Baku 11: Sethu loses and Vidit wins; India held by Norway

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 13/09/2016

Sethu pondered over his position with intense concentration. He was eyeing his opponent's weakness on e3, and fantasies of a sacrifice on that square filled his mind. Throughout the Olympiad, Team India's fortunes had revolved around his games, and Sethu knew that. In the previous rounds, his defeat meant that the team lost or won the matches. It is a strange kind of pressure to carry that weight in your mind. Do you think the sacrifice may have worked? Meanwhile, Hari negotiated a draw with Magnus Carlsen, while Adhiban drew with the black pieces on the second board. To make matters more complicated, Vidit, who had a big advantage, 'blundered'! Find out what transpired in our eleventh round report.

Baku 11: Sethu loses and Vidit wins; India held by Norway

Sethu was thinking about his move against Norwegian GM Frode Urkedal. The last round of the Olympiad was in progress. Sethu was on the fourth board. 'Should I go for the move that is naturally coming to me? Or should I be more cautious? How are my team-mates doing?' He thought for about five minutes and held his bishop and sacrificed it on e3.

Throughout the Olympiad, Team India's fortunes had revolved around his games, and Sethu knew that. In the previous rounds, his defeat meant that the team lost or won the matches. It is a strange kind of pressure to carry that weight in your mind.

Sethuraman S.P. [Photo; G. Sudhakaran]

The bishop sacrifice was a blunder in reality. Not much later, he resigned, and the Norwegians were already ahead.

How sad would it have been had we lost to the Norwegians just before the finish line? The top two tables had ended in a draw. We were a point behind thanks to Sethu's loss. India was in trouble.

Adhiban did not find much to do with the black pieces against Jon Ludving 'The Hammer'. Draw. [Photo: D. Llada]

Mt. Magnus Carlsen [Photo; E. Kublashvili]

Harikrishna [Photo: E. Kublashvili]

Pentala Harikrishna had the onerous task of climbing Mt. Magnus. He had the advantage of the white pieces, yet Magnus managed to press him, even though just slightly. Hari managed to draw the game without many hiccups.

[Event "42nd Olympiad Baku 2016 Open"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.13"]
[Round "11.17"]
[White "Harikrishna, P."]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[Annotator "ChessBase"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[WhiteTeam "India"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]

1. e4 {0} e5 {0} 2. Nf3 {0} Nc6 {0} 3. Bc4 {30} Bc5 {16} 4. O-O {8} d6 {34} 5.
c3 {36} Nf6 {3} 6. d3 {55} h6 {42} 7. Re1 {64} O-O {203} 8. h3 {157} a6 {423}
9. Bb3 {67} b5 {818} 10. Nbd2 {552} Bb6 {144} 11. Nf1 {23} Ne7 {45} 12. a4 {392
} Rb8 {488} 13. d4 {454} Ng6 {206} 14. Be3 {408} exd4 {383} 15. Bxd4 {172} c5 {
1073} 16. Bxf6 {14} Qxf6 {2} 17. axb5 {55} axb5 {423} 18. Ne3 {185} Qd8 {7} 19.
Nd5 {98} Bb7 {37} 20. Nxb6 {400} Qxb6 {3} 21. Bd5 {15} Rfe8 {51} 22. Bxb7 {348}
Rxb7 {6} 23. Qd2 {179} Rbe7 {19} 24. Rad1 {7} Re6 {71} 25. Re3 {234} Qc6 {195}
26. Qd5 {398} Qxd5 {8} 27. Rxd5 {6} f6 {87} 28. Rd1 {304} Ra8 {14} 29. b4 {74}
Rae8 {452} 30. Rde1 {256} Kf7 {196} 31. g3 {235} Ne7 {260} 32. Rb1 {102} f5 {95
} 33. e5 {258} cxb4 {47} 34. exd6 {33} Rxe3 {47} 35. fxe3 {8} Nc6 {107} 36. d7
{219} Rxe3 {28} 37. Nd4 {284} Nd8 {7} 38. Kf2 {91} Rxc3 {12} 39. Rxb4 {15} Rc5
{47} 40. Rxb5 {0} Rxb5 {0} 41. Nxb5 {72} Ke7 {35} 42. Nd4 {41} g6 {11} 43. h4 {
257} h5 {10} 44. Kf3 {12} Kxd7 {5} 45. Kf4 {23} Ne6+ {7} 46. Nxe6 {8} Kxe6 {6}
47. Kf3 {19} Ke5 {Ke4+} 1/2-1/2

Vidit Gujrathi, who had been down with fever since mid-way into the Olympiad, managed to get a quite advantageous position until he blundered as well! [Photo: D. Llada]

Vidit, who was white, blundered in this better position with 27.Na4?? Aryan Tari can now hold a draw. Black to play.

