chessbase india logo

Adhiban loses for possessing analog watch in National Teams 2020

by Shahid Ahmed - 08/02/2020

Airport Authority of India leads both open and women section at the conclusion of day 2 of 40th National Team Open and 18th National Team Women. The biggest shock of the day came in round 3 of open section when GM Adhiban Baskaran of PSPB had to forfeit the match for possessing an analog watch after 16 moves against IM C R G Krishna of RSPB-B. GM Karthikeyan Murali scored a marathon victory against GM Thejkumar to make sure his team beat RSPB-B. In the women's section, all top seeds scored a victory. Only AAI did a whitewash again, resulting in them jumping into the lead ahead of all other teams. Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Adhiban loses due to rules technicality in Round 3

After playing a fantastic game yesterday, Adhiban took a rest in round 2. In round 3, team PSPB (Petroleum Sports Promotion Board) faced RSPB-B (Railway Sports Promotion Board). Adhiban was paired against IM C R G Krishna. However after 9 moves were made, Adhiban was found to be wearing a wrist watch which according to the tournament rules and regulations meant a loss. In the past there have been several cases in India of players losing a game because of a watch, however, this was the first instance when a grandmaster was affected by it.

C R G Krishna - Adhiban's opponent | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

The first GM casualty in India of the analog watch rule - GM B. Adhiban | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

This is the watch that Adhiban was wearing | Photo: B. Adhiban

Speaking to ChessBase India after the incident, Adhiban said, "I just came back from Gibraltar. At the Gibraltar masters there was no such rule about wearing of a watch and all kinds of watches were allowed. I was completely jetlagged and forgot about the watch rule. My opponent claimed the win and there was nothing I could do about it." Unlike a walkover, a loss due to the watch rule affects your rating and Adhiban lost 7.7 Elo points. At a rating of 2654, that's quite a bit. However, as always Adhiban was positive and said, "I am happy that my team won the match in spite of my loss. I am playing good chess and that is more important to me than rating points."

The main clause in FIDE's Arbiter's manual is 11.3.2.1 under Anti-Cheating Guidelines

It is clear that from the FIDE laws electronic devices are not allowed. How was Adhiban given a loss when he was wearing an analog watch? A few years ago, when the rule 11.3.2.1 was implemented the arbiters all across the country were faced with several instances where they had to decipher an analog watch from an electronic one. Logically if a watch had batteries in it, it would become an electronic one. But it was not always easy to segregate the two. In order to make things less complex and avoid unnecessary appeals, AICF in its Central Council meeting came up with the clause that no watches are allowed. Although this rule was not specifically mentioned in the regulations of the National Team Championships 2020, it was discussed in the player's meeting before the start of the event.

 

Famous trainer, mentor and chess consultant IM Vishal Sareen tweeted about Adhiban's loss

Here are the 9 moves that were played in the game.

IM Sayantan Das held GM Abhijeet Gupta to a draw | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Karthikeyan Murali got material advantage after the 36th move of the game against Thejkumar M S as he had a Rook for a Bishop and Pawn. However the game went on for another 73 moves before the former secured a much needed victory for himself as well as the team.

Karthikeyan gave his all to score a very important victory | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

IM Arghyadip Das (2458) had a good position until he blundered against GM Lalith Babu (2550).

Lalith - Arghyadip, Round 3

Find out the best continuation for black after 30.Rd8

Arghyadip blundered here with 30...Ne7 and lost the game in another four moves.

Lalith scored two important victories for his team today | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

GM Srinath Narayanan (2535) of Air India scored a decisive victory over IM Vignesh N R (2436) of RSPB-A as all other three games of his team ended up in draws which resulted in Air India winning against RSPB-A by narrow margin 2.5-1.5

Srinath scored the decisive victory for his team | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Reigning National Junior champion Aradhya Garg (2169) of Delhi B played solid and held GM Visakh N R (2518) of AAI to a draw. Rest of the team members of Delhi B lost against AAI, thus the final score 0.5-3.5 went into AAI's favor and shot them into the sole lead.

Aradhya Garg receiving his National under-19 open championship trophy last November | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

GM Arjun Erigaisi's (2563) woes continued as he was held to a draw by IM Sidhant Mohapatra (2367). In the final moments of the game, Sidhant had some chances which he did not take and allowed Arjun to force a perpetual after initially not going through with the draw. Despite Sidhant's valiant efforts, Telangana defeated his team Odisha A 3-1.

Arjun - Sidhant, Round 3

Find out why 33.Rg2 is a mistake

Kshatriya and Vedant - The Vekhande brothers scored impressive draws each against higher rated players | Photo: Chess Guru

10-year old Kshatriya Nitin Vekhande kept his impressive run as he held reigning National Amateur champion Kartavya Anadkat to a draw.

Rupesh Ranjan shocks Arjun Erigaisi in Round 2

Round 2 also witnessed the top seeds scoring a victory for their team. However only Air India and RSPB-B managed to score 4-0 against Bihar A and Madhya Pradesh respectively. The biggest upset of the round was caused by Rupesh Ranjan (1889) of Bihar B defeating GM Arjun Erigaisi (2563) of Telangana.

Rupesh Ranjan beat Arjun Erigaisi in a topsy-turvy game | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Erigaisi had a complete decisive advantage for quite sometime until he blundered which Rupesh capitalized upon.

Rupesh - Erigaisi, Round 2

Find out the best continuation after 26.Qxh4

Black continued with 26...Qb5, white went ahead 27.f5 Bxf5 which was a blunder.

Find out why 27...Bxf5 is a blunder

Rupesh's teammates Himanshu Ranjan and Kumar Gaurav lost to GM Harsha Bharathakoti and IM Rahul Srivatshav P respectively. Sudhanshu Ranjan (1978) held IM PDS Girinath (2353) to a draw.

Team LIC's spearheads Sriram Jha and D K Sharma scored a draw each | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Although the top seed PSPB defeated LIC 3-1, GM Sriram Jha (2383) did not make things easy for GM Karthikeyan Murali (2602).

Sriram - Karthikeyan, Round 2

What should white do after 22...Bd4 ?

White managed to gain another pawn with 23.Nxc5 but that was not enough as the game reached into a double rook and opposite color bishop endgame, where practically it was not possible for white to convert two extra pawns advantage into a full point.

Former National Blitz champion IM D K Sharma (2293) gave it all against GM Deep Sengupta (2534) but Deep's gritty defence did not allow Sharma to gain more than a half point.

GM Abhijeet Gupta and GM Lalith Babu of PSPB scored wins with ease against Brajesh Agarwal and Gajendra Singh of Team LIC respectively.

Sriram Jha and D K Sharma - the dominant duo of team LIC | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Senthil Kumaran R P (1957) of Tamil Nadu A held GM Swapnil Dhopade of RSPB-A to a draw. Despite being passive for the majority of the middlegame, Senthil managed to not make any huge mistake and salvage a draw. Senthil was the only person to score for his team as they went down by 0.5-3.5 against the strong RSPB-A.

The young team AAI defeated Gujarat D by 3.5-0.5, however Jay Kundaliya (2071) held former World Junior Silver medalist GM Abhimanyu Puranik (2597) to a comfortable draw.

Team AAI is full of youth and fresh talent | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Jay Kundaliya was the only one of his team to score a draw | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

 

RSPB-A defeated Gujarat B by 4-0 comfortably | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Hemal Thanki (2154) of Gujarat D missed a golden opportunity against Harshavardhan G B (2377).

Harshavardhan - Hemal, Round 2

Find out the winning continuation after 22.Ng3

Black continued with 22...e3 and lost the game in the next ten moves. It is safe to assume that time trouble could be a primary reason behind black missing out the quicker and simpler win with 22...Bd4. This win wouldn't have changed the overall team score, but a win is a win.

