Asian Cup: China wins women's event

by Albert Silver
5/29/2014 – It was a perfect performance by the Chinese women as they completed a rout in the standard event, while India took silver and Iran-A bronze. Iran's double result against India in both the Open and Women event stood out as the last-minute draw in the women secured their medal, while the Indian men lost their lead after a win by Iran's Moradiabadi over Adhiban changed everything.
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The 2014 Asian Nations Cup is underway in Tabriz, Iran, and will run from May 20-30, 2014. It is a team event with men's and women competitions in blitz, rapid, and standard time controls. The first event is the rapid games competitions followed by the standard time controls, and finally on the last day the blitz event will be held.

Standard competition

Open - Rounds seven and eight

After the serious upset when India beat China to take the lead, Indian's victory celebration was short lived. In round seven the jubilant team ran into a brickwall in the form of Iran-A, a team that yielded over 100 Elo less on average. Iran's GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, the world record holder in a simul, held off Indian held off S.P. Sethuraman to a draw, as did Asghar Golizadah (2497) against Krishnan Sasikiran (2669), but Toufighi (2419) fell to Parimarjan Negi (2643), leaving the Indians ahead by a point. This left one game left for the Iranian point man of the tournament thus far, Elshan Moradiabadi, who faced B. Adhiban.

Sethuraman (standing left) and Maghami (standing behind) watch the crucial game between
Adhiban and Moradiabadi (red shirt)

Annotations by FM Afshari Mohammadreza:

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 c6!? A solid choice in The Catalan. Elshan had never played this line before. 8.Qc2 8.Bf4 Nbd7 9.Nc3 is another main line 8...Nbd7 9.Rd1 b6 10.Bf4 10.b3 Ba6 11.Bf4 11.a4 c5 12.Na3 Bb7 13.Qb2 Rc8 is less popular 11...Rc8 12.Nc3 has been examined in several Super-GM games. 10...Bb7 11.Ne5 11.Nc3 Is The main move, which is ok for Black after: dxc4!? 12.Nd2 Nd5 13.Nxc4 Nxf4 14.gxf4 Qc7 15.e3 Rad8 16.Rac1 c5 11...Nh5 11...Nxe5 This continuation gives White some edge 12.dxe5 Nd7 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.e4 Rc8 15.Nc3 d4 16.Rxd4 12.Bd2 Nhf6 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.Nc6 Bxc6 15.Qxc6 Rc8 White has the bishop pair, but the closed essence of position does not promise that much to White. One can claim that White has a small but long-lasting edge. 16.Qb5 16.Qa4 does not promise White much since after Nb8 17.Be1 a6! 18.Qb3 Nc6 19.Qd3 b5 20.a4 bxa4 21.Nc3 a5 22.e3 Bb4 23.Rxa4 Qe7 24.Raa1 h6 25.Qa6 Nb8 26.Qe2 Rc7 27.Na4 Nc6 28.Nc3 Nb8 29.Na4 Nc6 30.Nc3 1/2-1/ 2 Gelfand,B (2739)-Kramnik,V (2790)/Moscow 2010/CBM 139 16...Ne8! Black's Knight will go to the queen side with a tempo 17.e3?!N With this new move White wants to retreat his Queen to e2. Nevetheless his devolopment is far from complete. There are some other moves White played before with more promising results. 17.Nc3 Nd6 18.Qd3 17.Qa4 Nd6 18.Na3 Nf6 Meier-Adams 2011 18...Qc7!? 19.Rac1 Qb7= Gutman 17.Qd3 Caruana's favourite move in this position Nd6 18.b3 Nf6 18...f5 19.f3 Nb8! A typical maneuver! 20.Nc3 Nc6 21.e3 Bf6 Caruana-Adams 2013 19.Nc3 Qd7 20.f3 Nf5 21.e3 h5N 21...Rfd8 Caruana-Yu,Yangyi 1-0 22.Ne2 Rfd8 23.Rac1 a5 24.Rxc8 Rxc8 25.Rc1 Rxc1+ 26.Bxc1 g5! Caruana-Nisipeanu (2013) ended in a draw 17...Nd6 18.Qe2 f5 x e4 19.Nc3 Nf6 20.Be1 Qd7 21.a4?! This move weakens the queenside. Now Elshan tries to address the weakness on b3. Nc4 21...Rc6 22.a5 bxa5 does look plausible too! 22.Rdc1 Na5!? 23.Qb5?! The rising queenless middle game, could only be in Black's favor. Qxb5 24.Nxb5 Nb3 25.Rxc8 Rxc8 26.Rb1 a5! Fixing the a4 pawn while gaining more space on the queenside 27.Nc3 27.f3 g5! and it is still White who fights to keep the balance. 27...Ne4 28.Rd1? This move is a serious mistake. Adhiban could keep equality with the following continuation. 28.Bf1! Ned2 29.Bxd2 Nxd2 30.Rc1= 28...Nxc3! 29.bxc3 29.Bxc3 Rc4 x a4! 29...b5! 30.axb5 a4 31.b6 a3 32.b7 Maybe 32.c4 was better but White's position is hopeless Rxc4 33.b7 Bd6 34.Bf1 Ra4 35.Bb5 Ra7 36.Bd7 Kf7 37.Bb4 37.Bc8 a2-+ 37...Rxb7 37...a2 38.Bxd6 a2 39.Bc8 Rb6-+ 32...Rb8 33.c4 Rxb7 34.cxd5 The final and decisive mistake! 34.Bc3 Rc7 35.c5 a2 36.Bf1 Bf6 37.Ba1 Kf7 38.Bd3 Rb7 39.Kf1 Nxa1 40.Rxa1 Rb2 would create more practical chances for White 34...Rc7! White's dark square Bishop is cut from promotion square. White's fate is sealed. 35.dxe6 a2 Now White can resign the game. 36.Bd5 a1Q 37.Rxa1 Nxa1 38.Ba5 Rc1+ 39.Kg2 Nc2 40.Kf3 Ra1 41.Bd2 Kf8 42.h3 Bb4 43.Ke2 Bxd2 44.Kxd2 Nb4 45.Bb3 Ke7 46.Kc3 Na6 47.g4 g6 48.d5 Nc7 49.Kd4 Kd6 50.f4 Nxd5 51.e4 Ne7 52.e5+ Kc6 53.g5 Rf1 54.Ke3 Rh1 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Adhiban,B2624Moradiabadi,E25860–12014E08Asian Nations Cup 20147

