Magesh Chandran clear leader in Hastings

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
1/3/2020 – Six out of nine rounds of the Hastings Chess Congress have been completed, and a player has emerged as the undisputed leader. Indian grandmaster Magesh Chandran Panchanathan has a full-point lead over a five-player chasing pack after having collected an astounding 5½ points. The player from Madurai already faced the three top seeds of the event, beating David Howell and Erik van den Doel, and drawing Romain Edouard, who is currently part of the group on 4½. | Photo: Official site

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Long strategic victories


The 95th edition of the traditional Hastings International Chess Congress is taking place at the Horntye Park Sports Complex from December 28th, 2019 until January 5th, 2020. The Masters is a 9-round Swiss open with a rate of play of 40 moves in 100 minutes, followed by all remaining moves in 50 minutes, with the addition of 30 seconds for each move from the start. Rounds kick off at 15:15 CET and can be followed live at Live.ChessBase.com.


Magesh Chandran PanchanathanWhen we last reported after round three, a large group of nineteen players was co-leading the event on 2½ out of 3 points. Now, three days later, a player stands alone atop the standings after having won all his games in the meantime. Magesh Chandran Panchanathan (pictured) defeated David Howell (first seed), Martin Petrov and Erik van den Doel (third seed) to enter the seventh round as the clear leader with 5½ points.

The 36-year-old from Madurai became the twelfth Indian grandmaster back in 2006. Once considered a chess prodigy, he nevertheless pursued a career in the United States, getting both undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Texas. He then went on to establish the Kings and Queens Chess Academy in New Jersey, in which he successfully coached, among others, Abhimanyu Mishra, the youngest IM-norm maker ever

Magesh Chandran's deep understanding of the game came to the fore in Hastings. In round four, he ground down David Howell with White after the latter incorrectly gave up his b-pawn in a complex middlegame. The very next day, he scored a 78-move victory with the black pieces over Bulgarian IM Martin Petrov, showcasing strong endgame play and the right amount of patience to convert his advantage. You can replay both games in the viewer below:

 
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1.c4 b6 2.b3 Bb7 3.Bb2 Nf6 4.e3 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Be2 0-0 7.0-0 c5 8.d4 d6 9.Nc3 e6 10.Qc2 E61: King's Indian: Early deviations for White, including Smyslov System 10.dxc5 bxc5 11.Nb5 Ne8 12.Bxg7 Kxg7 13.Qc2 a6 14.Nc3 Nc6 15.Rad1 Qc7 16.Qb2 Kg8 17.Ng5 h6 1/2-1/2 (79) Nakamura,H (2777)-Hou,Y (2658) chess.com INT 2018 10...Nc6 11.Rfd1 Qe7 12.a3 The position is equal. Rfd8 13.d5N Predecessor: 13.Ne1 13...exd5! 14.cxd5 Ne5 15.Ne1 a6 16.a4 Re8 17.Rab1 h5 18.Ba1 Rac8 18...Bc8 19.Bc4 h4 20.h3 Nfd7 21.Qe2 Ra8 22.Nc2 f5 23.f4 Nxc4 24.bxc4 a5 25.Re1 Ba6 26.Qd3 Nf6 26...Rab8= remains equal. 27.Rxb6± Nh5 27...Nd7± 28.Rb3 Nf6 28.Nb5+- Bxb5 29.cxb5 Bxa1 30.Rxa1 Not 30.Nxa1 Nxf4 31.Qd2 Qe5= 30...Ng3 31.Rc6 g5 32.fxg5 Rad8 33.b6 Qxg5 34.Rc7 Re7 35.Rb1 Rb8 And now ...Rxc7 would win. 36.Rxe7 Qxe7
37.Na3! Qe8? 37...Qe4 keeps fighting. 38.Qxe4 Nxe4 38.Nc4 White is clearly winning. Qxa4 38...Qd7 39.Rb5 Qd8 40.Rxa5 Qf6 39.Nxd6 Qd7 40.Nc4 a4 41.d6 Ne4 42.b7 Kh7 43.Rb6 a3 44.Nxa3 Qg7 45.Nc4 Rg8 46.Rb2 Accuracy: White = 65%, Black = 44%.
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Panchanathan,M2479Howell,D26761–0201995th Caplin Hastings Congress4.1
Petrov,M2497Panchanathan,M24790–1202095th Caplin Hastings Congress5.1

Then came round six, when he had the white pieces against third seed Erik van den Doel from the Netherlands. Another closed pawn structure was established in the middlegame, and this time around Magesh Chandra found a nice tactical shot to claim an advantage:

 
Magesh Chandra vs. Van den Doel
Position after 39...Ra2

The Indian played 40.h5 in the last move before 50 minutes were added to the clocks, to which Van den Doel responded with 40...xh5 (40...g5 was a better try). White then showed his idea — the game followed 41.ef5+ xf5 42.exf5 b7 43.fxg6 fxg6 44.xh5:

