13th Asian Continental with exciting battles

In our introductory article on the Asian Continental championship, I had mentioned that it would be a battle between Indians and the Chinese players for the top honors. After five rounds, I need to change the statement a little. Seven players are leading the tournament with the score of 4.0/5. In the leading pack are:     

• Two Indians B Adhiban(2609) and S P Sethuraman (2576),
• One Chinese, the reigning world junior champion Yu Yangyi (2667)
• Iranian Ghaem Maghami Ehsan (2556)
• Former World Champion from Uzbekistan Rustam Kasimdzhanov (2693)
• Jumabayev Rinat (2580) from Kazakhstan
• Last but not least, the man who has played the best chess in the tournament so far, Bangladeshi GM Ziaur Rahman (2513).

Last but not least, the man who has played the best chess in the tournament so far, Bangladeshi GM Ziaur Rahman (2513).

Ziaur Rahman is already gaining 17 Elo points from this
tournament and is performing at a rating of 2767

Considered to be one of the best talents that has emerged from Bangladesh, Ziaur Rahman (39 years old) had a rating of 2570 in the year 2005. He consistently maintained his rating above 2500. However in 2013 he hit a low point in this career and his rating went down to 2470. Things were looking bad for the Bangladeshi player.

Starting from Kolkata Open in March 2014, things have started to go well for Ziaur once again. He performed extraordinarily in the Indian tournament beating the likes of Nigel Short and Sergey Fedorchuk to gain 26 ELO points. In the recently concluded Dubai Open he once again beat the strong French GM Andrei Istratescu and he carried that form into the Asian Continental tournament. Over here Ziaur Rahman has beaten two players above 2600. The in-form Abhijeet Gupta (2630) and the talented Vietnamese Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (2621).  With this wonderful performance he is currently leading the tournament.

One very nice game by Ziaur was his endgame against Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son in which he made wonderful use of his king.

Yu Yangyi is another player in the leader’s pack who is in wonderful form

The Chinese GM has been long known for his excellent preparation and attacking style of play. But his game against Salem A R Saleh was an exceptional positional game. The sacrifices at the start were just a prelude to the amazing white squared strategy that he employed in the game! As my friend IM Srinath from India said about the game, “Such was Yu’s control on the light squares that he could be booked for racism!”

Salem A R Saleh who is the highest rated player from UAE is an extremely original
and free flowing player but against Yangyi, his wings were clipped

Iranian GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan is no newcomer when it comes to achieving unimaginable feats in chess. He set the Guinness Record for playing the most number of opponents in a simultaneous display. 604 to be precise. He has even beaten former World Champion Anatoly Karpov in a match of 20 games in 2009. So it’s not really a big deal if he is jointly leading the tournament. But there is one game he can be particularly proud of. And that is his game against Krishnan Sasikiran. In a position that was equal, he outplayed the strong Indian GM to score the full point. You must watch this game to understand the famous rule made by 3rd World Champion, Jose Raul Capablanca: queen+ knight usually work better than queen+ bishop in an endgame.

Negi shows imagination and bold fighting chess in this tournament

Maybe we can witness one battle by the young Indian GM which wasn’t flawless but was played in highly romantic spirit and with such free style that it makes you feel that chess is still alive! It’s not all computer analysis and reams and reams of theory!

Video report on men's and women's events by Vijay Kumar in round four

Standings after round five

• Full points and rankings of all players here

The Women's Championship

The woman section is being dominated by a young, smiling and lively girl from Indonesia. WGM Irene Sukandar Kharisma is in the lead with 4.5/5. She is half point ahead of her nearest rival Khademalsharieh Sarasadat. On her way to the lead after five rounds, Irene has beaten three strong players: Mary Ann Gomes (2386), Atousa Purkashiyan (2335) and Ni Shiquin (2325).

The Indonesian Irene Sukandar Kharisma has a performance of 2639 and has
already gained 28 points from the event

These are much needed ELO points for Irene as she has already scored loads of IM norms. She needs to reach 2400 to get her IM title. In an interview after round 3, she was asked what did she think were her chances to win this championship. She gave a very cool and relaxed answer.

“I surely have chances. As I said before, this tournament is very tough and unpredictable. As you may ask many other female players, no one can be sure 100 percent about the result. But I just try to play my best. Also, I have some confidence in myself, having won this Championship two years ago. But of course, playing all the giants from Asia, no one can be sure.”

Irene is in top form and currently the hot favourite to win the Asian Women title but her round six game against the second placed Khademalsharieh Sarasadat will be the key.

Video report on men's and women's events by Vijay Kumar in round five

Standings after round five

• Full points and rankings of all players here

Asian Continental Blitz Championship

On 19th April after the 3rd round, a blitz championship will be held, with a first prize of US $1500. The time control of the event is 3 minutes + 2 sec increment. GM Pentala Harikrishna from India, with an ELO of 2726 the fourth highest rated player in Asia after Anand, Wang Hao and Wesley So, took part in the Asian Continental Blitz Championship. He was the hot favourite to win the title.

The crucial last round battle between the two talented youngsters

Though I do not have the moves of the game, from the video I was able to arrange the last position in which the Vietnamese player resigned against Yu.

Yu who was black must have moved his rook to c8 from some
square and we get the position of a pin which is seen in so
many basic tactics book.

Thus Yu was able to emerge victorious with 7.5/9 and Pentala Harikrishna who travelled to Sharjah to play just in blitz tournament, took the silver with 7.0/9. The Iranian Ghaem Maghami had to be content with bronze.

In the women’s section of Asian blitz the Chinese girl Tan Zhogyi showed her class by scoring 8/9 and emerging as the champion by 1.5 point margin. The 2nd place went to GM Harika Dronavalli who had also specially come just to play in the blitz event. And the bronze medal was surprisingly won by the little girl from Kazakhstan, Abdumalik Zhansaya.

All the winners of Asian Blitz tournament in one frame. Bottom row from left to
right: Ghaem Maghami (bronze), Harikrishna (silver), Yu Yangyi (gold), Tan (gold),
Harika (silver) and Abdumalik Zhansaya (bronze).

It’s quite a coincidence that the first place in both the open and women category of the blitz event was won by the Chinese players and the runner’s up position by Indians. The Chinese have won the battle between the two superpowers of Asia in the blitz section. It remains to be seen what happens in the normal time control. Four rounds remain!

Video report on men's and women's blitz events by Vijay Kumar

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN: Open – Women (courtesy TWIC) The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.