Isle of Man Round seven: Harika beats Hou Yifan!
It was a mixed day for the Indian fans at the seventh round of the chess.com
Isle of Man International 2016. While Vidit Gujrathi slumped to a loss on
the top board against Pavel Eljanov with the white pieces, two positive
results more than made up for this. Harika was able to get the better of
the reigning World Women's Champion Hou Yifan and S.L. Narayanan crushed
his highly rated Armenian opponent Sergei Movsesian in just 27 moves! Let's
have a look at these two exciting games.
Harika vs Hou Yifan

Harika and Hou Yifan have been playing against
each other for a decade now. The Chinese player has five wins to her credit
with 17 draws. This was the first win in any format for the Indian!
Harika opened the game with 1.c4 and Hou Yifan chose the slightly rare
1...b6. The Botvinnik setup is what Harika went for and her position out
of the opening was quite solid. But then came a critical moment where the
Indian showed her real intentions.

White could have played 13.d4 here and gained a comfortable slight edge.
However, the position is also easier for Black to play as a couple of minor
pieces come off the board. Hence, Harika went for 13.Rac1 which kept more
tension on the board. It was a clear indication that she wanted to fight
for the full point.

Hou Yifan was able to secure the e5 square
for her knight. However, the d6 pawn was weak and this gave White the advantage
in the middlegame.

Exchanging the queens was an excellent decision
by Harika. The pawn on f6 was really a thorn in Black's camp.
Isn't this a picturesque position! Everything went downhill for the World
Champion as Harika was able to create two passers in the middle of the board!

Harika (shoulder right) beat Women's World
Champion Hou Yifan
1.e4 | 1,185,008 | 54% | 2421 | --- |
1.d4 | 959,510 | 55% | 2434 | --- |
1.Nf3 | 286,503 | 56% | 2441 | --- |
1.c4 | 184,834 | 56% | 2442 | --- |
1.g3 | 19,892 | 56% | 2427 | --- |
1.b3 | 14,600 | 54% | 2428 | --- |
1.f4 | 5,954 | 48% | 2377 | --- |
1.Nc3 | 3,911 | 50% | 2384 | --- |
1.b4 | 1,791 | 48% | 2379 | --- |
1.a3 | 1,250 | 54% | 2406 | --- |
1.e3 | 1,081 | 49% | 2409 | --- |
1.d3 | 969 | 50% | 2378 | --- |
1.g4 | 670 | 46% | 2361 | --- |
1.h4 | 466 | 54% | 2382 | --- |
1.c3 | 439 | 51% | 2425 | --- |
1.h3 | 289 | 56% | 2420 | --- |
1.a4 | 118 | 60% | 2461 | --- |
1.f3 | 100 | 47% | 2427 | --- |
1.Nh3 | 93 | 66% | 2506 | --- |
1.Na3 | 47 | 62% | 2476 | --- |
Please, wait...
1.c4 b6!? 2.Nc3 Bb7 3.e4 c5 4.Nge2 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.g3 g6 7.Bg2 Bg7 8.0-0 Nc6 9.h3 0-0 10.Be3 Rc8 11.Qd2 Re8 12.b3 Nd7 13.Rac1 13.d4 cxd4 14.Nxd4 Nxd4 15.Bxd4 Bxd4 16.Qxd4 Qc7 17.Rac1 13...a6 14.f4!? Nd4 15.g4 e6 16.Ng3 Rc7 17.g5 b5 18.Rce1 b4 19.Nce2 Nxe2+ 20.Rxe2 Nb8 21.d4!? cxd4 22.Bxd4 Bxd4+ 23.Qxd4 e5 24.Qd2 exf4 25.Qxf4 Nc6 26.Rd2 Ne5 27.Rfd1 Rd7 28.h4 Qe7 29.Nh1!? 29.Bh3 Rdd8 30.Kg2! 30.c5 d5 31.exd5 Qxc5+ 29...Kg7 30.Rf1 Red8 31.Qf6+!? Qxf6 32.gxf6+ Kf8 33.Rfd1 Rc7 34.Nf2 Ke8 35.Kh2 Rc6 36.Kg3 Kd7 37.Nd3! Ke6? 37...Nxd3 38.Rxd3 Re8 39.e5!+- 38.Nxe5 Kxe5 39.Rd5+ Kxf6 40.e5+ Ke6 41.c5 41.R5d2 Rb6 42.c5+- 41...f5 42.exd6 Rd7 43.Re1+ Kf6 44.Rde5 Rc8 45.Re6+ 1–0
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Harika,D | 2528 | Hou,Y | 2649 | 1–0 | 2016 | A10 | chess.com IoM Masters | 7.13 |
Please, wait...
S.L. Narayanan vs Sergei Movsesian

There is absolutely no doubt about the fact
that Sergei Movsesian is a world class player. His currently rating is 2677,
but a few years ago when he was on the peak of his career, his highest rating
was 2752!
But when you have a close look at the game between S.L. Narayanan and the
Armenian grandmaster, you will see that the latter could do absolutely nothing
in the game. It was clear that Sergei had a bad day at the office, but the
perfection with which he was wiped out speaks volumes about S.L. Narayanan's
talent.

