3rd Kolkata Open Grand Master Chess Tournament 2008
March 23-April 2, 2008
Gorky Sadan, Kolkata, India
Final Top Standings
(10 Rounds)
1-2 GM Viktor Laznicka CZE 2595, GM Krishnan Sasikiran IND 2677, 8.5/10
3 GM Shukhrat Safin UZB 2493, 7.5/10
4-10 GM Chanda Sandipan IND 2593, GM Ziaur Rahman BAN 2492, GM Humpy Koneru IND 2612, Rolando Nolte PHI 2412, GM Alberto David LUX 2557, IM Prasad Arun IND 2423, IM Jayaram Ashwin IND 2478, 7.0/10
11-22 GM Nguyen Anh Dung VIE 2525, GM Ahmed Adly EGY 2551, GM Tejas Bakre IND 2459, IM Roy Saptarshi IND 2404, GM RB Ramesh IND 2473, GM Dibyendu Barua IND 2491, GM Smbat Lputian ARM 2616, IM Kidambi Sundararajan IND 2442, GM Al-Rakib Abdulla BAN 2506, GM Das Neelotpal IND 2486, Krishnan Murali IND 2363, IM Jha Sriram IND 2457, 6.5/10
Total of 114 players
GM norms achieved: Rolando Nolte PHI, Prasad Arun IND
IM norms achieved: Oliver Barbosa PHI, Arghyadip Das IND, Dhopade Swapnil IND, and MS Thejkumar IND
Oliver Barbosa had 4 wins 3 draws and 3 losses for 5.5/10 and an International Master norm. This was the same tournament where Nolte got a GM norm, so the local chess press can perhaps be forgiven for showering glory on Nolts and forgetting all about Oliver.
Here is his best game.
Shashikant,Kutwal (2316) - Barbosa,Oliver (2410) [B90]
3rd Kolkata Open (6), 29.03.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3 Be7 8.Bc4 Nc6 9.0–0 0–0 10.Qe2 b5 11.Bb3 Be6 12.Rfd1 Qc7 13.Bg5 b4 14.Bxf6 bxc3 15.Bxe7 cxb2 16.Bxf8 bxa1R 17.Rxa1 Kxf8 18.Bxe6 fxe6 19.Qc4
Black has a weak pawn on e6. Can it be held?
19...Qc8 20.Ng5
Simultaneously attacking e6 and h7.
20...Nd4 21.Qd3
[21.Nxh7+ Kf7 22.Qxc8 Rxc8 23.Ng5+ Kf6 Black gets his rook on the 2nd rank]
21...h6 22.c3 Qxc3! 23.Nxe6+
[23.Qxc3 Ne2+ Double attack]
23...Kf7 24.Qxc3 Ne2+ 25.Kf1 Nxc3 26.Nc7 Ra7 27.Nd5 Nxe4
From here up to the end Black's play is a model of efficiency.
28.Rc1 Nc5 29.Ke2 Rb7 30.Rc2 Ke6 31.Ne3 Rb5
Idea: ...d6-d5.
32.Nc4 d5 33.Na3 Ra5 34.Nb1 d4 35.Rb2 Kd5 36.f3 g5 37.g4 Rb5 38.Rxb5 axb5 39.Nd2 b4 40.h3 e4 41.fxe4+ Nxe4 42.Nf3 Nc3+ 43.Kd3 Nxa2 44.Nxd4 Nc1+ 45.Ke3 b3 46.Nb5 Kc4 47.Na3+ Kb4 48.Nb1 b2 49.Ke4 Kb3 50.Nd2+ Ka2 51.Ke5 Nb3 52.Ne4 Ka1
[52...b1Q 53.Nc3+ Ka1 54.Nxb1 Kxb1 55.Kf6 Kc2 56.Kg6 Nd2 57.Kxh6 Nf3 also wins for Black, but the text is an easier way]
53.Nc3 Nc5 Black queens with ...Na4. 0–1
Barbosa, John Paul Gomez and Julio Catalino Sadorra were all born in 1986 and grew up together competing in the same tournaments. When they were 14 years old I was predicting good things for the Philippines, and tried to organize our participation in the World Team Under-16 Championship. I regret very much not having achieved this.
