At the time of writing, the last round of the last Amber tournament is yet to be played. It looks as though Levon Aronyan will retain the title he won last year. The Armenian GM leads with 14.5 from 20 games. Carlsen has a mathematical chance of catching up at 13.5. Anand is out of the running with 11 though he could clinch third place ahead of Ivanchuk (10.5) and Grischuk (10). Shockingly Kramnik (7) is tied in last place with Anish Giri (7).
Aronyan is already guaranteed the blindfold section with 8, ahead of Anand (6). In the rapids, Carlsen has an incredible 8.5 while Aronyan (6.5) trails in second. As Aronyan has added consistency to his always impressive creativity, he’s become a serious contender for the next title match and he has a plus score against Anand. Interestingly, Aronyan has also a well-deserved reputation for being the best “slow-motion” swindler — he wins many lost positions by somehow lulling his opponents into a string of small errors that add up.
Meanwhile the European Open, which includes 23 World Cup qualification spots, has a very strong field of 393 players from 54 nations (Israel and the former republics of the USSR are “Europeans”) with over 172 GMs. The French Federation is offering a prize fund of close to €150,000 for the 11 round Swiss in Aix Le Bains. Peter Svidler heads the seeding with over 76 players rated at 2600+.
The European has stringent anti-cheating measures which one would expect from the French who have just suspended three of their players for cheating in the Khanty Mansiysk Olympiad in 2010. GMs Sebastien Feller, Arnaud Hauchard and IM Cyril Marzolo, were judged “guilty of a violation of sporting ethics” by a French Disciplinary Committee, on the basis of cellphone records. They are very likely to appeal.
The 19-year-old GM Sebastian Feller, rated 2649, won the individual gold medal on board five with a score of 6/9 and a performance of 2708. Arnaud Hauchard was the French team captain in Khanty-Mansiysk and Marzolo apparently SMS-ed the moves according to a code. The Olympiad made the glaring error of allowing players to wander around with live mobiles during the games.
The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (Aronyan Vs Anand, Amber 2011) is from the “technical phase” of a very impressive win. White liquidates with 30. Nd7! Nxd7 31. Qxd2 Qc7 32. Qd4 Rc8 33. cxd7 Rd8 34. Qb2 Rxd7 35. Rxd7 Qxd7 36. Qb8+ Kg7 37. Qb4 Qd3. A healthy pawn up, white won without fuss after 38. a4 Bxh3 39. Qb2+ Kg8 40. Be2 Qe4 41. gxh3 Qxa4 (1-0, 59 moves). The “wrong rook pawn” motif isn’t good enough to save with queens on.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player