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The main event at the London Chess Classic went into the last round with five out of the six players still having a shot at first place due to soccer scoring. Anish Giri and Vladimir Kramnik had scored 6 points each with +1,=3 and they played each other. Hikaru Nakamura (+1,-1,=2) and Viswanathan Anand (=4) were on even scores with Nakamura ahead on 5 points. Michael Adams (+1,-2,=1) could also have a jab at first place despite his minus score because of the high decision ratio. The only person out of it was the top seed, Fabiano Caruana, (-=3,-1).
The lineup was Adams-Anand, Giri-Kramnik and Caruana- Nakamura. There was a certain amount of needle in Adams-Anand because Adams helped Magnus Carlsen in the recent World Championship match. There was also some needle in Caruana-Nakamura, involving the two strongest American-born players.
Anand won. Adams missed drawing chances under time pressure while playing out a near-equal Knight endgame and Anand pulled off a heist in the Knight-ending. For a while, it was a reprise of Game 11 from Sochi. Black found the b5 break in a Berlin Defence. Unlike at Sochi, Anand did not follow through with a poor exchange sacrifice.
The other games were hard-fought draws. Kramnik pushed against Giri, who lost his way a little before defending well for 60-odd moves. Caruana was under pressure. Then he found an exchange sacrifice that yielded better play. Nakamura hung on.
The tie among Giri, Kramnik and Anand meant that they shared the first three prizes equally. The ceremonial champion's trophy went to Anand on the basis of his win coming with black. This was Anand's third major tournament win in 2014, suggesting he's in reasonable form despite Sochi.
The Mindgames at Beijing continue. Alexander Grischuk and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave bagged gold and silver respectively in the Blitz and Rapid events. The Basque event, where each player conducts two rapid games simultaneously against the same opponent, is ongoing. All these are 16-player double round-robins. In the women's versions, Hou Yifan and Valentina Gunina logged first and second respectively. In other news, the Indian team shares the lead with four straight wins at the U-16 Olympiad in Gyor, Hungary.
The DIAGRAM, BLACK TO PLAY (White: Adams Vs Black: Anand, London 2014), is a typical R+Kt endgame: Equal but tricky. Black played 24.-- b5! 25.cxb5 cxb5 26.Ne4 Nc6 27.Rxd8 Kxd8 28.e6? This loses. The best lines seem to be 28.f4 Nxa5 29.Nxc5 Nc6 or 28. Nxc5 Nxe5.
Black seized his chance with 28...fxe6 29.Nxc5 Ke7 30.Nb3 Kd6 31.Kf3 Kd5 The issue is the rapidly advancing black king and white lost quickly after 32.Kf4 Kc4 33.Nc1 Nxa5 34.Kg5 Nb3 35.Ne2 b4 36.Kxh5 a5 (0-1). The pawn queens.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