 
Position after 44.Nxh5

Anything other than 44...xc2+ would lead to mate, as the light-squared bishop was a key factor in the whole combination. After 45.xc2 gxh5, White had a small material advantage, but, more importantly, his rooks were much more active than Black's rook and knight. In fact, some five moves later White managed to all but paralyse his opponent's pieces:

 
Position after 51.Rgg8

The knight on b7 simply cannot move. Van den Doel advanced his passers on the e and h-files, but Magesh had no problems stopping them and getting the full point from this dominating position.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.Qe2N Predecessor: 5.0-0 Be7 6.Qe2 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 1/2-1/2 (16) Tomic,B (2393)-Blagojevic,D (2529) Vogosca 2007 5...b5 6.Bb3 Be7 7.c3 d6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Rd1 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.d5 Bd7 13.b3 C86: Closed Ruy Lopez: Worrall Attack g6 14.Nbd2 Nh5 15.Nf1 White has an edge. Bf6 16.g3 Bg7 17.Ne1 Qc8 18.Ne3 Qe8 19.Qf3 Bh6 20.N1g2 Ng7 21.g4 Qd8 22.Bd2 Bg5 23.Kf1 Nb7 24.Ke2 c4 25.b4 a5 26.a3 h5 Black wants to play ...hxg4. 27.gxh5 Nxh5 28.Rg1 Qf6 28...Re8 29.Nf5 29.a4= remains equal. 29...axb4 Better is 29...Bxd2 30.Kxd2 Rfc8 30.Bxg5= Qxg5 31.h4 Qf6 32.axb4 Kh8 33.Ng3 Qxf3+ 34.Kxf3 Nf6 35.Ne3 Kh7 36.Ke2 Kh6 37.Kd2 Rfb8 38.Rh1 Nd8 38...Ng4= keeps the balance. 39.Rag1± Hoping for h5! Ra2
40.h5! Strongly threatening hxg6+. Nxh5?
40...g5 41.f3 Kh7 41.Nef5+!+- Bxf5 41...gxf5 42.Nxh5 42.exf5 Nb7 43.fxg6 fxg6 44.Nxh5 Rxc2+ 45.Kxc2 White threatens Nf4+ and mate. gxh5 Endgame KRR-KRN 46.Rg2 Rf8 and the idea ...Nd8 leaves Black hopeful. 47.Rhg1 Rf6 48.Rg8 Rxf2+ 49.Kd1 Rf7 50.Rh8+ Rh7 51.Rgg8 h4 52.Ke2 h3 53.Kf2 e4 54.Rxh7+ Kxh7 55.Rb8 White mates. e3+ 56.Kg3 Kg6 57.Rxb7 Kf6 58.Rh7 Accuracy: White = 75%, Black = 39%.
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Panchanathan,M2479Van den Doel,E25891–0202095th Caplin Hastings Congress6.1

The only player to have drawn Magesh so far is second seed Romain Edouard. As mentioned above, the French grandmaster is one of five players a full point behind the leader. However, Edouard could have easily got sole second place in round six, when he had a completely winning position with White in his game against Hungarian GM Gergely Kantor:

 
Edouard vs. Kantor
Position after 30...Qh4

As France's number four explained in a tweet, he wanted to go 31.♔h1, but his hand chose 31.h2, a massive blunder. Edouard was three pawns to the good and an hour up on the clock when he allowed Black to save the game with a perpetual check — 31...xg2+ 32.xg2 g3+ 33.h1 xh3+ 34.g1 g3+.

The Frenchman first had some trouble figuring out how to handle the situation, but then decided the show must go on

Veselin Topalov, Romain Edouard

Romain Edouard (right) recently published a book on his years working as a second for Veselin Topalov | Photo: JM Péchiné

Things have not gone all that well for the top seed either. After his loss against Magesh, Howell defeated Simon Williams, but could not quite complete his recovery in round six, when he entered a losing endgame against veteran Mark Hebden, who showed good technique to get a noteworthy win after 88 moves.

