CHESS#1333

CHESS#1333

The King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships started with a shock. Top seed Magnus Carlsen lost his first two Rapid games, first flagging out to Adam Tukhaev from a good position and then blundering his queen against 16-year-old Uzbek IM, Shamsiddin Vokhidov. Carlsen pulled it back after that, but he lost a third to game to Alexander Zubov in Rd 7.

After 10 rounds, there’s a seven-way tie at the top between Ian Nepomniachtchi, Dmitry Andreikin, Wang Hao, Yu Yangyi, Vladislav Artemiev, Daniil Dubov and Maxim Matlakov (all 7.5). Defending champion Viswanathan Anand (7 with one loss to Ivan Šaric) is part of the next pack of ten players along with Carlsen. It’s wide open with five rounds to go.

The women’s section has Ju Wenjun leading with an amazing 7/8 while Mariya Muzychuk (6.5) is second placed. There’s a seven-way tie for third on 6/8, with Koneru Humpy (5.5) in the next pack of 12 players.

Rapid at 15 minutes/game plus 10 seconds increment/move is an interesting half-way house between classical and blitz. Classical involves deep preparation and the ability to take a real deep dive into calculating variations when required. Blitz is almost pure pattern-perception and instinct — there’s very little time to calculate anything over 3-moves.

Rapid allows enough time to calculate some stuff but not enough to take a deep dive. So, it involves a mix of instinct and calculation. 

This is why there are considerable differences in the rating lists for rapid and blitz.

Given that classical games also move into rapid controls after 40 moves, playing endgames are similar in all forms. You are in permanent time trouble just when you’re trying to find the most accurate lines with reduced material.

Opening surprises count for more in blitz and rapid than in classical. There’s no time to react in a considered fashion when faced with a new idea. This is why many players have a deliberately “oddball” repertoire in speed games. They try to reach unusual positions, which may even be objectively inferior, but likely to present problems with the clock ticking.

According to some of the best players, making the mental adjustment from playing rapid to blitz can be quite difficult. This makes the transition in the World speed championships interesting. The day after finishing a gruelling rapid event, the players must switch to blitz.

The Diagram, Black to Play (White: Svidler Vs Black: Andreikin, World Rapids 2018) is an interesting example of rapid calculation. Wild position. Both kings unsafe. Both players down to a couple of minutes. Black found 25. -- Qxh2+!! 26. Kxh2 Rxh4+ 27. Kg3 Rh3+ 28. Kf4 Rf3+ 29. Ke5 Rg6 (0-1). The unstoppable threats are 30.—d6# and 30.—Re6#

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player