Edmonton 01-04: Ganguly begins with 4.0/4!
The 11th edition of the Edmonton International Chess Festival is taking place at the Edmonton Chess Club between June 17-26, 2016. The main event is a ten-player Round Robin tournament. This year's event features the legendary GM Alexei Shirov. Other participants include Indian GMs Surya Shekhar Ganguly and S.P. Sethuraman. We bring you an illustrated report with a video lecture by GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly.
Edmonton 01-04: Ganguly begins with 4.0/4!
The 11th edition of the Edmonton International Chess Festival is taking place at the Edmonton Chess Club between June 17-26, 2016.
The main event is a ten-player Round Robin tournament. This year's event features the legendary GM Alexei Shirov. Other participants include Indian GMs Surya Shekhar Ganguly and S.P. Sethuraman. Also in the fray are GM Sam Shankland, GM Bator Sambuev, IM Richard Wang, Bitan Banerjee, Belsar Valencia, FM Ian Findlay and FM Dale Haessel.
In this game against Richard Wang (2341), played int he first round itself, the readers will understand why Shirov is Shirov.
White is clearly ahead, but can you bend it like Shirov?
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.06.18"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Black "Wang, Richard"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "2685"]
[BlackElo "2341"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r1k3/2q2p1Q/p3p2p/1p1pP3/3P2r1/N4NP1/5PKP/1R6 b - - 0 21"]
[PlyCount "6"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "1:03:38"]
[BlackClock "0:16:29"]
Qxa6 followed by check on the a-e8 diagonal is almost unstoppable.} 1-0
Shirov has scored two wins and two draws in the event so far. He was held to a draw by GM Sam Shankland and India's Bitan Banerjee, who defended his French defence quite tenaciously.
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.06.21"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Black "Bitan, Banerjee"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "2685"]
[BlackElo "2341"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:14:32"]
[BlackClock "0:20:56"]
} Qb6 {8} 6. a3 {7} Nh6 {11} 7. b4 {22} cxd4 {7} 8. cxd4 {6} Nf5 {9} 9. Be3 {29
} f6 {72} 10. exf6 {182} gxf6 {19} 11. Bd3 {53} Nxe3 {33} 12. fxe3 {6} Bh6 {905
} 13. Qe2 {1694} Bd7 {85} 14. Nc3 {137} Ne7 {840} 15. Nd2 {490} O-O {888} 16.
Nb3 {71} f5 {284} 17. Nc5 {23} Bc8 {90} 18. O-O {421} Qd8 {152} 19. Rf3 {747}
Rf6 {262} 20. Bb5 {220} a5 {284} 21. bxa5 {309} Rxa5 {421} 22. a4 {56} Ng6 {148
} 23. Rh3 {124} Bf8 {97} 24. Qh5 {110} Rf7 {101} 25. Nd3 {447} Bd6 {39} 26. Rf1
{559} Bd7 {305} 27. g4 {85} Rg7 {137} 28. Kh1 {16} fxg4 {211} 29. Qxg4 {5} Bc8
{37} 30. Qh5 {75} b6 {29} 31. Ne2 {172} Raa7 {37} 32. Nef4 {77} Raf7 {87} 33.
Rg3 {99} Bd7 {305} 34. Rfg1 {34} Bxb5 {187} 35. axb5 {8} Bxf4 {15} 36. exf4 {86
} Qf6 {97} 37. Ne5 {21} Nxe5 {99} 38. fxe5 {32} Qe7 {75} 39. Qh6 {16} Rxg3 {54}
40. Rxg3+ {4} Kh8 {8} 41. Kg2 {0} Rf8 {0} 42. Rg6 {0} Rg8 {0} 43. Rg3 {0} Rf8 {
0} 44. Kh3 {0} Qf7 {0} 45. Kh4 {0} Qe7+ {0} 46. Kh3 {0} Qf7 {0} 47. Kh4 {0}
1/2-1/2
Ganguly was paired against Bitan Banerjee in the very first round, where they entered a topical variation. Bitan was the first to deviate into a less charted territory:
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.06.18"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Bitan, Banerjee"]
[Black "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2341"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:04:35"]
[BlackClock "0:04:55"]
Bg5 {4} c6 {14} 6. e3 {7} Bf5 {94} 7. Qf3 {8} Bg6 {5} 8. Bxf6 {7} Qxf6 {5} 9.
Qxf6 {5} gxf6 {8} 10. h4 {5} h5 {17} 11. Nh3 {555} Nd7 {284} 12. Nf4 {80} Bd6 {
683} 13. f3 {436} Nf8 {544} 14. g3 {295} Ne6 {60} 15. Bh3 {924} f5 {300} 16.