Team Air India whitewashed Bihar A 4-0 | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Team RSPB-B scored another whitewash 4-0 this time over Madhya Pradesh | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Sarayu Velpula beats WIM Rakshitta Ravi in Round 2

Reigning National under-13 girls and National School under-14 girls champion Sarayu Velpula (1867) defeated WIM Rakshitta Ravi (2214). Mary Ann Gomes, Padmini Rout and Nisha Mohota all scored a victory each, making sure PSPB scored a 3-1 victory over Telangana.

PSPB Women's team beat Telangana 3-1 | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Air India defeated Tamil Nadu A emphatically by 3.5-0.5, however Kannamma P Bala (2095) held IM Tania Sachdev (2397) to a draw.

Bala Kannamma held Tania Sachdev to a draw | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Reigning National under-11 girls champion Anupam Sreekumar (1745) held WIM P Michelle Catherina (2175) to a draw. That wasn't enough for the team as Kerala went down against Tamil Nadu B 0.5-3.5

Anupam held WIM Michelle Catherina to a draw | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

AAI thrashed the unrated Himachal Pradesh B 4-0

Team AAI scored two 4-0 whitewash | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Replay completed games

 

Round 2 results in Open
Bo.1  Petroleum SPBRtg-10  LICRtg3 : 1
1.1GM
Gupta, Abhijeet
2608-
Agarwal, Brajesh
17941 - 0
1.2GM
Karthikeyan, Murali
2602-GM
Sriram, Jha
2383½ - ½
1.3GM
Lalith, Babu M R
2550-
Gajendra, Singh
18721 - 0
1.4GM
Sengupta, Deep
2534-IM
Sharma, Dinesh K.
2293½ - ½
Bo.11  Tamil Nadu ARtg-2  Railways SPB ARtg½ :3½
2.1
Eshwanth Dev, Kumar J
1850-IM
Vignesh, N R
24360 - 1
2.2
Sibi, Visal R
2074-IM
Ravi, Teja S.
24700 - 1
2.3AGM
Sa, Kannan
1936-IM
Shyaamnikhil, P
24600 - 1
2.4
Senthil Kumaran, R.P.
1957-GM
Swapnil, S. Dhopade
2495½ - ½
Bo.3  Airports Authority of IndiaRtg-12  Gujarat DRtg3½: ½
3.1IM
Raja, Harshit
2472-
Chauhan, Joy
18641 - 0
3.2GM
Puranik, Abhimanyu
2597-
Jay, Kundaliya
2071½ - ½
3.3
Harshavardhan, G B
2377-
Thanki, Hemal Karsanji
21541 - 0
3.4IM
Sai Agni Jeevitesh, J
2310-
Chudasama, Ankit
18231 - 0
Bo.13  Bihar BRtg-4  TelanganaRtg1½:2½
4.1
Rupesh, Ranjan
1889-GM
Erigaisi, Arjun
25631 - 0
4.2
Himanshu, Ranjan
1908-GM
Harsha, Bharathakoti
24950 - 1
4.3
Kumar, Gaurav
2069-IM
Rahul, Srivatshav P
24740 - 1
4.4
Sudhanshu, Ranjan
1978-IM
Girinath, P.D.S.
2353½ - ½
Bo.5  Air India SPBRtg-14  Bihar ARtg4 : 0
5.1GM
Narayanan, Srinath
2535-
Piyush, Kumar
15671 - 0
5.2IM
Satyapragyan, Swayangsu
2403-
Mohit, Kumar Soni
18571 - 0
5.3GM
Swayams, Mishra
2485-
Rahul, Kumar
18181 - 0
5.4IM
Gokhale, Chandrashekhar
2158-
Harsh, Himanshu
17621 - 0
Bo.15  Madhya PradeshRtg-6  Railways SPB BRtg0 : 4
6.1
Ayush, Sharma
2052-IM
Krishna, C R G
24430 - 1
6.2AFM
Choubey, Saurabh
1889-GM
Thejkumar, M. S.
24380 - 1
6.3
Mraduhas, Tripathi
1709-GM
Laxman, R.R.
24320 - 1
6.4AIM
Abhay, Bandewar
1684-IM
Das, Arghyadip
24580 - 1

