GERMAN MNC UEP, which sponsored the Anand-Kramnik title match had bid to organise and pick up the tab for the entire 2009-11 title cycle. Unfortunately negotiations with Fide have broken down. So, there will be a scramble for funding for what increasingly seems like a jinxed cycle.
Meanwhile, the US championships at St Louis went into round seven with GM Yuri Shulman and Varuzhan Akobian in the joint lead with 4.5/6 points each. They are followed by luminaries like Kamsky, Nakamura, Onischuk, who are part of a group of players on 4. This is a 9-round Swiss with only 25 participants.
The Azerbaijan Vs Rest of the World rapid match ended in a huge victory 21.5 to 10.5 for RoW. Vladimir Kramnik scored 6.5 points from 8 while Viswanathan Anand scored 5.5/8 and Karjakin scored 5/8. The Azeris were slaughtered with only Teimour Radjabov maintaining 50 per cent. This was Scheveningen team-format, which means each player plays everyone in the opposite team.
The annual M-Tel super GM has launched in Sofia. Defending champion, world no. 1 and homeboy Veselin Topalov got hammered in round 1 by Magnus Carlsen, who is second-seeded. This six-man double rounder also features Ivanchuk, Wang Yue, Lenier Dominguez and Shirov. Carlsen, Yue and Shirov share the lead with 1.5 each after round 2. Very early days.
Topalov is always extra motivated at MTel and he has often fought back after a poor start. Carlsen is playing after a little gap and has plenty to prove. The man who is having the horrors is Ivanchuk who has played terribly in 2009. He ended his last event, the Nalchik Grand Prix, with a minus score and he started here with losses in the first two games.
The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (Ivanchuk Vs Wang, Sofia 2009) is an increasingly rare example of situations where humans out-think engines. Black has grovelled to an ending where he’s just holding off the bishop pair. Now white continues 44.Bxg5?. This is a losing error — either 44. Bxe6 or 44 gxh5 or even 44. Bxc6 retains some edge with black probably holding the draw.
The win isn’t easy to find. Play continued 44.--Bxd5 45.f4+ Ke4 46.cxd5 Nxg5 47.fxg5 h4+!! White may have been expecting to win — any other black riposte loses and Ivanchuk must have missed this on 44. Now it’s black’s point after 48.Kxh4 Kf3 49.b4 b5 50.a5 Kg2 51.h3 Kh2 (0-1). Black will shuffle on h2-g2 locking in the white k at h4.
Then its forced mate after 52. c4 bxc4 53. b5 c3 54. bxa6 c2 55. a7 c1=q 56. a8=Q Qe1#. Computers simply don’t see the zugzwang until the engine’s been running for quite a while.
