Last week saw “exhibition events”, at the World Mindgames at Beijing. There was also the annual veteran GMs versus young women event, the “Snowdrops Vs old hands” at Podebrady. Levon Aronyan won the Beijing blindfold with 5.5 point from 7 games in a Swiss ahead of Nakamura, Kamsky, Mamedaroyov, Leko, Morozevich, Giri, Ding, Wang Hao, Ivanchuk, etc.
Hou Yifan won the women’s blindfold with 6/7 ahead of Cmiltye, Humpy, Zatonskih, Zhao, Muzychuk, Harika, etc. Laurent Fressinet won the rapid. Humpy, Lahno, Muzychuk and Yifan tied for the women’s rapid with Lahno having the best tiebreak. Karjakin won the blitz while Kosteniuk won the women's blitz. Incidentally the video coverage was top-class. Aficionados of draughts, Go, Xiangqi and bridge may also want to take a look.
In Podebrady, old hands, Olafsson, Romanishin, Uhlmann and Hort came from behind to beat the Snowdrops (Sachdev, Kashlinskaya, Gunina, Havlikova) 15-17. Tania Sachdev scored 6/8 with a TPR of 2621.
It was a command performance through 2012 by Magnus Carlsen. The 22-year-old Norwegian won a string of strong tournaments, setting a new Elo record of 2861, with a huge 50-point lead over no:2, Kramnik. He can only get stronger, which is scary.
It's also apparent that the Carlsen generation, the “Fritz kids” who learnt to play on computers without much human coaching, are the strongest-ever cohort. Giri, Caruana, Karjakin, Nakamura, etc., are all creative as well as technically accomplished. In a fantasy match against previous “greats”, the top 50 of 2012 would win by a mile.
On a different, less triumphal note, Anand had his worst year ever, dropping out of the top three. While he remains world champion after winning a tough match against Gelfand, the Indian genius has seen his rating dip from a high of 2817 in May 2011, to a current low of 2772. At 43, one wonders if he can turn things around. Or, like the no:4 in the Indian test team, is he is now staring retirement in the face?
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The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (Polgar,Judit Vs Nakamura London 2012) is an interesting example of technical skill. Pure opposite bishop endings are notoriously drawish. But if more pieces are available, they help mating attacks. There is little left and White eliminates material with 44.Nxb5. She can't play 44.Rxb5 c3 44...Rf6! 45.Bc5 If 45.Bc3 Rf2+ 46.Kg3 Rf3+ 47.Kh2 Rh3+ 48.Kg1 Rg3+ 49. Kh2 Rg4! 50. Rb7 Nf3+ 51. Kh3 Rg5 with Bf1#. 45...Rf4! 46.Nc3? Rg4! (0–1). Now the same sort of mating patterns occur with say 47. Nd5 Bf1 48. Rb6+ Kf7 49. Rb7+ Ke6 etc. Perhaps 46. Be3 Rh4+ 47. Kg1 Rg4+ 48. Kf2 Ne4+ 49. Kf3 Kh5 keeps some defensive chances.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player