Complete results

Round 3 results in Open
Bo.6  Railways SPB BRtg-1  Petroleum SPBRtg1½:2½
1.1IM
Krishna, C R G
2443-GM
Adhiban, B.
26541 - 0
1.2IM
Das, Sayantan
2426-GM
Gupta, Abhijeet
2608½ - ½
1.3GM
Thejkumar, M. S.
2438-GM
Karthikeyan, Murali
26020 - 1
1.4IM
Das, Arghyadip
2458-GM
Lalith, Babu M R
25500 - 1
Bo.2  Railways SPB ARtg-5  Air India SPBRtg1½:2½
2.1IM
Vignesh, N R
2436-GM
Narayanan, Srinath
25350 - 1
2.2IM
Ravi, Teja S.
2470-IM
Satyapragyan, Swayangsu
2403½ - ½
2.3GM
Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.
2545-GM
Swayams, Mishra
2485½ - ½
2.4GM
Swapnil, S. Dhopade
2495-GM
Bakre, Tejas
2425½ - ½
Bo.8  Delhi BRtg-3  Airports Authority of IndiaRtg½ :3½
3.1FM
Prasenjit, Dutta
2285-IM
Raja, Harshit
24720 - 1
3.2
Santu, Mondal
2093-GM
Puranik, Abhimanyu
25970 - 1
3.3
Aradhya, Garg
2169-GM
Visakh, N R
2518½ - ½
3.4
Adarsh, Tripathi
2100-
Harshavardhan, G B
23770 - 1
Bo.4  TelanganaRtg-7  Odisha ARtg3 : 1
4.1GM
Erigaisi, Arjun
2563-IM
Sidhant, Mohapatra
2367½ - ½
4.2GM
Harsha, Bharathakoti
2495-
Sahoo, Utkal Ranjan
23361 - 0
4.3FM
Matta, Vinay Kumar
2319-
Nayak, Rajesh
2169½ - ½
4.4IM
Rahul, Srivatshav P
2474-
Baivab, Mishra
22061 - 0

Complete results

Round 4 pairings in Open
Bo.1  Petroleum SPBRtg-4  TelanganaRtg0 : 0
1.1GM
Adhiban, B.
2654-GM
Erigaisi, Arjun
2563
1.2GM
Gupta, Abhijeet
2608-GM
Harsha, Bharathakoti
2495
1.3GM
Karthikeyan, Murali
2602-FM
Matta, Vinay Kumar
2319
1.4GM
Lalith, Babu M R
2550-IM
Rahul, Srivatshav P
2474
Bo.3  Airports Authority of IndiaRtg-5  Air India SPBRtg0 : 0
2.1IM
Raja, Harshit
2472-GM
Narayanan, Srinath
2535
2.2GM
Puranik, Abhimanyu
2597-IM
Satyapragyan, Swayangsu
2403
2.3GM
Visakh, N R
2518-GM
Swayams, Mishra
2485
2.4
Harshavardhan, G B
2377-GM
Bakre, Tejas
2425
Bo.2  Railways SPB ARtg-18  Odisha BRtg0 : 0
3.1IM
Vignesh, N R
2436-
Samal, Ansuman
1910
3.2IM
Ravi, Teja S.
2470-
Pattnayak, Nilsu
1950
3.3IM
Shyaamnikhil, P
2460-
Das, Susobhit
1846
3.4GM
Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.
2545-
Mohanty, Ashutosh
1357
Bo.12  Gujarat DRtg-6  Railways SPB BRtg0 : 0
4.1
Chauhan, Joy
1864-IM
Krishna, C R G
2443
4.2
Jay, Kundaliya
2071-IM
Das, Sayantan
2426
4.3
Thanki, Hemal Karsanji
2154-GM
Thejkumar, M. S.
2438
4.4
Patel, Palak
1830-GM
Laxman, R.R.
2432

