Grand Swiss R06: Vishy Anand's instructive lesson in Spanish
When it comes to the mastery of traditional systems, Vishy Anand is truly second to none. In the sixth round of FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss 2019 the Indian legend proved this once again by outplaying his young talented opponent Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the classical Ruy Lopez. The other major victory of the day was pulled off by Surya Sekhar Ganguly who made an emphatic comeback after previous round's defeat to beat the Georgian genius Baadur Jobava. Sethuraman S.P. and Gukesh D also registered important wins, while Harikrishna Pentala suffered an unfortunate loss in the hands of Vladislav Kovalev. Two players, Fabiano Caruana and Wang Hao, lead the event with 5.0/6 points each but there are seven players, including Magnus Carlsen, who are closely following them just half a point behind. We bring a detailed, illustrated report from Douglas, Isle of Man.
The Madras Tiger still going strong!
Vishy Anand's encounter against the 15-year-old Uzbekistani phenom Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the sixth round of ongoing Grand Swiss 2019 was the proverbial battle of experience and youth. In Chess it is never easy for a veteran to face such young opposition and there are two main reasons behind this. Firstly, a teenager is able to bring in a lot of energy and freshness over the board which most often than not an aged player will lack. And secondly, the ELO rating of an up-and-coming talent is never the true indicator of his/her actual strength. Interestingly, in this event itself, the strong Croatian Grandmaster Ivan Saric has faced players all below 16 years of age till round five and one can clearly see from his performance overview below that it has not been an altogether easy ride for him.
However, if there is one man who is consistently giving these rising youngsters a run for their money then it is none other than our very own Madras Tiger. At 49, Vishy Anand is still one of the strongest opponent to sit with across a chessboard. The World Champion Magnus Carlsen himself has said that he can still beat anyone in the World. Well, yesterday playing against the prodigiously talented Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Vishy only reinforced Carlsen's assertion.
Vishy had the White pieces and he started off the game as usual with 1.e4, to which Nodirbek replied symmetrically and invited his more experienced opponent to enter into the infamous Berlin territory. But the Indian had other plans in mind and promptly avoided going into drawish endings with 4.d3. Thus, the game continued in the vein of classical spanish!
Vishy Anand - Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Round 6
If Black allows the knight to remain on f5 with something slow like 23...Qe8 then White pushes with 24.e5 Nd5 25.Rbd1 Ra3 26.Bxd5 cxd5 27.Nd6 Qe7 28.Nxb5 and gets a comfortable position. Thus, in the game, Nodirbek chose 23...Bxf5 and after 24.exf5 Qf8 25.c4 the center opened up!
Surya Sekhar Ganguly's Caro-Kann destruction!
Surya Sekhar Ganguly - Baadur Jobava, Round 6
The leaders
There were seven leaders at the end of five rounds, after the completion of sixth round only two of them remained on the top after winning their games. Fabiano Caruana was able to draw his opponent Vladimir Fedoseev into his preparation of Sicilian Rossolimo and win a fine game, while Wang Hao played brilliantly to clinch the full point against the in-form Luke McShane.
Results of all Indian players (Round 6)
Rd. | Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
6 | 8 | 30 | GM | Gelfand Boris | 2686 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Adhiban B. | 2639 | 73 | ||
6 | 11 | 4 | GM | Anand Viswanathan | 2765 | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | 2608 | 106 | ||
6 | 14 | 53 | GM | Kovalev Vladislav | 2661 | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | 2748 | 9 | ||
6 | 20 | 56 | GM | Kasimdzhanov Rustam | 2657 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | 2718 | 17 | ||
6 | 26 | 102 | GM | Deac Bogdan-Daniel | 2613 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Sasikiran Krishnan | 2675 | 37 | ||
6 | 29 | 42 | GM | Leko Peter | 2670 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | IM | Sadhwani Raunak | 2479 | 129 | ||
6 | 30 | 114 | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2571 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Robson Ray | 2670 | 43 | ||
6 | 40 | 94 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2624 | 2½ | 1 - 0 | 2½ | GM | Rodshtein Maxim | 2684 | 33 | ||
6 | 41 | 104 | GM | Narayanan.S.L | 2611 | 2½ | ½ - ½ | 2½ | GM | Berkes Ferenc | 2667 | 45 | ||
6 | 43 | 54 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2658 | 2½ | 1 - 0 | 2½ | GM | Jobava Baadur | 2617 | 101 | ||
