The DT News Cup Shenzhen is a double-round robin that took off in the Chinese city of Shenzhen with six players averaging 2754 in rating. This Category 21 event is the strongest event in Asia this year. India's Pentala Harikrishna now leads after two rounds of play. Illustrated Report.

Shenzhen 01+02: Harikrishna beats Adams, leads

Anish Giri is the top seed, followed by Michael Adams, Ding Liren, Pentala Harikrishna, Yu Yangyi and Peter Svidler.

Anish Giri would be looking to play some sharp chess and try to win this tournament but so far he has settled for two draws.

In the first round, he drew with Michael Adams.

The Chinese brotherhood went for each other's throat instead of settling for a draw. It was an exciting game that ended without a result anyway.

[Event "DT News Cup Shenzhen 2017"]

[Site "Shenzen"]

[Date "2017.03.23"]

[Round "1"]

[White "Yu, Yangyi"]

[Black "Ding, Liren"]

[Result "1/2-1/2"]

[ECO "A11"]

[WhiteElo "2750"]

[BlackElo "2759"]

[Annotator "TA"]

[PlyCount "175"]

[EventDate "2017.??.??"]

[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 g6 4. Qa4 dxc4 {A11: English Opening: 1...c6} (4... d4

5. Bg2 Bg7 6. d3 Nh6 7. b4 O-O 8. O-O Nf5 9. Nbd2 Nd7 10. Rb1 Re8 11. Ne4 Nd6

12. Nxd6 exd6 {0-1 (83) Kramnik,V (2812)-Topalov,V (2761) Leuven 2016}) 5. Qxc4

Bg7 {LiveBook: 9 Games} 6. d4 Be6 7. Qa4 Bd5 $146 (7... Nf6 8. Nc3 O-O 9. Bg2

Nd5 10. O-O Nd7 11. Rd1 {1-0 (33) Petrosian,A (2514)-Mainka,G (2340) Dortmund

1999}) 8. Nbd2 Nf6 9. Qc2 Qa5 10. Bg2 c5 11. O-O cxd4 (11... Nc6 $5 {is more

complex.} 12. dxc5 O-O 13. a3 Qb5 14. e4 Be6) 12. Qc8+ Qd8 13. Qxd8+ Kxd8 14.

Nxd4 Bxg2 15. Kxg2 Kd7 $1 16. N2f3 Rc8 17. Bf4 Ke8 18. Rac1 Nbd7 19. Nb5 Nd5

20. Rfd1 Nxf4+ 21. gxf4 Nc5 22. Nfd4 a6 23. Nc3 Rd8 24. Nf3 $1 Rac8 25. Rxd8+

Rxd8 26. Nd1 Ne6 27. e3 Rd5 28. Kf1 Ra5 29. a3 Rc5 30. Rxc5 Nxc5 $11 {Endgame

KBN-KNN} 31. Ke2 Kd7 32. Ng5 f6 33. Nf3 (33. Nxh7 Ke6 34. b4 Na4 $17) 33... f5

34. b4 Ne4 35. Kd3 Bf6 36. a4 Kd6 37. Nd4 Bxd4 38. Kxd4 $15 {KN-KN} Nd2 (38...

g5 $15) 39. Kd3 $1 $11 {The position is equal.} Nf3 40. Ke2 $1 Nxh2 {Strongly

threatening ...Ng4.} 41. f3 $1 Kd5 42. Nb2 $1 b6 43. Kf2 $1 a5 44. bxa5 bxa5

45. Kg2 Kc5 {Black wants to play ...Kb4.} 46. Nd3+ ({Reject} 46. Kxh2 Kb4 47.

Kg3 Kc3 48. Nd1+ Kb3 $17) 46... Kc4 47. Ne5+ Kb4 48. Kxh2 Kxa4 {KN-KP} 49. Nc6

$1 Kb5 50. Nxe7 a4 51. Nd5 a3 52. Nc3+ $1 Kc4 53. Na2 Kb3 54. e4 $1 Kxa2 {KP-KP

} 55. e5 $1 Kb1 56. e6 a2 57. e7 a1=Q {( -> ...Qa8)} 58. e8=Q {KQ-KQ} Qd4 {

Hoping for ...Qf2+.} 59. Kg3 h5 60. Qe1+ ({Of course not} 60. Qb5+ Kc1 61. Qe2

{[#]} h4+ $1 62. Kxh4 Qxf4+ 63. Kh3 Qd6 $17) 60... Kc2 {And now ...h4+! would

win.} 61. Qe2+ Qd2 62. Qc4+ Kd1 63. Qb3+ Ke1 {White must now prevent ...Kf1.}

64. Qb1+ $1 Qd1 65. Qb6 {[#]} h4+ $1 66. Kxh4 {Threatens to win with Qg1+.}

Qxf3 67. Qg1+ Ke2 68. Kg5 Qh5+ 69. Kf6 Kf3 70. Qf1+ Kg3 71. Qc1 Qg4 72. Ke5 Qf3

({But not} 72... Qe2+ 73. Kf6 $17) 73. Qg1+ Qg2 74. Qe1+ Qf2 75. Qc1 Kg4 76.

Qd1+ Kh3 77. Qh1+ Kg3 78. Qc1 Qb6 79. Qe1+ Kg2 {aiming for ...Qc7+.} 80. Qc1

Kh2 81. Qd2+ Kh3 82. Qc1 Qb5+ 83. Kf6 Kg4 84. Kxg6 Qb6+ 85. Kf7 Qd4 86. Ke6

Qxf4 87. Qg1+ Kh4 {...Qe4+ is the strong threat.} 88. Qg6 1/2-1/2

Harikrishna also played a fighting game against Peter Svidler.

