 "Chess (#1043)")
The Norway super tournament is heading for a tight finish. With two rounds to go as one writes, Sergei Karjakin leads with 5.5 from seven rounds. Magnus Carlsen follows with 5 points. Levon Aronian and Viswanathan Anand are tied in third with 4 each.
Karjakin set the pace with a scorching 4/4 start. Carlsen started with four draws and then beat Karjakin in a tactical humdinger, which could have gone either way. The world no. 1 won the next two games as well, knocking down Jon Hammer and the out-of-form Teimour Radjabov.Carlsen finishes against Aronian and Wang Hao, while Karjakin has to face Peter Svidler and Veselin Topalov. The Ukrainian-turned Russian is in very good form and he might dash local hopes if he finishes well.
Another interesting thing is that the decision ratio is running at above 50 per cent. Carlsen is the only unbeaten player so far and Topalov the only player without a win. Anand lost a tactically complex game to Hikaru Nakamura. Aronian has lost to Karjakin; Topalov lost to Anand. The world champion is in inconsistent form like at the Alekhine Memorial. He played two superb attacks against Radjabov and Topalov. But he also failed to bury Karjakin after making a sharp pawn sacrifice and of course, he lost the thread versus Naka, who in turn has lost to Aronian and Karjakin.
In other big events, Bela Khotenashvili won the Women's Grand Priz at Geneva with 8 points from 11 with Anna Muzychuk in second with 7.5. In the US championships, Gata Kamsky beat Alejandro Ramirez in a tiebreaker match to take his fourth US title while Irina Krush won the Women's title. The European Individual Championship ended with a massive tie between 10 players who all scored 8 from the 11 round Swiss. Moiseenko was probably best-placed of the platoon.
The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (Karjakin Vs Carlsen, Norway 2013) white is a pawn up but struggling to suppress counterplay. He goes wrong with 31.Kh2?! Nh5! 32.g3 f6 33.Ng6 Nxf4!
The play now becomes forced. White cannot accept by 34.gxf4 Bxf4+ 35.Nxf4 Qxf4+ 36.Kh1 Qg3 or 35.Kh1 Rxe4! So he played 34.Rxd6 Nxg6 35.Rxe6 Rxe6. Atthis point, 34. Bb1 or 34. Qc1 allowing the queen to switch flanks may limit the damage, 36.Bd4? f5!
An obviously deadly shot that opens both a8-h1 and e8-e1. 37.e5 Nxe5! 38.Bxe5 Qc6 39.Rg1 Qd5 Black wins anyhow after 39.Be4 fxe4 and here 39. Rg1 c3 also works. The game concluded 40.Bxf5 Rxe5 41.Bg4 h5 42.Bd1 c3 Carlsen pointed out 42.Rd1 Qxd1!! 43.Bxd1 Re1 44.g4 h4 45.Qg2 Bxg2 46.Kxg2 Rxd1 43.Qf2 Rf5 44.Qe3 Qf7 45.g4 Re5! 46.Qd4 Qc7 (0-1). The c-pawn charges home after 47. Rg3 c2.
Karjakin set the pace with a scorching 4/4 start. Carlsen started with four draws and then beat Karjakin in a tactical humdinger, which could have gone either way. The world no. 1 won the next two games as well, knocking down Jon Hammer and the out-of-form Teimour Radjabov.Carlsen finishes against Aronian and Wang Hao, while Karjakin has to face Peter Svidler and Veselin Topalov. The Ukrainian-turned Russian is in very good form and he might dash local hopes if he finishes well.
Another interesting thing is that the decision ratio is running at above 50 per cent. Carlsen is the only unbeaten player so far and Topalov the only player without a win. Anand lost a tactically complex game to Hikaru Nakamura. Aronian has lost to Karjakin; Topalov lost to Anand. The world champion is in inconsistent form like at the Alekhine Memorial. He played two superb attacks against Radjabov and Topalov. But he also failed to bury Karjakin after making a sharp pawn sacrifice and of course, he lost the thread versus Naka, who in turn has lost to Aronian and Karjakin.
In other big events, Bela Khotenashvili won the Women's Grand Priz at Geneva with 8 points from 11 with Anna Muzychuk in second with 7.5. In the US championships, Gata Kamsky beat Alejandro Ramirez in a tiebreaker match to take his fourth US title while Irina Krush won the Women's title. The European Individual Championship ended with a massive tie between 10 players who all scored 8 from the 11 round Swiss. Moiseenko was probably best-placed of the platoon.
The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (Karjakin Vs Carlsen, Norway 2013) white is a pawn up but struggling to suppress counterplay. He goes wrong with 31.Kh2?! Nh5! 32.g3 f6 33.Ng6 Nxf4!
The play now becomes forced. White cannot accept by 34.gxf4 Bxf4+ 35.Nxf4 Qxf4+ 36.Kh1 Qg3 or 35.Kh1 Rxe4! So he played 34.Rxd6 Nxg6 35.Rxe6 Rxe6. Atthis point, 34. Bb1 or 34. Qc1 allowing the queen to switch flanks may limit the damage, 36.Bd4? f5!
An obviously deadly shot that opens both a8-h1 and e8-e1. 37.e5 Nxe5! 38.Bxe5 Qc6 39.Rg1 Qd5 Black wins anyhow after 39.Be4 fxe4 and here 39. Rg1 c3 also works. The game concluded 40.Bxf5 Rxe5 41.Bg4 h5 42.Bd1 c3 Carlsen pointed out 42.Rd1 Qxd1!! 43.Bxd1 Re1 44.g4 h4 45.Qg2 Bxg2 46.Kxg2 Rxd1 43.Qf2 Rf5 44.Qe3 Qf7 45.g4 Re5! 46.Qd4 Qc7 (0-1). The c-pawn charges home after 47. Rg3 c2.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player