Complete pairings

Round 2 results in Women
Bo.6  TelanganaRtg-1  Petroleum SPBRtg1 : 3
1.1
Nanditha, V
1728-WGM
Gomes, Mary Ann
23440 - 1
1.2
Kheerthi, Ganta
1683-IM
Padmini, Rout
23720 - 1
1.3
Velpula, Sarayu
1867-WIM
Rakshitta, Ravi
22141 - 0
1.4
Natura, Bethi
1361-IM
Mohota, Nisha
21910 - 1
Bo.2  Air India SCBRtg-5  Tamil Nadu ARtg3½: ½
2.1IM
Kulkarni, Bhakti
2404-
Divyabharathi, Masanam
17471 - 0
2.2IM
Tania, Sachdev
2397-
Bala, Kannamma P
2095½ - ½
2.3IM
Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman
2331-
Senthamizh, Yazhini S
16151 - 0
2.4WGM
Ramaswamy, Aarthie
2072-
Harshini, B
16021 - 0
Bo.8  KeralaRtg-3  Tamil Nadu BRtg½ :3½
3.1
Anupam, M Sreekumar
1745-WIM
Michelle Catherina, P
2175½ - ½
3.2
Anjitha, Krishnakumar
1445-WIM
Varshini, V
22420 - 1
3.3
Sheena, E.
1731-WGM
Vaishali, R
23830 - 1
3.4
Prajeesha, K
1417-WIM
Mahalakshmi, M
22550 - 1
Bo.4  Airports Authority of IndiaRtg-17  Himachal Pradesh BRtg4 : 0
4.1WIM
Priyanka, Nutakki
2212-
Aditri, Nag
01 - 0
4.2WIM
Aakanksha, Hagawane
2230-
Pingla, Devi
01 - 0
4.3WGM
Srija, Seshadri
2205-
Kiran
01 - 0
4.4WIM
Arpita, Mukherjee
2201-
Nutan, Devi
01 - 0
Bo.9  Gujarat ARtg-7  LICRtg2 : 2
5.1
Mudaliar, Nandini
1512-WGM
Kiran, Manisha Mohanty
2170½ - ½
5.2
Shah, Kritee
1479-WGM
Swati, Ghate
21360 - 1
5.3WFM
Dhyana, Patel
1961-
Anagha, Yardi
11541 - 0
5.4WCM
Patel, Riddhi R
1585-WFM
Bindu, Saritha K.
1583½ - ½

Complete pairings

Round 3 pairings in Women
Bo.1  Petroleum SPBRtg-4  Airports Authority of IndiaRtg0 : 0
1.1WGM
Gomes, Mary Ann
2344-WIM
Priyanka, Nutakki
2212
1.2IM
Padmini, Rout
2372-WIM
Aakanksha, Hagawane
2230
1.3WGM
Soumya, Swaminathan
2369-WIM
Nandhidhaa, P V
2339
1.4WIM
Rakshitta, Ravi
2214-WGM
Srija, Seshadri
2205
Bo.3  Tamil Nadu BRtg-2  Air India SCBRtg0 : 0
2.1WIM
Michelle Catherina, P
2175-IM
Kulkarni, Bhakti
2404
2.2WIM
Varshini, V
2242-IM
Tania, Sachdev
2397
2.3WGM
Vaishali, R
2383-IM
Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman
2331
2.4WIM
Mahalakshmi, M
2255-WGM
Meenakshi, Subbaraman
2162
Bo.7  LICRtg-6  TelanganaRtg0 : 0
3.1WGM
Kiran, Manisha Mohanty
2170-
Nanditha, V
1728
3.2WGM
Swati, Ghate
2136-
Kheerthi, Ganta
1683
3.3WFM
Bindu, Saritha K.
1583-
Velpula, Sarayu
1867
3.4
Trivedi, Manisha
1148-
Natura, Bethi
1361
Bo.5  Tamil Nadu ARtg-11  Bihar ARtg0 : 0
4.1
Divyabharathi, Masanam
1747-
Pammi, Rani
1468
4.2
Bala, Kannamma P
2095-
Kumari, Prerna
1234
4.3
Senthamizh, Yazhini S
1615-
Garima, Gaurav
1662
4.4
Harshini, B
1602-
Marium, Fatima
1511

Complete pairings