The three of them were won their share of youth trophies. I remember John Paul was Philippine Junior Champion a couple of times, Sadorra was Kiddies’ Champion and Oliver at the age of 14 won the Under-16 title in Southeast Asia.
Gomez and Sadorra are now International Masters with GM norms, on the other hand Oliver Barbosa does not have any international title yet. What happened to him? This is doubly puzzling because in my opinion Barbosa was the most talented of the three.
John Paul was solid and difficult to beat while Ino was perhaps the hardest worker, but Oliver had the ability to create works of art on the board. He can come up with games like this:
Barbosa,Oliver - Donguines,Fernie [C43]
2004 Phi-Ch, Tagaytay (10), 24.09.2004
Fernie Donguines is an extremely talented attacking player. He got a GM norm from the 1994 Moscow Olympiad, the same place where he earned the bronze medal for his awesome performance on 6th board. There was also this year (not sure of the year, but I think 1997) where he won almost all the tournaments he played in.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5 Be7
The text is a bit more passive than the usual 5...Nd7 or 5...Bd6 here. Donguines was only after a draw.
6.0–0 0–0 7.c4 c6 8.Nc3
GM Jussupow wrote an encyclopedic tome on the Petroff, and recommended here that a better try at gaining the advantage was 8.Qc2 Nf6 (8...f6?! 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.Bxe4 fxe5 11.Bxh7+ Kh8 12.dxe5 White had a big advantage. Meyer,D-Menkhaus,W/ MVP 2000 0–1 (29)) 9.c5 Nbd7 10.Nc3 Nxe5 11.dxe5 Nd7 12.Bxh7+ Kh8 13.Bf5 Nxe5 14.Re1 Bf6 15.Bf4 White's king is more secure. Tseitlin,M-Karasev,V/ Leningrad 1970 1–0 (42).
8...Nf6 9.Re1 Be6 10.Bg5
If White wants to avoid exchanges he has to play 10.b3.
10...dxc4 11.Bxc4 Bxc4 12.Nxc4 Nbd7 13.Qb3 Nb6 14.Nxb6 axb6 15.Rad1 Ra5?
A bad mistake. Fernie probably expected Oliver to retreat his bishop to e3, after which ...Nd5 would exchange another pair of pieces.
16.d5! Bd6 17.g3
[17.dxc6?? Rxg5]
17...Qc7 18.Bxf6 gxf6 19.Ne4 Be5 20.d6 Qd8 21.f4 Rb5
caption: position after 21...Rb5
22.fxe5! Rxb3 23.Nxf6+ Kg7 24.axb3 b5 25.Kg2
He didn't want any surprise checks on the g1–a7 diagonal.
25...Qa5 26.Re4 Kg6 27.Rf1 h5 28.Rf2 Qa1 29.Nd7 Rd8 30.e6 Qb1
[30...fxe6 31.Rxe6+ Kg7 32.Re7+ Kh8 (32...Kg6 33.Rf6+ Kg5 34.Rg7#) 33.Nf6 Qb1 34.d7 Qg6 35.Re8+ etc]
31.Rf6+ Kg7 32.Rxf7+ Kh6 33.Ref4 Rg8 34.R4f6+ Rg6 35.Rxg6+ Kxg6
[35...Qxg6 36.Rf6] 36.Nf8+ Kh6 [36...Kg5 37.h4+ Kh6 38.Rh7+]
37.Rf4 Qxb2+ 38.Kh3 Qe5 39.d7 Qd5 40.Rf6+ Kg7
[40...Kg5 41.Nh7#]
41.Rf7+ Kg8 42.d8Q Qxd8 43.Nh7
With the unstoppable threat of Nf6+ winning either the queen or the king. 1–0
So, Oliver, congratulations on your IM norm. I hope this inspires you to redouble your efforts and catch up with your contemporaries, and to take up your rightful place among the best players of the country.
Reader comments/suggestions are urgently solicited. Email address is bangcpa@gmail.com
"This article first appeared in Bobby Ang's column in Businessworld (Philippines) on 14 April 2008"
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