Kf2 {234} Ke7 {75} 17. Nd3 {91} a5 {273} 18. Na4 {72} Rhg8 {417} 19. Rhg1 {86}
Kd8 {105} 20. Rac1 {54} Kc7 {140} 21. Bf1 {217} Rae8 {82} 22. Nf4 {385} Nxf4 {
275} 23. exf4 {5} Be7 {103} 24. Be2 {281} Bf6 {27} 25. Rgd1 {9} Kd6 {126} 26.
Bf1 {667} Bh7 {204} 27. Nc3 {63} b5 {461} 28. Rd2 {290} Rg7 {270} 29. Bh3 {89}
Reg8 {97} 30. Ne2 {95} Rb8 {25} 31. Rd3 {276} b4 {65} 32. Re3 {60} Bd8 {144}
33. Re8 {293} Bc7 {369} 34. Rxb8 {401} Bxb8 {7} 35. Bf1 {40} Ba7 {25} 36. Rd1 {
33} f6 {70} 37. Bh3 {172} a4 {160} 38. b3 {97} Bb6 {111} 39. Ke3 {32} Ra7 {109}
40. Nc1 {55} Re7+ {533} 41. Kd3 {0} a3 {0} 42. Ne2 {0} c5 {0} 43. dxc5+ {0}
Bxc5 {0} 44. Rf1 {0} Bg6 {0} 45. Kd2 {0} Be3+ {0} 46. Kc2 {0} Be8 {0} 47. Rd1 {
0} Bd7 {0} 48. Bf1 {0} Bf2 {61} 49. Kd2 {33} Re8 {51} 50. Nc1 {73} Bxg3 {35}
51. Nd3 {21} Bb5 {158} 52. Nxb4 {56} Bxf4+ {22} 53. Kc2 {23} Bxf1 {25} 54. Rxf1
{11} Re2+ {8} 55. Kd3 {77} Rd2+ {127} 56. Kc3 {2} Rb2 {42} 57. Kd3 {80} Rd2+ {
16} 58. Kc3 {4} Rb2 {3} 59. Kd3 {22} Kc5 {21} 60. Na6+ {74} Kb5 {15} 61. Kd4
0-1
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.06.19"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"]
[Black "Sethuraman, S.P."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2654"]
[BlackElo "2647"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:27:48"]
[BlackClock "0:04:19"]
6} Ne7 {36} 6. O-O {47} h6 {12} 7. Nbd2 {182} Nd7 {20} 8. Nb3 {44} g5 {12} 9.
a4 {50} Bg7 {135} 10. a5 {252} O-O {453} 11. Re1 {191} Ng6 {416} 12. Bd3 {1423}
Bxd3 {972} 13. Qxd3 {16} g4 {11} 14. Nfd2 {20} Rc8 {594} 15. Qe2 {610} c5 {331}
16. Qxg4 {124} c4 {23} 17. Nc5 {12} Nxc5 {237} 18. dxc5 {7} Rxc5 {225} 19. Nf3
{287} d4 {51} 20. Qh5 {172} Rxa5 {757} 21. Bxh6 {433} Rxa1 {74} 22. Rxa1 {114}
Qd5 {134} 23. Qg5 {116} Qd8 {37} 24. Qh5 {11} Qd5 {6} 25. h4 {233} Nxe5 {274}
26. Nxe5 {406} Bxh6 {51} 27. Qxh6 {340} Qxe5 {5} 28. Ra3 {9} c3 {277} 29. bxc3
{79} dxc3 {24} 30. Ra4 {76} Qg7 {269} 31. Qh5 {120} f5 {7} 32. Rxa7 {75} Rd8 {
176} 33. Qf3 {241} Qg4 {232} 34. Qxg4+ {115} fxg4 {6} 35. Rxb7 {15} Rd2 {44}
36. Rb4 {129} g3 {196} 37. Rg4+ {71} Kf7 {8} 38. Rxg3 {7} Rxc2 {7} 39. Rf3+ {22
} Kg6 {38} 40. g4 {17} Rc1+ {105} 41. Kg2 {31} e5 {0} 42. Rd3 {0} e4 {0} 43.
Rd6+ {0} Kg7 {0} 44. Rc6 {0} c2 {0} 45. h5 {0} Kh7 {23} 46. Kh2 {0} Kh8 {89}
47. Rc7 {0} Kg8 {54} 48. g5 {0} Kh8 {50} 49. Rc8+ {0} Kg7 {125} 50. h6+ {0} Kg6
{34} 51. Rc6+ {0} Kh7 {40} 52. Rc7+ {0} 1-0
Crosstable after four rounds: