According to the wizard of Kozhikode

After Murali's Queen sacrifice in Asian continental, another game featuring an even more spectacular Queen Sacrifice started making rounds across the internet chess audiences. This happened in a game between Grandmaster Mchedlishvili and International Master Rathnakaran in the ongoing 2nd Goa international chess tournament. I have been meeting Rathnakaran right from my junior days in various events. I can't remember even one occasion of not greeting me with a smile! A very pleasant and nice chap, but when it comes to Chess he becomes totally transformed. He could sacrifice many a material with utter disdain, but he would never take his eyes off your King for all his other niceties! As a player he is quite unique in modern Indian circles, as far as I know he is perhaps the only player who has no formal chess training, no deep study/preparation and a skill and understanding that is completely honed by self learning by playing tournament games as well as Blitz and Bullet online. So, nobody really knows how he perceives chess( not even himself!) and he lets his moves speak for him, When I came across his recent interview to Sagar Shah ( immediately after the game) I really enjoyed listening to it. Sagar has done a great job of making Rathnakaran speak a few things about the game which give a glimpse of whats happening behind the scenes in his mind! This was extremely interesting and I think it would benefit chess lovers at large, so I am discussing the game with some comments of my own. I also kept in mind not to interfere the artistic aspect of the game and have reduced my comments to the ones which are absolutely necessary and in a way not to obstruct the view of Rathnakaran's comments.

We join the action after white's 8th move cxd5.  All the games that reached this position earlier continued with the "normal" 8....Qxd5. But Rathnakaran did not like the fact that White could take 9.Bxf6 and gain control of the f4-square for his Knight. Because of this he decided to play the incredible 8.....Nxd5!! sacrificing his Queen for at the moment only one minor piece but holding the initiative. Knowing Rathnakaran I can be very sure that this was pure improvisation and a decision that he would take very naturally. Even then, as a spectator it still thrills me to see such flamboyance exhibited! The game continued with 9.Bxd8 Nxc3 10. Qb3 Nxe2!

As Rathnakaran points out he was considering not to take the pawn with 10... Nb5 !? in order to keep the Bishop on f1 shut. But he felt that taking a pawn was important and also more than that white's e-pawn can at a later point of time, drive away the Black's Knight(s) from the d4 square with an eventual e2-e3. The game continued with

11.Kd1 Ned4 12.Qe3  and now Rathnakaran went for 12....Be6!

This is such a pretty move, Black is in absolutely no hurry to regain some material at all. Instead he simply focusses on bringing more pieces into play and retaining the coordination in developing an attack. At this moment Sagar asks why Rathnakaran didnt take back the piece on d8 with his King, to which he simply answers that it is passive! And the next question and answer actually was the highlight of the whole interview for me. Sagar says that White has lot of options and that Black has only one minor piece for the Queen, to which Rathnakaran's one word answer sums up everything " But King d1"!!!! This to me is the summation of Rathnakaran's chess philosophy, Time over material and he never takes his eyes of the ultimate goal of chess-Checkmate!

The game went on with 13.Bg5 h6 14. Bf6 gf6 15.Kc1 0-0-0 16.Bh3

and here we perhaps come to the critical position of the whole concept behind this sacrifice. Here the game went 16...Bc5 When discussing this position with Sandipan Chanda he pointed out to me that while he was watching the game live, he felt that this was the key moment where Black went wrong and most likely he missed White's response. Pondering over this position I considered the continuations 16... Kb8, 16...Rd5, 16...Bc4 and 16...Ne5 The details of the variations can be seen in the replayable version of the game I will be attaching towards the end. As Sandipan also pointed out after briefly checking with the engine Black's strongest continuations were 16...Kb8, 16...Ne5 and also 16...Ba5 . In his opinion objectively Black lost the thread a little bit after allowing White to answer 16....Bc5 with 17.Bxf5!  the point being 17...Nb3 + fails to 18.Qb3 and the Bishop on e6 is pinned. A very interesting observation which happens time and again to every practical player! 
The game went on with 17....Nxf5 18.Qxc5 Nxh4 19.gxh4 Rd4!

I like the brevity of Rathnakaran's comments here ala Bronstein. He says he felt that he had a minimum draw here. He says White's rooks are not connected and he has threats like Bg4 and Ne5( after doubling the rooks) and he only needs to take care of a7-pawn! 

There were of course lot more interesting moments which I give below in the repayable board. I really liked the way the game went on and how Rathnakaran kept on adding fuel to his initiative and at the end even the strong and experienced Georgian GM has to concede defeat, which only shows the difficulty in defending such  positions for anyone!I have included all Comments of Rathnakaran and some of my own thoughts with some suggestions from Sandipan.

