Grand Swiss R02: Adhiban on a roll, Vishy bounces back

by Satanick Mukhuty - 12/10/2019

Playing the black pieces, in round two, Adhiban Baskaran displayed some really superior handling of the Open Spanish to outplay his talented 18-year-old opponent Jeffrey Xiong and pull off his second consecutive win. Vishy Anand also made an emphatic comeback by registering a crushing victory over Israel's Tal Baron, while Raunak Sadhwani kept up his sensational performance by holding the former world champion challenger Sergey Karjakin to a draw. The FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss 2019 has already taken a sharp turn. By the end of second round itself, in the field of total 154 top-class Grandmasters, it is just five players now who lead with perfect scores of 2.0/2 points each. Adhiban is the only Indian in this group which is led by Fabiano Caruana and also includes Wang Hao, Bu Xiangzhi, and Alexei Shirov.

Adhiban is one of the five leaders after two rounds

Adhiban Baskaran (left) in action against Jeffrey Xiong in round two of FIDE Grand Swiss 2019 | Photo: John Saunders

Adhiban Baskaran registered his second consecutive victory and this time with black pieces against the in-form American wunderkind Jeffery Xiong. The 18-year-old phenom was actually the rating-favourite but the Indian GM was able to hold his own and exploit the strategic mistakes made by his opponent to create a winning passer in the middle of the board. We begin by looking at the highlights of this exciting encounter.

Jeffery Xiong - Adhiban Baskaran, Round 2

After 17.Nd4

Arising out of an open Ruy Lopez, the above position is roughly equal but White must play actively as otherwise Black's four to three queenside majority can become a serious problem. Moreover, Black also has nice control of the semi-open f-file which potentially can turn dangerous. Adhiban must have been very satisfied to get such a comfortable position out of the opening. The game continued 17...Bg8 18.Bc2 Ne5 19.b4 Nc4, both players avoided exchanging pieces and Black found a strong outpost for his knight on c4.

With the knight firmly lodged on c4, Black can now think about breaking on the queenside with a6-a5 followed by c5!

Next, with 21...Qb6 Black adopted the most incisive plan to realize his initiative. If he could only remove the d4 knight out of the way, his pawns will start rolling. How should White react in this position?

In the game 22.Qg3 was played and this was the inaccuracy that tilted the position in Black's favour. After 22...axb4 23.Nf5 Qf6 24.cxb4 d4 the d-pawn was set to run down the board scot-free! Jeffrey resigned only after ten more moves from here in a completely helpless position.

The d-pawn, supported by all the heavy pieces around, was a monster!

The correct continuation would have been 22.bxa5 Nxa5 23.Qd3 Nc4 24.a4 bxa4 25.Bxa4 where Black is still perhaps the one on the better side of equality but White has good chances. At least, here it is not easy for Black to realize his queenside majority.

Analysis board

White's best chance would have been to cling on to the control of the critical d4 square. In the above position it is not easy for Black to make progress, even though he can still lash out with c7-c5 at any moment.

The full game till the end with detailed annotations can be seen below:

Vishy Anand makes a crushing comeback!

After suffering an unexpected defeat in round one, the Madras Tiger bounced back in the second round with an emphatic win over Tal Baron. The five-time World Champion needed just 27 moves to crush through his Israeli opponent's defenses. Tal had the black pieces and adopted the fashionable Sveshnikov variation of the Sicilian, Anand was the first to make a new move and take the game into uncharted territory. By move 15, the players castled on the opposite side of board and a double-edged fight awaited the scene.

Vishy Anand in discussion with Tal Baron after the game | Photo: John Saunders

Vishy Anand - Tal Baron, Round 2

The position above must be objectively equal but practically White seems to have an edge. His pieces are more active and he has a very straightforward plan to make progress with f2-f4.

16...Bf6?! was a definite error, 16...Bd7 with the idea of exchanging the strong white bishop on b5 off should have been better.

With White's mighty knight on c4, it was clear that Black would soon crumble on the queenside.

The picture of perfect domination, look at those beautiful bishops on c5 and b5! It was only six moves from here that Black decided to call it a day. The full game with brief annotations is presented below.

The two most anticipated encounters of the day were Sergey Karjakin versus Raunak Sadhwani and Boris Gelfand versus Nihal Sarin. While Raunak was able to hold his opponent to a draw quite smoothly, Nihal struggled to hold his own against Boris and lost after a 71-move long struggle.

15-year-old Nihal definitely gained a wealth of experience facing the Israeli legend Boris Gelfand | Photo: John Saunders

Boris had to toil hard in a bishops versus knights ending to clinch the full point | Photo: John Saunders

Raunak's game against Sergey was the first to finish in the whole tournament. The Indian prodigy defended very effectively with black pieces and didn't allow the former world champion challenger to make any progress | Photo: John Saunders

During the analysis after game. Clearly, the youngster is on his way to become India's 65th Grandmaster | Photo: John Saunders

A big upset!

India's Sethuraman S.P. suffered a huge shock in round two of the event as he was outplayed by Elina Danielian, who is more than 250 points lower-rated. Elina, playing the black pieces, held the upper hand multiple times throughout the topsy-turvy game but it was not until move 36 when the Indian GM made a damaging blunder that the result was finally decided.

