Grand Swiss R09: An array of strong performances with Vishy leading the way

by Satanick Mukhuty - 20/10/2019

The FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss Isle of Man is inching closer towards the finishing line but the excitement at the top is only swelling up as after the ninth round yesterday, the event has found a fourth leader in Hikaru Nakamura. The American star defeated Vladislav Kovalev with black pieces to climb up the leaderboard and join Fabiano Caruana, David Anton Guijarro, and Levon Aronian in the lead. Vishy Anand held Kirill Alekseenko to a solid draw to remain in the chasing group, while Vidit Gujrathi and Raunak Sadhwani made emphatic comebacks. Several Indians have so far performed admirably well in this extremely strong tournament. In this report we bring you the glimpses of some of their achievements from the ninth round.

The FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss 2019 is already at its climax, with only two rounds remaining the event hardly has any one clear leader. There are four players tied for the top place and as many as eleven players follow them closely just half a point behind. The tension is getting more and more intense but how are the Indians faring in it? Well, most of them are performing higher than their stated level and some of them are definitely stealing the limelight. Needless to mention, it is Vishy Anand himself who is leading the way. The Madras Tiger started off the tournament with an upsetting loss against Evgeniy Najer but since then has risen from strength to strength to join the chasing group of eleven players that after all includes none other than the World Champion Magnus Carlsen.

The leaders of the event at the moment are Fabiano Caruana, David Anton Guijarro, Levon Aronian, and Hikaru Nakamura who share 6.5/9 points each. Among them Hikaru has joined the top only after round nine, thanks to a powerful victory with black pieces against Vladislav Kovalev of Russia. Fabiano drew his ninth round game against Magnus Carlsen. Elsewhere, Aronian and Gujjaro too split the point between themselves.

Hikaru had a slow start in the event drawing four games in the first five rounds but with his win against Kovalev he has now emerged as one of the leaders. Check out his full game from round nine below | Photo: John Saunders

Raunak Sadhwani - the star of Indian contingent!

Coming back to the subject of Indian performances in the event, one name that immediately stands out is Raunak Sadhwani. The thirteen-year-old from Nagpur has shown some phenomenal chess to hold his own against all his 2650+ rated opponents. What is even more inspiring is that the boy needed only to show up in rounds 8-9 to secure his GM title but he rather chose to fight and delivered a crushing performance in the ninth round against Alexander Motylev. This is something that speaks volumes of the youngster's character. The following is what IOM chess tweeted about the Indian prodigy!

Raunak faces the strong (almost 2700 rated) Egyptian Grandmaster Amin Bassem in the penultimate round. How do you think he will do against him? | Photo: John Saunders

Without further ado let us delve into how Raunak outplayed Alexander Motylev in round nine yesterday. The Russian had the black pieces and adopted a very committal approach in the English opening by pushing g7-g5 on move 10. However, as we will see, owing to the closed nature of the position, there was no straightforward way for White to exploit the resulting weaknesses. But Raunak patiently waited for his chance and was able to open up the position eventually, after which the game was soon wound up in just 37 moves with fierce piece play.

Raunak Sadhwani - Alexander Motylev, Round 9

10...g5?! in the above position looked dubious as obviously it weakens the kingside and particularly the f6 square. But in a closed structure like the above how does White go about exploiting this?

As a rule in such situations it is important to be patient! Raunak came up with the very ingenious idea of going 11.Ne1 here. The idea is to go clear the f3 square for the queen potentially also paving way for an f2-f4 break! And the e1 knight can surely be rerouted to c2 where it will have an active role to play.

White went about developing his queen to f3 and knight to c2. Now, the next step was open the position up with d3-d4!

Black is already in a lot trouble in the above position. A simple move like 18...exd4 loses immediately to 19.Bxh3 g4 20.Nd5! The position was opened up soon enough from here and White's pieces unleashed themselves on Black's uncastled king. The full game is presented below.

Another player who has been extraordinarily solid in this tournament is S.L.Narayanan. The twenty-year-old youngster from Kerala deserves all the applauds for staying unbeaten in the event so far. In round nine he held Alexey Dreev to a draw with black pieces, this game is given below | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Harika sizzles, a class act by Vidit

Harika Dronavalli started off as the highest rated female player in the event and has truly lived up to her standard. She has defended well against all her higher-rated opponents and with the victory against Axel Bachmann in round nine she is all set to grab the best female player prize of the tournament. Her closest competitor in this regard is Alina Kashlinskaya of Russia. Here is what FIDE tweeted about here:

Harika in action against Piorun Kacper in round five | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Axel Bachmann - Harika Dronavalli, Round 9

Axel had found a comfortable position to play out of the opening but ended up over-extending his central pawn majority which allowed Black to break open with catastrophic consequences. Check out the full game below!