[Event "2nd Goa GM"] [Site "Antalya"] [Date "2019.06.19"] [Round "2"] [White "Mchedlishvilli, Mikheil"] [Black "Rathnakaran, Kantholi"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A27"] [WhiteElo "2609"] [BlackElo "2338"] [Annotator "Rathnakaran,Kidambi"] [PlyCount "94"] [EventDate "2013.11.26"] [SourceVersionDate "2019.06.19"] 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 f5 4. g3 Nf6 5. d4 e4 6. Nh4 d5 7. Bg5 Bb4 8. cxd5 Nxd5 $3 {With Rathnakaran one can be pretty sure this was over the board improvisation! As Sagar also mentions in the interview.In comparison to Karthikeyan's Queen Sacrifice, this is fundamentally different. First of all Black wins only one minor piece for the moment, but keeps postponing winning the second minor piece for as long as possible in order to hold on to the initiative. Here the compensation is not square weakness, but the weak King of the opponent. It lacks shelter throughout the game! A very dynamic factor which is very well kept in control by Rathnakaran.-Kidambi} (8... Qxd5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 {I did not like Black.-f4 square is weak ( Rathnakaran)}) 9. Bxd8 Nxc3 10. Qb3 {is forced-Rathnakaran} (10. Qc2 Nxd4 {Rathnakaran}) 10... Nxe2+ {This doesnt look logical, but material is also important-Rathnakaran} (10... Nb5+ 11. Kd1 Nbxd4 12. Qe3 {At some point Black's knight could be driven away from d4 by e2-e3.} Be6 13. Bg5 {or} (13. Bxc7 {I am not sure ( Rathnakaran)})) 11. Kd1 Nexd4 12. Qe3 Be6 $1 {After this White has so many options and you have only one piece?( Sagar) But d1 King!!! ( Rathnakaran) Seriously, what courage! Rathnakaran is not really counting pieces, but focussing only on the opponent's King as he aptly points out in just one word!-Kidambi} (12... Kxd8 { is passive( Rathnakaran)}) 13. Bg5 (13. Bxc7 Rc8 14. Bf4 O-O) 13... h6 14. Bf6 {Did you consider this?(Sagar) No, not at all. I was thinking what was on f6!? (Rathnakaran)} gxf6 15. Kc1 O-O-O ({Kidambi-} 15... Rd8 $5 {With the idea of not allowing White to capture f5 with check or get some threats along h3-c8. But, ofcourse castling long was the most natural option}) 16. Bh3 Bc5 {Perhaps as opined by Sandipan Black missed Whites next move. But only Rathnakaran can tell what exactly happened. The downside of this move is that White is able to simplify the position, especially exchange the minor pieces which were completely offside. -Kidambi I considered a few different alternatives for Black with the basic idea of maintaining all 4 minor pieces on the board. They are} (16... Kb8 $5 17. Ng6 Nf3 18. Nxh8 Bd2+ 19. Qxd2 Rxd2 {The fact that White's Rooks are not coordinated and that his pieces completely lack coordination means that he cant hope to hold this position.}) (16... Rd5 $5 17. Ng6 Rhd8 18. Nf4 Rc5+ 19. Kb1 {At the moment the Knight on f4 seems to hold whites position from collapsing immediately.} Bf7 20. Rc1 Rxc1+ 21. Kxc1 Kb8 { and despite exchange of one pair of rooks its not obvious how White is going to release his position( especially the Rook on a1 and the King still remains weak!)}) (16... Bc4 $5 17. Nxf5 (17. Qxe4 Rhe8 18. Bxf5+ Kb8 19. Qg4 Ne5 $1 $19 {Blacks pieces are swarming around the central squares and in the near future around Whites King.}) (17. Bxf5+ Kb8 18. Bxe4 (18. Qxe4 Rhe8) 18... Rhe8 { A look at the position is enough to observe the power radiated by the combined effort of all Black's pieces. White is helpless.}) 17... Ne2+ 18. Kc2 (18. Qxe2 Bxe2 19. Nd4+ Kb8 20. Nxe2 {White is a pawn down and behind in development.}) 18... Bd3+ 19. Kb3 Kb8 20. a3 Bd2 $1 {is another picture of domination!}) ( 16... Ne5 $5 17. Rd1 c5 $1 {is another aesthetic picture. The way Black's minor pieces dominate the centre and at the same time keep all of White's pieces inactive is impressive.-Kidambi}) (16... Ba5 $1 {is also very strong. Pointed out by Sandipan}) 17. Bxf5 $1 {In Sandipan's opinion Black probably missed this idea, as no one would allow this if they had already seen it coming.