in its 23rd edition and shows no sign of losing steam, with great conditions. The festival is comprised of a wide variety of tournaments for all rating strengths and groups, including tournaments for the military and police, or Media and Journalists.

Russian GM Dmitry Andreikin (2733) played true to his seeding, as he powered through in the end to finish with three wins, scoring 7.5/9.

White to play

Andreikin-Zubov (Notes by Johannes Fischer)

[Event "23rd Abu Dhabi Masters"]
[Site "Abu Dhabi UAE"]
[Date "2016.08.27"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Black "Zubov, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2606"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 d6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8.
Qd2 d5 9. O-O-O Nf6 10. g4 Bb4 11. Bg2 O-O $146 {A new move in a position that
Andreikin had played before - but with White.} ({Andreikin here preferred}
11... Qa5 {and play continued with} 12. g5 Nd7 13. a3 Bxc3 14. Qxc3 Qxc3 15.
bxc3 Nb6 16. Rhe1 Bb7 17. Bc7 Na4 18. Ba5 O-O 19. Rd4 c5 20. Rxa4 Bc6 21. exd5
Bxa4 22. dxe6 fxe6 23. Bxa8 Rxa8 24. Rxe6 Rf8 25. Rxa6 Rxf2 26. Bb6 Rxc2+ 27.
Kb1 Rxc3 28. Rxa4 Rb3+ 29. Kc2 Rxb6 30. Rc4 Rc6 31. Rf4 h6 32. gxh6 g5 33. Rf5
Rxh6 34. Rxg5+ Kf7 35. Rxc5 Rxh2+ 36. Kb3 Ke6 37. Kb4 Kd6 38. Rc3 Rb2+ 39. Ka5
Kd7 40. Ka6 Rb1 41. a4 {Ganguly,S (2652)-Andreikin,D (2720) Berlin 2015 1/2-1/2
}) 12. g5 Nd7 13. a3 Ba5 14. h4 Re8 ({The attempt to win a piece with} 14... e5
$2 {does not work. After} 15. exd5 exf4 16. dxc6 Ne5 17. Qxd8 Bxd8 18. c7 {
White regains the material he sacrificed and is clearly better.}) 15. Bg3 Bb7 {
[#]} 16. h5 $5 {White gives a pawn to push his attack.} Bxc3 17. Qxc3 Qxg5+ 18.
Kb1 Qf6 19. e5 Qd8 20. Bh4 Qc7 21. f4 {White is a pawn down but the open
g-file and the black-squared bishop give him good attacking chances and
definitely adequate compensation.} Kh8 $2 {Black wants to put his king on a
safer square but lands in trouble.} ({Better was} 21... c5 {with dynamic
equality.}) 22. h6 g6 {[#]} 23. Bxd5 $1 {Perhaps Black overlooked this
tactical stroke when he played 21...Kh8?.} c5 ({Black cannot take the bishop.
After} 23... exd5 24. e6+ f6 25. exd7 {White is winning.}) 24. Bxb7 Qxb7 25. f5
$1 {White regained the pawn and continues to attack vigorously.} Rab8 26. Rhg1
Nb6 27. Bf6+ Kg8 28. fxg6 fxg6 29. Qd3 Nd5 {[#]} 30. b3 {Modest and strong.} ({
After the tempting} 30. Rxg6+ hxg6 31. Qxg6+ Kf8 {White has no clear win
because he has to parry Black's mating threat on b2 before he can continue his
attack against Black's king.}) 30... Nxf6 31. exf6 Qf7 32. Qxa6 e5 ({After}
32... Qxf6 33. Qa7 {White is better: c5 is hanging and White is threatening 34.
Rgf1.}) 33. Rg3 e4 34. Re3 Ra8 35. Qc6 Rac8 36. Qd7 Ra8 37. a4 Ra6 38. Qb5 Rxf6
39. Rxe4 {A fine tactical shot finishes the game. Black resigned. After} Rxe4
40. Rd8+ Qf8 41. Qb7 Re1+ 42. Kb2 Rf7 43. Rxf8+ Kxf8 44. Qc8+ {Black's
position is hopeless.} 1-0

Black to play

Going into the final round, Andreikin was tied with Adhiban and country mate GM Aleksandr Predke for the lead. Andreikin was paired against Predke, and in the aforementioned position with the black pieces, won the game. The key was this particular moment when he realized the imbalance between the white bishop and black knight and fixed his pawn structure accordingly.

[Event "23rd Abu Dhabi Masters"]
[Site "Abu Dhabi UAE"]
[Date "2016.08.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Predke, Alexandr"]
[Black "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2553"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 g6 7. Bg2 Bg7 8. O-O
O-O 9. h3 Nc6 10. Be3 Bd7 11. Nd5 Rc8 12. Nxc6 Bxc6 13. c3 Nd7 14. a4 a5 15.
Bd4 Bxd4 16. Qxd4 e6 17. b4 Bxd5 18. exd5 e5 19. Qd3 Qb6 20. Rfb1 Rc7 21. Bf1
Ra8 22. bxa5 Qxa5 23. Rb5 Qa7 24. a5 Rc5 25. Rab1 Rxb5 26. Qxb5 Nc5 27. Qb6
Qxb6 28. Rxb6 Rd8 29. a6 bxa6 30. Bxa6 e4 31. Be2 Kg7 32. f4 exf3 33. Bxf3 f5
34. Rc6 Kf6 35. Kf2 h6 36. h4 g5 37. hxg5+ hxg5 38. Bg2 Ke5 39. Rc7 Ra8 40.
Re7+ Kf6 41. Re2 Ra3 42. Re3 Ra2+ 43. Kf1 Rc2 44. g4 fxg4 45. Be4 Rd2 46. Ke1
Rh2 47. c4 Ke5 48. Bg2+ Kd4 49. Rg3 Nd3+ 50. Kf1 Nf4 51. c5 Kxc5 52. Be4 Nxd5
53. Bxd5 Kxd5 54. Rxg4 Rh5 55. Kf2 Ke5 56. Rg1 d5 57. Re1+ Kd4 58. Rd1+ Kc5 59.
Kf3 Rh4 60. Rc1+ Rc4 61. Rg1 g4+ 62. Ke3 g3 0-1

