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
[Event "chess.com IoM Masters"] [Site "Douglas ENG"] [Date "2016.10.07"]
[Round "7.13"] [White "Harika, Dronavalli"] [Black "Hou, Yifan"] [Result
"1-0"] [ECO "A10"] [WhiteElo "2528"] [BlackElo "2649"] [Annotator "Sagar
Shah"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2016.10.01"] {Harika and Hou Yifan
have played 22 times against each other in the last 10 years. The Chinese
grandmaster has won five times and rest 17 games have ended in draws.
This was the first time that Harika managed to outwit the reigning World
Champion.} 1. c4 b6 $5 {Hou Yifan tries to mix it up out of the opening.}
2. Nc3 Bb7 3. e4 c5 4. Nge2 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. g3 g6 7. Bg2 Bg7 8. O-O {The
Botvinnik setup chosen by Harika is one of the easiest way for White to
play. It can be used against many openings and hence a knowledge of it
can be highly useful. Whatever Black does, White's setup remains the same.
The pawns are on c4-d3-e4 and g3, the knights stand on c3 and e2 and the
bishop goes to g2. After this the plans vary. Sometimes White can go for
Be3-Qd2 and Bh6. Sometimes Rb1 followed by queenside expansion with a3-b4,
and as Harika played in the game - f4-g4 with a kingside attack. The system
is highly flexible and quite easy to understand.} Nc6 9. h3 {Stopping
Ng4 and getting ready to play Be3.} O-O 10. Be3 Rc8 11. Qd2 {d4 is not
yet possible because the c4 pawn would be hanging.} Re8 12. b3 Nd7 13.
Rac1 (13. d4 {This was definitely possible.} cxd4 14. Nxd4 Nxd4 15. Bxd4
Bxd4 16. Qxd4 Qc7 17. Rac1 $14 { According to me White has the slightly
preferable position thanks to her space advantage, but the position is
simplified and hence easier for Black to play. It is interesting to note
that Harika didn't go for this. Maybe she wanted to keep the position
more complicated and fight for the full point.}) 13... a6 14. f4 $5 {And
there we go! White starts the kingside offensive.} Nd4 15. g4 e6 16. Ng3
Rc7 17. g5 b5 {Overall Black's position looks very cohesive. White cannot
easily play f5 as then the knight on d7 is waiting to jump into e5. Meanwhile
it is not so clear What Harika must do.} 18. Rce1 b4 19. Nce2 Nxe2+ 20.
Rxe2 Nb8 21. d4 $5 cxd4 22. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 23. Qxd4 e5 {Hou Yifan gets the
e5 square for her knight with this move, but in return the f-file is opened
up for the white pieces and the d6 pawn is weakened. The position should
be round about equal.} 24. Qd2 exf4 25. Qxf4 Nc6 26. Rd2 Ne5 27. Rfd1
{Both sides have their own trumps, but it seems that the knight on e5
is not as dangerous as it looks and the d6 pawn weakness definitely counts
for something more.} Rd7 28. h4 { Bh3 is a big threat now.} Qe7 29. Nh1
$5 {A Nimzovian idea! The knight will go from f2-d3 in order to evict
the one on e5.} (29. Bh3 Rdd8 30. Kg2 $1 { Threatening c5 which is not
so easy to meet.} (30. c5 d5 31. exd5 Qxc5+ $17)) 29... Kg7 30. Rf1 Red8
31. Qf6+ $5 Qxf6 32. gxf6+ Kf8 {The pawn on f6 is a thorn in Black's position
and Harika quite correctly realized that when she went for the queen exchange.}
33. Rfd1 Rc7 34. Nf2 Ke8 35. Kh2 Rc6 36. Kg3 Kd7 37. Nd3 $1 Ke6 $2 (37...
Nxd3 38. Rxd3 Re8 39. e5 $1 $18) 38. Nxe5 Kxe5 39. Rd5+ Kxf6 40. e5+ Ke6
41. c5 (41. R5d2 Rb6 42. c5 $18 {was the fastest way to win.}) 41... f5
42. exd6 {Out of nowhere Harika has two amazingly strong passers and they
are on dark squares which means that the bishop can remove the blockaders!}
Rd7 43. Re1+ Kf6 44. Rde5 Rc8 45. Re6+ {Hou Yifan rightly resigned as
Re7 comes next and Harika would win an entire piece and her two strong
pawns would still remain. A very interesting battle and great fighting
chess showcased by the Indian.} 1-0
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!
