Michal Krasenkow wins Sheikh Russel tournament in Bangladesh

by Johannes Fischer
11/1/2021 – With an impressive finish Michal Krasenkov won the strong Sheik Russel tournament in Dhaka, Bangladesh, that ended 27 October. In the last three rounds the Russian-born Polish GM scored 3.0/3, which helped him to finish sole first with 7.0 out of 9. Six players followed half a point behind and shared second to seventh place. | Photo: Alina l'Ami (Archive)

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A Grandmaster tournament in Bangladesh

With 166 million inhabitants, Bangladesh is one of the most populous countries in the world.

1. China 1.41 billion inhabitants
2. India 1.39 billion
3. USA 330 million
4. Indonesia 272 million
5. Brazil 212 million
6. Pakistan 212 million
7. Nigeria 211 million
8. Bangladesh 166 million
9. Russia 146 million
10. Mexico 128 million

As a chess country, however, Bangladesh is further down the list and on the FIDE ranking list of countries Bangladesh is in 70th place.

The best players of the country are Al Rakib Mollah Abdullah, Ziaur Rahman, Niaz Murshed, Enamul Hossain, and Bin-Sattar Reefat. They are all Grandmasters, but none of them has a current rating of more than 2500 Elo, and you need a rating of only 1930 to make it to the top 100 in Bangladesh.

But the "Sheikh Russel Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2021" that took place from 19 to 27 October in Dhaka, the capital of the country, might give new impulses to the chess scene in Bangladesh. The prize fund of 55,000 USD was substantial and attracted a number of Grandmasters. First prize was 10,000 USD.

The sponsor of the event was Saif Powertec Ltd, one of the largest companies in the country. It operates in the field of power engineering and produces e.g. solar systems and car batteries.

About a 100 players took part in the tournament, 44 of them from the host country and 28 from India. Top seed was Sergey Tiviakov, but in the end it was Michael Krasenkow who finished first. But the Russian-born Grandmaster who now lives in Poland, started the tournament with a slight disappointment: in round one he only drew against the untitled and much lower-rated Indian Sanket Chakravorty (Elo 2288).

After two wins in rounds two and three, another setback followed: Krasenkov lost a sharp and theoretically interesting game against Masoud Mosadeghpour from Iran.

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 dxc4 5.Qa4+ c6 6.Qxc4 b5 7.Qd3 a6 8.Bg5 c5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.d5 b4 11.Na4 Bd7 12.dxe6 fxe6 13.Qe4 Ra7 14.0-0-0 Qc7 15.b3 c4 16.Kb1 Qc6 17.Qxc6 Bxc6 18.e3 Rc7 19.Rd4 cxb3 20.axb3 Rg8 21.Rc4 Bd6 22.e4 Ke7 23.g3 Nd7 24.Nd2 Rgc8 25.Be2 Ne5 26.Rcc1 Bb5 27.Rxc7+ Rxc7 28.Bxb5 axb5 29.Nb2 Rc3 30.Rd1 Nc6 31.Re1 Nd4 32.Re3 Nc2 33.Rd3 Na3+ 34.Ka2 Rc2 35.f4 e5 36.Nf3 Rf2 37.Nh4 Bc5 38.fxe5 fxe5 39.Rd5 Rc2 40.Rxe5+ Kf6 41.Rf5+ Ke6 42.Nf3 Be3 43.Rd5 Kf6 44.e5+ Kg7 45.Ne1 Re2 46.Ned3 Bd2 47.Rd7+ Kg8 48.e6 Bc3 49.e7 Kf7 50.e8Q+ Kxe8 51.Rxh7 Rd2 52.Rh5 Nc4 53.bxc4 bxc4 54.Kb1 cxd3 55.Nxd3 Rxd3 56.Kc2 Rd2+ 57.Kb3 Rb2+ 58.Kc4 Bf6 59.g4 Be7 60.g5 Rc2+ 61.Kb3 Rc3+ 62.Kb2 Re3 63.Rh8+ Kf7 64.h4 Bf8 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Krasenkow,M2578Mosadeghpour,M24860–12021D43Sheikh Russel GM 20214.4

But after another win in round five and a draw in round six, Krasenkov picked up the pace and finished the tournament with three wins to become sole first with 7.0/9.

Particularly important and impressive was Krasenkov's last-round win with Black against the young Azerbaijani Vugar Rasulov. A theoretically interesting line of the Sveshnikov Sicilian led to an interesting position with an unusual pawn structure and opposite-coloured bishops that offered a lot of hidden tactical possibilities.