[Event "DT News Cup Shenzhen 2017"]

[Site "Shenzen"]

[Date "2017.03.23"]

[Round "1"]

[White "Harikrishna Pentala"]

[Black "Svidler, Peter"]

[Result "1/2-1/2"]

[ECO "A49"]

[WhiteElo "2758"]

[BlackElo "2741"]

[Annotator "TA"]

[PlyCount "60"]

[EventDate "2017.??.??"]

[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4 d5 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 c6 7. b3 dxc4 8. bxc4

c5 9. Bb2 Qb6 10. Qc1 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Nc6 {A49:1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 g3:

Anti-King's Indian systems} 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Nd2 {The position is equal.} Bf5

14. Nb3 Rfd8 $146 (14... Rac8 15. e4 Be6 16. e5 Nd7 17. Re1 c5 18. Nd2 Qa6 19.

Re3 {0-1 (40) Ding, L (2732)-Caruana,F (2820) Wijk aan Zee 2015}) 15. Be5 a5

16. c5 Qa6 17. Qb2 Qb7 18. Qa3 Be4 19. Rfd1 (19. Nxa5 $2 Qb5 20. Bxe4 Nxe4 21.

Bxg7 Kxg7 $19) 19... Rxd1+ 20. Rxd1 {[#] aiming for Bxf6.} Bxg2 21. Kxg2 Qb4

22. Qxb4 axb4 23. Nd4 Ne4 24. Bxg7 Kxg7 25. Nxc6 Rxa2 26. Nxb4 $11 {KRN-KRN}

Rb2 27. Na6 {Rc1 is the strong threat.} Ra2 28. Nb4 Rb2 29. Na6 {[#] Hoping

for Rc1.} Ra2 30. Nb4 Rb2 1/2-1/2

Michael Adams had the white pieces in the second round against...

...Pentala Harikrishna. White had a reasonably good game until a queen retreat allowed Hari to seize control of the game.

[Event "DT News Cup Shenzhen 2017"]

[Site "Shenzen"]

[Date "2017.03.24"]

[Round "2"]

[White "Adams, Michael"]

[Black "Harikrishna Pentala"]

[Result "0-1"]

[ECO "E05"]

[WhiteElo "2761"]

[BlackElo "2758"]

[Annotator "TA"]

[PlyCount "102"]

[EventDate "2017.??.??"]

[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. d4 dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4

Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bg5 Bd5 11. Qc2 Be4 12. Qc1 h6 13. Bxf6 {E05: Open Catalan:

5 Nf3 Be7} Bxf6 14. Nbd2 (14. Rd1 $5 {creates asymmetry.} Nc6 15. Nbd2 Bg6 16.

Nc4 Be4 17. Qf4) 14... Bxf3 15. Nxf3 {The position is equal.} a5 16. Qc3 $146 (

16. Rd1 c6 17. Qc4 Na6 18. Rac1 Nb4 19. h4 Rc8 20. e3 Qb6 {1/2-1/2 (55)

Kovalenko,I (2650)-Wojtaszek,R (2746) Poland 2015}) 16... Nc6 17. Rad1 Nb4 18.

Ne5 c6 19. e4 Rc8 20. Ng4 c5 21. Nxf6+ Qxf6 22. e5 (22. dxc5 Qxc3 23. bxc3 Na2

$15) 22... Qe7 23. d5 exd5 24. Bxd5 Rcd8 25. Bc4 Nc6 26. f4 Rxd1 27. Rxd1 Rd8 (

27... Nd4 $5 {looks sharper.} 28. Qxa5 Qd7 29. Rf1 Qc6 30. Bb5 Qd5) 28. Rd5

Rxd5 29. Bxd5 Nb4 30. Bb3 Nc6 31. Kf2 Qd7 32. Qc4 Nd4 33. Ba2 b6 $36 {White is

under pressure.} 34. Ke3 g5 35. fxg5 hxg5 {Threatens to win with ...Qf5.} 36.

Qf1 $2 {[#]} (36. Qd5 $11 {and White has nothing to worry.} Qf5 37. Bc4) 36...

Nc6 $1 $19 (36... Nc2+ 37. Ke2 $17) 37. Qd3 $2 (37. Qc4 $17 {is a better

chance.}) 37... Qxd3+ (37... Nxe5 38. Qxd7 Nxd7 39. Ke4 $14) 38. Kxd3 {Endgame

KB-KN} Nb4+ (38... Nxe5+ 39. Ke4 Nc6 40. Kf5 $16) 39. Kc4 {Hoping for Bb1.}

Nxa2 {KN-KP} 40. Kb5 Nb4 41. Kxb6 Nd3 42. Kxa5 {Strongly threatening Kb5.} Nxb2

({Stronger than} 42... Nxe5 43. Kb5 Nd7 44. a5 $18) 43. h4 $2 (43. Kb5 $19 c4

44. Kb4) 43... gxh4 44. gxh4 {KN-K3P} Kg7 45. h5 Kh6 {Black mates.} 46. Kb5 {

[#]} c4 $1 (46... Kxh5 47. a5 c4 48. a6 $11) 47. Kb4 c3 $1 ({Worse is} 47...

Kxh5 48. a5 Kg5 49. Kc3 $18 (49. a6 c3 50. Kxc3 Na4+ 51. Kb4 Nb6 $16)) 48. Kxc3

Nxa4+ 49. Kd4 Kxh5 50. Kd5 Nb6+ 51. Kc6 Kg5 0-1

Since the other two board could just draw the game and Hari's victory is the only full point scored so far in the tournament, he now leads with 1.5/2!

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