Adhiban Wins Five Games In A Row

Adhiban Wins Five Games In A Row
By Arvind Aaron

Former world under-16 champion B Adhiban of Chennai won five games in a row after losing the first two rouds in the Qatar Masters Open at Doha, Qatar on December 2, 2014.

Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia defeated top seed Anish Giri of the Netherlands to jointly share the lead on six points from seven rounds. In the joint third-four place are two Asians, Yu Yangyi of China and Salem A.R. Saleh of UAE on 5.5 points.

Despite his good showing and reaching five points from seven rounds, Adhiban is losing Elo since he lost the first two rounds to lower rated opponents from Italy and Iran. Now, Adhiban faces Bu in the eighth and penultimate round. Adhiban started as the 36th seed and now shares the fifth place.

Adhiban and Anish Giri have not drawn a single game! When journalists at one Dos Hermanas Tournament complained about too many draws in a Spanish tournament, Kramnik defended the players. Kramnik calls chess an equal mathematical puzzle.

Although Abhijeet Gupta is on 4.5 points, he has played at 2705 and is gaining about 7.5 Elo and he is the only undefeated Indian after seven rounds.
Another Indian who had impressed in rating terms is Karnataka’s IM M.S. Thejkumar who faced all Grand Masters and
is gaining over 12 Elo points.

Our title hope and sixth seed Pentala Harikrishna of Hyderabad is on 4.5/7 and his rating movement is a shade lower than his 2725 rating. Indians have gained plenty of exposure to tough opponents and higher rated opponents at Doha.