Adhiban wins admiration of his peers

Adhiban has collected a whopping 21.3 rating points in the last four rounds to reach 80th in live world rankings – a jump of 22 spots.

It remains to be seen how Adhiban handles the attention that his games are likely to get in the remaining five rounds.

B. Adhiban’s three-win streak and Magnus Carlsen’s sudden loss of focus seen in the last two rounds has remained the talking point of the second rest day in the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament here.

Adhiban has collected a whopping 21.3 rating points in the last four rounds to reach 80th in live world rankings – a jump of 22 spots. The way Adhiban defeated Sergey Karjakin, the ease with which he drew with leader Wesley So, the comeback victory against Radoslaw Wojtaszek and the destruction of Dmitry Andreikin, has brought unprecedented respect for the young Indian from his peers.

It remains to be seen how Adhiban handles the attention that his games are likely to get in the remaining five rounds.

Though P. Hari Krishna has been getting some good positions, he is unable to make optimum use the opportunities. He continues to look solid and holds the promise of coming up with some good results against the elite players this year.

Meanwhile, Carlsen missing a three-move mate against Anish Giri and then losing his objectivity on way to an unexpected defeat against Richard Rapport has left the chess fraternity startled. How the uncompromising Norwegian hits back will be known this week.

Ninth round pairings: Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 3) v P. Hari Krishna (4); Wei Yi (Chn, 5) v B. Adhiban (4.5); Wesley So (US, 5.5) v Levon Aronian (Arm, 4.5); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 4.5) v Loek van Wely (Ned, 1.5); Anish Giri (Ned, 4) v Richard Rapport (Hun, 3); Dmitry Andreikin (Rus, 3.5) v Pavel Eljanov (Ukr, 5); Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Pol, 3.5) v Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 4.5).