After 15 moves of the opening White had each
and every piece in the game, while Black lacks space and plans

Deja vu? Harika and
S.L. Narayanan had a similar strategy today! Get the pawns on e5 and c5
and finish off the game!

S.L. Narayanan showed
the world that he is not a player to be messed with!
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 0-0 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 d6!? 6...d5 7.e5 Nfd7 8.Bd3 c5 9.h4!? 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.0-0 e5 9.b4 exd4 10.Nxd4 Re8 11.Bb2 Bf8 12.Qc2 c6 13.N4b3 b6?! 13...Ne5 14.Be2 Ng6 15.f4 Bd7 16.Rae1 14.f4! g6 15.Rae1 Bb7 16.e5! Nh5 17.c5! 17.f5 dxe5 17...d5 17...dxc5 18.f5!+- 17...dxe5 18.fxe5 Bg7 19.Bc4+- 18.f5 Qg5 19.Nf3 Qg4 20.e6 fxe6 21.fxe6 21.fxg6 21...Ndf6 21...Rxe6 22.h3+- 22.h3 Qf4 23.Bxg6 hxg6 24.Qxg6+ Bg7 25.Ng5 Qg3 26.Be5 Qh4 27.Nd4 1–0
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Sunilduth Lyna,N | 2536 | Movsesian,S | 2677 | 1–0 | 2016 | E11 | chess.com IoM Masters | 7.9 |
Please, wait...
Vidit Gujrathi vs Pavel Eljanov
Vidit Gujrathi played the same line that was witnessed in the Anand vs
Carlsen Match in 2014 in Sochi. It had been proved that White gets absolutely
no advantage out of the opening. Yet, Vidit employed the line. Clearly he
had a new idea up his sleeve which he revealed with the move d6!? The pawn
on d6 was both a strength and a weakness. At a certain moment it would have
been wise for Gujrathi to settle for a draw. However, he was overambitious
and pushed his pawn to g4 after which Eljanov played with precision, won
the d6 pawn and converted the endgame.

Vidit's loss in round seven against Pavel Eljanov
(left) was bad news for Indian supporters
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Nc3 Bb7 7.Bg2 c6 8.e4 d5 9.exd5 cxd5 10.Ne5 0-0 11.0-0 Nc6 12.cxd5 Nxe5! 13.d6 Nc6 14.dxe7 Qxe7 15.Bg5 h6 16.d5 Na5 17.d6 17.Bxf6 Qxf6 18.dxe6 Bxg2! 19.exf7+ Qxf7 20.Kxg2 Nc4 21.Qb3 Rad8= 17...Qd8 18.Bxf6 Qxf6 19.Qe2 Bxg2 20.Kxg2 Qd8 21.Rfd1 Qd7 22.Rd4 Rac8 23.Rad1 Nc6 24.R4d2 Na5 25.g4!? Rfd8 26.Ne4 Nc4 27.Rc2 Ne5 28.Rdc1 Rxc2 29.Rxc2 Qb7 30.f3 Qd5 31.Rd2 Qc4 32.Qe1 f5 33.gxf5 exf5 34.Qg3 Qe6 34...Nxf3!? 35.Nc3 Nc4 36.Re2 Qxd6 37.Qxd6 Rxd6 38.b3 Rd3 39.Nb5 Ne3+ 40.Kf2 Nd1+ 41.Ke1 Nc3 42.Nxc3 Rxc3 43.Re7 Rxf3 44.Rxa7 Rh3 45.Rb7 Rxh2 46.a4 h5 47.Rxb6 h4 48.Kf1 h3 49.Rb4 Ra2 50.Kg1 g5 51.Rb5 Rg2+ 52.Kh1 Rf2 53.Kg1 h2+ 54.Kh1 g4 55.Rc5 g3 56.Rc1 f4 57.a5 f3 0–1
- Start an analysis engine:
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Vidit,S | 2686 | Eljanov,P | 2741 | 0–1 | 2016 | E15 | chess.com IoM Masters | 7.1 |
Please, wait...

Tiviakov in ChessBase
Magazine 168 discusses this line played by Vidit and comes to the conclusion
that if White wants to play for an advantage he should stay away from 8.e4
and instead go for 8.0-0. As you can see ChessBase Magazine can give you
an edge over your opponents in terms of opening trends and knowledge. The
latest issue CBM 174 has
been released just a few days ago.
Top pairings and results of Round 7 (October 7, 2016)
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pairings and results of all 68 boards
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for complete standings of all 133 players
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