Moscow Wizards Impress In Eastern Division
Eastern Division
- Volga Stormbringers vs. Armenia Eagles: 7-9
- Moscow Wizards vs. Moscow Phoenix: 9.5-6.5
- Estonia Horses vs. Mumbai Movers: 6.5-9.5
- Tbilisi Gentlemen vs. Delhi Dynamite: 9-7
Armenia Eagles Bring Board Four Magic To Defeat Volga Stormbringers
For most of the match, the Armenia Eagles were slightly behind to the Volga Stormbringers, but they turned things around in the final two rounds.
As was often the case last year, the key points came on board four were Artak Manukyan again outperformed his rating for the Armenia Eagles. His third-round shot ...Qxg3+!! beautifully reversed a near-lost position, and eventually he even scored the full point.
2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | Volga Stormbringers vs. Armenia Eagles
| Eagles | Stormbringers | Dmitry Andreikin | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Mikhail Gorozhanin | Vitaly Rodchenkov | 7 |
| Zaven Andriasian | 2 | |||||
| Haik Martirosyan | 2.5 | |||||
| Shant Sargsyan | 2 | |||||
| Artak Manukyan | 2.5 | |||||
| 9 | 1.5 | 3 | 0 | 2.5 | ||
Dobrov and Wizards Win Moscow Battle
GM Vladimir Dobrov was a star for the Moscow Wizards. He scored a perfect 4/4 and carried his team to victory with a round to spare against their crosstown rivals, the Moscow Phoenix. Dobrov demonstrated particularly good defensive skills in his games. Don't miss this game where he forks White's pieces with ...f6 but picks his moment to cash in.
2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | Moscow Wizards vs. Moscow Phoenix
| Phoenix | Wizards | Boris Savchenko | Vlad Dobrov | Mikhail Lushenkov | Oleg Vastrukhin | 9.5 |
| Pavel Ponkratov | 2 | |||||
| Dmitry Kryakvin | 2 | |||||
| Mikhail Demidov | 1.5 | |||||
| Vladimir Mikhailovsky | 1 | |||||
| 6.5 | 1.5 | 4 | 1.5 | 2.5 | ||
Adhiban, Sadhwani Star For Triumphant Mumbai Movers
Baskaran Adhiban got the second perfect score of the day, scoring 4/4 for the Mumbai Movers against the Estonia Horses. Also impressing was young Raunak Sadhwani who put together 3/4 on board three. Here's one of Adhiban's fine wins. The move 19.Nd6! presaged an even prettier 18.Nd6!! seen later in the day (see next report!).
Never a subtle Twitter personality, Adhiban shared his joy with his many fans.
Scored 4/4 under my new alias :), My team @MumbaiMovers1 won thanks to nice play by everyone especially raunak (3/4) helped my team win in the first @PROChessLeague. Will be cool to be nominated for MVP of the week! Vote for me! pic.twitter.com/AsYnua8jpM
— Adhiban Baskaran (@adhibanchess) January 10, 2019
2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | Estonia Horses vs. Mumbai Movers
| Movers | Horses | Jaan Ehlvest | Ottomar Ladva | Meelis Kanep | Sander Kukk | 6.5 |
| Adhiban Baskaran | 4 | |||||
| Abhimanyu Puranik | 1.5 | |||||
| Raunak Sadhwani | 3 | |||||
| Soumya Swaminathan | 1 | |||||
| 9.5 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 0 | ||
Tbilisi Gentlemen Best Dynamite In Debut
The Tbilisi Gentlemen had a great season debut, getting a fantastic 3.5/4 from GM Giga Quparadze on board three and defeating the strong Delhi Dynamite. However, there was a notable asterisk in their victory as their only point on board two came as GM Davit Jojua benefited from a shocking mouseslip from GM Nihal Sarin. Sarin otherwise played well in his first time playing board one for the Dynamite. Previously he had on the bottom boards, but his rating has been leaping and bounding in recent years.
2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | Tbilisi Gentlemen vs. Delhi Dynamite
| Dynamite | Gentlemen | Baadur Jobava | Davit Jojua | Giga Quparadze | Nika Volkov | 9 |
| Nihal Sarin | 2 | |||||
| Priyadharshan Kannappan | 2 | |||||
| Sahaj Grover | 1.5 | |||||
| Tania Sachdev | 1.5 | |||||
| 7 | 3 | 1 | 3.5 | 1.5 | ||
