Grand Swiss R03: Adhiban and Vidit lead the Indian contingent

by Satanick Mukhuty - 13/10/2019

Adhiban Baskaran made an enterprising use of the white pieces and employed the aggressive advanced variation against Radosław Wojtaszek's Caro-Kann. However, the number one Polish player remained unfazed by the Indian Grandmaster's ambitiousness and put up a steady defense to force the split of point. Meanwhile, Fabiano Caruana and Wang Hao defeated Alexei Shirov and Bu Xiangzhi respectively to register their third consecutive victory and emerged as the leaders of the event. Vidit Santosh Gujrathi refuted Maksim Chigaev's unusual King's Indian sideline, while Harikrishna Pentala positionally outplayed Erwin L'ami in the Catalan. It was the third round of FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss 2019 and in this comprehensive report we bring you the highlights of all the important Indian performances.

Vidit faces an unusual sideline!

Vidit Gujrathi faced a rather strange variation of the King's Indian defense from his Russian opponent Maksim Chigaev. The India no.3 got a commanding position with White out of the opening and by move 23 ended up having two extra pawns. Black really didn't have any compensation for the material and Vidit converted his advantage quite smoothly. The game was resigned in just 39 moves.

Vidit has moved to 2.5/3 with his third round victory and is just half a point behind the leaders | Photo: John Saunders

In round four he has been paired up with black pieces against Parham Maghsoodloo. It surely won't be an easy encounter against the current World Junior Champion | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Vidit Gujrathi - Maksim Chigaev, Round 3

Maksim's choice of 5...Nc6 followed by 6...e5 provoking d4-d5 was definitely unusual. The online database shows only 17 games played in this system.

Giving up a pawn with 16...d5?! was another dubious decision. Instead 16...d6 17.fxe5 Rxf1+ 18.Kxf1 Bxe5 looks much more logical.

After White played 22.Qf2, Black had the chance to make things complicated by exchanging queens but he went 22...Qb4?! which allowed Vidit to simply remain with two extra pawns. Check out the full game below with brief annotations.

Harikrishna's sublime positional play outwits L'ami

One of the most anticipated encounters from an Indian perspective was that between Harikrishna Pentala and Erwin L'ami. The latter, a strong Dutch Grandmaster, has formerly been a second of Veselin Topalov and is currently working with Anish Giri. The game opened with a Catalan, it was interesting to see what L'ami had up his sleeve.

Harikrishna Pentala has shifted to Europe lately and this decision has evidently worked out quite well for the India no.2! | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Harikrishna Pentala - Erwin L'ami, Round 3

8...Be7 was sort of an unusual choice. Although it has been played in quite a few games before but 8...Bc5 remains by far the most popular move and leads to even chances for both sides.

10...d3?! next looked a bit dubious. 10...Bc5 once again would have been better.

As early as move 13, White's position started looking superior. The bishops were excellently placed on g2 and b2 dominating the long diagonals, and the d-file too was White's to take.

16.a4 stopped b5, now there was no way to dislodge the strong knight on c4 and Black had to give up his lightsquared bishop with Bxc4

18.a4-a5 further clamped down the queenside!

The rook on b1 and bishop on g2 kept an imposing eye on b7. Owing to the growing pressure, Black soon lost an important pawn on the queenside just after a few moves from here.

And this was the position that was reached after 45.Rc8. Harikrishna was able to convert his extra pawn with flawless technique. See full game below.

Adhiban's aggression not quite enough for Wojtaszek

Adhiban slipped down from the leader's group after he was held to a draw by Radosław Wojtaszek in round three. In the next round he will have the black pieces against Grandmaster Luke McShane of England | Photo: John Saunders

Abhimanyu pulls off an emphatic victory

Abhimanyu Puranik suffered an unfortunate defeat in the hands of Anton Korobov in the previous round but came back with a fine victory with black pieces against Sergei Movsesian | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Nihal registers his first win in the event

Nihal Sarin lost his last round encounter against Boris Gelfand. In the third round he was paired up against the much lower rated WGM Vera Nebolsina. The Indian wunderkind registered a crushing victory in just 25 moves to move to 1.5/3

Nihal faces the experienced Hungarian Grandmaster Peter Leko in the next round. The 15-year-old boy is surely getting a lot of experience playing this event | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nihal Sarin - Vera Nebolsina, Round 3

Position after 10.Bxe5: Black erred here by going 10...Bxg4 which brought the white queen to a very active square after Bxg4 hxg4 Qxg4. 10...Bxe5 11.dxe5 Qb6 would have been a more active plan for Black.

Nihal finished off his opponent gracefully by opening up further lines on the kingside and bringing the a1 rook into the foray via 16.0-0-0. The full game is presented below.

The ever solid, ever strong Raunak

He is just 13-year-old and is unbeaten with a score of 2.0/3 so far in the event. Against the former World Champion challenger Sergey Karjakin, he drew easily with black | Photo: Maria Emelianova

And in round three, Surya Sekhar Ganguly too didn't find any chances against this prodigious talent. Raunak Sadhwani is rated 2492 and already has two GM norms to his credit | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Vishy's creative play fizzles out

Vishy Anand was held to a draw in round three by the Azerbaijani Grandmaster Nijat Abasov. The Madras Tiger tried to create some very interesting play but a series of rapid exchanges rendered the position dead.

