The 2020 Asian Nations Online Cup ended Oct. 18, with Iran emerging as champions in the Open Division and India taking the gold in the Women’s Division. The Philippines took the silver in both divisions while Mongolia and Iran took the bronze in the Open and Women’s Divisions respectively.
The event, played on four boards with a time format of 15 minutes plus five seconds increment per move, drew 38 countries in the Open and 31 in the distaff side.
The Philippines Open team was made up of (in the order of their board assignments) GM Mark Paragua (2573), GM Rogelio Barcenilla (2463), IM Paulo Bersamina (2286), GM John Paul Gomez (2470) and IM Haridas Pascua (2423). The top four ranked players in the Open are all Indian grandmasters: Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2646), Baskaran Adhiban (2624), S.P. Sethuraman (2588), and Krishnan Sasikiran (2577). Paragua is the fifth highest rated at Elo 2573. All ratings are for FIDE Rapid.
The top fifteen in the standings: 1. Iran; 2. Philippines; 3. Mongolia; 4. Australia; 5. Indonesia; 6. India; 7. Kazakhstan; 8. Singapore; 9. Tajikstan; 10. Bangladesh; 11. Kyrgyzstan; 12. Japan; 13. Nepal; 14. Thailand; 15. Jordan.
Here are some best efforts from our boys:
Paragua, M (2573)-Smirnov, A (2367) [A00]
chess.com (6.1) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Bd6 6.Bg2 c6 7.Qc2 Nbd7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Bg5 Qe7 10.Nbd2 h6 11.Bxf6 Nxf6 12.e4 dxe4 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 c5 15.Rad1 a5 16.Rfe1 Ra6 17.d5 Rb6 18.b3 Qf6 19.Qe2 exd5 20.Rxd5 Be6 21.Rd3 Bf5 22.Rd5 a4 23.Nd2 axb3 24.axb3 g6 25.Qd1 h5 26.Ne4 Bxe4 27.Bxe4 Ra8 28.Rd3 Be5 29.Bd5 Rf8 30.Rf3 Qg7 31.Bxf7+ Kh8 32.Bxg6 Bf6 33.Rxf6 Rbxf6 34.Qxh5+ Kg8 35.Be4 Qh6 36.Qd5+ Kh8 37.f4 b6 38.Qe5 Qg7 39.Bd5 Qh7 40.Kg2 Qg6 41.h4 Qg7 42.Re3 Qg6 43.h5 Qg7 44.Kh3 Kh7 45.Qg5 Qd7+ 46.f5 Kh8 47.Re6 Qd8 48.h6 R8f7 49.Kg2 Qf8 50.Qe3 Rxf5 51.Re8 Rf2+ 52.Kh3 1-0
Barcenilla, R (2463)-Ganguly, SS (2646) [A00]
chess.com (7.2) 2020
1.c4 e6 2.b3 Nf6 3.Bb2 d5 4.Nf3 b6 5.g3 Bd6 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 Bb7 8.Nc3 a6 9.d4 Nbd7 10.e3 Qe7 11.a3 Rfe8 12.Nd2 c5 13.Re1 Rab8 14.cxd5 exd5 15.e4 dxe4 16.Ndxe4 cxd4 17.Nxf6+ Qxf6 18.Ne4 Bxe4 19.Rxe4 Rxe4 20.Bxe4 Be5 21.f4 Bd6 22.b4 Qe7 23.Qxd4 Nf6 24.Bf3 Rd8 25.Qxb6 Bb8 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27.Kh1 Ba7 28.Qxa6 Qe3 29.Qe2 Qc3 30.Ra2 Rd3 31.Rc2 Qxa3 32.Rc8+ Kg7 33.Be4 Qa1+ 34.Kg2 Qg1+ 35.Kh3 1-0
Kazhgaleyev, M (2496)-Bersamina, P (2286) [A00]
chess.com (8.3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.h3 0-0 6.Bg5 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Bd3 exd5 9.cxd5 a6 10.a4 Nbd7 11.Nf3 Qc7 12.0-0 c4 13.Bc2 b6 14.Re1 Bb7 15.Qd2 Rfe8 16.Bh6 Ne5 17.Nxe5 dxe5 18.Be3 Bf8 19.Rab1 Rac8 20.Kh1 Bc5 21.Bxc5 Qxc5 22.f4 Qd4 23.Qc1 Nh5 24.f5 Qf2 25.Ne2 f6 26.Qh6 Nf4 27.Nxf4 Qxf4 28.Qxf4 exf4 29.Rf1 g5 30.Kg1 Kf7 31.Kf2 Ke7 32.h4 h6 33.hxg5 hxg5 34.Rh1 Rh8 35.Rxh8 Rxh8 36.b3 c3 37.Rd1 Kd6 38.Rd3 Rh1 39.Bd1 a5 40.Bc2 Ba6 0-1
Gomez, JP (2470)-Gan-Erdene, S (2109) [A00]
chess.com (5.4) 2020
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 Bd7 9.f4 b5 10.Nxc6 Bxc6 11.Qe1 h6 12.Bh4 Qa5 13.Kb1 Bb7 14.Bd3 b4 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Ne2 Qc5 17.Nd4 Rc8 18.Qe2 a5 19.Bb5+ Ke7 20.Rhe1 h5 21.g3 h4 22.g4 h3 23.g5 fxg5 24.e5 Bg7 25.Nf5+ exf5 26.exd6+ Kf6 27.Qe7+ Kg6 28.Qxg5+ Kh7 29.Bd3 Be4 30.Rxe4 fxe4 31.Bxe4+ Kg8 32.d7 f6 33.d8Q+ Rxd8 34.Rxd8+ Kf7 35.Rd7+ Ke6 36.Qxc5 1-0
Pascua, H (2423)-Makhnev, D (2453) [A00]
chess.com (8.4) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 Nc6 5.Bxc4 e5 6.d5 Ne7 7.e4 Ng6 8.Be3 a6 9.h3 Bd6 10.Nf3 0-0 11.0-0 Bd7 12.a4 Qe7 13.Rc1 h6 14.Re1 Rfb8 15.Bd3 b5 16.axb5 axb5 17.Ne2 Bb4 18.Rf1 Nxd5 19.exd5 e4 20.Bxe4 Qxe4 21.Rxc7 Rd8 22.Ng3 Qe8 23.Rc1 Bd6 24.Re1 Bxg3 25.fxg3 Be6 26.d6 Rac8 27.Bc5 Qd7 28.b4 Re8 29.Ra1 Ra8 30.Qd4 Qc6 31.Kh2 f6 32.Rxa8 Qxa8 33.d7 Bxd7 34.Qxd7 Rxe1 35.Nxe1 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qb3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…gxf5 2.Qe3#; 1…d4 2.Qe6#; 1…Kxf5 2.Qxd5#; 1…Kd4 2.Qc3#./PN
