Asian Continental Championship: Two at the top

Six in the running

After a tough start, the super GMs at the Asian Continental Chess Championship finally made their way to the top of the leaderboard. Six rounds into the event, Wei Yi, Wang Hao and Vidit Gujrathi shared the tournament lead alongside Surya Ganguly, SP Sethuraman, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nguyen Ngoc Troung Son and Amin Tabatabaei. Le Quang Liem, Ni Hua, Xu Yi and Parham Maghsoodloo were just a half point behind.

But in the seventh round, only Ganguly and Tabatabaei could win their games, leaving them with a half point edge over the field. Let's see how they got there.

Round 4

After their quick draw in the third round, both Ganguly and Wei Yi came out with strong wins in round 4. Playing on board 1 against the Iranian sensation, Firouzja Alireza, Wei was in his element in a closed Sicilian and whipped a win out in 27, deploying some sharp tactics.

Surya Ganguly was also pitted against a talented Iranian — the reigning World Junior Champion, Parham Maghsoodloo. In a Queen's Gambit, Maghsoodloo was made to suffer almost all through the middlegame by Ganguly, who had the black pieces. The knock-out punch came on the 32nd move when the Bengali Grandmaster offered a knight sacrifice that netted him a couple of pawns.

SP Sethuraman also joined the leaders on 3½/4 after scoring a fine win over compatriot MR Lalith Babu.

SP Sethuraman (at the World Cup in 2017) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Round 5

The fifth round pitted Surya Ganguly against his then co-leader, SP Sethuraman. Wei Yi, in the meanwhile played against his countryman, GM Ni Hua on board two.

Sethuraman, who had the black pieces against Ganguly, chose to discuss the Open Spanish but went astray very early. Ganguly had sacrificed a pawn in the opening and Sethuraman sought to liquidate the position by offering a queen exchange. But the boot was on the wrong foot when Ganguly whipped out a stunning bishop sacrifice. 

Tactic Toolbox Ruy Lopez / Spanish Opening

Starting with Black's alternatives on move 3 and working through until the main lines of the Closed Lopez and the Marshall and Anti-Marshall, the viewer will find his knowledge of the opening developing in tandem with an improvement in his tactical ability.

Ganguly immediately exploited black's central king position here with 15.Bxd5! If the bishop is captured 15...cxd5, white has 16.Qxd5 and there are all kinds of threats looming over black. Sethuraman tried getting his king to [relative] safety with 15...0-0-0 but after 16.Bxe6+ Kb7 17.Qe3 white remained a pawn up and had a fantastic position. The game went on until the 44th move but Ganguly was in total control all the way through.

Ganguly took sole lead at the conclusion of round 5 | Photo: Genghis Imperial

With his win, Ganguly took sole lead in the tournament as the game between Ni Hua and Wei Yi on the second board ended in a quick draw. Wei Yi, who had the black pieces, made no attempt to try retaining his lead and agreed to sign peace just 13 moves into a Petroff Defence game.

The Reliable Petroff

The Petroff (or Russian) Defence which is characterised by the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 has been popular at the highest levels for many years and enjoys the reputation of being an extremely solid defence.

Wei Yi made no attempt to retain his lead in round 5 | Photo: Amruta Mokal (archive)

On board 6, Wang Hao scored a dominating win with black over Vietnamese GM Tran Tuan Minh.

On board 6, Wang Hao (at the 2017 Asian Championship) | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Round 6

The Fashionable Caro-Kann Vol.1 and 2

The Caro Kann is a very tricky opening. Black’s play is based on controlling and fighting for key light squares. It is a line which was very fashionable in late 90s and early 2000s due to the successes of greats like Karpov, Anand, Dreev etc. Recently due to strong engines lot of key developments have been made and some new lines have been introduced, while others have been refuted altogether. I have analyzed the new trends carefully and found some new ideas for Black.

Vidit Gujrathi's win over GM Surya Ganguly drastically changed the standings | Photo: Sagar Shah (archive)

After a dominating win in round five, top-seeded GM Wang Hao whipped out another brilliant win with black over Nodirbek Yakobboev to make it into the 8-way tie at the conclusion of the sixth round. 

White had just played 31.h4? to kick the knight away. A serious drawback of the move is that it weakens white's kingside. Wang plunged in immediately with 31...Ngxe4! and after 32.Bxe4, unveiled 32...Qg4. The bishop, of course, is indefensible as both 33.Re1 and 33.Bd3 spell instant doom after 34...Qxg3+. White limped on with 33.Qc3 Qxe4 34.Re1 Rd3 35.Qxe5 but Yakobboev had lost too many pawns at the end of the sequence.

Meanwhile, on board 2, Wei Yi climbed up a spot with a comfortable draw on board two against Le Quang Liem.

The English Opening Vol. 1

Williams main teaching method behind this set of two DVDs is to teach you some simple yet effective set ups, without the need to rely on memorising numerous complicated variations.

Wei Yi — in remarkably colourful attire | Photo: Ronaldo P Banaag

Round 7

In the top clash, Ganguly defeated Wang Hao with the black pieces to reach 5½/7. In an equal middlegame, Ganguly got some pressure one White's overextended pawn centre and Wang did not find a defence.

White can hold the position together with 25.Ned2 taking advantage of the pin on the e6 knight if Black tries to capture on d4. But Wang opted for 25.Qc1 targeting the f4-pawn, but now the problem is that the pin is working in the other direction! After 25...Nxd4 Wang anyway took 26.Qxf4 but found himself in hot water after 26...f5! Black is winning a piece and White resigned in short order.

Standings after Round 7 (top 20)

All available games

Women's Championship

In the Women's group, IM Padmini Rout is heading resolutely towards the title. Undefeated with five wins, she has now brought her score to 6/7. After taking sole lead at the conclusion of the fifth round, Padmini defeated WGM Gong Qianyun in round six to increase her lead to a full point, a lead she maintained by drawing Guo Qi in round seven.

Padmini, before her game against Mongolian WFM Munkhzul Turmunkh | Photo: Genghis Imperial

How to play the Najdorf Vol. 1

A great moment when the world's leading expert shares all the secrets in his favourite opening. The Najdorf system in the Sicilian Defence has a legendary reputation as a defensive weapon for Black. In part one Garry Kasparov introduces the various sub-systems of the Najdorf, including the central “Poisoned Pawn” variation.

Standings (women's tournament top 20)

All available games

Links

• Official site
• Full results (Chess-Results)
• Round 1: An unfortunate start