CHESS#1332

Hikaru Nakamura won the London Chess Classic and the 2018 Grand Chess Tour. He beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in a nail-biting final, taking the eighth and final game after seven razor-edged draws. Fabiano Caruana took third beating Levon Aronian in a concurrent match.

The Naka–MVl match was expected to be close as both are past masters at speed-play. However, Caruana pulled off a surprise, which isn’t really a surprise. Aronian tried the strategy that worked for Magnus Carlsen in the title match, drawing the classical games and going to speed-play.

Aronian was rated much higher in rapid (Elo 2802, world #6) and blitz (2857, #4) than Caruana (rapid 2766, #13, and #2767, #16). Caruana won both the rapid (1-0) and blitz segments (3-1) easily. He has a habit of working at his weaknesses until he gets things right.

Wei Yi won the Asian Championships in a photo finish on better tiebreak. Wei Yi, Amin Tabatabaei and Lê Quang Liêm tied at the top (all 6.5 from nine rounds). Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and Surya Shekhar Ganguly took fourth and fifth spots (both 6). All five take spots in the World Cup. In the women’s event, Padmini Rout won on tiebreak, ahead of Qianyun Gong (7). Pham Le Thao Nguyen (6.5), Jiner Zhu (6) and Turmunkh Munkhzul (5.5) also qualify for the Women’s World Cup.

Aravindh Chithambaram won the National Championships in Jammu with 10/13 and took home Rs 500,000. This was the first unified national championships leading to decent prize money (Rs 2 million-plus) and strong participation. CRG Krishna (9.5) took second place ahead of Srijit Paul and M R Venkatesh (both 9.5). Krishna and G A Stany took GM norms and Stany completed the GM title to become India’s 58th GM.

The next big event is the King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships. Saudi sponsorship including the $1.15-million prize fund continues. But it has been shifted out of the kingdom to St Petersburg, following representations from many players including the world champion. Besides gender issues, there were problems with visas for Israelis, Iranians and Qataris. Of course, the Ukrainian contingent may have issues playing in Russia! Carlsen has made his intentions of taking the triple title clear, tweeting “No usurpers will be left alive!”

Meanwhile, fans are tracking the fortunes of D Gukesh, who has a chance to break Karjakin’s record and become the youngest-ever GM. Gukesh is playing the Sunway Stiges and has 4.5 from seven games in the 10-round event.

The Diagram, White to play,  (White: Nakamura Vs Black, Blitz , London Chess Classic) featured a nice finish. White played 26. Nxf7! Qxh3 27. Bf1 Qh5 28. Be2 Qh3 29. Bg4! (1-0 ). The Kt fork picks up the queen

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player