The Corsica Masters always draws a large field due to a combination of generous funding, good organisation and exotic location. The 15th edition featured around 800 players, lured by 124 sponsors (!) and a prize fund of Euro 95,000. There was one unpleasant incident when GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran refused to play against FM Ehud Shachar of Israel in round four.
While Maghami was pilloried by some for his "anti-semitism", he would have incurred considerable personal risk if he had voluntarily played an Israeli. Given the Republic of Iran's consistent policy in this regard, it was prudent of him to withdraw. The organisers could have avoided this if they had tweaked the Swiss pairing system to avoid Iran-Israel matchups - this would have been entirely within their rights.
Anyhow, the Iranian GM was forfeited and the tournament continued. The Open was a great triumph for Sasikiran, who bagged first with 7.5 points from 9 rounds and a 2792 performance. Gawain Jones was second with 7. The top 14 then joined invitees Viswanathan Anand and Shakhriyar Mamedaryov in a KO matchplay.
The two invitees blasted the field to meet in the finals. Anand's toughest match was his semifinal against his friend and compatriot. That went to a tiebreak where Anand won 3:1. In the finals, the world champion beat "Shakh" 2-0. Sasi will probably cross the 2700 mark again (he's been above that level before) as a result.
In a week otherwise short of quality events, there was a lot of gossip about the revelation that Kasparov is now training Hikaru Nakamura. The US GM is already in the big league and, going by the earlier example of Magnus Carlsen, he could jump a key level in strength and understanding under the tutelage of the former world champion.
Back home, Abhijeet Gupta won the 49th national Championship. He scored 9.5 from 13 games to pip Deepan Chakravorty (9), Sethuraman (8.5), Venkatesh (8.5), Vidit Gujarathi (8.5) and Gopal (8). The top six retain automatic seeding to next year's championship.
The diagram features a fascinating struggle. Anand was ahead 1-0 in the match. Mamedaryov needed to win to force a tiebreak. What follows is an all-out attacking try met by cold-blooded defence.
WHITE TO PLAY (Mamedaryov vs Anand, Corsica Match Game 2, 2011). Mamedyarov could go 28 Rc1 Qb5 29.Rcxc3 Qb8 30.Qd1 - unclear. Instead 28.Rd8? h6! 29.Rxf8+ Qxf8 30.Qc4 Qb4! 31.Qc8+ Kh7 32.f3 Qb7 33.Qf8?! The technical 33. Rd8 Qxc8 would leave drawing chances but that is as good as a loss. Play continued 33...Ra8! 34.Qxh6+ Kg8 35.Ne5 Nxf6 36.Qf4 Nd5 37.Qd4 Qb2 38.Nd3 Qe2 39.Re1 Qxf3 40.h5 (0-1). White resigned since Qxh5 or gxh5 or Qg3+ or c2 all win.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
