chessbase india logo

Grand Swiss R08: Vishy inches closer to the top

by Satanick Mukhuty - 19/10/2019

In the eighth round of FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss Isle of Man Vishy Anand registered a crushing victory against Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia to inch closer to the top of the leaderboard. The Madras Tiger is now just half a point behind Fabiano Caruana, David Anton Guijarro, and Levon Aronian who share the lead with 6.0/8 points each. The other notable Indian victory came on the sixtieth board where Soumya Swaminathan beat Zahar Efimenko of Ukraine rated more than 200 Elo points above her. Gukesh D too displayed some very steady chess to outplay Vadim Zvjaginsev who attempted to surprise the youngster with some rather irregular stuff in the opening. In this report we bring you photos, games, analyses, and much more.

Vishy Anand is now just half a point behind the leaders

He started off with a devastating loss in the first round but in the last seven rounds he has shown what exceptional feat of resilience he is capable of. At the age of almost fifty, Vishy Anand still continues to be an inspiration. An epitome of concentration, discipline, and will-power; the Madras Tiger again and again keeps proving his detractors wrong. In the ninth round of Grand Swiss yesterday, Vishy stunned his opponent Vladimir Fedoseev with uncommon dynamism. The Russian had the black pieces and he curiously wasted a couple of tempi with his queen in the opening. This was a good enough cue for Vishy to go all in and storm out his kingside pawns.

Vishy's theoretical preparation is still one of the best in the world. Playing against him, you simply can't expect to be careless in the opening and go unpunished! | Photo: Maria Emelianova   

Vishy Anand - Vladimir Fedoseev, Round 8

With 14...Qa6 Black already moved his queen the fourth time in the opening. His pieces are still underdeveloped, while White's forces look all set to go on the offensive!

15.g4 was lashed out immediately and here Black once again carelessly played the move 15...Bd7-c6 which obviously allowed White to push 16.g5!

Vishy held nothing back and kept marching forward with 19.f5! Black was clearly in trouble here and was running short of moves. For instance, 19...exf5 itself is met by 20.exf5 Rae8 and the deadly 21. f6!

Black therefore played the move 19...Bd8 and here Vishy had the chance to seize a decisive initiative straightaway with 20.f6! but instead he went 20.Nd2?! Bd3 21.fxe6? and this last move was a serious error that blew away all his advantage. 

After 21...fxe6 22.Qg4 Rxf2 23.Kxf2 Nf8 24.d5 e5 25.h4 the equilibrium was clearly restored. White now had to wait till move 31 for Black to make another decisive mistake.

Can you see what Black missed when he played 31...Re7? Well, it leaves a very important rank compromised!

Vishy didn't miss his chance this second time and correctly spotted the problem with 31...Re7, it clearly invites a lethal back-rank infiltration. The game followed 32.Bxd4 exd4 33.Rc8+ Rf7 34.e5 dxe5 35.Nfe4 h5 36.gxh6 Rf4 37.Qe6+ and it was on move 37 Black gave up. Check out the full game below with detailed annotations:

Soumya Swaminathan's wins her second game in a row! 

Soumya Swaminathan had two consecutive rounds to play with the white pieces and it certainly seems she made the most out of it. In round seven she defeated the legendary Swedish GM Pia Cramling, while in the very next round she surprised even more by beating the strong Ukrainian Grandmaster Zahar Efimenko who is rated more than 200 Elo points above her. How did she do it? To know, check out the annotated game below | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Photo Gallery

Vidit Gujrathi drew his game against Rauf Mamedov and moved to 4.5/8 | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Raunak Sadhwani lost her first game in the event after drawing six games in a row | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Abhimanyu Puranik couldn't hold his own against Rustam Kasimdzhanov and lost with the white pieces | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Results of all Indians in eighth round

Rd.Bo.No. NameRtgPts. ResultPts. NameRtg No.
864
GMAnand Viswanathan 2765 1 - 0 GMFedoseev Vladimir 2664
47
81373
GMAdhiban B. 2639 ½ - ½ GMRobson Ray 2670
43
81765
GMMamedov Rauf 26454 ½ - ½4 GMVidit Santosh Gujrathi 2718
17
82432
GMRagger Markus 26844 1 - 04 IMSadhwani Raunak 2479
129
82594
GMSethuraman S.P. 26244 ½ - ½4 GMKorobov Anton 2679
35
826104
GMNarayanan.S.L 26114 ½ - ½4 GMCheparinov Ivan 2670
41
831114
GMPuranik Abhimanyu 25714 0 - 14 GMKasimdzhanov Rustam 2657
56
83290
GMVolokitin Andrei 2627 ½ - ½ GMHarikrishna Pentala 2748
9
84096
GMVan Foreest Jorden 2621 ½ - ½ GMSasikiran Krishnan 2675
37
84354
GMGanguly Surya Shekhar 2658 ½ - ½ GMNihal Sarin 2610
105
850119
GMGukesh D 2520 1 - 0 GMZvjaginsev Vadim 2644
69
852122
GMHarika Dronavalli 2495 0 - 1 GMMoiseenko Alexander 2635
80
860149
WGMSoumya Swaminathan 23653 1 - 03 GMEfimenko Zahar 2604
107
871135
GMJansa Vlastimil 24522 0 - 12 GMPrithu Gupta 2493
124