Vidit Gujrathi had sort of slowed down in the last few rounds, first losing to Parham Maghsoodloo in round four and then drawing four games in a row. However, in the ninth round of the event, the India no.3 bounced back with a brilliant game. Can you find the move that Vidit played with white pieces against Aryan Tari? Check the game below for answer | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Results of all Indian players (Round 9)

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
9	3	38	GM	Alekseenko Kirill	2674	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Anand Viswanathan	2765	4
9	9	5	GM	Yu Yangyi	2763	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Adhiban B.	2639	73
9	16	17	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	2718	4½	1 - 0	5	GM	Tari Aryan	2630	85
9	26	47	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	2664	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2624	94
9	28	51	GM	Dreev Aleksey	2662	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2611	104
9	32	63	GM	Melkumyan Hrant	2650	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Gukesh D	2520	119
9	34	9	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	2748	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Durarbayli Vasif	2617	100
9	38	37	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2675	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Volokitin Andrei	2627	90
9	42	99	GM	Vovk Andriy	2618	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2658	54
9	45	129	IM	Sadhwani Raunak	2479	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Motylev Alexander	2651	62
9	47	105	GM	Nihal Sarin	2610	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Chigaev Maksim	2644	68
9	48	70	GM	Bluebaum Matthias	2643	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2571	114
9	50	81	GM	Najer Evgeniy	2635	4	1 - 0	4	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2365	149
9	60	87	GM	Bachmann Axel	2629	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Harika Dronavalli	2495	122
9	67	124	GM	Prithu Gupta	2493	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Erenberg Ariel	2463	133

Pairings of all Indian players for the next round

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
10	4	4	GM	Anand Viswanathan	2765	6		6	GM	Wang Hao	2726	15
10	12	76	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	2638	5½		5½	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	2718	17
10	17	73	GM	Adhiban B.	2639	5½		5	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	2748	9
10	24	82	GM	Mareco Sandro	2634	5		5	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2675	37
10	29	94	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2624	5		5	GM	Shirov Alexei	2664	49
10	31	119	GM	Gukesh D	2520	5		5	GM	Dreev Aleksey	2662	51
10	34	104	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2611	5		5	GM	Melkumyan Hrant	2650	63
10	35	22	GM	Amin Bassem	2699	4½		5	IM	Sadhwani Raunak	2479	129
10	42	54	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2658	4½		4½	GM	Erdos Viktor	2604	108
10	47	114	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2571	4½		4½	GM	Papaioannou Ioannis	2645	66
10	48	122	GM	Harika Dronavalli	2495	4½		4½	GM	Riazantsev Alexander	2645	67
10	53	29	GM	Jones Gawain C B	2688	4		4	GM	Nihal Sarin	2610	105
10	59	100	GM	Durarbayli Vasif	2617	4		4	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2365	149
10	69	146	IM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	2421	3½		3	GM	Prithu Gupta	2493	124

Results of top ten boards (Round 9)

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	8	GM	Aronian Levon	2758	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Anton Guijarro David	2674	39
2	1	GM	Carlsen Magnus	2876	5½	½ - ½	6	GM	Caruana Fabiano	2812	2
3	38	GM	Alekseenko Kirill	2674	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Anand Viswanathan	2765	4
4	48	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	2664	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Karjakin Sergey	2760	6
5	53	GM	Kovalev Vladislav	2661	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2745	12
6	13	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2732	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Wang Hao	2726	15
7	18	GM	Matlakov Maxim	2716	5	1 - 0	5½	GM	Gelfand Boris	2686	30
8	34	GM	McShane Luke J	2682	5	½ - ½	5	GM	So Wesley	2767	3
9	5	GM	Yu Yangyi	2763	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Adhiban B.	2639	73
10	7	GM	Grischuk Alexander	2759	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Shirov Alexei	2664	49

Top ten pairings for the next round

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	GM	Caruana Fabiano	2812	6½		6½	GM	Anton Guijarro David	2674	39
2	12	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2745	6½		6½	GM	Aronian Levon	2758	8
3	1	GM	Carlsen Magnus	2876	6		6	GM	Matlakov Maxim	2716	18
4	4	GM	Anand Viswanathan	2765	6		6	GM	Wang Hao	2726	15
5	6	GM	Karjakin Sergey	2760	6		6	GM	Alekseenko Kirill	2674	38
6	24	GM	Howell David W L	2694	6		6	GM	Grischuk Alexander	2759	7
7	13	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2732	6		6	GM	Rakhmanov Aleksandr	2621	95
8	19	GM	Le Quang Liem	2708	5½		6	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	2664	48
9	3	GM	So Wesley	2767	5½		5½	GM	Robson Ray	2670	43
10	5	GM	Yu Yangyi	2763	5½		5½	GM	Kryvoruchko Yuriy	2669	44

Overall standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	2	GM	Caruana Fabiano		USA	2812	6,5	2723	45,5	50,5	0,0
2	39	GM	Anton Guijarro David		ESP	2674	6,5	2696	44,5	48,0	0,0
3	8	GM	Aronian Levon		ARM	2758	6,5	2682	45,5	50,0	0,0
4	12	GM	Nakamura Hikaru		USA	2745	6,5	2646	38,0	41,5	0,0
5	15	GM	Wang Hao		CHN	2726	6,0	2736	46,5	51,0	0,0
6	38	GM	Alekseenko Kirill		RUS	2674	6,0	2708	42,5	46,0	0,0
7	48	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham		IRI	2664	6,0	2696	43,5	47,0	0,0
8	1	GM	Carlsen Magnus		NOR	2876	6,0	2688	43,5	48,0	0,0
9	95	GM	Rakhmanov Aleksandr		RUS	2621	6,0	2683	39,0	42,0	0,0
10	7	GM	Grischuk Alexander		RUS	2759	6,0	2680	45,0	49,5	0,0
11	13	GM	Vitiugov Nikita		RUS	2732	6,0	2666	41,5	45,5	0,0
12	6	GM	Karjakin Sergey		RUS	2760	6,0	2656	43,5	47,0	0,0
13	18	GM	Matlakov Maxim		RUS	2716	6,0	2645	40,0	44,5	0,0
14	4	GM	Anand Viswanathan		IND	2765	6,0	2643	41,0	44,5	0,0
15	24	GM	Howell David W L		ENG	2694	6,0	2635	38,5	43,0	0,0

Complete results and standings

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