12/27/2012 – Two rounds full of action: in the sixth Sasikiran beat Gupta and started a comeback after a dismal start in this New Delhi tournament. In round seven he continued his climb by outsmarting Parimarjan Negi, while Gupta beat tournament leader Anton Korobov. When the dust had cleared we found Korobov and Alekseev in the lead, with Wojtaszek and Sasikiran half a point behind. Illustrated report.
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The AICF-AAI Cup is taking place in New Delhi from December 21st (first round) to 30th, 2012. The games start at 02:00 p.m. local time = 03:30 a.m. (on the previous day) in New York, 08:30 a.m. London, 09:30 a.m. European time, 11:30 a.m. Moscow and 16:30 p.m. Beijing. You can find the starting time at your location here. The tournament site is providing a live broadcast of the games and live video feed. Naturally the games are also being broadcast on Playchess.com.
Round six: Korobov stays in lead, Sasikiran beats Gupta
GM Anton Korobov of Ukraine maintained a slender half-point lead, drawing with nearest competitor Evgeny Alekseev of Russia in the sixth round of the AICF-AAI Chess Cup 2012. On a day when Parimarjan Negi played out a draw with Radoslav Wojtaszek of Poland, Krishnan Sasikiran scored his first victory at the expense of out-of-sort Abhijeet Gupta.
Korobov (above) played the white side of a Nimzo Indian hoping for an advantage in one of the main lines. However, as he himself said in the post-game chat, Alekseev was well armed to tackle the intricacies of the sharp middle game and the Ukrainian thought it better to go for equalizing variations. Once that intent came in, Korobov went for heaps of exchanges to reach a level endgame that was drawn via repetition of moves.
Parimarjan Negi (above right) faced the Sicilian Najdorf by Radoslav Wojtaszek, and an opening novelty by the Indian gave some advantage after Wojtaszek decided to sacrifice an exchange early. The position soon simplified and the Polish GM had two pawns and a minor piece for a lost rook, which offered enough counter play for Black. Negi stood optically better but the position was probably not headed anywhere. A draw was a just result.
Abhijeet Gupta’s form remained a cause for concern for him after he blundered again. Out of a harmless variation in the Grunfeld Defense, Gupta sacrificed a pawn to get decent counter chances, but soon afterwards got his knight trapped in Sasikiran’s territory.
The technicalities were handled well by experienced Sasikiran, who recorded a smooth win
Video report by Vijay Kumar
Round seven: Gupta beats leader Korobov, Sasi outsmarts Negi
Former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta (above) spiced up the AICF-AAI Cup, defeating tournament leader Anton Korobov of Ukraine in the seventh round. Gupta’s first victory threw the tournament wild open as Korobov remained on four points following his first defeat. The Indian can look forward to an improved finish after a rather sedate start and two back to back loses coming in round five and six.
Krishnan Sasikiran (above) avenged his second round defeat against compatriot Parimarjan Negi in a one-sided affair while Evgeny Alekseev of Russia signed peace with top rated Radoslav Wojtaszek of Poland in the other game of the day.
Abhijeet Gupta was seen struggling with his form right through the course of the tournament but against Korobov he showed his true mettle. The opening was a pleasant surprise as Korobov went for the English Defense, something that is rarely seen in top level chess. Abhijeet got a stable advantage by move ten, and Korobov soon faltered and blundered a pawn that was happily accepted. Korobov worked and got his counter play in the later stages of the middle game but by then the Ukrainian also ran short of time. Abhijeet clinched the issue with a positional finesse in just 27 moves.
Sasikiran defeated Negi (above) out of a Torre Attack that resembled more of a King’s Indian and Ruy Lopez when the middle game arrived. Negi felt the heat in the middle game when he was saddled with a passive position in which Sasikiran did not give him many chances. Negi finaly reached an endgame with a couple of pawns less and the game ended in a loss for him in 45 moves.
Alekseev and Wojtaszek were involved in a theoretical discussion in the English Attack from a Sicilian Najdorf, and it was clear that both players were well armed. Following existing theory Wojtaszek welcomed complexities and Alekseev sacrificed his queen for two pieces to force matters. The Polish GM had to find some precise moves and he did not make any mistakes. The end result was a draw through repetition.
Video report by Vijay Kumar
Here are the games of rounds six and seven in our JavaScript player:
Current standings
With just three rounds to come in the category-18 double round-robin tournament, Alekseev joined Korobov in lead on four points, while Sasikiran now shares the third spot along with Wojtaszek on 3.5 points. Negi and Gupta are now at the bottom of the tables with three points from seven games in the Rs. 1.2 million prize money tournament.
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