9th HDBank International Open Round 7: Bogdanovich maintains lead, Divya beats a GM

by Shahid Ahmed - 11/03/2019

GM Stanislav Bogdanovich maintains half point lead by beating the defending champion GM Sandro Mareco after the former trapped his opponent's Queen at the center of the board. Wang Hao went for Keres Attack against Dutch GM Loek Van Wely and managed to win the Rook-Knight endgame when Van Wely mistimed the Knight exchange. Iturrizaga made his third consecutive draw, this time against the hometown favorite Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son in just 16 moves. Among Indians, WIM Divya Deshmukh had a great day when she defeated GM Tu Hoang Thong. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Bogdanovich remains unstoppable, Divya's dominant show

From neighbors to opponents: Little did they know that they will face each other in the penultimate round | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

The Ukrainian GM Bogdanovich was in a winning mood was shown with a choice of his unusual opening and then going for an attacking play. His opponent GM Sandro Mareco of Argentina was surprised to have found his Queen trapped at the center of the board on move no. 34

It is definitely difficult to fathom that a Queen got trapped at the center of the board in a top board game. Bogdanovich was of course not surprised, because he made his intentions clear long back in the opening.

When Wang Hao plays 11.Rxa4, it is safe to say that he has win only in his mind.

Wang Hao played an attacking game since the beginning. Although he might not have got any substantial advantage immediately, but in the endgame he capitalized on Van Wely mistake of a mistimed Knight exchange.

It is true that Hao has an advantage, but 35...Ne5 only accelerated white's win

Notice the tattoo on Iturrizaga's right arm? He had no intention of losing today so he made a quick 22-move draw | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

It was not Leon's day today as he lost against GM Ivan Popov after a 4.5+ hours long grueling battle | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Leon managed to equalize with the Black pieces out of the opening in Sicilian Dragon against GM Ivan Popov. However he blundered a pawn in a Double Rook and many pawns endgame which proved to be fatal.

Undoubtedly it is a difficult position to play in time pressure. So what is the correct square for the Black King?

WIM Divya Deshmukh defeated her first GM of the tournament Tu Hoang Thong | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Yesterday she held her nerve in time pressure and managed to salvage a draw in Rook and Opposite Color Bishop along a connected passed pawns against IM Liu Xiangyi of Singapore.

Final moments of the game betweeen Divya and Liu Xiangyi | Video: Shahid Ahmed

Round 7 results:

Bo.	No.		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	No.
1	13	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav		UKR	2536	5½	1 - 0	5	GM	Mareco Sandro		ARG	2666	4
2	1	GM	Wang Hao		CHN	2718	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Van Wely Loek		NED	2612	7
3	5	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son		VIE	2647	4½	½ - ½	5	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo		VEN	2639	6
4	31	IM	Liu Guanchu		CHN	2445	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Predke Alexandr		RUS	2611	8
5	9	GM	Wen Yang		CHN	2599	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Nguyen Anh Dung		VIE	2458	26
6	11	GM	Popov Ivan		RUS	2581	4½	1 - 0	4½	CM	Mendonca Leon Luke	U16	IND	2446	30
7	35		Zhao Yuanhe		CHN	2431	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Tran Tuan Minh		VIE	2556	12
8	53	GM	Cao Sang		VIE	2385	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman		IND	2494	20
9	55	IM	Pham Chuong		VIE	2383	4½	0 - 1	4	GM	Demchenko Anton		RUS	2678	3
10	49	FM	Hoang Canh Huan		VIE	2394	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Cheparinov Ivan		GEO	2683	2
11	15	IM	Gukesh D	U16	IND	2529	4	1 - 0	4	FM	Setyaki Azarya Jodi		INA	2378	58
12	18	IM	Xu Yi		CHN	2520	4	1 - 0	4		Tran Quoc Dung		VIE	2376	60
13	61	IM	Pham Le Thao Nguyen		VIE	2374	4	½ - ½	4	FM	Nasanjargal Urtnasan		MGL	2503	19
14	62	IM	Chu Wei Chao		CHN	2373	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Nguyen Anh Khoi		VIE	2484	24
15	70	IM	Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari		IND	2352	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Shyaamnikhil P		IND	2429	37
16	40	GM	Laxman R.R.		IND	2425	4	½ - ½	4	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V		IND	2240	100
17	65		Wang Shixu B		CHN	2362	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Chanda Sandipan		IND	2534	14
18	66	IM	Rathnakaran K.		IND	2361	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Megaranto Susanto		INA	2526	16
19	67	IM	Fenil Shah		IND	2360	3½	½ - ½	3½		Chen Qi B		CHN	2443	32
20	69	IM	Vo Thanh Ninh		VIE	2358	3½	½ - ½	3½		Li Yankai		CHN	2434	34

Round 8 pairings:

Round 8 on 2019/03/12 at 09:30

Bo.	No.		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Wang Hao		CHN	2718	6		6½	GM	Bogdanovich Stanislav		UKR	2536	13
2	6	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo		VEN	2639	5½		5½	GM	Popov Ivan		RUS	2581	11
3	35		Zhao Yuanhe		CHN	2431	5½		5½	GM	Wen Yang		CHN	2599	9
4	7	GM	Van Wely Loek		NED	2612	5		5½	GM	Cao Sang		VIE	2385	53
5	3	GM	Demchenko Anton		RUS	2678	5		5	IM	Gukesh D	U16	IND	2529	15
6	4	GM	Mareco Sandro		ARG	2666	5		5	IM	Liu Guanchu		CHN	2445	31
7	5	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son		VIE	2647	5		5	IM	Xu Yi		CHN	2520	18
8	8	GM	Predke Alexandr		RUS	2611	5		5	FM	Hoang Canh Huan		VIE	2394	49
9	12	GM	Tran Tuan Minh		VIE	2556	4½		5	IM	Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari		IND	2352	70
10	16	GM	Megaranto Susanto		INA	2526	4½		4½	IM	Nitin S.		IND	2408	46
11	100	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V		IND	2240	4½		4½	FM	Nasanjargal Urtnasan		MGL	2503	19
12	20	GM	Karthik Venkataraman		IND	2494	4½		4½	IM	Rahul Srivatshav P		IND	2400	47
13	24	IM	Nguyen Anh Khoi		VIE	2484	4½		4½	IM	Pham Chuong		VIE	2383	55
14	26	GM	Nguyen Anh Dung		VIE	2458	4½		4½	IM	Chu Wei Chao		CHN	2373	62
15	30	CM	Mendonca Leon Luke	U16	IND	2446	4½		4½		Wang Shixu B		CHN	2362	65
16	38	IM	Nguyen Van Huy		VIE	2428	4½		4½	FM	Pranesh M	U16	IND	2309	79
17	61	IM	Pham Le Thao Nguyen		VIE	2374	4½		4½	GM	Laxman R.R.		IND	2425	40
18	41	IM	Bulmaga Irina		ROU	2424	4½		4½	IM	Miciano John Marvin		PHI	2317	76
19	45	IM	Le Quang Long		VIE	2412	4½		4½		Xu Minghui		CHN	2293	86
20	2	GM	Cheparinov Ivan		GEO	2683	4		4	FM	Nguyen Dang Hong Phuc		VIE	2376	59