ROUND 8 When facing the defending champions and a strong team like Armenia, the natural instinct is to defend! But when you have a young and ambitious side, anything is possible! Indian Men team played a fantastic match to hold Armenia to a draw 2:2 with draw on all four boards. To understand the magnitude of this result we only have to understand what Armenia have achieved in the past. They have been the champions not once,not twice but three times (2006,2008 and 2012) and their team line up was almost the same as yesterday! Parimarjan Negi said after the game that he had clear instructions from the team captain (Ramesh) to play it safe! To play for a draw, at any rate with white, is to some degree a crime against chess. - Mikhail Tal. Well it is a crime against chess and no one should try doing that in individual events but there are clear exceptions when you are playing for a team in the Olympiad and facing world no.2 Levon Aronian who has a rating of 2805. Negi was white and chose a super solid line in the Ruy Lopez. Negi was rated 150 points below the Armenian but even the great Levon Aronian could do nothing. Pieces got exchanged regularly and before you even knew it, it was already a draw! Super job by Negi. Making a draw against a 2800+ player is never easy! And yeah not at all bad for a player who is going to retire soon! (dont believe me? Heres the proof: https://youtube/watch?v=Ax8rBj2pHvg ) Sethuraman on board 2 was against Gabriel Sargissian with black. Sargissian has been a second of Levon Aronian and hence it would be correct to assume that he is extremely well prepared. Sethuraman played an interesting opening in which he was inspired by his yesterdays opponent and snatched the b2 pawn himself. He was slightly worse thereafter and Sargissian was pressing all the time. But with great tactical awareness and resourcefulness Sethu held a draw! A great defensive effort. Adhiban has shown his affinity for the Sicilian Taimanov in the past but today it was the Najdorf which was played by the youngster against the experienced Vladmir Akopian. The opening went fantastically for Adhiban! I think Akopian had no clue what was going on and Adhiban could have really smashed him had he not been attracted to a dubious tactic with Nxe4. After a few inaccuracies by both sides the game petered out to a draw. It was nonetheless a very interesting game and a good result for the team. And finally, as I had predicted, Sasikiran vs Movsesian would be the game that would make all the difference. And I was right! This game was so tense and fierce that it must have brought many a Armenian and Indian supporters on the edge of their seats! First of all Sasi showed his intentions of playing for a fight when he played the rare h3 move against Movsesians a6 slav. What happened next was really interesting. The players went for the Botvinnik Variation with the addition of the moves h3 and a6. I think this small change was in Blacks favour as usually in this opening white is trying to play g3 Bg2. With the pawn on h3 this plan would have been quite weakening. The a6 move on the other hand did not damage blacks position. But those are minor subtleties. What really counted was the fact that the game was complicated and could have gone either way. First it was Sasi who had an edge and could have made his passed h pawn into a hero. But he was a tad slow and it meant that Movsesian had enough time to make his d pawn faster than Sasis h pawn. With every step the black d pawn took towards queening, the hopes of Indian fans were drowning. When the pawn was on d2, it seemed as it was all over! And then something inexplicable happened. Movsesian took Sasis rook, A grave error. It meant that the black queen was out of play and Sasi could give a perpetual check!! Phew!! Drew by a whisker! Yes we were a little lucky but I think we showed great character. Armenia is a super strong team and to hold these guys to a draw is really a huge achievement. Sethuraman is definitely the man of the tournament till now. His performance is at a phenomenal 2773!! :) So the team is upbeat and guess what?!! In round 9 we have a somewhat easier pairing than yesterday! We are playing Argentina. GM Peralta, Fernando 2574 -GM Negi, Parimarjan GM Mareco, Sandro 2574- GM Sethuraman, S.P. GM Felgaer, Ruben 2564 - GM Sasikiran, Krishnan GM Flores, Diego 2562 - GM Adhiban, B. Maybe one of the most balanced teams I have seen. All their players are rated in a 12 point margin!! :) Peralta on the top board is a guy I was seeing daily for the past month in the Catalan circuit. He is definitely a good player but not in the elite zone. Negi can beat this guy. Sethuraman I think has the best chance in this team as Mareco Sandro is really not the strongest. Add to the fact that Sethu is in good form and he also has the white pieces, odds are in his favour. Overall I predict a 2.5-1.5 win for the Indians but of course anything is possible! :) Currently India is on 12/16 points and on the 11 positon. It is predicted that in order to win the gold you need to score 19/22. Of course its not possible now as maximum that Indian men can score is 18. But still we have a great chance of winning a medal and mind you were are currently ahead of great teams like Russia, Armenia, Hungary, USA etc!! The women team thoroughly thrashed Indonesia with a score of 3:1. It could have been even better if Tania would have won her completely winning position. But a 3:1 win against Indonesia is a great result. Mary Ann Gomes played the most convincing game on board 3. Mary coming back in form is really great news for the team. And what to say about the queen of Orissa, Padmini Rout playing on board 4. Words fall short when I have to describe her performance! 6.5/7 with a performance of 2565 and gaining 30 Elo points!! My goodness! And dont forget, its her first Olympiad! She has been playing the sheet anchors role as far as Indian women team is concerned! Stability of Rahul Dravid and yet the brilliance of Sachin Tendulkar! (excuse me for the cricket reference!) Just a word about this young talent. I personally know Padmini quite well and the thing which really impresses me about her is her fighting spirit. Never intimidated by any opponent and even after a loss she plays the next game as if nothing happened. When seeing her play a game I always find her totally engrossed. She hardly moves from her chair to see the games of others! In short it seems as if she is in love with the game of chess! :) Her job is unfinished and she knows it but we must acknowledge that what she has achieved till now has been simply outstanding! So the Indian Women team have zoomed ahead to the 6th place now! And we are playing the super strong team of Ukraine! 4.1 GM Harika, Dronavalli - GM Muzychuk, Anna 2555 4.2 IM Sachdev, Tanya - IM Muzychuk, Mariya 2530 4.3 IM Karavade, Eesha - GM Ushenina, Anna 2487 4.4 WGM Gomes, Mary Ann - GM Zhukova, Natalia 2468 For a few seconds I was stunned to see the pairing?!! Padmini Rout rested?!! Cannot believe that in such a crucial game, the (wo) man in form is not playing. The only logic can be that maybe she can have good rest and come back strongly in the last 2 rounds. The onus today is definitely on Eesha to perform! I have a feeling that team India have a really tough opposition in front of them but chess is a funny game! Anything can happen! And if you want to win a medal you will have to beat the favourites! And dear friends, lastly, today is a big day for all of us! Today is the day of Presidential elections! Garry Kasparov or Kirsan Illyumzhinov! The future of our game lies in who will come to power. According to Nigel Short we should do away with this criminal Mafia called Illyumzhinov who has been at the helm of FIDE for 19 years now. While many other people say that Kasparov too isnt going to make much of a difference. We all know that India is supporting Kirsan and if I am to go by what I am hearing in Spain from other players, Garry Kasparov doesnt have much chance. But just like how BJP replaced Congress this year in Indian elections I think FIDE too needs fresh leadership and if Garry Kasparov comes to power it can lead to some interesting changes!! Lets hope for the best! Tromso is filled with so much excitement today!! I can hardly wait for the games to begin! Today will decide if team India are really going to go the distance! All the best to all the 8 warriors! The entire nation is backing you!!
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 09:56:23 +0000
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