12/22/2015 – The second round of Qatar Masters was filled with high quality chess as strong GMs clashed against each other. Magnus Carlsen finally won his first game in an open tournament after a gap of eight years, Giri won a fine Sicilian against Grandelius and So carved out a beautiful positional victory over Naroditsky. In the evening there was a football match. We have exclusive pictures and game analysis from Doha.
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Your key to fresh ideas, precise analyses and targeted training! Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the amateur next door. It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.
This video course offers you a complete Black repertoire with 1.e4 d5. Covering all the critical attempts for White to punish Black’s provocative approach, as well as all the relevant minor options on move 2 and 3 for White.
In order to avoid financial budget constraints organizers often stage their
tournaments in tourist off season of a particular region. Off seasons mean
worse climate and also the fact that hotels are cheaper than what they would
usually cost. However at the Qatar Masters 2015 no such half measures have
been taken. The climate is perfect with a pleasant 18-20 degree Celsius
temperature. The official hotel Torch is one of the best hotels, not only
in Doha but in the entire country. The tournament hall is huge, well lit
and spacious with individual table for every game being played. In short
it is the perfect setting for any player to forget about all other worries
and focus completely on the game.
After an explosive start on the first day where we witnessed many 2700+
players being beaten or held, the second round was comparatively quite sedate.
The quality of the games, however, was quite high as many grandmasters faced
off against each other on the top boards. The difference in Elo was still
something around 150 Elo points, but top players like Vladimir Kramnik,
Anish Giri, Sergey Karjakin, Wesley So know that when you are up against
2600+ opponents things cannot be taken lightly.
Daniel Naroditsky, Nils Grandelius and Salem
Saleh discuss the strategy of how to tackle their 2750+ opponents! The three
youngsters were up against Wesley So, Anish Giri and Segey Karjakin respectively
On the top board Vladimir Kramnik tried really
hard for the full point,
won a pawn and was pressing throughout the game…
…but the reigning world
problem solving champion Kacper Piorun
(which translates to Caspar Thunderbolt) defended tenaciously and secured
the half point
Anish Giri played a highly complicated battle
against GM Nils Grandelius. The game was filled with
interesting moments and the Dutch GM managed to outplay his Swedish opponent
in the end.
[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"] [Site "Doha QAT"] [Date "2015.12.21"]
[Round "2.2"] [White "Grandelius, Nils"] [Black "Giri, Anish"] [Result
"0-1"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2632"] [BlackElo "2784"] [Annotator "Sagar
Shah"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2015.12.20"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3.
d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e5 7. Nb3 $5 { At the London Chess
Classic almost everyone retreated their knight to e2. The knight to b3
is also one of the main moves but not as popular as Nde2.} Be6 8. f4 Be7
(8... Nbd7 9. f5 Bxb3 10. axb3 d5 $1 {was played by Shirov against Sutovsky
and Black is already completely fine. The point is that Nxd5 is bad as
after Nxd5 there is a check on h4 and direct exd5 is met with Bb4.} 11.
exd5 (11. Nxd5 Nxd5 12. Qxd5 Qh4+) 11... Bb4 $44 {[%cal Gd8b6,Gd7c5]})
9. f5 Bd7 10. Be3 b5 (10... Bc6 11. Qf3 d5 12. Nxd5 Nxd5 13. O-O-O $16)
11. Qf3 b4 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. exd5 Bg5 14. Bxg5 Qxg5 15. Bd3 Bb5 16. h4
(16. O-O {could have been more prudent. But knowing what an aggressive
player Nils is, his move with h4 is one that can be expected from him.})
16... Qd8 17. g4 Nd7 18. g5 $6 { According to Giri in the press conference
this was an inaccuracy by White as it allows Black to activate his rook
with h6.} h6 $1 19. Rg1 (19. f6 {Good or bad, this should have been tried.}
gxf6 20. g6 $1 fxg6 21. Bxg6+ Ke7 {Black king looks safe on e7 but after}
22. O-O-O {White is surely the one who can create dangerous threats in
this position.}) 19... hxg5 20. hxg5 Bxd3 21. Qxd3 Rh5 $1 {It seems it
is difficult for White to defend the g5 pawn as Qd2 is met by a5 threatening
a4 when the knight doesn't have the d2 square to retreat. And Qe3 is met
by Qb6.} 22. Qg3 Qc7 23. O-O-O Rc8 {Mate on c2 is threatened.} 24. Rd2
a5 25. Kb1 a4 26. Nc1 Qc4 27. Qf3 Rh4 28. f6 g6 29. Rh1 Nc5 30. Rdh2 Ne4
31. Qd1 (31. Qe3 $5 {Black has to find} Rh5 $1 32. Qa7 Kf8 $1 33. Qxa4
Nd2+ 34. Ka1 Qxc2 35. Qxc2 Rxc2 36. Rxh5 gxh5 37. Nd3 {And the position
is unclear.} ) 31... Rxh2 32. Rxh2 Kd7 33. Qg1 Qxd5 34. Qa7+ Ke6 35. Qg1
Kd7 36. Qa7+ Ke6 37. Qg1 Qc4 $1 38. Re2 (38. Qg4+ Kd5 39. Qd7 Rc7 40.
