Anatoly Karpov is campaigning actively with road-shows and internet releases. The 12th world Champion has Serbian WGM Alisa Maric as his Vice-Presidential candidate.
Dr Maric (2387 rating), who was born in New York and teaches economics at Belgrade, is the strongest US-born woman player. A better-known economist-GM, Ken Rogoff, is also on Karpov’s advisory board.
Karpov’s manifesto is federalist in nature, suggesting devolution of power to member nations. It makes suggestions for strengthening Fide’s financial platform and re-establishing brand values of chess and the world title in particular. In sporting terms, it is committed to removing the “zero-tolerance” rule, and to new anti-cheating laws.
Pious thoughts. Whether Karpov can win is a moot question though he has both global respect and strong financial support. Fide’s office-bearers are elected by the votes predelictions of a multitude of small nations, who can be influenced by many factors. If Karpov does win, can he make a concrete difference? That’s even more moot.
Meanwhile, a burst of on-the-board activity. The Dutch championship is underway. Jan Smeets (2659) is top-rated with Loek van Wely (2653) and the defending champion Anish Giri (2642) is third in the 10-man round-robin. At 15-plus, Giri is the hottest talent to arrive since Carlsen and is probably under-rated. He’s also the fan-favourite for retaining the title. Smeets and Nojboer lead with 2.5 points from three games and Giri is on 2.
Magnus Carlsen has just passed his 20th birthday and he’s also playing. He’s the top seed at the Rumanian Medias “Tournament of Kings” where he features with Gelfand, Radjabov, Ponomariov, Wang Yue, and Liviu-Nisipeanu. The world number one started with two draws in the category 20 double-round event, which has a 30-move rule where draws cannot be offered before move 30. Gelfand and Nisipeanu share the lead with 1.5 each.
The diagram, Gelfand Vs Wang Yue (Medias, 2010) is the prelude to unusual manoeuvres. White played 44.Rxh7! Nxh7 45.Nxg6 Nd7. Not 45...Qxg6 46.Bh5 when the queen is trapped. Now 46.Bh5 Qd8 47.Nb4 Rc7 48. Nh8!! 44.Rxh7! Nxh7 45.Nxg6 Nd7 46.Bh5 Qd8 47.Nb4 Rc7 48. Nh8!! This is fabulous — 48. --Kxh8 29. Bg6 and 48.--Bxh8 49. Bf7+ are both complete busts.
So black tries to head into an ending with saving chances after. 48...Ndf8 49.Nf7! Rxf7 50.Bxf7+ 50...Rxf7 51.Rxh7 Qe8 52.Rh3 Ng6. This doesn’t look easy but Gelfand is a super technician and he won after 64.b3! Nf8 65.Rh2 axb3+ 66.Kxb3 Ke8 67.Ra2 Kd7 68.a4 bxa4+ 69.Rxa4 Rxa4 70.Kxa4 Kc8 71.Ba5! Ng6 72.Nb4! Kd7 73.Na6! Kc8 74.Bc7 Bf8 75.Ka5 Kb7 76.Bd6 Be7 77.Bxe7 Nxe7 78.Nb4 Ng8 79.Nd3 Ne7 80.Ne5 Ng8 81.g6 Nf6 82.g7. The endgame is well worth studying.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally-rated chess and correspondence chess player
