India strikes, China equalizes

India and China will face off in a Scheveningen Match on four boards at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad from March 1-10.

Round Three

Video from Vijay Kumar

by Arvin Aaron

India took the lead over China at the end of the third round in the Summit Match at Hyderabad on March 4, 2015. Round three saw three higher rated players lose and one of them made a draw. None of the higher rated players won on either side!

India's 2.5-1.5 win in round three gave the home team an overall slender 6.5-5.5 lead in the four board double-Scheveningen match. Five rounds or 20 games remain to be played. Andhra's Lalith Babu was the hero of round three as well. He shocked World No.14 Ding Liren with the black pieces. His endgame display was sufficient to defeat the strongest Chinese player in a marathon rook ending. Posting back to back wins, Lalith Babu has turned the fortunes in favor of the home country. He is leading with a big 2.5/3 personal score among all eight players.

Lalith Babu with a big 2.5/3

Adhiban shocked Wei Yi with the white pieces. The Chinese player went for the poisoned pawn variation of the Najdorf Sicilian. Adhiban finished him off with a knight sacrifice to win a miniature game.

India expected Sasikiran to win at the start of this round. He is the highest rated Indian and his opponent, Wang Chen was the lowest rating Chinese. Pawn advances indicated that the Indian was going for risky play, and these don't always pan out! Wang Chen trooped his minor pieces and won a rook for knight which gave China their lone win in a day of upsets.

Wei Yi waiting for his teammates

All three lower rated players winning thus far, the lone higher rated who did not lose the game was Indian champion Sethuraman. He thwarted the passed pawn threat with a well posted knight to draw Zhou Jianchao in 48 moves. India won the round 2.5-1.5. In round four, the same players meet with the colors reversed. The Olympic champions, China would be seeking revenge for the double defeat suffered in a row.

Surprise! Sasikirian fell to Wang Chen, and with the White pieces

Round Four

Video by Vijay Kumar

by Alejandro Ramirez

And revenge they got! Another day with only one draw, and also full of relatively unexpected results. Ding Liren got his sweet vengeance on Lalith Babu. The Chinese player chose a risky strategy; foregoing his king safety in favor of material as the Indian player forced his opponent to have his king on e7 very early on in the game. However, he was unable to do so and when the queens came off it was clear that Ding Liren had consolidated and would bring home the win.

Sagar Shah brings us full analysis:

The g3 Semi-Slav is an extremely complex opening that is certainly gaining popularity: for example look at the brilliant game Kramnik-Giri from Qatar of last year. Lalith Babu might have improved his chances in this game greatly had he taken only 60 minutes of his time and studied the following Fritztrainer:

Wei Yi found no way to put pressure against a rock solid Adhiban. The Indian forced simplifications into a rook endgame and held the draw without any problems.

The Chief Arbiter keeping everything in order

Sethuraman vs. Zhou Jianchao was a back and forth game. In a close Caro-Kann the Indian player obtained a strong queenside initiative, eventually netting him a passed pawn that should have won the game. However, the Chinese player found some cunning counterplay on the kingside and even had a complicated draw at a certain point, but missed his chance. Sethuraman transposed into a tricky opposite colored bishop endgame that Sagar Shah goes deeper into:

Sethuraman was able to best...

Chinese player Zhou Jianchao

The big shock of the day came as Sasikirian lost again to Wang Chen. India's top rated player lost to the lowest rated Chinese player twice in a row! This allows the Chinese squad to even the score again at 4-4. It seems as if neither team can put a real dent on the other!

The Chinese hero in rounds three and four: Wang Chen

Photos from the official website

Replay Round three and four

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Links Official tournament site The games will be 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 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.