Qxa4 Ke6 $17) 38... b3 39. axb3 axb3 40. cxb3 Qxe2 $1 {A very complicated
game which is quite typical of the Sicilian.} 0-1
He played 7.Nb3!? Magnus and Anish discuss
the former’s game
Anish in the live commentary room with Peter
Svidler
Sergey Karjakin could not break through the
defences of UAE number one Salem Saleh
Which do you prefer? New tournament, new style:
Salem in Abu Dhabi in August 2015
on the left and in the Qatar Masters on the right. No contest, right?
Wesley So played a positional masterpiece to
beat Daniel Naroditsky with the white pieces
It’s White (Wesley) to play. Can you
come up with the subtle idea that the American grandmaster
found in his game? Hint: it's little moves like this one that usually make
a huge difference!
[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"] [Site "Doha QAT"] [Date "2015.12.21"]
[Round "2.3"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Naroditsky, Daniel"] [Result
"1-0"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2775"] [BlackElo "2628"] [Annotator "Sagar
Shah"] [PlyCount "139"] [EventDate "2015.12.20"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3.
c4 e6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bd6 6. Bg2 c6 7. O-O Nbd7 8. b3 Ne4 9. Bc1 O-O
10. Qc2 f5 11. Ba3 Bxa3 12. Nxa3 Qe7 13. Qb2 b6 14. e3 Bb7 15. Rac1 Rfc8
16. cxd5 cxd5 17. Rxc8+ Rxc8 18. Rc1 Qf8 19. Nb5 a6 20. Nc3 Qd6 21. Bf1
b5 {Diagram [#] The position is nothing special. It is a typical stonewall
which seems to be slightly better for White. But it is that type of edge
which slowly withers away. Wesley found a way to keep the flame of initiative
alive.} 22. a3 $1 {[%cal Gc3a2,Ga2b4,Gb4d3,Ga2c1,Gc1d3,Gd3e5] A terrific
move. This not only takes the b4 square under control but prepares the
move Na2! From there the knight can go to b4-d3 or c1-d3 and then jump
to e5.} Rc6 (22... b4 23. axb4 Qxb4 24. Nxe4 fxe4 25. Rxc8+ Bxc8 26. Qc2
Qb7 (26... Bb7 27. Qc7 $18) 27. Ng5 $36) 23. Na2 $1 (23. Ne2 {controls
the c1 square but doesn't aim at b4 and hence is not as effective as Na2.})
23... Rxc1 (23... g5 24. Rxc6 Bxc6 25. Nb4 $1 {[%cal Gb4d3,Gd3e5,Gf3e5]})
24. Nxc1 Qc7 25. Nd3 {White has a clear edge now as he will plonk his
knight to e5 and kick the one on e4 away with f3. } Bc8 26. Nfe5 $1 Nxe5
27. Nxe5 Kf8 28. f3 $14 {Wesley is better and went on to convert his advantage
in a long endgame.} Qc3 29. Qxc3 Nxc3 30. Bd3 Ke7 31. Kf2 Kd6 32. g4 a5
33. h4 b4 34. axb4 axb4 35. Bc2 Ba6 36. gxf5 exf5 37. Bxf5 Nd1+ 38. Ke1
Nxe3 39. Bxh7 Ng2+ 40. Kf2 Nf4 41. Ke3 Ng2+ 42. Kf2 Nf4 43. Bc2 Bb5 44.
