CHESS #1378

The Tata Steel India Chess in Kolkata saw Magnus Carlsen register a convincing victory. The world champion scored 27 points from a possible 36 (two points for every rapid win and one for every blitz win). Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri and Wesley So followed Carlsen in the standings in the event which was played at the historic National Library. Indian fans were heartbroken since Viswanathan Anand failed to qualify for the final event of the Grand Chess Tour.

Carlsen won the Rapid with 15/18. He tied with Nakamura for the blitz title with both GMs scoring 12/18. Carlsen dropped two losses, both to Ding Liren in blitz. Nakamura (23/27 overall) lost just one game, to Carlsen but the American had far fewer Rapid wins. So and Giri (18.5 each) were well behind the two leaders.

Carlsen, Ding Liren, Levon Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave all qualify for the London Classic which is the concluding event of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour. London has a prize fund of $350,000 — Kolkata was about a third of that.

Anand needed to land in the top six in Kolkata to book a London ticket and he looked well set. But the former world champion collapsed, losing four of his last five games. The other Indians at Kolkata, Vidit Gujrathi and P Harikrishna (both 14.5), trailed in at the lower end. Levon Aronian (13) had a really bad event and ended last. But Aronian had played brilliantly in earlier GCT events and he edges into London.

Carlsen played at above 3000 Elo, pushing his Rapid rating to 2885 where he’s followed by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave  (2873). Carlsen’s blitz rating is 2864, placing him second behind Nakamura (2885). Kolkata’s enthusiasm for chess can be gauged from the fact that fans bought tickets and filled the spacious hall every day despite the event clashing with the first Pink Ball test. (Anand and Carlsen ceremonially opened proceeding on one day at Eden Gardens but Russian GM commentator, Peter Svidler, is the real cricket fan among top chess GMs.)

The Diagram, White to Play (White: Carlsen Vs Black: Aronian , Tata Blitz Kolkata 2019) is a fine example of how much top players see quickly. Carlsen had one minute and 23 seconds left (the control was 5 minutes for the entire game and 3 seconds delay per move).

Carlsen took 30 seconds to play 34. Rc2!! and won after 34.—Rbxc2 35. a8=Q h5 36. Qe4 Rce2 37. Qd4+ Rf6 38. Rf1 Re5 39. Rxf6 Kxf6 40. Qxd6+ Re6 (1-0, 56 moves). He saw that the rook sacrifice to protect g2 is necessary since 34. a8=Q Rxg2+ 35. Kf1 Rbf2+! 36. Ke1 Re2+! 37. 37.Kd1 Ref2 38. Ke1 Re2+ Kd1 Ref2 draws. This avoids a devilish trap Aronian had prepared.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player