6 | 46 | 62 | GM | Motylev Alexander | 2651 | 2½ | ½ - ½ | 2½ | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2610 | 105 | ||
6 | 57 | 122 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2495 | 2 | ½ - ½ | 2 | GM | Adly Ahmed | 2636 | 77 | ||
6 | 58 | 124 | GM | Prithu Gupta | 2493 | 2 | 0 - 1 | 2 | GM | Moiseenko Alexander | 2635 | 80 | ||
6 | 67 | 119 | GM | Gukesh D | 2520 | 1½ | 1 - 0 | 1½ | IM | Houska Jovanka | 2430 | 142 | ||
6 | 69 | 130 | GM | Movsziszian Karen | 2475 | 1½ | ½ - ½ | 1½ | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2365 | 149 |
Pairings of all Indian players for the next round
Rd. | Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
7 | 6 | 44 | GM | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | 2669 | 4 | 4 | GM | Anand Viswanathan | 2765 | 4 | |||
7 | 9 | 73 | GM | Adhiban B. | 2639 | 4 | 4 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2745 | 12 | |||
7 | 13 | 3 | GM | So Wesley | 2767 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2658 | 54 | |||
7 | 16 | 17 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | 2718 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Sarana Alexey | 2655 | 58 | |||
7 | 23 | 129 | IM | Sadhwani Raunak | 2479 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Sargissian Gabriel | 2690 | 28 | |||
7 | 25 | 37 | GM | Sasikiran Krishnan | 2675 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Tari Aryan | 2630 | 85 | |||
7 | 26 | 41 | GM | Cheparinov Ivan | 2670 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2624 | 94 | |||
7 | 33 | 9 | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | 2748 | 3 | 3½ | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2571 | 114 | |||
7 | 40 | 105 | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2610 | 3 | 3 | GM | Bacrot Etienne | 2671 | 40 | |||
7 | 43 | 57 | GM | Demchenko Anton | 2655 | 3 | 3 | GM | Narayanan.S.L | 2611 | 104 | |||
7 | 56 | 87 | GM | Bachmann Axel | 2629 | 2½ | 2½ | GM | Gukesh D | 2520 | 119 | |||
7 | 57 | 89 | GM | Parligras Mircea-Emilian | 2629 | 2½ | 2½ | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2495 | 122 | |||
7 | 68 | 147 | GM | Danielian Elina | 2385 | 2 | 2 | GM | Prithu Gupta | 2493 | 124 | |||
7 | 71 | 149 | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2365 | 2 | 2 | GM | Cramling Pia | 2462 | 134 |
Results of top ten boards (Round 6)
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 2 | GM | Caruana Fabiano | 2812 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | Fedoseev Vladimir | 2664 | 47 | ||
2 | 48 | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | 2664 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | GM | Grischuk Alexander | 2759 | 7 | ||
3 | 15 | GM | Wang Hao | 2726 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | McShane Luke J | 2682 | 34 | ||
4 | 1 | GM | Carlsen Magnus | 2876 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | Shirov Alexei | 2664 | 49 | ||
5 | 6 | GM | Karjakin Sergey | 2760 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | 2669 | 44 | ||
6 | 8 | GM | Aronian Levon | 2758 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Dreev Aleksey | 2662 | 51 | ||
7 | 13 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | 2732 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Bluebaum Matthias | 2643 | 70 | ||
8 | 30 | GM | Gelfand Boris | 2686 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Adhiban B. | 2639 | 73 | ||
9 | 38 | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | 2674 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Akopian Vladimir | 2638 | 75 | ||
10 | 64 | GM | Lenderman Aleksandr | 2648 | 3½ | 0 - 1 | 3½ | GM | Anton Guijarro David | 2674 | 39 |
Top ten board pairings for the next round
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 7 | GM | Grischuk Alexander | 2759 | 4½ | 5 | GM | Caruana Fabiano | 2812 | 2 | |||
2 | 8 | GM | Aronian Levon | 2758 | 4½ | 5 | GM | Wang Hao | 2726 | 15 | |||
3 | 38 | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | 2674 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Carlsen Magnus | 2876 | 1 | |||
4 | 39 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | 2674 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | 2732 | 13 | |||
5 | 5 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2763 | 4 | 4½ | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | 2664 | 48 | |||
6 | 44 | GM | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | 2669 | 4 | 4 | GM | Anand Viswanathan | 2765 | 4 | |||
7 | 47 | GM | Fedoseev Vladimir | 2664 | 4 | 4 | GM | Karjakin Sergey | 2760 | 6 | |||
8 | 49 | GM | Shirov Alexei | 2664 | 4 | 4 | GM | Wojtaszek Radoslaw | 2748 | 10 | |||
9 | 73 | GM | Adhiban B. | 2639 | 4 | 4 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2745 | 12 | |||
10 | 84 | GM | Jumabayev Rinat | 2630 | 4 | 4 | GM | Gelfand Boris | 2686 | 30 |
Complete results and standings after six rounds