Luckily for Vidit, Aryan Tari missed his chance and played 27...Be6?, and Vidit got back his advantage, that he converted into a win. Vidit would have had to return crestfallen had Black found the simple saving resource 27...Qd3+!, when the game should have ended in a draw after 28.Ka1 Qxe2 29.Re1 Qxg2 30.Qxc4+ Kh7=. Team India had managed to hold Norway to a 2.0-2.0 draw.

[Event "42nd Olympiad Baku 2016 Open"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.13"]
[Round "11.19"]
[White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Black "Tari, Aryan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D70"]
[WhiteElo "2669"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[Annotator "ChessBase"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[WhiteTeam "India"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]

1. d4 {0} Nf6 {0} 2. c4 {0} g6 {0} 3. f3 {6} d5 {7} 4. cxd5 {8} Nxd5 {4} 5. e4
{7} Nb6 {3} 6. Nc3 {17} Bg7 {7} 7. Be3 {7} O-O {15} 8. Qd2 {11} Nc6 {16} 9.
O-O-O {9} Qd6 {17} 10. Kb1 {32} Rd8 {34} 11. Nb5 {11} Qd7 {4} 12. d5 {8} a6 {67
} 13. Nc3 {10} Qe8 {10} 14. Qc1 {9} Na5 {6} 15. h4 {33} e6 {23} 16. Bf4 {15}
Qe7 {141} 17. Bg5 {7} f6 {71} 18. Bd2 {7} Nac4 {1690} 19. Bxc4 {15} Nxc4 {10}
20. Nge2 {72} c6 {770} 21. dxc6 {274} bxc6 {464} 22. h5 {659} e5 {653} 23. hxg6
{209} hxg6 {52} 24. Bh6 {105} Bh8 {419} 25. Rxd8+ {690} Qxd8 {1} 26. b3 {33}
Rb8 {150} 27. Na4 {822} Be6 {754} (27... Qd3+ {A check is a check!} 28. Ka1
Qxe2 29. Re1 Qxg2 30. Qxc4+ Kh7 31. Be3 Bg7 32. Qf7 Rb7 33. Qe8 Bd7 34. Qe7 Bc8
35. Qe8 Bd7 $11) 28. Ka1 {297} Nb6 {316} 29. Rd1 {666} Qe8 {4} 30. Nc5 {54} a5
{42} 31. Nxe6 {265} Qxe6 {1} 32. Be3 {99} Bg7 {116} 33. Qd2 {205} c5 {40} 34.
Bxc5 {70} a4 {15} 35. Qd6 {134} Qxd6 {289} 36. Rxd6 {13} Na8 {34} 37. bxa4 {80}
Bf8 {19} 38. Rc6 {6} Bxc5 {10} 39. Rxc5 {2} Kf7 {66} 40. Nc3 {0} Nb6 {0} 41. a5
{259} Nd7 {258} 42. Rc7 {49} Ke7 {25} 43. Rc6 {62} Ra8 {303} 44. Nd5+ {6} Kd8 {
48} 45. a6 {18} 1-0

Although India missed on a podium finishes like last time, we did fight all the best teams that were present and still managed to finish fourth. Bravo, Team India!

Final Standings:

Rg.	Snr	Team	Team	Anz	+	=	-	Wtg1	Wtg2	Wtg3	Wtg4
1	2	United States of America	USA	11	9	2	0	20	413,5	31,5	152,00
2	5	Ukraine	UKR	11	10	0	1	20	404,5	31,0	153,00
3	1	Russia	RUS	11	8	2	1	18	419,0	32,0	151,00
4	9	India	IND	11	7	2	2	16	350,5	27,5	158,00
5	12	Norway	NOR	11	7	2	2	16	344,5	26,5	147,00
6	19	Turkey	TUR	11	7	2	2	16	341,5	30,0	135,00
7	7	Poland	POL	11	7	2	2	16	331,0	29,5	132,00
8	8	France	FRA	11	6	4	1	16	326,5	30,0	131,00
9	6	England	ENG	11	7	2	2	16	323,0	26,5	144,00
10	34	Peru	PER	11	7	2	2	16	306,0	26,5	139,00

Games in PGN for Open and Women

Final Standings

Official Website

Full Report on the Women's section coverage to follow in a while.