[Event "chess.com IoM Masters"] [Site "Douglas ENG"] [Date "2016.10.07"]
[Round "7.9"] [White "Sunilduth Lyna, Narayanan"] [Black "Movsesian, Sergei"]
[Result "1-0"] [ECO "E11"] [WhiteElo "2536"] [BlackElo "2677"] [Annotator
"Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2016.10.01"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4
e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 d6 $5 {These systems are more
positional in nature.} (6... d5 {is the other main move in the position
that leads to very aggressive positions after} 7. e5 Nfd7 8. Bd3 c5 9.
h4 $5) 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8. O-O e5 9. b4 exd4 10. Nxd4 Re8 11. Bb2 Bf8 { Black
plays in typical Nimzowitsch style. Restraint against the e4 pawn and
then slowly and steadily looking out for the d6-d5 break.} 12. Qc2 c6
13. N4b3 b6 $6 (13... Ne5 14. Be2 Ng6 {looked more to the point, but after}
15. f4 Bd7 16. Rae1 {White looks better.}) 14. f4 $1 g6 15. Rae1 {White's
play is just so natural!} Bb7 16. e5 $1 {The best part about White's play
is that he hardly wastes time. Everything is in place so let's get going!}
Nh5 17. c5 $1 { Amazing move. White wants to destroy the d6 pawn so that
he can either play f4-f5 or open the f-file for his rooks. And the other
interesting point to note is that Harika too beat Hou Yifan with her pawns
on e5 and c5!} (17. f5 dxe5 {is better for White but not as much as in
the game.}) 17... d5 (17... dxc5 18. f5 $1 $18) (17... dxe5 18. fxe5 Bg7
19. Bc4 $18) 18. f5 {S.L. Narayanan makes it look so easy!} Qg5 19. Nf3
Qg4 20. e6 fxe6 21. fxe6 (21. fxg6 {was also quite strong.}) 21... Ndf6
(21... Rxe6 22. h3 $18) 22. h3 Qf4 23. Bxg6 hxg6 24. Qxg6+ Bg7 25. Ng5
Qg3 26. Be5 Qh4 27. Nd4 {The knight is coming to f5 and in general the
black king is just a few moves away from being mated! What a resounding
victory for the GM from Kerala!} 1-0
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
[Event "chess.com IoM Masters"] [Site "Douglas ENG"] [Date "2016.10.07"]
[Round "7.1"] [White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Black "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Result "0-1"] [ECO "E15"] [WhiteElo "2686"] [BlackElo "2741"] [Annotator
"Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "114"] [EventDate "2016.10.01"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4
e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Nc3 Bb7 7. Bg2 c6 8. e4 { The players
are following the game Anand-Carlsen from their World Championship Match
in 2014. Sergei Tiviakov in his video on CBM 168 mentions that if White
wants to fight for an advantage he must refrain from the move 8.e4 and
instead go for castling. As things went in this game, we cannot really
argue with what Tiviakov says.} d5 9. exd5 cxd5 10. Ne5 O-O 11. O-O Nc6
12. cxd5 Nxe5 $1 { Of course the line that Black is walking is quite narrow.
He has to make all the accurate moves in order to equalize. But you can
be rest assured that a player of Eljanov's calibre has it all worked out
at home.} 13. d6 Nc6 14. dxe7 Qxe7 15. Bg5 h6 16. d5 Na5 17. d6 {This
is the first move where the game deviates from the Anand-Carlsen World
Championship Match. Vishy had taken on f6. Vidit comes up with this natural
move, but now it is open for debate whether the pawn on d6 is a strength
or a weakness.} (17. Bxf6 Qxf6 18. dxe6 Bxg2 $1 19. exf7+ Qxf7 20. Kxg2
Nc4 21. Qb3 Rad8 $11 {And with some further analysis it has been proved
that Black is equal in this position.}) 17... Qd8 18. Bxf6 Qxf6 19. Qe2
Bxg2 20. Kxg2 Qd8 21. Rfd1 Qd7 22. Rd4 Rac8 23. Rad1 Nc6 24. R4d2 Na5
{Vidit could have settled for a draw here with Rd4 but instead he went
for something more ambitious. Not that the position warrants it, but his
age definitely does!} 25. g4 $5 {I would say after this move, all three
results are possible. White tries to play acctively but at the sam time
weakens his own king. Objectively this is not a great move.} 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 $5 $17) 35. Nc3 Nc4 36.
Re2 Qxd6 37. Qxd6 Rxd6 {The pawn is lost and the rest was not so difficult
for Eljanov.} 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
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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