Both the Open and Women teams of India barged into the finals of the 2020 Asian Nations Online Cup by ousting Kazakhstan and Mongolia, respectively in their semifinal matches. The Indian Open team will now play Australia and the Indian women will face Indonesia for the gold.
Australia eliminated Iran in the Open semifinals while the Indonesians did the same to the Philippines in the Women semifinals. The Philippines’ Open team was roundly crushed and eliminated in the quarterfinals by Kazakhstan while the Filipinas entered the semis by overwhelming Sri Lanka in two matches.
The finals is being played on Oct. 25, and India is the heavy favorite to take the gold in the Women while the Australia-India match in the Open finals is a toss-up.
Adhiban, B (2624)-Jumabayev, R (2562) [A00]
chess.com (3.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.e3 Be7 6.Nf3 0-0 7.Rc1 h6 8.Bh4 b6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Bd3 Bb7 11.0-0 c5 12.Bf5 c4 13.b3 g6 14.Bb1 Rc8 15.bxc4 Rxc4 16.Bd3 Rc8 17.Qb3 a6 18.a4 Bd6 19.Rc2 Re8 20.Rfc1 Kg7 21.Be2 Rc6 22.Nd2 Qb8 23.Bg3 Bxg3 24.hxg3 Rec8 25.Bd3 h5 26.Nf3 Qd6 27.Qb2 R6c7 28.Ne2 Rxc2 29.Rxc2 Rxc2 30.Bxc2 Bc6 31.Ne5 Ng4 32.Nxg4 hxg4 33.Nf4 b5 34.axb5 Bxb5 35.Bb3 Nb6 36.Bd1 Nc4 37.Qc3 Qd7 38.Nd3 a5 39.Nc5 Qf5 40.Bc2 Qc8 41.e4 dxe4 42.d5+ f6 43.Ne6+ Kf7 44.Qd4 Nd6 45.Qa7+ Qb7 46.Nd8+ 1-0
Nihal, S (2418)-Khusnutdinov, R (2523) [A00]
chess.com (4.2) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.Nb5 Na6 6.e3 0-0 7.h3 c5 8.c3 Qb6 9.a4 c4 10.b3 cxb3 11.Qxb3 Qa5 12.Be2 Bf5 13.0-0 Rfc8 14.Rfc1 Be6 15.Ng5 Bd7 16.Be5 Bc6 17.c4 Qd8 18.Rc2 h6 19.Nf3 dxc4 20.Bxc4 Bd5 21.Rac1 Rxc4 22.Rxc4 Bxc4 23.Rxc4 Nd7 24.Bxg7 Kxg7 25.e4 Qb6 26.Qc3 Qf6 27.a5 Qf4 28.d5+ Kh7 29.g3 Qf6 30.e5 Qf5 31.Kg2 Nf8 32.Rf4 Rc8 33.Rxf5 Rxc3 34.Rxf7+ Kg8 35.Rxf8+ 1-0
Smirnov, A (2367)-Idani, P (2460) [A00]
chess.com (4.1) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 h5 6.Nb3 e6 7.Bd3 Qc7 8.Qe2 a6 9.a4 b6 10.f4 d6 11.0-0 Bb7 12.Bd2 Be7 13.Rae1 Nd7 14.Nd5 Qd8 15.Bc3 Bf6 16.Nxf6+ gxf6 17.Rf3 Qe7 18.Rh3 h4 19.Qf2 Nc5 20.Rxh4 0-0-0 21.Rxh8 Rxh8 22.Qg3 Nxd3 23.cxd3 e5 24.d4 exf4 25.Qxf4 Rg8 26.Re3 Kb8 27.Nd2 b5 28.axb5 axb5 29.b4 Bc8 30.h3 Rg6 31.Kh2 Qc7 32.Nf3 Kb7 33.Nh4 Rg8 34.Qxf6 d5+ 35.e5 Be6 36.Nf5 Bxf5 37.Qxf5 Nd8 38.Rf3 Rg7 39.Be1 Ne6 40.Rc3 Qe7 41.Qf3 Qd7 42.Bf2 Ng5 43.Qf6 Rg6 44.Qh8 Ne6 45.Be3 Nc7 46.Qh5 Ne6 47.Qf3 Rg8 48.Rc2 Rg7 49.Qf1 Rg8 50.Ra2 Nc7 51.Qd3 Rg6 52.Rf2 Qe8 53.Qf5 Rg7 54.Qf6 Ne6 55.Qf3 Qd7 56.g4 Rh7 57.Qf5 Rg7 58.Kg3 Qc7 59.Rc2 Qe7 60.Qf6 Qxb4 61.Qf2 Qb3 62.Rb2 Qd3 63.Qe2 Qxe2 64.Rxe2 Kb6 65.h4 Rg8 66.h5 Ka5 67.Rb2 Ka4 68.Bd2 Rb8 69.h6 Ka3 70.Rb4 Nc7 71.Kf4 Na6 72.Rb1 Ka2 73.Rc1 b4 74.Rc6 Ra8 75.h7 b3 76.Bc3 Nb4 77.Rh6 Rh8 78.Kf5 b2 79.Rh2 Nd3 80.Bxb2 Nxb2 81.Kf6 1-0
Maghsoodloo, P (2532)-Kuybokarov, T (2134) [A00]
chess.com (4.2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.0-0 a6 7.a4 h6 8.Nbd2 0-0 9.b4 Ba7 10.Bb2 Nh7 11.b5 Ne7 12.d4 exd4 13.cxd4 d5 14.exd5 Nxd5 15.Re1 Nf4 16.Ba3 Re8 17.Qb3 Be6 18.Bd5?? Probably a mouse slip 18…Qxd5 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rd3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rxe8 2.fxe8=Q#; 1…Rxg8 2.fxg8=Q#; 1…Rxf7 2.Bxf7#; 1…Bf6/d6/d8 2.S(x)d6#; 1…gxh4/g4 2.Rf4#; 1…Sb6/c3/b2 2.S(x)b2#; 1…b3 2.Sa3#; 1…Se3/g3/d2/h2 2.S(x)e3#./PN