GM B. Adhiban drew his final round game and settled for the second spot on the tie-break with 7.0/9.

[Event "23rd Abu Dhabi Masters"]
[Site "Abu Dhabi UAE"]
[Date "2016.08.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Adhiban, Baskaran"]
[Black "Salem, A.R. Saleh"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2617"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Ndb5 d5 7. Bf4 e5 8.
cxd5 exf4 9. dxc6 bxc6 10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 11. Rd1+ Bd7 12. Nd6 Bxd6 13. Rxd6 Ke7
14. Rd2 Nd5 15. Na4 Bf5 16. g3 Nb6 17. Nc3 Nc4 18. Rd4 Nxb2 19. Rxf4 Be6 20.
Bg2 Rab8 21. O-O Rhd8 22. Rc1 c5 23. Re4 Rb4 24. Re5 Rc4 25. Bh3 Na4 26. Bxe6
fxe6 27. Nd5+ Rxd5 28. Rxc4 Rxe5 29. Rxa4 Rxe2 30. Rxa7+ Kf6 1/2-1/2

Lalith Babu finished with 6.5/9 to be eighth on the tie-break. He finished with a win against GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2670) of Russia.

[Event "23rd Abu Dhabi Masters"]
[Site "Abu Dhabi UAE"]
[Date "2016.08.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Lalith, Babu M R"]
[Black "Fedoseev, Vladimir3"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2575"]
[BlackElo "2670"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 d5 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 Nc6 8.
Be2 Bg4 9. d5 Bxf3 10. gxf3 Na5 11. Qd3 c5 12. e5 Nd7 13. f4 c4 14. Qc2 e6 15.
dxe6 fxe6 16. Be3 Nb6 17. Bg4 Qe7 18. O-O-O Bh6 19. Ne4 Kh8 20. Kb1 Bxf4 21.
Bc5 Qh4 22. Bxe6 Bxe5 23. Bxf8 Rxf8 24. Bd5 Nc6 25. Bxc6 bxc6 26. Rde1 Nd5 27.
Nd2 Bg7 28. Re4 Qf6 29. Nxc4 Rb8 30. Ka1 Nc3 31. Re5 Nb5 32. Rhe1 Qf8 33. R5e3
Bd4 34. Rb3 Rd8 35. Rd1 Qf6 36. a4 Nc7 37. Na5 c5 38. Nb7 Rd5 39. Kb1 Na6 40.
Qc4 Rf5 41. f3 Kg7 42. Na5 Rf4 43. Rb7+ Kh6 44. Nb3 Bxb2 45. Qg8 Qh8 46. Qe6
Ba3 1-0

Antonio Viani D'cunha (2346) of Mangalore, Karnataka, became an International Master after he completed the requirements.

CM Aditya Mittal (2140) had a good showing but lost steam towards the end.

IM Tania Sachdev (2396) was 4.5/9

Too many Indian flags on the table, or just that so many Indians were playing in the tournament?

IM M.S. Thejkumar (2445) scored 5.0/9.

11-year-old CM Raunak Sadhwani (2069) had a fine tournament to score 4.0/9.

Sankalp Gupta (1990) had the tournament of his life despite not being paired in the first round -- he performed at 2481 and increased 167 Elo!

A bit of falconry at the tournament hall?

Final Standings:

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	1	GM	Andreikin Dmitry	RUS	2733	7,5	0,0	2564	50,5	7,5	6,60	0,90	10	9,0
2	3	GM	Adhiban B.	IND	2671	7,0	0,0	2599	53,0	7	5,63	1,37	10	13,7
3	7	GM	Amin Bassem	EGY	2654	7,0	0,0	2569	51,5	7	5,74	1,26	10	12,6
4	32	GM	Predke Alexandr	RUS	2553	6,5	0,0	2632	53,5	6,5	3,99	2,51	10	25,1
5	15	GM	Salem A.R. Saleh	UAE	2617	6,5	0,0	2580	49,5	6,5	5,21	1,29	10	12,9
6	5	GM	Areshchenko Alexander	UKR	2665	6,5	0,0	2577	49,5	6,5	5,80	0,70	10	7,0
7	19	GM	Dragun Kamil	POL	2609	6,5	0,0	2568	48,5	5,5	4,43	1,07	10	10,7
8	27	GM	Lalith Babu M R	IND	2575	6,5	0,0	2550	46,0	6,5	5,11	1,39	10	13,9
9	11	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo	VEN	2626	6,5	0,0	2473	41,5	6,5	6,41	0,09	10	0,9
10	24	GM	Demchenko Anton	RUS	2600	6,0	0,0	2634	53,5	6	4,46	1,54	10	15,4

Complete standings here.

Official Website