Pairings of all Indians for the next round

Rd.Bo.No. NameRtgPts. ResultPts. NameRtg No.
9338
GMAlekseenko Kirill 2674 GMAnand Viswanathan 2765
4
995
GMYu Yangyi 27635 5 GMAdhiban B. 2639
73
91617
GMVidit Santosh Gujrathi 2718 5 GMTari Aryan 2630
85
92647
GMFedoseev Vladimir 2664 GMSethuraman S.P. 2624
94
92851
GMDreev Aleksey 2662 GMNarayanan.S.L 2611
104
93263
GMMelkumyan Hrant 2650 GMGukesh D 2520
119
9349
GMHarikrishna Pentala 27484 4 GMDurarbayli Vasif 2617
100
93837
GMSasikiran Krishnan 26754 4 GMVolokitin Andrei 2627
90
94299
GMVovk Andriy 26184 4 GMGanguly Surya Shekhar 2658
54
945129
IMSadhwani Raunak 24794 4 GMMotylev Alexander 2651
62
947105
GMNihal Sarin 26104 4 GMChigaev Maksim 2644
68
94870
GMBluebaum Matthias 26434 4 GMPuranik Abhimanyu 2571
114
95081
GMNajer Evgeniy 26354 4 WGMSoumya Swaminathan 2365
149
96087
GMBachmann Axel 2629 GMHarika Dronavalli 2495
122
967124
GMPrithu Gupta 24933 3 IMErenberg Ariel 2463
133

Results of top ten boards in eighth round

Bo.No. NameRtgPts. ResultPts. NameRtg No.
12
GMCaruana Fabiano 2812 ½ - ½ GMAronian Levon 2758
8
215
GMWang Hao 27265 ½ - ½5 GMCarlsen Magnus 2876
1
339
GMAnton Guijarro David 26745 1 - 05 GMGrischuk Alexander 2759
7
448
GMMaghsoodloo Parham 26645 ½ - ½5 GMVitiugov Nikita 2732
13
53
GMSo Wesley 2767 ½ - ½5 GMAlekseenko Kirill 2674
38
64
GMAnand Viswanathan 2765 1 - 0 GMFedoseev Vladimir 2664
47
749
GMShirov Alexei 2664 ½ - ½ GMYu Yangyi 2763
5
86
GMKarjakin Sergey 2760 1 - 0 GMDreev Aleksey 2662
51
910
GMWojtaszek Radoslaw 2748 0 - 1 GMKovalev Vladislav 2661
53
1012
GMNakamura Hikaru 2745 1 - 0 GMMelkumyan Hrant 2650
63

Top ten board pairings for the next round

Bo.No. NameRtgPts. ResultPts. NameRtg No.
18
GMAronian Levon 27586 6 GMAnton Guijarro David 2674
39
21
GMCarlsen Magnus 2876 6 GMCaruana Fabiano 2812
2
338
GMAlekseenko Kirill 2674 GMAnand Viswanathan 2765
4
448
GMMaghsoodloo Parham 2664 GMKarjakin Sergey 2760
6
553
GMKovalev Vladislav 2661 GMNakamura Hikaru 2745
12
613
GMVitiugov Nikita 2732 GMWang Hao 2726
15
718
GMMatlakov Maxim 27165 GMGelfand Boris 2686
30
834
GMMcShane Luke J 26825 5 GMSo Wesley 2767
3
95
GMYu Yangyi 27635 5 GMAdhiban B. 2639
73
107
GMGrischuk Alexander 27595 5 GMShirov Alexei 2664
49

Related news:
Grand Swiss final: Wang Hao is the all taking winner

@ 23/10/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Grand Swiss R10: Who will qualify for the Candidates 2020?

@ 21/10/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Grand Swiss R09: An array of strong performances with Vishy leading the way

@ 20/10/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Grand Swiss R07: Aronian joins the lead, a mixed day for Indians

@ 18/10/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Breaking news! Raunak Sadhwani is India's 65th GM

@ 18/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
Grand Swiss R06: Vishy Anand's instructive lesson in Spanish

@ 16/10/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Grand Swiss R05: The resurgence of the World Champion

@ 15/10/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Grand Swiss R04: Magnus Carlsen survives a massive scare

@ 14/10/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Grand Swiss R03: Adhiban and Vidit lead the Indian contingent

@ 13/10/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Grand Swiss R02: Adhiban on a roll, Vishy bounces back

@ 12/10/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Grand Swiss R01: Vishy's misfortune and Raunak's bravado

@ 11/10/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Live games of Grand Swiss 2019

@ 10/10/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Anand's last chance to make it to the Candidates 2020

@ 08/10/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)

Contact Us