Vishy has the white pieces in the next game and would surely be looking for a win | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nijat Abasov - Vishy Anand, Round 3

The position looked really sharp at this point as White had these beautifully placed pair of bishops but Vishy's trump was his opponent's weakened king stuck in the middle. Can you guess how White reacted here? Check out the full game below.

Sasikiran gets the better of Harika

Krishnan Sasikiran versus Harika Dronavalli was another match-up that was very much looked forward too. Harika had defended well against all her higher-rated opponents in the previous rounds and it remained to be seen how she would fair against fellow compatriot Sasikiran.

Krishnan Sasikiran - Harika Dronavalli, Round 3

Sasikiran played the surprising 7.h4!? against Harika...But this wasn't a new move. In fact, Daniil Dubov had once in 2016 used it with success against Boris Gelfand. See the full annotated game below to know how Sasikiran exploited this idea.

Losses for the day included Gukesh D losing to Ivan Saric (2667), Soumya Swaminathan going down against Yuri Kuzubov and Prithu Gupta losing to Jovanka Houska (2430). S. L. Narayanan, on the other hand, has had three draws against higher-rated opponents, which is a very good result for the Kerala lad. In round three he drew his game against Daniil Dubov.

Results of all Indian players (Round 3)

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

Pairings of all Indian players for the next round

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
4	4	48	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	2664	2½		2½	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	2718	17
4	6	34	GM	Mcshane Luke J	2682	2½		2½	GM	Adhiban B.	2639	73
4	8	54	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2658	2		2	GM	Yu Yangyi	2763	5
4	11	56	GM	Kasimdzhanov Rustam	2657	2		2	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	2748	9
4	23	78	GM	Kuzubov Yuriy	2636	2		2	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2675	37
4	27	46	GM	Saric Ivan	2667	2		2	IM	Sadhwani Raunak	2479	129
4	32	4	GM	Anand Viswanathan	2765	1½		1½	GM	Parligras Mircea-Emilian	2629	89
4	42	42	GM	Leko Peter	2670	1½		1½	GM	Nihal Sarin	2610	105
4	47	104	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2611	1½		1½	GM	Zvjaginsev Vadim	2644	69
4	49	114	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2571	1½		1½	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	2638	76
4	53	122	GM	Harika Dronavalli	2495	1		1	GM	Grandelius Nils	2691	27
4	54	29	GM	Jones Gawain C B	2688	1		1	GM	Gukesh D	2520	119
4	63	94	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2624	1		1	IM	Clarke Brandon G I	2445	139
4	67	116	GM	Gonzalez Vidal Yuri	2552	1		1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2365	149
4	74	152	WGM	Nebolsina Vera	2252	½		0	GM	Prithu Gupta	2493	124

Results of top ten boards (Round 3)

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	49	GM	Shirov Alexei	2664	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Caruana Fabiano	2812	2
2	15	GM	Wang Hao	2726	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Bu Xiangzhi	2721	16
3	73	GM	Adhiban B.	2639	2	½ - ½	1½	GM	Wojtaszek Radoslaw	2748	10
4	1	GM	Carlsen Magnus	2876	1½	½ - ½	1½	GM	Kasimdzhanov Rustam	2657	56
5	5	GM	Yu Yangyi	2763	1½	½ - ½	1½	GM	Sarana Alexey	2655	58
6	7	GM	Grischuk Alexander	2759	1½	1 - 0	1½	GM	Oparin Grigoriy	2654	60
7	11	GM	Artemiev Vladislav	2746	1½	½ - ½	1½	GM	Melkumyan Hrant	2650	63
8	57	GM	Demchenko Anton	2655	1½	½ - ½	1½	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2745	12
9	13	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2732	1½	1 - 0	1½	GM	Motylev Alexander	2651	62
10	66	GM	Papaioannou Ioannis	2645	1½	½ - ½	1½	GM	Svidler Peter	2729	14

Top ten pairings for next round

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	GM	Caruana Fabiano	2812	3		3	GM	Wang Hao	2726	15
2	38	GM	Alekseenko Kirill	2674	2½		2½	GM	Grischuk Alexander	2759	7
3	41	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2670	2½		2½	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2732	13
4	48	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	2664	2½		2½	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	2718	17
5	28	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2690	2½		2½	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	2664	47
6	34	GM	Mcshane Luke J	2682	2½		2½	GM	Adhiban B.	2639	73
7	53	GM	Kovalev Vladislav	2661	2		2	GM	Carlsen Magnus	2876	1
8	54	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2658	2		2	GM	Yu Yangyi	2763	5
9	6	GM	Karjakin Sergey	2760	2		2	GM	Demchenko Anton	2655	57
10	8	GM	Aronian Levon	2758	2		2	GM	Sevian Samuel	2654	61

Complete results and standings

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