Ke3 Ng2+ 45. Kf2 Nf4 46. Ng4 Ke6 47. Bd1 Nd3+ 48. Ke3 Ne1 49. Kf4 Ng2+
50. Kg3 Ne1 51. Ne3 g6 52. f4 Ba6 53. Bg4+ Kd6 54. f5 gxf5 55. Nxf5+ Ke6
56. Ne3+ Kf7 57. Nxd5 Nc2 58. Nc7 Bd3 59. Ne6 Ne3 60. Nc5 Bc2 61. Kf4
Ng2+ 62. Kg5 Ne3 63. Kf4 Ng2+ 64. Kg5 Ne3 65. Be6+ Ke7 66. h5 Bh7 67.
h6 Nc2 68. Bf5 Bxf5 69. Kxf5 Nxd4+ 70. Ke4 1-0
B. Adhiban and Siva Mahadevan (right) chat
with Aravindh Chithambaram (left)
before the biggest clash of his life
The 16-year-old took on the reigning World
Champion in the second round
It was not the first time that the two met
over the board at the Qatar Masters 2015. In 2013, Aravindh played
Magnus in a simultaneous exhibition and drew against the soon-to-become
World Champion.
The game began with an offbeat opening 1.e4 c5 2.b3!? employed by Aravindh.
The Indian grandmaster is known for playing unorthodox systems and had previously
beaten Alexie Shirov with 1.b3. The thing which is most amazing about Carlsen
and other top players is the humungous amount of knowledge they have related
to any opening under the sun. Turns out that Carlsen had wanted to employ
this system with the white pieces in the past, but had found 2…g6!?
to be quite irritating. This is the same move suggested by his second Peter
Heine Nielsen in the book Experts against the Anti Sicilians. Carlsen played
2…g6 and Aravindh was immediately thrown off balance. He thought for
nearly forty minutes on his fourth move. After around 15 moves it seemed
as if the game would end pretty soon. Magnus was not only ahead on time
but also had a clearly better position. But Aravindh fought on. And he played
so well that gradually he began outplaying the World Champion. As Carlsen
described in his post-game interview the only thing left now was to try
and trick his young opponent before they reached the 40th move time control.
The Norwegian was able to do exactly that, and by the time the players reached
38th move, Aravindh was completely lost. His flag fell and the game was
over.
[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"] [Site "Doha QAT"] [Date "2015.12.21"]
[Round "2.23"] [White "Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"] [ECO "B20"] [WhiteElo "2486"] [BlackElo "2834"] [Annotator
"Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2015.12.20"] 1. e4 {Aravindh
is famed in the Indian chess circuits for his unorthodox openings. But
against the World Champion he decides to play it safe with 1.e4.} c5 2.
b3 $5 {Well, so much for the well trodden paths! The 16-year-old had beaten
Alexei Shirov with 1.b3 a year ago. This time he tries to catch a bigger
fish with that move but 1.e4 c5 2.b3 is much different than 1.b3.} g6
$5 {After the game in an interview Carlsen said that he had considered
playing this line with White but did not like this 2...g6 move. And hence
he tried it. This is the same line recommended by Peter Heine Nielsen
in his book Experts against the Anti-Sicilians.} 3. Bb2 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5
{Here Aravindh sank into a deep thought. He was of course out of theory
and wanted to clarify the position as much as he could. There is a chance
that the e5 pawn would become weak and hence he decides to advance the
pawn.} 5. e6 $6 (5. d4 Qa5+ 6. Qd2 Qxd2+ 7. Nxd2 cxd4 8. Ngf3 Bg7 $11
{might be a better way for White to play, but I think Black has absolutely
no problems in this position as well.}) 5... f6 $1 6. exd7+ Qxd7 {The
e-pawn made four moves and exchanged itself for the d7 pawn which hadn't
moved even once in the game.} 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. Bb5 Nc7 9. Bxc6 Qxc6 $15 {Black
already has a bishop pair and the possibility to establish a strong center
with e5. He is clearly better. One would assume that the World Champion
would win quite easily from this point onwards. But Aravindh doesn't give
up easily.} 10. Qf3 Bd7 11. O-O-O e5 12. Qxc6 Bxc6 13. f3 Ne6 14. Nge2
Be7 15. Rhf1 b5 16. Rde1 Kf7 17. Nd1 a5 {Things are going excellently
for Black as he slowly but steadily builds up his position. White has
nothing much that he can do than to wait and hope for the opponent to
go wrong.} 18. Ne3 Bd6 $6 {The problem with this move is that the bishop
is a little exposed on d6 and can be hit with the move Nc4 or Ne4.} (18...
