Adhiban Baskaran is back! After a scintillating TATA Steel tournament and a depressing Aeroflot Open, the Indian No. 3 is back doing what he does best—play good, sharp chess. And inspired by their hero, the remaining pack of Indians are playing sparkling chess as well. Find out how.
Sharjah 02+03: Adhiban leads as Indians sparkle
Photos by Maria Emelianova
When was the last time you saw a tournament on foreign soil where 50% of the players are Indians!? Welcome to Sharjah Masters 2017, a tournament the AICF should adopt as its own (so that they can at least announce in the speeches that we have an Indian super tournament, a great step forward for Indian chess)!
Anyhow, we will discuss strong Indian tournaments (or their lack thereof) in a different article. For now, let's jump straight into the heart of the matter and see some chess:
Adhiban is coming on the back of a spectacular Wijk Aan Zee and a depressing Aeroflot tournament. In any case, he seems to have recovered himself and is playing some sparkling chess.
Adhiban sacrificed his knight on e2. What crushing trick had he foreseen?
S.P. Sethuraman was playing at the very top against Wang Hao who played some seriously aggressive moves. It is another story if they were objectively accurate, but they sure were scary!
In fact, Sethu simply had to play ...Qd5 here and he would have had an edge. Instead, he blundered with Nh6, to which Wang Hao gleefully replied Bxh6 gxh6, because....
But his Round 3 effort against Salem AR Saleh takes the cake. Just look at the poor rook on h4. Indeed, White has a good advantage but both the players have about 2 minutes left on the clock. Let the moves tell the story...
[Event "1st Sharjah Masters 2017"] [Site "Sharjah"] [Date "2017.03.24"] [Round "2"] [White "Praggnanandhaa R"] [Black "Safarli, Eltaj"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2455"] [BlackElo "2680"] [Annotator "TA"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "5rk1/1pp2r2/2n1p3/p6p/P1N1p1p1/2Pn4/1PNRRPPP/6K1 b - - 0 28"] [PlyCount "28"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [SourceDate "2003.06.08"] {[#]} 28... b6 {For reasons unknown, Safarli decides to give back the e4 pawn.} (28... Rf4 $17 {And Black is putting a lot of pressure on the white forces, thanks to the extra, and at the same time powerful, pawn on e4.} 29. g3 R4f6 30. Rxe4 Nxf2 $19) 29. Rxe4 Nc5 ({Much worse is} 29... Nxf2 $6 30. Rxe6 Nd8 31. Re5 $16) 30. Re1 Rf4 31. N2a3 R8f7 {The position is equal.} 32. g3 Re4 33. Rxe4 Nxe4 34. Re2 Nc5 35. Nb5 Rd7 36. Kg2 e5 37. h3 ({Don't take} 37. Nxe5 $2 Re7 38. b4 axb4 39. cxb4 Nxa4 40. Nxc7 Rxe5 $19) 37... e4 38. hxg4 hxg4 39. Rd2 { Threatening Rxd7.} Nd3 40. Re2 Nc5 41. Rd2 {With the idea Rxd7.} Nd3 42. Re21/2-1/2
On 1.0/3 is Nihal Sarin. He lost to Arkadij Naiditsch (2702) and Xu Xiangyu (2502) but he surely learned a lot in the space of 2 games. Have a look...
Against Naiditsch, a long, complex fight resulted in this position where Nihal has an advantage but has a minute left on the clock while his opponent has twenty.
He grabs his chance and goes for a win, only to find that he has been tricked! And then he loses thanks to one small error—the placement of his rook.
A tough day at work for the young man.
