Asian Nations Cup 07+08: India beat the neighbours

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 04/04/2016

The seventh and the eighth rounds bore positive results for Team India. Although out of contention, the women's team shut out the weaker Sri Lanka and UAE-2 4-0. The team in the open section fought and earned victories over Bangladesh and Uzbekistan. An illustrated report.

Asian Nations Cup 07+08: India beat the neighbours

The Asian Nations Cup Chess Championship has begun at the Novotel Abu Dhabi Al Bustan hotel with 20 countries competing for the right to represent Asia in the World Chess Team Championship.

The seventh round at the Asian Nations Cup 2016 saw the Indians take on our spirited neighbours Bangladesh in the Open section and Sri Lanka in the women's. The results were never in doubt and India romped home quite efficiently. Even in the eighth round, things were far from going wrong. India took on the Uzbeks in the open and the UAE-2 team in the women's section.

B. Adhiban won both the games after pressing consistently without too much trouble. In fact, in the eighth round, his win was the sole result that helped India beat Uzbekistan!

[Event "Asian Nations Cup 2016 - Men"]
[Site "Abu Dhabi"]
[Date "2016.04.03"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Murshed, Niaz"]
[Black "Adhiban, B."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A09"]
[WhiteElo "2446"]
[BlackElo "2663"]
[Annotator "ChessBase"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[WhiteTeam "Bangladesh"]
[BlackTeam "India"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "BAN"]
[BlackTeamCountry "IND"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]

1. Nf3 {49} d5 {0} 2. c4 {58} d4 {0} 3. e3 {60} Nc6 {0} 4. exd4 {510} Nxd4 {0}
5. Nxd4 {11} Qxd4 {0} 6. Nc3 {13} c6 {0} 7. d3 {91} Nh6 {0} 8. Be3 {187} Qd8 {0
} 9. Be2 {1065} Nf5 {2} 10. O-O {16} g6 {112} 11. Bf4 {549} Bg7 {16} 12. Re1 {
12} O-O {177} 13. Bf1 {73} Qa5 {682} 14. Rb1 {325} e5 {254} 15. Be3 {615} Nxe3
{431} 16. fxe3 {33} f5 {131} 17. Qa4 {429} Qc7 {133} 18. c5 {27} Be6 {61} 19.
Rbd1 {88} Rfd8 {619} 20. Qh4 {312} Rd7 {266} 21. Kh1 {105} Qa5 {469} 22. d4 {
274} Rad8 {170} 23. d5 {334} Bxd5 {465} 24. b4 {73} Qc7 {31} 25. Nxd5 {74} cxd5
{1} 26. Bb5 {87} Rf7 {14} 27. Ba4 {112} Bf6 {88} 28. Qf2 {218} Kg7 {16} 29. Bb3
{97} Rfd7 {18} 30. Ba4 {16} Re7 {22} 31. Bb3 {31} a5 {398} 32. Bxd5 {59} axb4 {
32} 33. e4 {11} Red7 {70} 34. Rf1 {50} Bg5 {37} 35. h4 {182} Bf4 {21} 36. g3 {
19} fxe4 {28} 37. gxf4 {5} Rxd5 {7} 38. Rxd5 {10} Rxd5 {1} 39. fxe5 {12} Qe7 {
32} 40. e6 {42} e3 {865} 41. Qf7+ {1984} Qxf7 {1809} 42. Rxf7+ {12} Kg8 {108}
43. Kg2 {0} Rf5 {0} 0-1

In the match against the Uzbeks, White is clearly better and Adhiban finished things off in style.

[Event "Asian Nations Cup 2016 - Men"]
[Site "Abu Dhabi"]
[Date "2016.04.04"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Adhiban, B."]
[Black "Dzhumaev, Marat"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2663"]
[BlackElo "2481"]
[Annotator "ChessBase"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[WhiteTeam "India"]
[BlackTeam "Uzbekistan"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "UZB"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]

1. d4 {0} d5 {14} 2. c4 {0} c6 {9} 3. Nc3 {16} Nf6 {16} 4. cxd5 {73} cxd5 {9}
5. Bf4 {2} Nc6 {27} 6. e3 {1} Bg4 {58} 7. Qb3 {96} Na5 {13} 8. Qa4+ {4} Bd7 {10
} 9. Qc2 {3} Rc8 {494} 10. Nf3 {9} e6 {96} 11. Bd3 {2} Be7 {367} 12. O-O {156}
O-O {186} 13. Ne5 {508} a6 {166} 14. Rac1 {816} Nc4 {957} 15. Qe2 {210} Nd6 {
333} 16. Rc2 {206} b5 {696} 17. Rfc1 {42} Qb6 {105} 18. Nxd7 {378} Nxd7 {11}
19. Bxd6 {67} Bxd6 {54} 20. Nxd5 {94} Rxc2 {14} 21. Bxh7+ {7} 1-0

Sethu was off colour in his game against IM Minhaz Uddin Mohammed of Bangladesh, plummeting to a defeat. He was rested in the eighth round clash...

...allowing Deep Sengupta into the side. He settled for a draw with Uzbek IM Vladimir Egin (2348).

Vidit drew both his seventh and eighth round games.

Although he was held in the eighth round, Sasi scored a very important point in the seventh round against Bangladesh when he beat GM Enamul Hossain.

[Event "Asian Nations Cup 2016 - Men"]
[Site "Abu Dhabi"]
[Date "2016.04.03"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Sasikiran, Krishnan"]
[Black "Hossain, Enamul"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2637"]
[BlackElo "2426"]
[Annotator "ChessBase"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[WhiteTeam "India"]
[BlackTeam "Bangladesh"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "BAN"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]

1. d4 {267} Nf6 {0} 2. c4 {7} e6 {2} 3. Nf3 {6} d5 {77} 4. Nc3 {43} dxc4 {39}
5. e4 {115} Bb4 {26} 6. Bxc4 {28} Nxe4 {37} 7. O-O {8} Nxc3 {54} 8. bxc3 {5}
Be7 {15} 9. Ne5 {127} O-O {54} 10. Qg4 {83} Nc6 {42} 11. Re1 {54} f5 {298} 12.
Qf3 {510} Nxe5 {76} 13. Rxe5 {74} Kh8 {73} 14. Bf4 {107} g5 {235} 15. Bd2 {20}
Bd6 {123} 16. Rae1 {26} Bxe5 {593} 17. Rxe5 {21} c6 {297} 18. h4 {987} gxh4 {
279} 19. Qh5 {760} Bd7 {2145} 20. Bg5 {306} Qe8 {131} 21. Qxh4 {95} Qg6 {309}
22. Re3 {336} f4 {347} 23. Bd3 {548} Qg7 {25} 24. Bxf4 {174} Rxf4 {126} 25.
Qxf4 {10} Qe7 {389} 26. Qe5+ {477} Qg7 {36} 27. Qd6 {4} Rg8 {211} 28. Rg3 {157}
Qf7 {8} 29. Qe5+ {75} Rg7 {1} 30. Rxg7 {10} Qxg7 {2} 31. Qb8+ {5} Qg8 {9} 32.
Qxb7 {6} Be8 {7} 33. Qxa7 {36} Bg6 {5} 34. Bxg6 {52} Qxg6 {1} 35. Qb8+ {13} Kg7
{4} 36. Qg3 {28} 1-0

Performance in Round 07 against Bangladesh

Performance in Round 08 against Uzbekistan

Therefore, at the end of eighth rounds, India is perched atop the leaderboard with seven wins and one draw. It is fairly straightforward here on for the team to win the Asian Nations Cup 2016, booking a spot in the World Teams Championship 2016.

Rk.	SNo	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	2	India	8	7	1	0	15	23,0	0
2	1	China	8	6	1	1	13	23,5	0
3	3	Kazakhstan	8	5	2	1	12	20,5	0
4	6	Bangladesh	8	5	0	3	10	20,5	0
5	4	Iran	8	5	0	3	10	19,5	0
6	7	Mongolia	8	4	2	2	10	19,0	0
7	9	UAE 1	8	5	0	3	10	18,5	0
8	5	Vietnam	8	4	1	3	9	19,5	0
9	8	Uzbekistan	8	4	1	3	9	19,0	0
10	11	Kyrgyzstan	8	4	0	4	8	17,5	0

After a depressing result in the fifth and the sixth rounds, India faced two extremely weak teams in the form of Sri Lanka and UAE-2 and, thankfully, there were no surprises this time as they won both the matches 4-0.

Performance in Round 07 against Sri Lanka

Performance in Round 07 against UAE-2

Pairings, PGN and other information

The Round 09 games will be broadcast live by ChessBase India. Catch the live action of the Indian players in both the section, exclusively, with high-quality engine analysis and many other features, here!