Delhi 08: The big fight!
The antepenultimate round of the 14th Delhi Open 2016 saw the top two seeds take on each other. Meanwhile, Pradeep Kumar was rewarded for his performance until now with an IM-norm. The C-category tournament underway simultaneously is witnessing all sorts of upsets you can think of at the Below-1599 level. It also has some very important stories to tell. We bring you this pictorial report from Delhi.
Delhi 08: The big fight!
The antepenultimate round of the 14th Delhi Open 2016 saw the top two seeds take on each other to play a fighting game replete with some imaginative preparation. The Indian challenge at the top boards saw IM Vignesh NR and IM Sayantan Das lose; the latter losing to GM Lalith Babu.
Notes by IM Sagar Shah:
[Site "Delhi"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Grachev, Boris"]
[Black "Popov, Ivan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[PlyCount "58"]
{54} dxc4 {49} 6. e4 {12} b5 {6} 7. e5 {8} h6 {6} 8. Bh4 {4} g5 {5} 9. Nxg5 {25
} hxg5 {6} 10. Bxg5 {5} Nbd7 {6} 11. exf6 {14} Bb7 {16} 12. g3 {85} c5 {15} 13.
d5 {28} Qb6 {18} 14. Bg2 {29} O-O-O {22} 15. O-O {126} b4 {99} 16. Rb1 {159}
Qa6 {153} 17. dxe6 {104} Bxg2 {48 Believe it or not this position has already
been reached 200 times!} 18. Re1 $5 {250 This was already played by Krylov
against Popov in 2012 and Popov had won. So it could be safe to assume that
Grachev had an improvement.} (18. e7 {has been played in 190 of those 200
games.}) 18... fxe6 {489} 19. Kxg2 {172} bxc3 {48} 20. bxc3 {106 This is
Grachev's big improvement. The position is still equal but Popov has to find
some only moves to maintain equality. Knowing what high level of preparation
he has it is safe to assume that Popov was well prepared.} (20. f7 {was played
by Krylov.}) 20... Qc6+ $1 {179} 21. Kg1 {45} Bh6 $1 {53} 22. Qg4 {173} Bxg5 {
132} 23. Rxe6 $1 {28 There is no time to win back lost material.} Qd5 {67
Black is now two pieces up for a few pawns but White has some nasty tricks!}
24. Qf5 $5 {173} Qa8 {322} (24... Qxf5 25. Rc6# {is something that you wish
for but never really happens in a game!}) 25. Rb5 {173} Rxh2 $1 {92 The
quickest way to draw the game. The threat of mate on h1 forces White to give a
perpetual.} 26. Rxc5+ {32} (26. Kxh2 $2 Rh8+ $19) 26... Nxc5 {7} 27. Qxc5+ {52}
Kb8 {6} 28. Qe5+ {24} Kc8 {7} 29. Qc5+ {24} Kb8 {6} 1/2-1/2
Pairings for Round 09:
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
1 | 2 | GM | Popov Ivan | 2650 | 7½ | 6½ | GM | Solodovnichenko Yuri | 2581 | 5 | |
2 | 21 | GM | Czebe Attila | 2466 | 6½ | 6½ | GM | Lalith Babu M R | 2553 | 10 | |
3 | 18 | GM | Nguyen Duc Hoa | 2494 | 6 | 6 | GM | Grachev Boris | 2652 | 1 | |
4 | 20 | IM | Narayanan Srinath | 2478 | 6 | 6 | GM | Sivuk Vitaly | 2566 | 6 | |
5 | 27 | GM | Sriram Jha | 2416 | 6 | 6 | GM | Vaibhav Suri | 2552 | 11 | |
6 | 12 | GM | Bernadskiy Vitaliy | 2546 | 6 | 6 | GM | Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy | 2489 | 19 | |
7 | 16 | GM | Neverov Valeriy | 2506 | 6 | 6 | Pradeep Kumar R A | 2302 | 47 | ||
8 | 29 | IM | Das Sayantan | 2411 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | David Alberto | 2597 | 3 | |
9 | 38 | Kulkarni Rakesh | 2349 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Demchenko Anton | 2596 | 4 | ||
10 | 35 | IM | Ravi Teja S. | 2385 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Mozharov Mikhail | 2559 | 7 |
View the complete pairing list here.
Complete results of Round 08.
Download important Round 01-08 games in PGN
Category-C Open
As you would expect, or maybe not expect, the C-category tournament is like a multiple sided coin flipped for a toss. You don't know if you will get a heads, tails, or whatever for that matter. However, with three rounds a day, the tournament is progressing at breakneck speed and there are five players tied for the lead with 6.0/6.
Check the pairings for Round 07 here.
Photos for ChessBase India