Rhe8 { was much better.}) 19. Nc3 h5 $6 (19... a4 {was necessary to stop
White from going a4.}) 20. a4 $1 {Securing the c4 square for the knight.}
b4 21. Ne4 Bc7 22. Nc4 {Suddenly things are not at all clear. White has
an excellent square for his knight on c4 and the Black pawns, which were
once very strong, now look like targets.} h4 23. g4 hxg3 24. hxg3 Rh3
25. g4 {[%cal Rg4g5] [#]} (25. f4 $5 {Trying to open the position could
have been a possible option.} exf4 26. gxf4 Bxe4 27. Rxe4 $13) 25... Rd8
$2 {A gross miscalculation by the World Champion. If one were to ask what
is it that White threatens here, it is easy to see that the move is g4-g5.
Carlsen overlooks that and allows White to gain the advantage.} (25...
g5 $1 $17) 26. g5 $1 Bxe4 (26... f5 27. Bxe5 $1 $18) 27. fxe4 Nf4 (27...
Nxg5 28. Bxe5 Bxe5 29. Nxe5+ Kg7 30. Nc4 $14 {is surely a slight edge
for White.}) 28. gxf6 $1 Ke6 29. Ne3 (29. d3 g5 30. f7 Rf8 31. Rg1 Kf6
32. Kd1 Rxf7 33. Bc1 Rg7 34. Rg4 Rh4 35. Ne3 $14 {was a possible way to
continue the game when White has a pleasant position thanks to the more
compact pawn structure.}) 29... g5 30. Nd5 (30. d3 $14) 30... Bd6 31.
Rg1 Rg8 32. Rg4 Rh4 33. Rgg1 g4 34. Ne3 g3 {The position has changed a
bit in the last few moves and White has lost his edge.} 35. Nf5 Rhh8 $1
(35... Rh3 36. f7 Kxf7 37. Nxd6+ $18) 36. f7 (36. Nxg3 Rh3 $1 $19) (36.
f7 Rg4 $1 {and the rook on h8 controls the f8 square.}) 36... Rg6 37.
Kd1 g2 {And here Aravindh's flag fell. Most probably the position is already
lost as Nh3 winning an exchange is coming up. An interesting game where
Magnus was once again put under some strong pressure by his 300 points
lower rated opponent.} 0-1
Video by Vijay Kumar on the second round of the
event. Be sure not to miss the interview with Magnus Carlsen, starting at
4 minutes and 22 seconds, in which he not only describes his game against
Aravindh but also against Nino Batsiashvili from the first round
After he had finised Magnus kibitzed nearly
every game that was in progress in the tournament hall.
It was truly an inspiring sight and shows how much the World Champion truly
loves the game.
11-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov has made
a wonderful start to the tournament,
drawing against Samuel Shankland in round one and Nguyen Ngoc Truongson
in round two
WGM Zhansaya Abdumalik showed that she was
not someone who
could be dismissed – she scored a superb victory over GM Stefan Bromberger
Nino Batsiashvili, who drew her game against
the World Champion in the first round,
couldn’t continue her momentum and lost against Harikrishna Pentala
[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"] [Site "Doha QAT"] [Date "2015.12.21"]
[Round "2.24"] [White "Batsiashvili, Nino"] [Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "0-1"] [ECO "A40"] [WhiteElo "2498"] [BlackElo "2743"] [Annotator
"Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "54"] [EventDate "2015.12.20"] {The hero of round
one, Nino Batsiashvili, who drew Magnus Carlsen, faced another stiff challenge
in the form of Pentala Harikrishna today.} 1. d4 Nc6 $5 {Harikrishna decides
to avoid well known paths and instead go for original play.} 2. c4 e5
3. d5 Nce7 4. Nc3 Ng6 5. a3 (5. g3 {dominating the knight on g6 could
have been a much more useful move than a3.}) 5... f5 6. e4 fxe4 7. Nxe4
Nf6 8. Bg5 d6 9. Bd3 Be7 10. Bxf6 (10. Bd2 $1 $14) 10... gxf6 {Of course
Harikrishna recaptures the bishop with the pawn. The knight on e4 no longer
feels so secure.} (10... Bxf6 11. Ne2 $14 {followed by Ng3 or Nc3 is a
risk free edge for White who has complete control of the e4 square.})
