CHESS#1338

Magnus Carlsen clinched his seventh Wijk An Zee title, winning the Tata Steel Masters comfortably. Carlsen (9 pts from 13 games) could have been pushed into second if Anish Giri (8.5) had beaten him in the last round. The Dutch GM tried an enterprising exchange sacrifice but Carlsen slid easily into safe territory. Ian Nepomniachtchi, Ding Liren and Viswanathan Anand shared third–fifth place with 7.5 each. Vidit Gujrathi (7) had an excellent event, and could have done even better. 

The world champion won five games and drew the rest to boost his rating to 2845. Ding was the only other unbeaten player. Giri received some surreal luck when Sam Shankland resigned in a drawn position! 

Carlsen’s title was overshadowed by Vladimir Kramnik announcing his retirement. The former world champion is 42. He’s been plagued by ill-health and increasing lack of motivation, he says. He may continue to play occasionally and he will focus on working with kids. Kramnik will always be remembered for breaking Kasparov’s dominance. 

Vlad Kovalev (10/13) won the Tata Challengers, clear of Benjamin Gledura,  Andrey Esipenko and Maksim Chigaev (all 8.5). R Praggnanandhaa (5) did not have a great tournament but it should be a useful learning experience. 

Meanwhile the Gibraltar Open moved towards an exciting finish. Vlad Artemiev (7.5) leads after nine rounds with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Murali Karthikeyan and Yu Yangyi (all 7) in hot pursuit. Other Indians doing well include Vaibhav Suri (6.5), Lalith Babu (6.5), and Abhimanya Puranik, D Gukesh (both 6). The Muzychuk sisters are both on 6. Koneru Humpy and Ju Wenjun (both 5.5) are also in line for decent prizes, given Gibraltar’s fund.

The Chennai Velammal Women’s GM is being led by Munguntuul, Batkhuyag and Iulija Osmak (both 3) after five rounds. Divya Deshmuk and Akansha Hagawane (both 2.5) are sharing third. GM Pantsulaia Levan won the Chennai Open with 8.5 points. This follows Pantsulaia’s triumph at Delhi Open, for back-to-back titles. The second spot was shared by Ivan Popov, Aleksej Aleksandrov, Luka Paichadze, Susanto Megaranto and Ivan Rozum Ivan (all 8). 

In the Diagram, White to Play (White: Duda Vs Black: Rapport, Tata Steel Masters 2019), White has 30. Qb2 — the mate threat forces 30. — Rc8  31. Rxc8 Qxc8 32. Qxb3 with equality. He tried 30. Qd8? Rc1+ 33. Kf2 Qf1+ 34. Kg3 f4+! 35. Kxf4 Rc4+ 36. Kg3 Qe1+ 37. Kh3.  How does black continue the attack with mate hanging? Rapport found the fantastic 37.— Rc8!! 38. Rxc8 Be6+ 39. g4 hxg4+ 40. fxg4 Qxe3+ 41. Kh4 Qf2+ (0-1). If 42. Kg5 Bxc8 43. Qxc8 f6#. It’s a good exercise working out the variations from 34.—f4+ onwards.  

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player