This vital victory not only drew the match for Iran, but equalized the overall match scores between India and China, giving the Chinese the lead once more by virtue of tiebreak (having won more games). As to Elshan, he retook the lead as the heaviest scorer of the event, with 6.5/8.

The arbiters in charge of a smooth operation

Round eight saw few surprises as strong teams were paired against much weaker ones, and the only surprises were the occasional individual one-offs that saved team face from a whitewash, but nothing to endanger the actual matches.

Round nine will see an interesting match between Iran-A and China, as well as Kazakhstan against Vietnam. The other matches should see fairly lopsided scores.

The winner's trophy

Standings after eight rounds

Rk
SNo
 Team
Gms
  + 
  = 
  - 
TB
1
4
 CHINA
8
7
0
1
27.5
2
2
 INDIA
8
6
2
0
23.0
3
1
 VIETNAM
8
5
2
1
24.5
4
9
 KAZAKHSTAN
8
6
0
2
22.0
5
6
 IRAN A
8
4
3
1
22.5
6
5
 IRAN B
8
3
1
4
15.0
7
8
 SRI LANKA
8
2
1
5
9.5
8
7
 JORDAN
8
1
1
6
6.5
9
10
 IRAQ
8
1
0
7
9.0
10
3
 OMAN
8
0
0
8
0.5

Women - Final round

By virtue of a funny coincidence, the fifth and last round of the women's event saw a similar upset as the Indian team was also unable to overcome the top Iranians. Top Indian player Harika Dronavalli did not play, possibly because the Chinese could no longer be denied the gold, and thus IM Tania Sachdev took the first board. Though she won her game against Iran's Atousa Pourkashiyan, WIM Mitra Hejazipour defeated her higher rated Indian opponent IM Eesha Karavade, which was enough to save the match as the rest drew. China, in the meantime, crushed Kazakhstan 4-0 completing the unblemished record.

Iran-A (left) scored a vital draw agianst India (right) and thus secured third place and Bronze

China (left) completed their devastation of the field by beating Kazakhstan 4-0

China therefore took the gold, India silver, and by virtue of their great final result, Iran-A took bronze.

Final standings

Rk
SNo
Team
Gms
+ 
 = 
- 
TB 
1
2
 CHINA
5
5
0
0
10
2
3
 INDIA
5
3
1
1
7
3
6
 IRAN A
5
1
3
1
5
4
4
 KAZAKHSTAN
5
2
1
2
5
5
5
 VIETNAM
5
1
1
3
3
6
1
 IRAN B
5
0
0
5
0

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Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.

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