11. Ng3 Nf4 12. Bf5 $2 {After this it all goes downhill for White.} (12.
Be4 $1 {This strong move would have allowed White to gain a substantial
edge. What is the reason for the same? First of all White threatens N1e2
to evict the knight from f4. So Black has to be quick and must do something
immediately but what is it that he can do?} f5 (12... h5 $5 13. N1e2 h4
14. Nxf4 hxg3 15. Ng6 gxf2+ (15... Rxh2 16. Rxh2 gxh2 17. Qh5 $18) 16.
Kxf2 $16) (12... O-O $5 {This is what Hari had planned. However, White
now has the counterintuitive move} 13. Nf5 $1 Bxf5 14. Bxf5 Nxg2+ 15.
Kf1 Nf4 16. Ne2 $1 $16 {With a firm grip on the light squares White is
clearly better.}) 13. Nxf5 $1 Nxg2+ 14. Kf1 Nf4 15. Ne2 $1 $14 {is a clear
edge for White.}) 12... Bxf5 $1 13. Nxf5 Qd7 14. Nxe7 $2 ( 14. g4 {was
relatively better.}) 14... Nxg2+ $1 15. Kf1 Nf4 $1 {The knight on e7 is
not running away anywhere. Black is clearly better.} 16. Rc1 Kxe7 $1 {
Connecting the rooks.} 17. Rc3 Rag8 18. Ne2 Nxe2 19. Qxe2 h5 20. Ke1 Qf5
21. Kd2 Rg4 22. Kc1 Rhg8 23. Rf1 b6 24. h3 Rf4 25. Qe3 Rg2 26. Rc2 Rf3
27. Qh6 Qg5+ {Nino resigned as she will lose the h3 pawn as well and will
be two pawns down. Not such a great game for the Georgian player after
a wonderful first round result.} 0-1
An important battle in the second round was
the clash between Hou Yifan and Harika Dronavalli –
they tried to play a creative and original game of chess, but in the end
had to split the point
Mr. Cool Vladimir Fedoseev wriggled out from
what seemed like
a completely lost cause against Ali Marandi
[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"] [Site "Doha QAT"] [Date "2015.12.21"]
[Round "2.30"] [White "Fedoseev, Vladimir"] [Black "Ali Marandi, Cemil
Can"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D45"] [WhiteElo "2664"] [BlackElo "2454"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "107"] [EventDate "2015.12.20"] 1.
d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. b3 O-O 8.
Be2 e5 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Nb5 Bb4+ 11. Bd2 Bxd2+ 12. Nxd2 a6 13. dxe5 Nxe5
14. Nd4 Bg4 15. Bxg4 Nfxg4 16. Rc1 Qh4 17. g3 Qh3 18. Ke2 {Diagram [#]
The Semi-Slav for White has gone completely wrong. His king is misplaced
in the centre and the knight on g4 is ready to sacrifice its life to rip
open the white king. So f2 or e3 is the question?} Nxe3 $5 {This is less
powerful but also leads to a good attack.} (18... Nxf2 $1 {was much more
accurate and would have ended the game quite quickly.} 19. Kxf2 Rac8 $1
{The computer suggests this move, but it is of course not so easy for
humans to see it when there is a much more tempting option in Ng4.} (19...
