The big news of the week was Kirsan Ilyumzhinov playing a couple of games with his old pal, Col. Gaddafi. Kirsan was a Kremlin emissary - the US and France have requested Russia to act as a go-between. It led to a strange photo-op and some controversial publicity. Kirsan has personal ties with the Libyan leader, who hosted the 2004 KO World Championships. Incidentally, Kirsan also visited Saddam Hussain in 2003, weeks before the US invasion of Iraq.
Meanwhile the tournament of Kings proceeded at Medias, Romania. Sponsored by Romania's gas utility ROMGAZ and promoted by the Elisabeta Polihroniade Chess Club, Bucharest, this is one of the better annual events. This edition features Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Karjakin, Nakamura, Radjabov and local hero Dieter Nisipeanu in a double rounder.
After the first half, Carlsen leads with 3.5 from 5 while Karjakin is on 3 and Nakamura has an even score. Play has been interesting. While Carlsen has been in excellent form(+2,=3), there's also been creativity from the others. Karjakin's win against Ivanchul featured an extraordinary idea.
So far, Nisipeanu (2659) who is the only player rated below 2,700 has not been a whipping boy. He's tied at 2 with Ivanchuk and Radjabov. However, his presence though understandable on sponsorship and nationalistic grounds, does unbalance the event.
The 14th Sigeman in Malmo Sweden has the same format of six players, double RR, but it's rather weaker. Anish Giri, Wesley So and Hans Tikkanen tied with 3 points each. Shirov scored 50 per cent at 2.5.
The diagram, (Ivanchuk Vs Karjakin, Medias 2011) Black to Play, is from an encounter with some needle. There's a major age difference between Karjakin and Ivanchuk but they have exactly the same rating (2,776). They used to be stalwarts of the same national team before Karjakin emigrated from his native Ukraine to Russia.
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This is a complex middlegame from an Italian. Apparently neither had studied this specific position but it's difficult to imagine a radical solution. After some thought, Karjakin found 16. - Bxh3!! The idea is 17.gxh3 loses to 17. - Qf6! Then 18.Kg2 Nh4+! 19.Nxh4 Qxf2+ 20.Kh1 Qxg3 21.Re2 Qxh4 seems quite convincing.
Play continued 17. c4 Ndf4 18. c5 Nxg2! 19. cxb6 Qf6! 20. Nh2 Nxe1 21. Rxe1 axb6 22. Bc3 Be6 23. Re3 Nf4 24. Rf3 Qh4 - Black has a material plus. More importantly, he has a continuing attack. 25. Bd2 Bg4 26. Qc4 Be6!. Simpler than allowing counterplay with Bxf3, Qxf7+.
Now the attack flows smoothly on with 27. Qc2 Bxb3 28. Qxb3 Re6! 29. a3 Rae8 30. Qb4 Rf6 31. Qe4 Ree6 32. Ne2 Nxe2+ 33. Qxe2 Rxf3 34. Qxf3 Rg6 35. Kh1 Rf6 36. Qg3 Qxg3 37. fxg3 Rd6 (0-1). No hopes in this ending.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
