A dejected Sasikiran Krishnan was sitting at the reception of the Aspire Tower Hotel in Qatar. The Qatar Masters 2015 had just come to an end and Sasi (as he is affectionately called) had lost six Elo points. I asked him for a short video interview for ChessBase India and he reluctantly agreed. It was a three-minute interview and one and a half year has passed since that day, but I won't forget the sheer determination that was concealed behind Sasi's smile when I asked him about his new year's resolution for 2016. "Just to play good chess, I believe, which I am quite capable of doing", was his answer.
It was not that things were too bad with Sasikiran's chess career. He had a rating of 2632, which was pretty decent, but he hadn't been able to perform at his absolute best. In May 2012, Sasi had peaked at 2720 FIDE, and after Vishy Anand, he was the second Indian to break the 2700 barrier. Now he was nearly 100 points below his personal best.
The real breakthrough for Sasikiran happened when in Benasque Open 2016 he scored 9.0/10 and beat strong opponents like Sethuraman, Burmakin and many others, thereby gaining 20 Elo points. "I don't know what is it about Benasque", says Sasi. "I always seem to do well over there. Back in 2005 I became the champion scoring 9.0/10. Maybe it's the mountains. I can go for long walks and they sort of refresh me. Also the people and organizers there are very friendly and warm. I just started to enjoy chess without worrying too much about the results."
The shift in Sasikiran's play took place after he won the Benasque Open in Spain in 2016
The positive approach towards the game was clearly seen in Sasi's play as he started beating strong grandmasters and performing well at many events. He even won the Rilton Cup at the start of 2017, ahead of Gata Kamsky. While Sasi's performance had improved at open events, the last round robin he had played was two years ago at Danzhou 2015 in China. Hence, when he got an invitation to the closed round robin event at the 52nd Capablanca Memorial 2017 in Cuba, it was very difficult to judge how Sasikiran would perform.
It was going to be a double round robin event with the top seed being Vasily Ivanchuk (2730). The second seed was Samuel Shankland (2676) followed by Sasikiran (2669). The three other players were Emilio Cordova (2645) from Peru, Kacper Piorun (2637) from Poland, and the local player Ortiz Suarez (2570). It was ten rounds of grueling chess and in order to prepare for it Sasi took a break from tournament play for nearly a month.
"I worked on all the phases of my game. Of course, preparing openings usually takes the most time, but I ensured that I focused on other parts of the game as well. In order to improve my calculation I worked on volume one of Jacob Aagaard's Grandmaster Preparation series - Calculation. In fact I finished half of the book before the event."
The result was simply fantastic for the Indian grandmaster. He scored three wins, seven draws, remained unbeaten and emerged as the winner of the tournament, one point ahead of all his competitors.
"The media houses that covered my victory wrote that it was a smooth one. Yes, three wins and seven draws does give one that sort of impression. But nothing can be farther from the truth. My victory was anything but smooth!"
The top three finishers of the tournament: Sasikiran Krishnan, Vasily Ivanchuk and Samuel Shankland
In between the hectic trip of nearly 16,000 kilometres (!) from Cuba to Chennai and getting ready for the World Team Championship that was about to begin in four days in Khanty-Mansiysk (Ed: where he was the top performer for India), Sasi was gracious enough to spare time for a Skype interview. We began with a few general questions where Sasi gave short answers. He got into his element when we began discussing his games. An interview that was to last only a few minutes, stretched to well over an hour as Sasi discussed the various subtleties of his ten encounters.
Sasi at his home in Chennai and I at my place in Mumbai
In the first part of the two part series, we will be covering the first five rounds of the event. The moves and analysis that Sasikiran spoke on Skype have been put into ChessBase replayable boards by me. But that's my only involvement. The annotations are Sasikiran's. As an introduction to every game I also tell you about what I learnt from the moves and the analysis.
One of Sasi's greatest qualities is that, whatever he does, he tries to do it with perfection (photo by Amruta Mokal)
In this game Sasikiran showed some brilliant opening preparation. A move made by his opponent 12...exd4, which looks absolutely normal, was exploited in great fashion by Sasi. This game already shows that Sasikiran's opening preparation and understanding is at a very high level.
Kacper Piorun is a four-time World Champion in problem solving and a strong grandmaster. (photo by Lisychess)
Ivanchuk is known for his uncompromising style of play. He never really agrees to short draws and tries to fight until the very end. However, against Sasikiran, he offered a draw in just 15 moves despite having the white pieces. What is interesting to observe from the game is Sasikiran's analysis of how he assessed the position when he accepted the draw and the variation he gives in order to show how the game could have continued.
Perhaps Ivanchuk wanted to just end the game and play some checkers! The image above is actually from Cuba, and Ivanchuk did meet up to play with the Cuban champion of checkers.
The opening didn't go so well for Sasi as he landed in an uncomfortable position after just ten moves. "It was then that I decided to go for 11.b3!? which was perhaps not the best move objectively, but a good practical choice", says Sasikiran. "If I were black in the last position I would not have accepted the draw." The game ends in 18 moves, but it is interesting to note how the grandmaster from Chennai assesses the final position and suggests ways for Black to increase the pressure.
Your decisions are often a result of how you evaluate a position. Samuel Shankland drew his game against Sasikiran in a slightly better position. (photo by Lisychess)
This was a complete gloves-off fist fight. Sasikiran got a nice position out of the opening, but very quickly went wrong. Seeing that his opponent was building up the pressure he offered a draw on 18th move, and to Cordova's credit the Peruvian declined the draw offer. This game shows how fortunes can fluctuate and how even the best sometimes miss simple, even very simple moves. Sasikiran could have won a piece, but instead had to settle for a draw. It's a good question as to who should be sad with a draw, because both players had their chances to win the game.
Ortiz Suarez came excellently prepared to the game against Sasikiran (photo by Lisychess)
The Najdorf is a topical opening and in order to do well against it you should be one step ahead of your opponent. This time it was the Cuban GM who was very well prepared from the black side. Sasi fell behind by an hour on the clock. Instead of pressing too much he took the practical decision of agreeing to a draw. In the final position White is a pawn up, but Sasikiran explains why he accepted the draw.
A game that is worth mentioning from the fifth round is Ivanchuk's excellent win over Shankland with a long term exchange sacrifice. Sasikiran agreed that the game was nice, but suggested an improvement for Sam, where the American player could have gone for an exchange sac. The game below has only Sasi's notes, but make sure you go through all the moves to understand why Ivanchuk is still considered one of the best players in the world.
Thus, at the halfway mark Ivanchuk was leading the field with +2 at 3.5/5, while Sasikiran was in the second with 3.0/5.
The second part of the article will contain the analysis of games six to ten and will be published soon.
