The Penultimate Round at Chennai

GM Hovhannisyan got to 10 points with a win from GM Robson of the US. It was a battle from early on with Robson sacrificing the Exchange on move 17. Hovhannisyan returned the material soon enough taking the game into a Rook and Bishops ending where his scattered pawns look a bit suspicious. The Armenian GM saw the possibilities in his passed, isolated and doubled c-pawns turning them into to an effective counter-balance to Robson’s slightly slower connected passers on the K-side. Accurate play by Hovhannisyan forced Robson’s resignation on move 46. GM Hovhannisyan is favored to take first place with just one round to go and a lead over Polish GM Swiercz at 9 ½ points. There are four players tied for third with 8 ½ points.
Hovhannisyan, Robert (2556) - Robson, Ray (2560) [B66]
50th World Junior Ch Chennai, India, 14.08.2011
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0–0–0 h6 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.Bf4 d5 11.Qe3 Bb4 12.a3 Ba5 13.exd5 cxd5 14.Be2 0–0 15.g4 Bb7 16.Rhg1 Rc8 17.g5 Rxc3 18.bxc3 Ne4 19.Qxe4 dxe4 20.Rxd8 Rxd8 21.gxh6 g6 22.c4 Bb6 23.Be3 Bxe3+ 24.fxe3 Kh7 25.Rd1 Rxd1+ 26.Kxd1 Kxh6 27.h4 f5 28.c5 e5 29.Bc4 Kh5 30.Be6 Bc6 31.c4 Kxh4 32.Bd5 Ba4+ 33.Ke2 Kg3 34.c6 g5 35.c7 Bd7 36.Bb7 f4 37.c8Q Bxc8 38.Bxc8 Kg2 39.c5 f3+ 40.Kd2 f2 41.Bxa6 g4 42.c6 g3 43.c7 Kh2 44.c8Q g2 45.Qh8+ Kg1 46.Qh3 1–0
GM Ray Robson plays Black against IM Piorun of Poland tomorrow. They both are in a mob of players at 8 points. Even a win will probably not push Robson high enough to garner one of the top three medals, but there is some small chance if all goes just so he could tie for third.
Deepak Aaron won a second game in row today. This score sets the stage for reaching a pretty good 50% result for what may be the toughest junior event Deepak has participated in so far in his career. Of course a great deal depends on tomorrow’s outcome.
There is a moment in the game when the play becomes irrational. I don’t know if there was some error in recording the moves or oversights by the players. It occurred at about the mid-point of the game making hard to believe it was caused by time trouble, but that is possible.
Aaron, Deepak (2288) - Karma, Pandya (2136) [C11]
50th World Junior Ch Chennai, India, 14.08.2011
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6
The French Defense, Classical Variation often continues 7..., Qb6. The text is aimed at discouraging White from castling on the Q-side by using the Q-side pawns to make that uncomfortable.
8.Qd2 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bc5 10.0–0–0 0–0 11.h4 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b5 13.Rh3 Qc7
Everything up to here is well known theory. Three alternatives have been tried by Black; 13..., b4; in pursuit of the idea mentioned earlier - using the Q-side pawns to discomfort the White King - 13..., Bb7; developing pieces before deciding about how to proceed and 13..., Qb6; preparing exchanges at d4 before attacking the White center with .., f7-f6. The text seems to have some ideas behind it for action down the c-file.
14.Rg3!?,..
Deepak is already plotting to create complications. More common, but not better is; 14 Qe3 b4 15 Na4 Bxd4 16 Qxd4 a5 17 h5 h6; and I like Black’s position. No claim can be made that it is winning, or nearly so, but it looks easier to play than is White’s game. Probably better is 14 h5.
14..., b4 15.Nxd5?!,..
Very creative and the point of the Rook move. Black handles the flurry of tactics well. Sounder is 15 Na4, but I refer you back to the previous note. Our young man does not care to be on the defensive, and so he opts for mixing things up.
15..., exd5 16.e6 Bxd4 17.Qxd4 Nf6 18.Qxf6 fxe6 19.Qe5 Qxe5 20.fxe5 Rf4 21.h5 a5!?
Slow. There is no immediate threat to the b-pawn and no reason to defend it. Black still has an advantage but not much of one.
22.h6,..
Creating a potential weakness on h7 that plays an important part in the ending.
23..., g6 23.Rf3 Rxf3 24.gxf3 Kf7 25.Rd4 Bd7 26.Rf4+ Ke7 27.Kd2 Rb8 28.c3 bxc3+ 29.Kxc3 Rb5??
Based on move count it seems unlikely time trouble is present, but it is possible this is so. No time to think is the only justification for such a move, or a massive sudden failure of chess sense.
30.Kd2?,..
Mutual time trouble? There is no good reason I can find not to take the Rook. After doing so White will have no problem getting his King in among the Black pawns via d4 and c5 as well as creating an outside “passer” on the Q-side. That is more than enough to win the game.
30..., Rc5?
And why not 30..., Rxb2+? With time trouble unlikely, the suspicion is there has been some error in entering the moves. I have not the skill that Bill Townsend has mastered over his years of deciphering score sheets to find the other moves that might bring the game to this position. After the interlude of strangeness, the game returns to logical and level play.
31.Rd4 Rc8 32.Bd3 Rf8 33.Ke3 Re8 34.Kd2 Rf8 35.f4 Rg8 36.b4 axb4 37.Rxb4 g5?
The final mistake. Black had defended well up to here. He has however been worrying about the White Bishop capturing on g6 at any point when his Rook is otherwise occupied. Unfortunately, trying to fix that worry causes far greater problems. Black can still hold with 37..., Ra8 38 a4 Kd8 (Of course not 38..., Rxa4? 39 Rxa4 Bxa4 40 Bxg6, winning. Or, 38..., Bxa5 39 Rb7+ Bd7 40 Bb5 Rd8 41 Ke3 Ke8 42 Kd4 Bxb5 43 Rxh7, also wins.) 39 Bb5 Bxb5 40 Rxb5 Kc7 41 a5 Ra6. Black seems to have just enough counter-play to get the draw.
38.Bxh7 Rh8 39.fxg5!,..
Either Black did not see this move, or he undervalued it. White is now winning.
39..., Rxh7 40.Rb7,..
White treats us to a fine illustration of the power of the pin and skewer.
40..., Kd8 41.a4 Rh8 42.a5 Kc8 43.a6 Rh7 44.Rxd7,..
Cashing in and changing the theme to the strength of two connected passed pawns on the 6th rank.
44..., Kxd7 45.a7 Rh8 46.g6 Rxh6 47.g7 1–0
The last round is tomorrow. Mr. Aaron began the event ranked just about the middle of the field. He is now ranked 85th after 12 rounds of play. A win tomorrow can well leave him near his placing at the beginning of play. That would be not a bad result after gaining much experience on the international stage. Deepak’s opponent then is Manigandan, S, 2109, another strong under 16 player from India. Manigandan is ranked 21st in the country and stands just ahead of Deepak after the 12th round. Should be one more interesting battle.
More soon.