India-China Match 01: Karthikeyan puts India in the lead

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 06/03/2017

One of the strongest chess country in the world is playing a Scheveningen match with the rising power India. With some of the most talented players from both countries in the fray, the event is not to be missed by any Indian! Enjoy the illustrated report.

India-China Match 01: Karthikeyan puts India in the lead

It is an event not to be missed because two of the Asian giants and among the best in the world, India and China are fighting against each other in a Scheveningen match at Liaocheng City in China.

The Chinese have a reasonably strong line-up, although it is not their best. The prodigy Wei Yi (2725) and Bu Xiangzhi (2711) lead them with Lu Shanglei (2624) and Zhao Jianchao (2619) completing the team. Team India is represented by S.S. Ganguly (2644), S.P. Sethuraman (2629), Abhijeet Gupta (2627), Karthikeyan Murali (2578).

The games begin

The Indian champion Karthikeyan Murali won the only game that was decisive in the round. He had no problems to equalize with black after his opponent...

...Zhao Jianchao decided top open with a sideline with white against the Kings Indian.

But a bad blunder by the Chinese with 17.g4?? meant that Karthikeyan could just murder his opponent.

[Event "China India Match 2017"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.03.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Zhou, Jianchao"]
[Black "Karthikeyan, Murali"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E97"]
[WhiteElo "2619"]
[BlackElo "2578"]
[Annotator "rehne do"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Ne7 9. Bg5 {Rare} h6 10. Bd2 c5 11. Ne1 Nh7 12. Qc1 g5 13. Bd3 f5 14. exf5 Bxf5
15. f3 Qd7 16. Qb1 Nf6 17. g4 $4 (17. Bxf5 Nxf5 18. Qd3 Nd4 19. Nc2 $11) 17...
e4 $1 18. Bc2 $2 (18. gxf5 exd3 19. Qxd3 Nxf5 $17) 18... Bxg4 19. Nxe4 (19.
fxg4 Nxg4 20. Ng2 Bd4+ 21. Kh1 Rxf1+ 22. Qxf1 Nf2+ 23. Kg1 Rf8 $19) 19... Nxe4
20. Bxe4 Bf5 $17 21. Ng2 Rae8 22. f4 Bxe4 23. Qxe4 Nf5 24. Qd3 Bxb2 25. Rae1 g4
26. Kh1 Bd4 27. Re2 Qf7 28. Rfe1 Rxe2 29. Rxe2 b5 30. Re6 bxc4 31. Qxc4 Qh5 32.
Qd3 {6360} g3 {6390} 0-1

Lu Shanglei tried to put pressure on...

...Abhijeet Gupta but with not many weaknesses in Gupta's position to work against, he had to settle for a draw. A success for Gupta with black.

Surya Shekhar Ganguly also had an interesting fight against...

...Bu Xiangzhi. But there was nothing tangible to play with and they reached a draw.

Although he had the black pieces, many people would bet on Wei Yi pressing for a win...

...which is precisely what he did against Sethuraman by winning a pawn. It looked like Sethu was in trouble but in the end, he held the fort without too many troubles.

[Event "China India Match 2017"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.03.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Sethuraman, S.P."]
[Black "Wei, Yi"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2629"]
[BlackElo "2725"]
[PlyCount "154"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[WhiteClock "0:01:07"]
[BlackClock "0:00:08"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a3
d6 9. h3 Na5 10. Ba2 c5 11. Nc3 Be6 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. exd5 Bd7 14. d3 Kh8 15. b4
Nb7 16. Be3 Rc8 17. Qe2 Re8 18. Rad1 a5 19. Qd2 axb4 20. axb4 cxb4 21. Qxb4
Rxc2 22. Bb1 Rc8 23. d4 exd4 (23... f5 24. dxe5 dxe5 25. d6 Bf6 $15) 24. Bxd4
Bf6 25. Rxe8+ Bxe8 26. Bd3 Nc5 27. Bxf6 Qxf6 28. Bxb5 Rb8 29. Re1 Qd8 30. Ng5
Qxg5 31. Rxe8+ Rxe8 32. Bxe8 Kg8 33. Bc6 Qd8 34. Qd4 Qe7 35. g3 Qe2 36. Qg4
Qe1+ 37. Kg2 g6 38. Bb5 Qe5 39. Qf3 Ne4 40. Bc6 Nc3 41. Qd3 Kg7 42. Kf1 g5 43.
Kg2 f5 {6291} 44. f4 {6214} gxf4 {114} 45. gxf4 {14} Qf6 {35} 46. Kf3 {129} Ne4
{224} 47. Bd7 {7} h5 {92} 48. h4 {398} Qxh4 {70} 49. Bxf5 {4} Qh1+ 50. Ke3 {33}
Qe1+ {37} 51. Kf3 {24} Qh1+ {30} 52. Ke3 {33} Nf6 {61} 53. Be6 {0} Qg1+ {12}
54. Kf3 {30} Qh1+ {34} 55. Ke3 {31} Qg1+ {33} 56. Kf3 {30} h4 {45} 57. Qf5 {19}
Qf1+ 58. Ke3 {8} Qe1+ {25} 59. Kf3 {25} Qc3+ {60} 60. Kg2 {65} Qg3+ {27} 61.
Kh1 Qf3+ {24} 62. Kg1 {114} Qe3+ {27} 63. Kg2 {18} Qg3+ {19} 64. Kh1 {12} Qf3+
{59} 65. Kg1 {17} Qh5 {20} 66. Qd3 {64} Qh6 {38} 67. Qf5 Qh5 {33} 68. Qd3 {39}
Qh6 {33} 69. Qf5 {0} Kf8 {23} 70. Kh2 {104} Qg7 {10} 71. Qh3 Qh6 {23} 72. Qf5 {
32} Qg7 {12} 73. Qh3 {4} Qh7 {71} 74. Qc3 {35} Qg6 {30} 75. Kh3 {68} Nh5 {18}
76. Qf3 {33} Qh6 {47} 77. Kxh4 {39} Qxf4+ {55} 1/2-1/2

The games about to begin. Team India now leads the four-round Scheveningen match 2.5-1.5. A Scheveningen match means that each player in the team would play each player in the other team.

A cake celebrating the match—probably to quash on the face of the manager of the winning team?

Designer biscuits

Games in progress. We will be providing continuous updates for the second round.

Also Read:

The more you share, the more chess and the news about Team India would spread. Please share with your fans and followers: