Chess (#1217)
 "Chess (#1217)")
The Indian team has won six straight matches to lead the Open Section of the Baku Olympiad, despite starting as the ninth seeds. The last two matches have been tough, with a 3-1 upset of the home team, the fourth-seeded Azerbaijan A, followed by a minimum sixth round victory, 2.5-1.5, against The Netherlands, seeded 10.
Vidit Gujrathi has been the star with 5.5 from 6 games.
P Harikrishna won a sharp duel to take down Shakhriyar Mamedaryov on top board versus Azerbaijan A and he held Anish Giri in Round 6. Baskaran Adhiban turned an inferior position into a decisive win against Dutch GM Erwin L'Ami in a time-scramble. The other wins, against Bolivia (4-0), Costa Rica (4-0), Azerbaijan B (3-1) and Cuba (2.5-1.5) were not stressful.
The #5 seeded Ukraine (10) has picked off two huge wins, versus Russia (10) and China (10), but gone down to the #2 US (11) in the sixth round. The Americans are the only team with three top 10 players but they drew against the #17 Czech Republic, which offered fierce resistance. India faces the US in Round 7 and they will be heartened by the Czech display. In fact, there are unlikely to be any easy matches for India from here onwards. But they will be hoping to improve on the bronze they took at Tromso.
The women's section has third-seeded Russia (11) and #2 Ukraine (11) sharing the lead after a hard-fought draw. Top seed China, #7 Poland, #11 Romania, #16 Azerbaijan A and #5 India are sharing third spot, with 10 match points each.
The Indian women had slightly under-par draws with Vietnam and Israel. However, #19 Vietnam has also taken a 2-2 draw off China and the #18 Israelis are also under-rated. The big news of Round 1 was world #5 Dronavalli Harika's loss on time in a winning position, while Round 4 saw world champion Hou Yifan going down to a stunning defeat against Latvian WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola, who is also the incumbent finance minister of her country. The Indian women scraped through with a minimum Round 6 win against #29 Latvia and they face the Azerbaijan A team in Round 7.
The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (White: Mamedyarov Shakhriyar vs Black: P Harikrishna, Baku Olympiad 2016) is a rare situation of incorrect assessments. The pawn mass is scary.But the engines underestimate it and favour white's material edge.
Play continued 25.Ra7 Qc6 26.Qg5 Re6 27.Qd8+ Re8 28.Qd6+ Kg8 So far so good. Now white can fight on with [29. R1a5 c2! 30. Ra1 d4 31. Qxc6 Bxc6 32. Rc1 Rxe5 33. Ra2 Be4 - if 33. Rxc2? d3! wins] . Instead "Shakh" played 29.Rxb7? Qxb7 30.Qxc5 Rxe5 31.Ra7 d4! 32.Qxd4 Rd5! 33.Rxb7 Rxd4 34.Kg2 Rd1 (0-1) Since 35.Rc7 Rb1 is dead-lost.
Vidit Gujrathi has been the star with 5.5 from 6 games.
P Harikrishna won a sharp duel to take down Shakhriyar Mamedaryov on top board versus Azerbaijan A and he held Anish Giri in Round 6. Baskaran Adhiban turned an inferior position into a decisive win against Dutch GM Erwin L'Ami in a time-scramble. The other wins, against Bolivia (4-0), Costa Rica (4-0), Azerbaijan B (3-1) and Cuba (2.5-1.5) were not stressful.
The #5 seeded Ukraine (10) has picked off two huge wins, versus Russia (10) and China (10), but gone down to the #2 US (11) in the sixth round. The Americans are the only team with three top 10 players but they drew against the #17 Czech Republic, which offered fierce resistance. India faces the US in Round 7 and they will be heartened by the Czech display. In fact, there are unlikely to be any easy matches for India from here onwards. But they will be hoping to improve on the bronze they took at Tromso.
The women's section has third-seeded Russia (11) and #2 Ukraine (11) sharing the lead after a hard-fought draw. Top seed China, #7 Poland, #11 Romania, #16 Azerbaijan A and #5 India are sharing third spot, with 10 match points each.
The Indian women had slightly under-par draws with Vietnam and Israel. However, #19 Vietnam has also taken a 2-2 draw off China and the #18 Israelis are also under-rated. The big news of Round 1 was world #5 Dronavalli Harika's loss on time in a winning position, while Round 4 saw world champion Hou Yifan going down to a stunning defeat against Latvian WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola, who is also the incumbent finance minister of her country. The Indian women scraped through with a minimum Round 6 win against #29 Latvia and they face the Azerbaijan A team in Round 7.
The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (White: Mamedyarov Shakhriyar vs Black: P Harikrishna, Baku Olympiad 2016) is a rare situation of incorrect assessments. The pawn mass is scary.But the engines underestimate it and favour white's material edge.
Play continued 25.Ra7 Qc6 26.Qg5 Re6 27.Qd8+ Re8 28.Qd6+ Kg8 So far so good. Now white can fight on with [29. R1a5 c2! 30. Ra1 d4 31. Qxc6 Bxc6 32. Rc1 Rxe5 33. Ra2 Be4 - if 33. Rxc2? d3! wins] . Instead "Shakh" played 29.Rxb7? Qxb7 30.Qxc5 Rxe5 31.Ra7 d4! 32.Qxd4 Rd5! 33.Rxb7 Rxd4 34.Kg2 Rd1 (0-1) Since 35.Rc7 Rb1 is dead-lost.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
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First Published: Sep 10 2016 | 12:15 AM IST