Sethuraman is having a tough time in this event as he has lost both his games so far | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Sethuraman S.P. - Alina Danielian, Round 2

Can you see what Sethuraman had missed when he played 36.Qe3? Check out the full game below to know the answer.

Harika Dronavalli drew once again, this time against Ray Robson (2670), in the second round of the event and now has 1.0/2 points | Photo: John Saunders

Soumya Swaminathan held Robert Hovhannisyan, rated more than 250 points above her, to a draw with black pieces in round two | Photo: John Saunders

Gukesh D drew Yuriy Kryvoruchko with black pieces and has 1.0/2 points | Photo: John Saunders

Results of all Indian players from round two

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
2	8	70	GM	Bluebaum Matthias	2643	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	2718	17
2	9	20	GM	Xiong Jeffery	2708	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Adhiban B.	2639	73
2	16	6	GM	Karjakin Sergey	2760	½	½ - ½	1	IM	Sadhwani Raunak	2479	129
2	20	96	GM	Van Foreest Jorden	2621	½	½ - ½	½	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	2748	9
2	28	104	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2611	½	½ - ½	½	GM	Vallejo Pons Francisco	2694	25
2	32	30	GM	Gelfand Boris	2686	½	1 - 0	½	GM	Nihal Sarin	2610	105
2	37	114	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2571	½	0 - 1	½	GM	Korobov Anton	2679	35
2	39	120	IM	Bjerre Jonas Buhl	2506	½	½ - ½	½	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2675	37
2	43	122	GM	Harika Dronavalli	2495	½	½ - ½	½	GM	Robson Ray	2670	43
2	44	44	GM	Kryvoruchko Yuriy	2669	½	½ - ½	½	GM	Gukesh D	2520	119
2	50	54	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2658	½	1 - 0	½	IM	Saduakassova Dinara	2481	127
2	59	74	GM	Hovhannisyan Robert	2639	½	½ - ½	½	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2365	149
2	62	4	GM	Anand Viswanathan	2765	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Baron Tal	2531	118
2	63	124	GM	Prithu Gupta	2493	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Shankland Sam	2705	21
2	74	94	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2624	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Danielian Elina	2385	147

Pairings of all Indian players for round three

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
3	3	73	GM	Adhiban B.	2639	2		1½	GM	Wojtaszek Radoslaw	2748	10
3	11	17	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	2718	1½		1½	GM	Chigaev Maksim	2644	68
3	25	129	IM	Sadhwani Raunak	2479	1½		1½	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2658	54
3	27	83	GM	Abasov Nijat	2632	1		1	GM	Anand Viswanathan	2765	4
3	30	9	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	2748	1		1	GM	L'ami Erwin	2619	98
3	34	23	GM	Dubov Daniil	2699	1		1	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2611	104
3	41	37	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2675	1		1	GM	Harika Dronavalli	2495	122
3	47	119	GM	Gukesh D	2520	1		1	GM	Saric Ivan	2667	46
3	56	149	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2365	1		1	GM	Kuzubov Yuriy	2636	78
3	61	59	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2654	½		½	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2571	114
3	69	105	GM	Nihal Sarin	2610	½		½	WGM	Nebolsina Vera	2252	152
3	73	140	IM	Bulmaga Irina	2442	0		0	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2624	94
3	75	142	IM	Houska Jovanka	2430	0		0	GM	Prithu Gupta	2493	124

Results of top ten boards from round two

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	58	GM	Sarana Alexey	2655	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Carlsen Magnus	2876	1
2	2	GM	Caruana Fabiano	2812	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Sevian Samuel	2654	61
3	60	GM	Oparin Grigoriy	2654	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Yu Yangyi	2763	5
4	62	GM	Motylev Alexander	2651	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Artemiev Vladislav	2746	11
5	63	GM	Melkumyan Hrant	2650	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2732	13
6	65	GM	Mamedov Rauf	2645	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Wang Hao	2726	15
7	16	GM	Bu Xiangzhi	2721	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Riazantsev Alexander	2645	67
8	70	GM	Bluebaum Matthias	2643	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	2718	17
9	20	GM	Xiong Jeffery	2708	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Adhiban B.	2639	73
10	76	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	2638	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Anton Guijarro David	2674	39

Top ten Pairings for round three

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	49	GM	Shirov Alexei	2664	2		2	GM	Caruana Fabiano	2812	2
2	15	GM	Wang Hao	2726	2		2	GM	Bu Xiangzhi	2721	16
3	73	GM	Adhiban B.	2639	2		1½	GM	Wojtaszek Radoslaw	2748	10
4	1	GM	Carlsen Magnus	2876	1½		1½	GM	Kasimdzhanov Rustam	2657	56
5	5	GM	Yu Yangyi	2763	1½		1½	GM	Sarana Alexey	2655	58
6	7	GM	Grischuk Alexander	2759	1½		1½	GM	Oparin Grigoriy	2654	60
7	11	GM	Artemiev Vladislav	2746	1½		1½	GM	Melkumyan Hrant	2650	63
8	57	GM	Demchenko Anton	2655	1½		1½	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2745	12
9	13	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2732	1½		1½	GM	Motylev Alexander	2651	62
10	66	GM	Papaioannou Ioannis	2645	1½		1½	GM	Svidler Peter	2729	14

Complete results and pairings

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