 "Chess (#1147)")
The Women's World Team Championship at Chengdum, China, saw Georgia take gold with 17 match-points from 9 matches, (8 wins and a draw to Russia). Russia took silver and China, bronze. India came fourth, ahead of Armenia, Ukraine, USA, and others. This was disappointing since Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika were both playing.
The Chinese men won the concurrent World Open Team Championship at Tsaghkadzor, Armenia. The PRC scored 15 from 9 matches (6 wins, 3 draws). Ukraine and Armenia took silver and bronze respectively. India finished ninth. Unfortunately, SP Sethuraman (2.5/9) and Krishnan Sasikiran (3/9) were both in dreadful form.
This was followed by a cheating scandal in Delhi. Veteran GM, Praveen Thipsay ( Elo 2409) lost to Dhruv Kakkar (Elo 1517) in the fifth round of the Hegdewar Open. Kakkar is a 19-year-old engineering student with a beginner's rating.
Thipsay found his methods suspicious since Kakkar took a metronomic 2 minutes per move regardless of the position. Thipsay was completely lost by move 29 but Kakkar made some weird blunders and dragged out the win to 87 moves.
Thipsay complained. A search turned up two cellphones strapped to Kakkar's ankles, a miniaturised listening ear bud and spare batteries. Kakkar was communicating with a confederate, another engineering student, by tapping his feet. His buddy was analysing and transmitting back moves. Kakkar misheard a few times, resulting in his playing wrong moves!
The result was reversed. Kakkar faces a possible 10-year ban. Thipsay tied for 1-4 with Saptarshi Roy, Sahaj Grover and Himal Gusain (all of them scored 7.5/9). There are two more opens scheduled for Delhi in May and big opens are hard to police. The organisers will have to be alert against similar attempts.
In the DIAGRAM, WHITE TO PLAY ( White: Anand Vs Black: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Shamkir 2015), white demonstrated a startling idea. Black's a pawn down. But 28. Rxd8 Rxd8 29. Kh1 (avoiding Kt -check) Rd7 30. Ne3 Nxe2 31. Qxe2 Rxd1+ recovers it
White offered the positional sacrifice 28.Rd5! Bxd5 29.cxd5 Qb6 The bishop is not easily eliminated 29.--Nxe2+ 30. Nxe2 Qb6 31. Qc3 f6 32. f4 c4+ 33. Rd4! Nd3 34. Qxc4 - white's winning. 30.f4 Ng6 Again 30.--Nxe2+ 31. Nxe2 c4+ 32. Kh2 Nd3 33. Qc3 Qf6 34. Qxf6 gxf6 35. Rd2 is easy for white. But now the bishop redeploys.
31.Bc4 Qa5 32.Qf2 b5 White is better with an extra pawn and a central roller for the exchange. Play continued 33.Nxd4 cxd4 34.Ba2 b4 35.Nf5?! (Nh5 is stronger) bxa3 36.bxa3 Qc3 37.e5 Rab8 38.Rd2 Qxa3 39.Nxd4 Qc1+ 40.Kh2 Rbc8? Perhaps 40...Rb7 gives more chances. White finished 41.d6 a3 42.Nf5 Rf8 43.d7 (1-0) After 43.- Rd8 44. Qd4, the deadly threat is e6.
The Chinese men won the concurrent World Open Team Championship at Tsaghkadzor, Armenia. The PRC scored 15 from 9 matches (6 wins, 3 draws). Ukraine and Armenia took silver and bronze respectively. India finished ninth. Unfortunately, SP Sethuraman (2.5/9) and Krishnan Sasikiran (3/9) were both in dreadful form.
This was followed by a cheating scandal in Delhi. Veteran GM, Praveen Thipsay ( Elo 2409) lost to Dhruv Kakkar (Elo 1517) in the fifth round of the Hegdewar Open. Kakkar is a 19-year-old engineering student with a beginner's rating.
Thipsay found his methods suspicious since Kakkar took a metronomic 2 minutes per move regardless of the position. Thipsay was completely lost by move 29 but Kakkar made some weird blunders and dragged out the win to 87 moves.
Thipsay complained. A search turned up two cellphones strapped to Kakkar's ankles, a miniaturised listening ear bud and spare batteries. Kakkar was communicating with a confederate, another engineering student, by tapping his feet. His buddy was analysing and transmitting back moves. Kakkar misheard a few times, resulting in his playing wrong moves!
The result was reversed. Kakkar faces a possible 10-year ban. Thipsay tied for 1-4 with Saptarshi Roy, Sahaj Grover and Himal Gusain (all of them scored 7.5/9). There are two more opens scheduled for Delhi in May and big opens are hard to police. The organisers will have to be alert against similar attempts.
In the DIAGRAM, WHITE TO PLAY ( White: Anand Vs Black: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Shamkir 2015), white demonstrated a startling idea. Black's a pawn down. But 28. Rxd8 Rxd8 29. Kh1 (avoiding Kt -check) Rd7 30. Ne3 Nxe2 31. Qxe2 Rxd1+ recovers it
White offered the positional sacrifice 28.Rd5! Bxd5 29.cxd5 Qb6 The bishop is not easily eliminated 29.--Nxe2+ 30. Nxe2 Qb6 31. Qc3 f6 32. f4 c4+ 33. Rd4! Nd3 34. Qxc4 - white's winning. 30.f4 Ng6 Again 30.--Nxe2+ 31. Nxe2 c4+ 32. Kh2 Nd3 33. Qc3 Qf6 34. Qxf6 gxf6 35. Rd2 is easy for white. But now the bishop redeploys.
31.Bc4 Qa5 32.Qf2 b5 White is better with an extra pawn and a central roller for the exchange. Play continued 33.Nxd4 cxd4 34.Ba2 b4 35.Nf5?! (Nh5 is stronger) bxa3 36.bxa3 Qc3 37.e5 Rab8 38.Rd2 Qxa3 39.Nxd4 Qc1+ 40.Kh2 Rbc8? Perhaps 40...Rb7 gives more chances. White finished 41.d6 a3 42.Nf5 Rf8 43.d7 (1-0) After 43.- Rd8 44. Qd4, the deadly threat is e6.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player