World Team 2022 R1-2: India starts with two draws

by Shahid Ahmed - 21/11/2022

India drew both of their matches against Israel and Poland on the first day of World Team Chess Championship 2022. In both games, Vidit missed some good winning chances. Sethuraman could not find a slightly difficult to spot winning continuation in the first game and lost the second one. S L Narayanan saved the day for the team as he scored an important and the sole victory of the day for India in the second round. India is currently at third place 2/4 in Group B. They will face the current top two teams Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan in the third and fourth round today starting at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Mark Livshitz

S L Narayanan saves the day

The level-headed and one of the most consistent top Indian player, GM S L Narayanan (2588) scored a crucial win in the second round against GM Mateusz Bartel (POL, 2533).

GM S L Narayanan scored a very important win in Round 2 | Photo: FIDE/Mark Livshitz

The tournament logo | Photo: Official site

Round 1: India - Israel: 2-2

GM Vidit Gujrathi (2662) and GM Sethuraman S P (2545) had good chances to score a win against GM Maxim Rodshtein (2624) and GM Avital Boruchovsky (2480) respectively.

Vidit - Rodshtein

Position after 44...Rf4

White needed to make an intermediate move before taking the h7-pawn. 45.Rd7+ Kc6 46.Rxh7 Nd4 47.Ra6+ Kb5 48.Rxg6 would have been winning for White. 45.Rxh7 was good enough too, provided after Nd4 White defended the f3-pawn 46.Ra3 which he did not. 46.h5? Rxf3+ 47.Kg2 Rf5! 48.h6 Rxg5+ and White cannot get out of perpetual check as Ke1/3 meets with Nc2+.

Sethuraman - Avital

Position after 34...R8d7

34...R8d7 dropped the hammer on Black's own foot as the h3-bishop now lacks a good square to retreat when it is attacked. White needed to find the difficult backward move 35.Qh1! Yes, it gives White a decisive advantage as 35...Be6 has a beautiful 36.g4 break against which Black is ill-prepared to hold his kingdom together. White got one more chance to play Qh1 after two moves, although the effect would have been quite the same.

Position after 76...Be6

White could have pushed for a win in the endgame 77.b5 Bxc4 78.b6 Bd5 79.Nf1 Bb7 80.Ke2 idea Kf2, Nd2, Kg1, Kh2 and so on. Of course it is still not easy. One must consider that it is a team event and time trouble could also be another reason for White not willing to take an unwarranted risk and cost the team the match in the very first round.

GM Sethuraman S P made a good practical call in the first round after missing out on a win | Photo: FIDE/Mark Livshitz

India should have defeated Israel if the opportunities were seized at the right moment | Photo: FIDE/Mark Livshitz

Round 1: India - Israel: 2-2

Round 2: India - Poland: 2-2

Vidit missed a much easier winning opportunity against Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2636).

Vidit - Wojtaszek

Position after 52...Ra2

White already had a significant advantage. 52...Ra2 almost handed a full point to White. He just needed to spot 53.Nb6+ king moves anywhere 54.Rxd6 Kxd6 has 55.a7 and 54...Rxa6 also does not affect the outcome.

S L Narayanan - Mateusz

Position after 21.Nxh6+

20.Ng4 Qe4 21.Nxh6+ Kf8 22.Bd3 Qe5 23.h5 gxh5 24.Nf5 Nxf5 25.Bxf5 Rc7 26.Rxh5 White just completely destroyed Black's kingside with a precise play and scored the sole and crucial win of the day for the team.

India drew with Poland 2-2 | Photo: FIDE/Mark Livshitz

Round 2: India - Poland: 2-2

Photo Gallery

Ceremonial first moves are being made | Photo: FIDE/Mark Livshitz

Reigning World Blitz champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) drew the first game against... | Photo: FIDE/Mark Livshitz

...the former World Rapid champion Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR) | Photo: FIDE/Mark Livshitz

The tournament hall | Photo: FIDE/Mark Livshitz

The trophies for the top three finishers | Photo: FIDE/Mark Livshitz

Replay Group A Round 1-2 games

Replay Group B Round 1-2 games

Group A standings after Round 2

Rk.	SNo	FED	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	5	CHN	China	2	2	0	0	4	6,5	14	4,5	17
2	3	UKR	Ukraine	2	2	0	0	4	6	13,5	5	14
3	1	FRA	France	2	1	0	1	2	4	16,5	3	11,5
4	4	ESP	Spain	2	1	0	1	2	3,5	14	3	9
5	2	NED	Netherlands	2	0	0	2	0	3	11,3	0	6
6	6	RSA	South Africa	2	0	0	2	0	1	6,3	0	2,5

Details

Round 3 and 4 pairings

Round 3 on 2022/11/21 at 1500
No.	Team	Team	Res.	:	Res.
1	Poland	Israel		:
2	Azerbaijan	India		:
3	Uzbekistan	United States		:
Round 4 on 2022/11/21 at 1800
No.	Team	Team	Res.	:	Res.
1	Israel	United States		:
2	India	Uzbekistan		:
3	Poland	Azerbaijan		:

Details

Group B standings after Round 2

Rk.	SNo	FED	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1	AZE	Azerbaijan	2	2	0	0	4	5,5	20,5	7,5	16
2	6	UZB	Uzbekistan	2	1	0	1	2	4	17	3,5	9
3	3	IND	India	2	0	2	0	2	4	14	3,5	10,5
4	2	USA	United States	2	1	0	1	2	3,5	14,3	3,5	7
5	4	ISR	Israel	2	0	1	1	1	3,5	14	2	8,5
6	5	POL	Poland	2	0	1	1	1	3,5	13,3	2	9

Details

Round 3 and 4 pairings

Round 3 on 2022/11/21 at 1500
No.	Team	Team	Res.	:	Res.
1	France	Spain		:
2	South Africa	Netherlands		:
3	China	Ukraine		:
Round 4 on 2022/11/21 at 1800
No.	Team	Team	Res.	:	Res.
1	Spain	Ukraine		:
2	Netherlands	China		:
3	France	South Africa		:

Details

Schedule

Pool stage: 20th November - Round 1 at 6:30 p.m. IST and Round 2 at 9:30 p.m. IST.

21st November - Round 3 at 6:30 p.m. IST and Round 4 at 9:30 p.m. IST.

22nd November - Round 5 at 6:30 p.m. IST.

The Knockout stage comprises a duel starting at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. IST from 23rd to 25th November 2022. In case of a tie, tie-breaks will take place at 12 a.m. IST. having the time control 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment. For more details, check the tournament regulations.

World Team 2022 schedule | Photo: Official site

Time Control

The time control is 45 minutes + 10 seconds increment for the entire game

FIDE World Team Championship 2022 Pool Round 1 and 2 Live Commentary by GM Vishy Anand and IM and WGM Almira Skripchenko | Video: FIDE

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations

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