-Kidambi} Nxf5 (17... Rhe8 $5 {brining one more piece into play and for the moment not letting the Knight on h4 into the game also came into consideration.-Kidambi}) 18. Qxc5 Nxh4 (18... Nfd4 $5 {Again from strategic point of view, not exchanging the White's knight which is stuck in the corner for the central black knight came into consideration.But as always Rathnakaran has his own truly original ideas!-Kidambi}) 19. gxh4 Rd4 $1 {I had a feeling I had minimum draw. His Rooks are not connected. All my pieces are targetting his K. There are lot of threats like Bg4 and Ne5. I only have to take care of a7-P.(R)} 20. b3 Rhd8 21. Rb1 {Do you consider candidate moves like normal players?(S) Difficult to say.... Very rarely!(R)} (21. Kb2 Rd2+ 22. Ka3 R8d5 23. Qf8+ Kd7 24. Qg7+ Ke8 25. Qh8+ Ke7) 21... Bg4 {First of all I wanted to stop Rb2, but I do not know whether I am stopping it or not!( Laughs) . Also stops Qh5. But it could be dubious because of Rg1( smiles)} 22. Kb2 {I would think that White has got out of jail in this position. This might even be objectively true, but the course of the game shows White is practically under lot of pressure. Even quite a strong GM such as Mchedlishvilli can't survive the renewed wave of attack that Rathnakaran unleashes.-Kidambi} Nb4 23. Ka1 b6 24. Qc3 c5 25. a3 (25. Qg3 Bf3 26. Rhc1) 25... Nd5 ({What about} 25... Rd3 26. Qxf6 Nc2+ {(Sagar). The Queen will come to c6(Rathnakaran)}) 26. Qc1 h5 27. Rg1 Rd3 28. Qc4 Rd4 29. Qc1 Rd3 {Were you okay with draw at this point?(Sagar) Yeah I could not calculate :-) (Rathnakaran)} 30. b4 Nc3 31. Qb2 Nxb1 $5 { Rathnakaran takes a simple practical decision- Kidambi} (31... Be6 {As suggested to Sagar in his online analysis by some viewers.} 32. Rbc1 Na4 { White is getting counterplay( Rathnakaran). Perhaps Rathnakaran was in time trouble as if we continue the line for a few moves White appears defenceless.} 33. Qxf6 Rxa3+ 34. Kb1 Ba2+ 35. Kc2 cxb4 $1 {Another gorgeous position!-Kidambi }) 32. Rxb1 Rf3 33. bxc5 Rdd3 34. Qb5 {Now I think its almost over( Rathnakaran) because of the 2 Rooks and the Bishop and the a1-K} Rxa3+ 35. Kb2 Bd7 36. Qc4 Ra4 37. Qg8+ Kb7 38. Rd1 Rxf2+ {First I create a passed and pawn and am gaining some time!(Rathnakaran)} 39. Kb3 Rf3+ 40. Kb2 Rb4+ 41. Kc1 Rc3+ 42. Kd2 Rxc5 43. Ke1 Ba4 {Rathnakaran uses the dynamics of all the resources in the position with great efficiency and beauty!-Kidambi} 44. Qf7+ Rc7 45. Qd5+ Bc6 46. Qxh5 Rg7 47. Rd6 Rb2 {(Sagar)- Do you think this was your best game so far. (Rathnakaran)- Practically, yes!} 0-1

Here is a link to the wonderful interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvkYfqK3VLg&feature=youtu.be

I like to sum up the above game thus:

1.I feel this is a very different type of Queen Sacrifice( albeit with the same material compensation) compared to the Firouzja-Karthikeyan game.

2.Here the compensation is very dynamic and depends wholly on the weak king of the opponent. 

3.Pawn structure does not play as big a role as in the other game.

4.The coordination and cooperation among the attacking units is a telling factor.

5.And if I may borrow Capa's expression, 'Direct attack En Masse' seems to be the order of the day!

For non Indian readers who do not know Rathnakaran, I can recommend Parimarjan Negi's wonderful column in 2 different issues of New in Chess Magazine namely 2015/3 and 2016/8. He discusses 2 of his games against Rathnakaran ( Delhi 2007 and Mangalore 2008) and also one of Rathnakaran's games against Sethuraman ( Bhopal 2013).

To conclude I offer one of the most fascinating positions I have ever seen from the wizard of Kozhikode.

This is the final position of his drawn game ( he is white) against Grandmaster P.Karthikeyan in the National Championship 2018. Interested readers can check this game on line, to me this is beyond words and explanations! I thank Sagar for the interview, Sandipan for his comments and Satyapragyan for turning my attention towards the game while it was happening!