Ng4+ {This is the most human move.} 20. Kf3 $1 {the staunchest defence.}
(20. Kg1 Nxe3 $19 {The queen is attacked and the mate on g2 cannot be
averted.}) (20. Ke2 Qg2+ 21. Ke1 Qf2+ 22. Kd1 Nxe3#) 20... Rae8 21. Rce1
Re6 $1 22. Nxe6 fxe6+ 23. Ke2 Qg2+ 24. Kd1 Nf2+ 25. Kc1 Nxh1 $19 {leads
to a position where Black is clearly winning.}) 20. Qf5 (20. Qb1 Rxc1
21. Rxc1 Qxh2+ 22. Ke1 (22. Kf1 Ng4 $19) 22... Qxg3+ 23. Kd1 (23. Kf1
Ng4 $19) 23... Qxe3 $19 {Black has four pawns for the piece and the white
king is completely exposed.}) 20... Qxf5+ 21. Nxf5 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 Nd3+
$19) 19. Kxe3 ( 19. fxe3 Qg2+ $19 {The h1 rook falls.}) 19... Rfe8 20.
Qf5 Qh6+ 21. f4 Nc6+ 22. Kd3 Nxd4 23. Kxd4 Qb6+ 24. Kc3 g6 $1 {The queen
doesn't really have a good square to go to.} 25. Qd7 (25. Qd3 Re3 $19)
(25. Qc2 Rac8+ $19) (25. Qb1 Rac8+ 26. Kb2 Qd4+ 27. Ka3 Qxd2 $19) 25...
Rad8 26. Qa4 Qe3+ 27. Kb2 Qxd2+ 28. Rc2 Qd3 {Black is a pawn up and has
excellent chances to convert the position. White on the other hand can
be happy that his king is at least safe and he won't lose soon.} 29. Qa5
$2 (29. Rhc1 $17) 29... Rc8 $1 30. Rxc8 Rxc8 31. Ka3 d4 32. Re1 b5 33.
Qb4 Qc2 34. Qxd4 a5 35. Qd7 {Diagram [#] It is Black to play and win.}
Qc5+ $1 (35... Rb8 {with the idea of b4 and Qa2 is another way to win.}
36. Re8+ Kg7 $1 37. Qd4+ (37. Rxb8 Qc1#) 37... Kh6 38. Rxb8 Qc1+ 39. Qb2
b4+ 40. Ka4 Qxb2 $19) 36. Kb2 Qc2+ (36... Qf2+ $1 37. Ka3 Rc2 {and it
is game over as there is no perpetual.} 38. Qe8+ (38. Re8+ Kg7 $19) 38...
Kg7 39. Qe5+ f6 40. Qe7+ Kh6 41. Qf8+ Kh5 $19) 37. Ka3 b4+ $6 38. Ka4
Qxa2+ 39. Kb5 Rb8+ 40. Ka6 Qxb3 41. Re8+ Rxe8 42. Qxe8+ Kg7 {Black is
still clearly better but the win is not as easy as before.} 43. Kxa5 Qb2
44. Kb5 b3 45. Qe3 h5 46. Kb4 Qxh2 47. Qe5+ Kg8 48. Qe8+ Kg7 49. Qe5+
Kh7 50. Qd5 Qb2 51. Qxf7+ Kh6 52. Qe7 Qg7 53. Qg5+ Kh7 54. Kxb3 {A miraculous
escape for Fedoseev who must have thanked his lucky stars for this half
point.} 1/2-1/2
Viktor Bologan was the biggest casualty of round two as he lost to IM Daniil
Yuffa. The Russian player showcased some high quality chess and scored what
was quite a flawless victory.
[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"] [Site "Doha QAT"] [Date "2015.12.21"]
[Round "2.17"] [White "Yuffa, Daniil"] [Black "Bologan, Viktor"] [Result
"1-0"] [ECO "D10"] [WhiteElo "2504"] [BlackElo "2654"] [Annotator "Sagar
Shah"] [PlyCount "75"] [EventDate "2015.12.20"] {This is not such a huge
upset as Yuffa is just 150 points lower rated than Bologan. However, considering
that Viktor was in excellent form at the recently concluded European Team
Championships it is surely a great result for the Russian youngster.}
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 dxc4 {Taking the pawn before White has played
Nf3 is not so common but this totally playable.} 4. e4 b5 5. a4 b4 6.
Nb1 Nf6 7. e5 Nd5 8. Bxc4 e6 9. Nf3 Be7 10. O-O Bb7 11. Nbd2 Nd7 12. Ne4
{White's position is quite pleasant. His next plan is to play Bg5 and
exchange the dark squared bishops so that the d6 and c5 squares are weakened.
