Tata Steel Chess India Rapid: Nakamura is champion

by Sagar Shah
11/14/2018 – The Tata Steel Chess India 2018 Rapid came to an end on November 11th with American GM Hikaru Nakamura taking home the first prize with 6.0/9. Nakamura played the event as per the demands of the situation — calm on first and third days and three victories on day two! It was excellent news for Indian fans that Harikrishna managed to fight back with two wins against Levon Aronian and Vidit Gujrathi in last two rounds to finish second. Levon Aronian had to settle for the third spot. IM SAGAR SHAH brings you six things that happened on the last day of the rapid and reflections on the first super tournament held in his native India! Of course, one mustn't forget the small sensation — Vishy Anand was beaten by his former second Surya Sekhar Ganguly in the final round.

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World number 2 finishes rapid number 1

The final day of the rapid section at Tata Steel Chess India 2018 began with Hikaru Nakamura and Levon Aronian leading with 4½/6. The next player was Harikrishna with 3½/6 and then a pack of four players with 3.0/6 which included Vishy Anand and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov among others. It was clear that with such a lead either Nakamura or Aronian would win the tournament with just three rounds to go. In the end, it was all about not going wrong as Nakamura made three draws, two extremely solid ones against Anand and Sergey Karjakin and one wild game against Wesley So. On the other hand, Aronian drew his seventh and ninth round game against Vidit and Mamedyarov but lost the critical encounter in the eighth round against Harikrishna.

Meanwhile, Harikrishna scored 2.0/3 on the final day beating Aronian and Vidit to finish second ahead of Aronian. There would have been playoffs if two players had tied for the top spot, but Nakamura was the sole leader with 6.0/9 followed by Aronian and Harikrishna (5.5/9). Hence, the American was adjudged as the champion without any tiebreaks coming into effect.

Final Ranking after 9 Rounds

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Nakamura Hikaru 6,0 0,0
2 Harikrishna Pentala 5,5 1,0
3 Aronian Levon 5,5 0,0
4 So Wesley 5,0 0,5
5 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 5,0 0,5
6 Karjakin Sergey 4,5 0,0
7 Anand Viswanathan 4,0 0,5
8 Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 4,0 0,5
9 Nihal Sarin 3,0 0,0
10 Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2,5 0,0

Three great players, three different emotions! Caption this! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Round 7
Name Result Name
Nihal Sarin ½ - ½ Ganguly Surya Shekhar
Anand Viswanathan ½ - ½ Nakamura Hikaru
So Wesley ½ - ½ Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Karjakin Sergey 1 - 0 Harikrishna Pentala
Aronian Levon ½ - ½ Vidit Santosh Gujrathi
Round 8
Name Result Name
Ganguly Surya Shekhar 0 - 1 Vidit Santosh Gujrathi
Harikrishna Pentala 1 - 0 Aronian Levon
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 1 - 0 Karjakin Sergey
Nakamura Hikaru ½ - ½ So Wesley
Nihal Sarin ½ - ½ Anand Viswanathan
Round 9
Name Result Name
Anand Viswanathan 0 - 1 Ganguly Surya Shekhar
So Wesley 1 - 0 Nihal Sarin
Karjakin Sergey ½ - ½ Nakamura Hikaru
Aronian Levon ½ - ½ Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 0 - 1 Harikrishna Pentala

1. Hikaru Nakamura is good at rapid chess!

Nakamura paced himself excellently in the tournament. He started with three draws against strong opponents Aronian, Vidit and Harikrishna on day one. Day two was when he really started getting things rolling by defeating Mamedyarov with the black pieces and then following it up with two wins against the tailenders Surya Ganguly and Nihal Sarin. With 4½/6 he was ideally placed to win the tournament. Now the important thing was to not take any risks, play solidly and see what his main competitors are up to.

Nakamura gave Vishy absolutely no chances to win the game! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nakamura has a friendly chat with his compatriot | Photo: Amruta Mokal

In the eighth round, the battle between two Americans was very intense. In fact, Wesley So was clearly better at some point, but then gave chances to Nakamura. In the end, it was a draw.

 
Nakamura vs Wesley So
Black has just played ...Bd5. What should White do?

Bxh7+! was a simple tactic missed by Wesley. If the knight moves from f6, then the bishop on d5 is hanging. Nakamura was better after this, but couldn't convert the edge and the game ended in a draw.

Don't miss Nakamura's expressions in this video

In the final round, Karjakin and Nakamura drew their game within five minutes. Only Aronian would be able to catch Nakamura if he won the game, but Levon was unable to do so, the game ended in a draw and Nakamura became the champion.

Hikaru Nakamura won the 1st Tata Steel Chess India 2018 Rapid section | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nakamura's short speech after winning the tournament at the closing ceremony

2. Harikrishna's tough mental state

Harikrishna was playing quite solidly until the end of day two. He had a win against Mamedyarov and five draws. Coming into the final day he lost his game against Sergey Karjakin. It was a normal position in which he blundered big time.

 
Karjakin vs Harikrishna

The move ...f5 was inaccurate and after taking the bishop on b6, White went f3 and the bishop on g4 was trapped. After ...Nxg3 hxg3 the bishop move back to h5 and exf5 helped White to net a pawn. This pawn could not be recaptured because g4 would fork two pieces.

'Hari' had some chances in the game, but eventually lost to Karjakin | Photo: Amruta Mokal

It speaks a lot about Hari's mental toughness that he was able to come back form this loss to beat a player of Aronian's calibre from an equal endgame. Harikrishna managed to win a couple of pawns, but still, the knight endgame was not at all easy. In fact, at one point Aronian had a draw in his hand if he found the accurate move.

 
Harikrishna vs Aronian
What should Black play here?

Aronian chose the move ...Nd5, but better was to play ...Nb5 when White has to agree to a draw!

Harikrishna won the game after a long fight | Photo: Amruta Mokal

You can literally feel your heart pumping faster when you see the tense endgame between Harikrishna and Aronian. It is simply amazing how Harikrishna kept his cool, thwarted all of Aronian's ideas and won the game!

Chief arbiter of the event R. Anantharam asks Hari if 20 minutes is a good time for him to relax and be back for the final round? | Photo: Amruta Mokal

In the final round, things were proceeding just normally in the game between Vidit and Harikrishna, when all of a sudden Vidit blundered.

 
Vidit vs Harikrishna
Position after Rad1

Rad1 is such a natural move that it is very difficult to understand why it is a mistake. But Harikrishna found the error in Vidit's move!

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bg5 Nbd7 11.Nc3 h6 12.Bf4 Bd6 13.Ne5 Bxg2 14.Kxg2 Nh5 15.Rad1? It is very difficult to exploit a move like Rad1. But Harikrishna was alert for his chance. 15.Rfd1= And the position is just equal. 15...Nxf4+! 16.gxf4 Qh4! Such a move is easy to miss because the knight on d7 is left en prise. 17.Ne4 17.Nxd7? Qg4+ 18.Kh1 Qxf4 19.Kg2 Qxh2+ 20.Kf3 Qh3+ 21.Ke4 f5# 17.e3 Nxe5 18.fxe5 Bxe5 is just an extra pawn. 17...Nf6 18.Ng3 18.Nxf6+ gxf6 19.Nd3 Qg4+ 20.Kh1 Qxe2-+ 18...Qxf4 Black has very simply won a pawn. 19.e3 Qh4 20.Nf3 Qg4 21.h3 Qg6 22.Ne5 Bxe5 23.dxe5 Nh5 24.Rd7 Nxg3 25.fxg3 b5 26.axb5 axb5 27.Qc6 Ra4 28.Rf4 Qb1 29.Qxb5 Ra1 30.Rf1 Qe4+ 31.Kh2 c6 32.Qe2 Rxf1 33.Qxf1 Qxe3 34.Qf4 Qe2+ 35.Kg1 Qxb2 Black is now two pawns up. 36.h4 c5 37.Rd2 Qb4 Depressed with his position Vidit resigned, a bit prematurely in my opinion, but of course his position is just lost. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Vidit,S2702Harikrishna,P27290–12018E06Tata Steel India Rapid9.3

3. Surya Sekhar Ganguly beats Vishy Anand

Ganguly and Anand had never played against each other in an over the board encounter, not even in rapid or blitz. Surya had been Anand's second for many years — he helped Anand to win three World Championship titles against Kramnik, Topalov and Gelfand. Of course, he is well versed with Anand's playing style. But, it is one thing to know everything about the opponent, and quite another to actually beat him. Ganguly managed to play some inspired chess to beat the five-time World Champion from the black side of the Caro-Kann.

Surya Sekhar Ganguly against Vishy Anand in the final round of the Tata Steel Chess India 2018 | Photo: Diptansu Sengupta

 
Anand vs Ganguly

The move e6 followed by Nge7 and f6 has not really been played by any good players. This is an idea that Surya has developed. Later he pushes his pawn to f6 and preapres for the e5 pawn break. Something about it says that the setup doesn't look the best, but it is quite difficult to refute it over the board!

 
Anand vs Ganguly

The move ...b6 prepares the transfer of the rook towards the kingside via a7. Very original and creative play!

 
Anand vs Ganguly

It was time to use the g5 pawn as a battering ram to open up White's kingside.

 
Anand vs Ganguly
In this position Black played ...Bxf1

...Bxf1 was a well calculated move by Surya. Once the defender was eliminated, a sac on g3 became very obvious.

 
Anand vs Ganguly
Black to play

In this position, Ganguly sacrificed his piece on g3 and the game was over!

 
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1.e41,162,86954%2421---
1.d4944,72655%2434---
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1.g319,66356%2427---
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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 e6 6.Nf3 Bd6 7.0-0 Nge7 This is a new idea which Ganguly played with not only Anand in this game but also Harikrishna. 8.Re1 0-0 9.Na3 f6 The plan is to go for a quick e5. 10.Nb5 Bb8 11.c4 Nb4 12.Bf1 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Nbd5 The position is imbalanced with lot of possibilities. But objectively White should be better. 14.Nc3 Kh8 15.Qb3 a6 16.a4 b6! I like this idea by Surya. He wants to put his rook to a7 and swing it over eventually to the kingside. 17.Bd2 Ra7 18.a5 18.Rac1 18...b5 19.Bxd5 exd5 Now the bishop on c8 is activated. 20.h3 g5!? Inspired play. 21.Na2 Nc6 22.Nb4 Nxb4 23.Bxb4 Rg8 24.Qa3 g4 25.hxg4 25.Be7 Rxe7 26.Qxe7 gxf3 25...Bxg4 26.Nh2 26.Nh4!± was a better move. 26...Rag7 27.g3 Suddenly Black has four of his pieces aiming towards White's king. 27.Be7? Be2‼ is what Vishy had missed when he went for this line. 27...Bh3 28.Re3 Bf4 29.Rf3 Qc7 30.Nf1 Bxf1! 31.Kxf1 31.Rxf1 Bxg3 32.fxg3 Rxg3+ 33.Kh1 R3g4-+ 31...Bxg3 32.Qc3 32.fxg3 Rxg3 is a crushing attack. 32...Qd7 33.Ke2 Re8+ 34.Kd2 Bh4 35.Re1 Rxe1 36.Kxe1 Rg1+ 37.Ke2 Bg5 Qe6+ is going to be quite deadly Seeing that nothing much canbe done, Vishy just resigned. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Anand,V2773Ganguly,S26150–12018B13Tata Steel India Rapid9.4

IM Shah takes a deep dive into Anand-Ganguly in "Under the Surface" (ChessBase India) 

Guess to whom Ganguly giving this nice smile? | Photo: Diptansu Sengupta

...It's his wife (left) Sudeshna Dutta, who has been at the playing venue on all the days rooting and cheering for her husband | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Also on team Ganguly is GM Vishnu Prasanna who is his second | Photo: Amruta Mokal

A great result for Ganguly who had three draws and five losses before the final round. Even after the win, he finished on the last position, but this final round victory would be a great victory etched forever in his memory.