When the tactical complications were over, Krasenkow had the better endgame, which he converted despite stubborn and creative resistance by Rasulov.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c4 b4 12.Nc2 a5 13.Be2 0-0 14.0-0 Bg5 15.Qd3 Be6 16.Rfd1 g6 17.Bf3 Qb8!? An interesting attempt to increase the control over the dark squares. 18.b3 Qa7 19.Qe2 Nd4 20.Nxd4 exd4 21.e5?! As it turns out, it is in Black's favour to open the position. Safer was 21.Qd3 though this move does not offer White much. 21...Bxd5 22.cxd5 dxe5 23.Qxe5 An unusual constellation: both sides have a passed pawn on the d-file. Bh6 24.d6 Rad8 25.Bg4 d3 26.Qd5 d2 27.d7 Bg7 28.Rab1 Bc3 But Black's passed d-pawn on d2 is more dangerous than White's d-pawn on d7. Black wants to play ...Kg7 followed by ... f5 to win the pawn on d7 and there isn't much White can do to prevent this plan. 29.Bh3 Kg7 30.Qd6 f5 31.Qe7+ Kh8 32.Rxd2 The beginning of a tactical sequence that leads to a better endgame for Black. Bxd2 33.Qe5+ Kg8 34.Qe6+ Kg7 34...Rf7 35.Qe8+ 35.Qe7+ Rf7 Black has to give back his extra rook if he wants to avoid the perpetual. 36.Qxd8 Rxd7 Black is a pawn up and has the better position. And though Black's king is exposed, White's king is also in danger and f2 is weak. 37.Qe8 Bc3 38.Rf1 Rd2 39.g4!? White tries to open the position to get counterplay. fxg4 40.Bxg4 Rxa2 41.Be6 Qc5 42.Qd7+ Kh6 43.Bg8 Bg7 44.Bd5 Bf6 45.Bg8 Qe7 46.Qh3+ Bh4 47.Bd5 Qg5+ 48.Bg2 Qf4 49.Qf3 White posed a lot of problems to Black, but the endgame after the exchange of queens is won for Black. Qxf3 50.Bxf3 Kg5 51.Bd5 Kf4 52.Kg2 Rd2 53.Bg8 h6 54.Bf7 g5 55.h3 Ke4 56.Bg8 Kd3 57.Kf3 Kc2 58.Ra1 Rxf2+ 59.Kg4 Rf4+ 60.Kh5 Rf3 61.Ra2+ Kc3 62.Rxa5 Rxh3 63.Kg4 Rh2 64.Rc5+ Kb2 65.Re5 h5+ 66.Kf5 g4 67.Kg6 g3 68.Bd5 Rd2 69.Kxh5 g2 70.Bxg2 Rxg2 The rook endgame after 71.Kxh4 Kxb3 is an easy win for Black. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Rasulov,V2452Krasenkow,M25780–12021B33Sheikh Russel GM 20219.1

The polish GM Michal Krasenkow presents a repertoire based on the Noteboom and the Stonewall. Black's set-up may lead to a whole range of different and interesting positions, which help the black player to broaden his strategic and tactical understanding.

The Semi-Slav defense (1.d4 d5 followed by ...e7-e6 and ...c7-c6) is one of the most popular opening set-ups for Black. Black can follow two entirely different concepts.

The Indian Grandmaster Srinath Narayanan, who after six rounds was leading by one point with 5.5 out of 6, fared less well in the final rounds of the tournament. With two draws and one loss he scored only one point in the last three rounds and ended up in second to seventh place, which he shared with six other players, who all had 6.5/9.

Srinath Narayanan | Photo: ChessBase India

Final standings after 9 rounds

Rk. SNo     Name FED Rtg Pts.  TB2   TB3  Rp K rtg+/-
1 4
 
GM Krasenkow Michal POL 2578 7,0 43,5 47,0 2626 10 5,6
2 3
 
GM Bernadskiy Vitaliy UKR 2580 6,5 50,0 54,5 2636 10 6,8
3 7
 
GM Narayanan Srinath IND 2540 6,5 48,5 52,5 2641 10 12,5
4 18
 
IM Mitrabha Guha IND 2479 6,5 46,5 51,0 2632 10 19,1
5 10
 
GM Shyam Sundar M. IND 2518 6,5 46,0 50,0 2595 10 9,7
6 13
 
IM Mousavi Seyed Khalil IRI 2510 6,5 46,0 49,5 2622 10 13,9
7 22
 
GM Rasulov Vugar AZE 2452 6,5 44,5 49,0 2589 10 17,1
8 17
 
GM Mosadeghpour Masoud IRI 2486 6,0 50,0 53,5 2615 10 16,2
9 2
 
GM Asadli Vugar AZE 2585 6,0 49,0 54,0 2579 10 -0,5
10 33
 
IM Koustav Chatterjee IND 2431 6,0 47,5 51,0 2597 10 21,1
11 6
 
GM Iskandarov Misratdin AZE 2552 6,0 46,0 50,5 2566 10 1,8
12 25
 
GM Malakhatko Vadim BEL 2444 6,0 45,0 48,5 2530 10 11,0
13 38
 
GM Laxman R.R. IND 2411 6,0 44,5 47,0 2556 10 18,8
14 23
 
IM Aditya Mittal IND 2447 6,0 42,0 45,5 2538 10 11,6
15 15
 
GM Sumets Andrey UKR 2497 6,0 42,0 45,5 2526 10 4,1
16 12
 
GM Visakh N R IND 2515 6,0 42,0 45,5 2509 10 -0,2
17 24
 
IM Aronyak Ghosh IND 2445 6,0 41,5 45,5 2517 10 9,2
18 39
 
GM Murshed Niaz BAN 2410 6,0 41,5 45,0 2472 10 9,1
19 20
 
GM Rios Cristhian Camilo COL 2457 6,0 40,5 44,0 2474 10 2,6
20 16
 
  Pranav V IND 2489 6,0 39,5 42,0 2452 10 -3,3
21 9
 
GM Stany G.A. IND 2522 5,5 43,5 48,0 2476 10 -5,0

...

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Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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