[Event "1st Sharjah Masters 2017"] [Site "Sharjah"] [Date "2017.03.24"] [Round "2"] [White "Nihal Sarin"] [Black "Naiditsch, Arkadij"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E94"] [WhiteElo "2386"] [BlackElo "2702"] [Annotator "TA"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/1p2R3/2p3p1/2Pk2N1/5p1P/2n5/1r3PP1/6K1 w - - 0 42"] [PlyCount "34"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [SourceDate "2003.06.08"] {[#]} 42. Rg7 $1 $16 {White is the one pushing for a win but he is down on time. Naiditsch clearly knew this even before he reached this position. He must have sensed that his young opponent was furiously trying to find a win with only 1 minute left—a fact naiditsch used to his advantage!} b5 { ...b4 is the strong threat.} 43. cxb6 $1 (43. Rxg6 b4 44. h5 b3 $17) 43... c5 44. b7 $1 ({Don't play} 44. Rxg6 $6 c4 45. Kh2 Ne2 $11) 44... c4 45. Rc7 (45. Kh2 $1 $16) 45... Ne2+ 46. Kh2 {Black must now prevent Rd7+.} (46. Kf1 $1 Nc3 47. g3 fxg3 48. fxg3 $16) 46... c3 47. Nf7 Rb3 48. Nd8 $2 {Nihal finally goes wrong in time pressure. The position is complex but he had to find} (48. f3 Nd4 49. Rxc3 Rxb7 50. Ng5 $14 {White is a clear pawn ahead.}) 48... Kd6 $1 49. Rc6+ Kd7 50. Rc8 $1 {[#]} Rxb7 $1 51. Rxc3 {Strongly threatening Rd3+.} (51. Nxb7 Kxc8) 51... Kxd8 $15 {KRN-KR} ({Much worse is} 51... Nxc3 $6 52. Nxb7 Ke6 53. Kh3 $16) 52. Rc6 {But as it happens, the game can still be drawn.} Rh7 53. Kh3 g5 54. Kg4 gxh4 55. Re6 $2 {[#]} (55. Ra6 $15 Rg7+ 56. Kh3) (55. Rc4 $1 { is an idea that should lead to a draw practically.} Rg7+ (55... f3 56. Kxf3 { and white has no check on d4.})) 55... f3 $1 {The big difference between Re6 and Rc4 is that White has a knight fork if Kxf3 in this position. A fact neatly missed by Nihal with seconds on the clock.} 56. gxf3 h3 (56... Ng1 $142 57. Ra6 Kc8 58. Ra8+ Kb7 59. Ra1 h3 60. Rb1+ Kc6 61. Rc1+ Kd5 62. Rd1+ Ke6 63. Re1+ Kf6 64. Kf4 h2 65. Ra1 Rf7 66. Ra5 Ne2+ 67. Ke4 Re7+ 68. Kd5 h1=Q 69. Ra6+ Kf7 70. Rg6 Kxg6 71. Kd6 Qc1 $1 72. Kxe7 Qc7+ 73. Ke8 Kf6 74. Kf8 Qf7#) 57. Ra6 {[#]} Rh4+ $1 {A beautiful end to the game.} ({Don't go for} 57... h2 $2 58. Ra8+ Ke7 59. Ra7+ Kf8 60. Rxh7 $18) (57... Kc8 $142 58. Ra8+ Kb7 59. Ra1 {[#]} Ng1 $1 60. Rxg1 Rg7+ 61. Kxh3 Rxg1 62. Kh2 Rg8 63. Kh3 Kc6 64. f4 Kd6 65. Kh4 Ke6 66. Kh5 Kf5 67. Kh4 Rg7 68. f3 Rg8 69. Kh3 Kxf4 70. Kh2 Kxf3 71. Kh1 Kf2 72. Kh2 Rh8#) 58. Kxh4 h2 0-1
In this next game, he rejects a draw to sacrifice his queen, but White had a strategic resouce he had overlooked:
[Event "1st Sharjah Masters 2017"] [Site "Sharjah"] [Date "2017.03.25"] [Round "3"] [White "Xu, Xiangyu"] [Black "Nihal Sarin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E12"] [WhiteElo "2503"] [BlackElo "2386"] [Annotator "ChessBase"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r2q1rk1/pb3p1p/1p3bp1/n2P4/8/P2B1N2/1B1Q1PPP/R4RK1 w - - 0 18"] [PlyCount "27"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [SourceDate "2003.06.08"] [TimeControl "5400+30"] {[#]} 18. Qh6 {0} Bxb2 {0 He decides to sacrifice the queen!} (18... Re8 19. Ng5 Qxd5 20. Qxh7+ Kf8 21. Qh6+ $11 {is a dead draw.}) 19. Ng5 {0} Qxg5 {0} 20. Qxg5 {0} Bxa1 {0} 21. Rxa1 {0 Unfortunately, the problem with this position is not black's pieces, which can activated reasonably quickly. The problem is that white has a very simple plan: h4-h5-h6! And if plack plays h5 to stop white from playing h5, white can break with g4, and attack anyway. This simple plan is more than enough for white to win!} Rad8 {0} 22. Be4 {0} Rfe8 {0} 23. h4 {0} h6 {0} 24. Qf6 {0} Rd7 {0} 25. f3 {0} h5 {0} 26. Rd1 {0} Nb3 {0} 27. g4 {0} hxg4 {0} 28. h5 {0} gxh5 {0} 29. Qg5+ {0} Kf8 {0} 30. Qh6+ {0} Ke7 {0} 31. Bf5 {0 No doubt this game would lead to some intorspections and Nihal will try to strike back stronger.} 1-0
Searching for his IM title is Rakesh Kulkarni on 1.0/3.
GM R.R. Laxman is on 1.5/3.
Serious on the board but incredibly funny off it—Pawan Dodeja is on 2.0/3.
Learn from the classics—Yuri Kuzubov of Ukraine plays the Dark Goggles Gambit, first invented by Pal Benko, popularized later by Vladimir Kramnik and Hikaru Nakamura.
While some other players have a more natural style of avoiding hypnosis—close them eyes! Good.