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At the Tigran Petrosian Memorial in Moscow, Thomas Grischuk leads with 2/2 and he's pulled his live rating above 2800. Vladimir Kramnik is in second place with 1.5, ahead of Ding Liren, Peter Leko, Alexander Morozevich, Levon Aronian, Boris Gelfand and Ernesto Inarkiev. Inarkiev (2688) is the only player rated under 2700. The sponsors, Tashir group, have put up a generous fund of ^100,000 plus, and normally this tournament would be the focus of attention. But the world title match gets going on Saturday.
Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand are in Sochi, Russia, with their entourages. They both appear fairly relaxed, tweeting pictures and funny anecdotes. Vladimir Putin dropped in to inspect the venue and he will make the first move in Game One. Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich is handling arrangements in his capacity as head of the Russian Chess Federation and chairman of the Organising Committee.
Dvorkovich is a strong player and Putin certainly knows the difference between a Kings Indian and a Sicilian Dragon. But genuine interest aside, the Russian establishment sees this high-profile match as a chance to cock a snook at sanctions over Ukraine. Sochi is close to the Ukraine border where Russia-supported rebels operate. Carlsen is said to have checked with his home federation before signing, because he feared the sanctions might apply to the prize money. (It turns out, they don't).
Politics apart, Carlsen remains favourite to retain the title. On top of the sheer quality of his play, the world champion is 20 years younger and possesses much greater reserves of stamina and energy. Carlsen is also much higher rated and backed by a very high-quality team of analysts and seconds.
However, Anand appears to be in better form than he was a year ago and he could be expected to put up more of a fight than he did in Chennai. Carlsen won that match 3-0, with Anand blundering horribly in his losses. It is also true that Anand now has a better understanding of Carlsen's style. Whether the former world champion and his team can cut out the blunders and translate his greater experience into wins on the board, only time will tell.
PS: Andreikin (7/ 11) won the Tashkent Grand Prix ahead of Hikaru Nakamura (6.5) and Shakhriyar Mamedaryov (6.5) with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Fabiano Caruana, Sergey Karjakin and Baadur Jobava (all 6) sharing 4-7 spots.
The Diagram, WHITE TO PLAY, (Kramnik Vs Inarkiev Petrosian Memorial 2014), leads to 30.Rxh6+! gxh6 31.Qxh6+ Kg8 32.f4?! Bc6 33.Bf3 Qc8 Kramnik missed 32.Rd1 c3 33.Bd3! f5 34.exf6 Ra7 35.Qg6+ Kh8 36.f7. But his line is good enough
The game ended 34.f5 exf5 35.Qg5+ Kh8 36.Bxc6 Re6 37.Rxf5 Ra7 38.Qh4+ Kg7 39.Rh5 Qg8 40.Be4 (1-0).
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