The complete video footage of Surya Ganguly's win over Vishy Anand

One position worth showing here is Ganguly's penultimate round game against Vidit Gujrathi:

 
Ganguly vs Vidit
White has just played his bishop to d4.

White is better in this position. It is Black to move here. What would you play?

One thing that separates grandmasters from normal players is that they don't really have prejudices. They play the position as per its needs. Vidit realized that the bishop on d4 was strong and needed to exchanged and hence played ...Bf6!

 
Ganguly vs Vidit
Black has just played Be7-f6

Ganguly took on f6. Black now has tripled pawns! Some might say they are pretty ugly, but then that's just a matter of perspective! They are doing an important role of control some key squares and although White is slightly better here, he went on to lose the game.

4. A very respectable 3.0/9 for Nihal Sarin

Nihal Sarin is just 14 years old. Thanks to the organisers of the Tata Steel Chess India 2018 he got a chance to rub shoulders against the best in the business. Would he be able to sustain his play against these world-class opponents? Nihal was more than up for the challenge. He drew six games against Karjakin, Vidit, Anand, Ganguly, Harikrishna, and Mamedyarov and lost three against Aronian, Nakamura and So. A very respectable performance for a boy who had no real experience facing these super elite grandmasters.

Although his first super tournament, it never seemed as if Nihal was out of place! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The most awaited game of the tournament — the little cub versus Madras tiger! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

An intense game is underway. Nihal matched Anand move for move and at some point was even clearly better | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nihal can be proud of the fact that Vishy accepted the draw with a look of smile and relief on his face! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nihal Sarin vs Vishy Anand — a battle of generations

After the tournament ended, I went to Nihal's room in Taj Bengal and did a detailed round-up video of his performance and game analysis of all nine rounds. That will be published soon. It was very interesting for me to see how Nihal could fight on equal terms against all the giants of the game and I realized that when it comes to sheer calculation, the boy is really moving close to the level of these greats. Stay tuned for "Inside the mind of Nihal Sarin!"

5. No win for Vishy Anand

For Vishy Anand, the most frustrating part of the event would be that he couldn't win a single game | Photo: Anjana Ashwin

An event of this stature in India would be impossible without Vishy Anand's inclusion. It's because Anand's presence motivates the sponsors, him playing in the event inspires hundreds of people to visit the playing venue just to have a glimpse of him in person. It didn't come as a surprise that everyone was looking forward to Anand winning a game or two with great enthusiasm. But that didn't happen. In fact, the closest that Vishy came to a win was in the first round against Wesley So. After Anand lost the last round against Surya Sekhar Ganguly there was a huge silence in the playing hall. Everyone was stunned. One can only hope that Anand comes back to form in the blitz event.

6. The massive turnout of spectators

The playing hall was full each day and people would come close to the stage prior to the start of the game to get a picture or two! On the final day, we had a jam-packed crowd with some people not getting a seat to sit inside the auditorium.

Playing hall crowd | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Now that's something every chess lover would be proud of | Photo: Amruta Mokal

For youngsters this was their chance to get a picture with the stars! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The organizers had made appropriate arrangements today so that no fan had to go back home without an autograph! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Busy giving autographs! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Some preferred selfies, while some were very shy to approach these world-class players! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The press conference after the rapid section comes to an end

The Blitz tournament

The blitz event began from the 13th of November 2018. We will have 18 rounds of 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment. Nine rounds on the 13th and nine rounds on the 14th.

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Sagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. 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, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.

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