Chess (#1065)

Koneru Humpy experienced a mild hiccup before winning the Tashkent Grand Prix. She finished with 8 from 11, with a score of +6 -1,=4. The loss came to Bela Khotenashvili who came second with 7, edging Lagno (also 7) on the tiebreak. D Harika (6.5) suffered a crushing last-round loss to Zhao Xue when she was in line to take clear second. Despite that, the Indian number 2 gains some rating. Humpy leads in the women's GP rankings with 320 points (two wins from two GPs played) ahead of Khotenashvili (290 pts from 3 played) and Anna Muzychuk (250 pts from 2 played).
 
The Paris Grand Prix is heading for a tight finish. With one round to go, Boris Gelfand and Fabiano Caruana share the lead with 6.5 points from 10 games. Hikaru Nakamura and Etienne Bacrot are in 3rd -4th with 6 each.

The big question is, can Caruana take clear first? If he does, he books a place in the Candidates. Caruana plays Leniera Dominguez-Perez in the last round while Gelfand plays Ruslan Ponomariov, Nakmura plays Anish Giri and Bacrot plays Fressinet.

It's been a hard-fought event. Caruana beat Gelfand in an excellent game, Gelfand beat Nakamura in an even better game, Nakamura beat Caruana courtesy of a horrible blunder and Nakamura also beat Bacrot. Naka has had his share of luck - Vassily Ivanchuk flagged against him in a drawn position and Ponomariov missed a sharp opening shot that might have won outright. Gelfand has been impressive throughout while Caruana has played well apart from that blackout.

The new ratings list has seen a little change. Magnus Carlsen remains number 1 with 2870. Vladimir Kramnik (2796) and Levon Aronian (2795) have both dropped below 2800. Alexander Grischuk was number 4 with 2786 but Nakamura (2783) will overtake him after Paris. In fact, Naka has a shot at number 2. Viswanathan Anand remains at mumber 7 with 2779.

Carlsen has started acclimatising for the title match with training sessions in an undisclosed "hot location". He admits to a team of 4-5 players, including Jon-Ludwig Hammer. Rumours suggest that Garry Kasparov may be offering some advice to Carlsen.

In the diagram, BLACK TO PLAY ( Nakamura Vs Caruana Grand Prix Paris 2013) black has two possible recaptures on g6. Earlier Grischuk-Mamedaryov, Tal Memorial 2010 went 14.--fxg6 15.g4 Qc6!? 16.Qf2 Ne6 with a draw.

Caruana "innovates" with 14.-- hxg6?? 15.Bxd4! Qxd4 The alternative capture 15...Bxd4 16.Qh6 is just as deadly with Nge2 coming or 16...Qd6 17.Rxd4 Qxd4 18.Qh7+ Kf8 19.Qh8+ Qxh8 20.Rxh8+ Kg7 21.Rxd8. Of course, this entire line would be quite good for black after 14.--fg6 15. Bxd4?! Bxd4 16. Qh6 e5! Now 16.Qe1! Qxd1+ 17.Nxd1 (1-0, 34 moves). How on Earth did Caruana miss this tactic in both analysis and over the board?

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Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player