 
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1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 c5 3.e4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Be2 Nf6 8.0-0 Be7 9.f4 d6 10.Qe1 0-0 11.Kh1 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b5 13.Qg3 Bb7 14.a3 Bc6 15.Rae1 Qb7 16.e5 B85: Sicilian Scheveningen: 6 Be2 a6, lines with early Be3 16.Bd3 b4 17.Nd1 bxa3 18.bxa3 Rac8 19.Rf3 Nh5 20.Qh3 Nxf4 21.Rxf4 e5 22.Ne3 g6 23.Qh6 Kh8 24.Ba1 f6 25.Rh4 1-0 (25) Fedorchuk,S (2640)-Bosiocic,M (2607) Mali Losinj 2017 16...dxe5 17.fxe5 Nd7 18.Be3N The position is equal. Predecessor: 18.Qh3 h6 19.Bd3 Nc5 20.Bxc5 Bxc5 21.Rf4 Rad8 22.Ne4 Bxe4 23.Rexe4 1-0 (23) Schwarte,J-Garcia Medinilla,D LSS email 2007 18...Bc5 Hoping for ...Bxe3. 19.Nd1 Be4 20.Bf3 Bxf3 21.Rxf3 Black must now prevent Bh6! Bxe3 22.Nxe3 Rad8? 22...f5= and Black is okay. 23.Ng4!+- Kh8
24.Qh4! Rh3 would kill now. Qc7? 24...f5 is tougher. 25.c3? 25.Rc3!+- and the rest is easy. Qxc3 26.bxc3 25...Qc4?
25...Rg8± 26.Qh5? 26.Rh3!+- h6 27.Qg3 Nxe5 28.Nxh6 28.Qxe5 Qxg4 29.Rg3 f6= 26...Nc5 27.Nf6 h6 Don't go for 27...gxf6? 28.Rh3± 28.Ng4 Qe4! 29.Ref1! aiming for Nxh6! Qh7! 30.Rxf7 Rxf7 31.Qxf7 Qd3 32.Kg1 Qe2 33.h3 Ne4 34.Qf3 Rd2 35.Qxe2 Rxe2= Endgame KRN-KRN 36.Nf2 Ng3 37.Rb1 Rxe5 38.Nd3 Re2 39.Nf4 Re4 40.Kf2 Nf5 41.Nd3 a5 42.g4 Nd6 43.Rd1 Nf7 43...g5 44.Nc5 Re5 45.b4 axb4 46.cxb4 Ng5 47.Rd3 Ne4+? 47...Kg8± was called for. 48.Nxe4+- Rxe4 KR-KR 49.Re3 Rc4 50.Rxe6 Kg8 51.Ke2 Kf7 52.Re3 Kf6
53.Kd2! Rf4 54.Kc2 Rd4? 54...Rf1 55.Kc3 Rd1 55.Rf3+ Kg5 55...Ke6 56.Rf5 Rd5 57.Rxd5 Kxd5 56.Rf5+ Kh4 57.Rxb5 Kxh3 58.a4 Rd8 59.a5 Ra8 60.Rb6 g5 61.Rxh6+ Kxg4 62.Kb3 Kf5 63.Rh7 Rg8 64.a6 g4 65.a7 g3
66.Rg7! Deflection, Promotion Rxg7 67.a8Q KQ-KR g2 68.Qf3+ Ke6 69.Qe3+ Kf5 70.Qg1 Ke4 71.b5 Kf3 72.b6 Rh7 73.Qd1+ Ke3 74.Qc1+ Kf3 75.Qc6+ Kf2 76.Qc2+ Kf3 77.Qf5+ Ke3 78.Qg4 Kf2 79.Qf4+ Kg1 80.Qe4 Rh3+ 81.Kc2 Intending b7 and mate. Kf2 82.Qd4+ Kf1 83.Qf4+ Ke1
84.Qg4! Double Attack Kf2 85.Qxh3 g1Q White mates. 86.Qf5+ Ke1 87.Qe5+ Kf1 88.Qa1+ Accuracy: White = 63%, Black = 36%.
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Hebden,M2433Howell,D26761–0202095th Caplin Hastings Congress6.3

Besides Edouard and Hebden, Martin Petrov, Mate Bagi (Magesh's seventh round rival) and Matthew Wadsworth are on 4½ out of 6. Given how the Indian has been playing and the fact that he has already faced the three highest-rated grandmasters in the field, we can only call him a favourite to take the title. But three rounds are left to be played, so anything can still happen.


Standings after Round 6 (top 25)

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Panchanathan Magesh Chandran 5,5 0,0
2 Petrov Martin 4,5 0,0
3 Hebden Mark L 4,5 0,0
4 Edouard Romain 4,5 0,0
5 Bagi Mate 4,5 0,0
6 Wadsworth Matthew J 4,5 0,0
7 Merry Alan B 4,0 0,0
8 Brouwer Dennis 4,0 0,0
9 Lyell Mark 4,0 0,0
10 Van Den Doel Erik 4,0 0,0
11 Arkell Keith C 4,0 0,0
12 Williams Simon K 4,0 0,0
13 Willow Jonah B 4,0 0,0
14 Kantor Gergely 4,0 0,0
15 Cherniaev Alexander 4,0 0,0
16 Grieve Harry 4,0 0,0
17 Yao Lan 4,0 0,0
18 Fishbein Alexander 4,0 0,0
19 Petrov Vladimir Sergeev 4,0 0,0
20 Stoyanov Viktor 4,0 0,0
21 Sengupta Deep 4,0 0,0
22 Stany G.A. 4,0 0,0
23 Bates Richard A 4,0 0,0
24 Korneev Oleg 4,0 0,0
25 Flear Glenn C 4,0 0,0

...123 players


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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

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