Bologan prevents it but loses further time.} h6 13. a5 $1 {Threatening
to gain more space with a6.} Rc8 14. Bxd5 $1 {A very anti-intuitive decision,
but all will be clear pretty soon.} cxd5 15. Nd6+ $1 Bxd6 16. exd6 {The
d6 pawn is pretty weak and most probably will be lost, but while it is
alive it causes quite some inconvenience to Black. The b4 pawn is also
weak and can be attacked by Qa4 and Bd2. On the other hand the b7 bishop
is pretty passive. All this leads to quite a strong initiative for White.}
Ba6 17. Re1 O-O 18. Bd2 $1 Rb8 19. Ne5 $1 {Threatening a fork on c6.}
Nxe5 20. dxe5 $16 {[%csl Gd6,Ge5] The d6 pawn which looked weak has now
transformed itself into a pillar of strength.} f5 21. Qh5 Kh7 22. Rac1
Rb7 (22... Qxa5 23. Rc7 $1 $18) 23. Rc5 $1 { Threatening to double the
rooks on the c-file.} b3 24. h4 $1 {I quite like this move, as Bg5 can
be played and back rank threats are no longer a problem.} Bb5 25. Bg5
(25. Rec1 {was objectively stronger.}) 25... Qxa5 26. Rec1 Qb4 27. Rc7
Rxc7 $2 (27... Bd7 {Blocking the rooks action on the seventh rank was
important.} 28. Rxb7 Qxb7 29. Rc7 Qb5 $16 {Black is still in the game.})
28. Rxc7 Qe1+ 29. Kh2 Qxe5+ 30. f4 $1 {Nicely calculated by Daniil. The
d6 pawn is taboo.} Qd4 (30... Qxd6 31. Qxh6+ $1) 31. Qxh6+ $1 {It's surprising
that Viktor allowed this, but there was really no way to prevent it.}
Kg8 32. Qxe6+ Kh8 33. Qe5 {The safest route to victory.} Qxe5 34. fxe5
Re8 35. Be7 d4 36. d7 Bxd7 37. Rxd7 d3 38. Bb4 {A very strong game by
Daniil Yuffa who surprisingly is not even a GM yet. But by the looks of
his play I am sure that he will be one pretty soon.} 1-0
Yes we will! The hero of round two: Daniil Yuffa.
What do you do if your Elo is below 2300 and you are not allowed to participate
in the Qatar Masters? You set up a giant chess set outside the playing hall
and don’t really care about ratings and results – just indulge
and enjoy this royal game!
Pairings/Results of Round 2 on 2015/12/21 at 15:00
After the round, at 10.p.m. there was a football match held in the grounds
of the aspire zone. Even though it was quite late in the night everyone
was sure that one player would turn up – Magnus Carlsen, who loves
to indulge in any kind of sport! As it happened, many grandmasters arrived:
Evgeny Tomashevsky, Dariusz Swiercz, Piorun Kacper, Mateusz Bartel, Pavel
Tregubov, Alexandra Kosteniuk (yes she too played and we must say, she was
quite good!), Benjamin Bok, Daniil Yuffa, Salem Saleh, Samy Shoker, Pontus
Carlsson and a few others. Here are some exclusive pictures by Amruta Mokal,
who went to the match and made sure that the ball didn’t hit her camera!
Daniil Yuffa and Magnus Carlsen battle it out
on the soccer field for now.
Tomorrow they will be sitting across each other on the chess board.
…but Alexandra Kosteniuk made sure that
the World Champion faced some stiff resistance
A beautiful couple! Kosteniuk and Tregubov
made sure that they were on the same team
Accrobatic Salem Saleh is tackled by Bartel
Mateusz (with Swiercz Dariusz watching)
Exhausted, but that was great fun! Mateusz
and Salem.
Great camaraderie! A final group picture for
posterity!
The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the
server Playchess.com.
If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there
and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase
or any of our Fritz
compatible chess programs.
Sagar ShahSagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He is also a chartered accountant. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India website, the biggest chess news outlet in the country.
The new Komodo Dragon 3 engine has gained 100 Elo points in playing strength over its predecessor when using a processor core in blitz. That's a huge improvement for a program that already reached at
an Elo level of over 3500!
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