Reggio Emilia was a big breakthrough for Dutch prodigy Anish Giri. Giri started with 1 from the first 4 rounds, (two draws, two losses). He finished with 15/6 (+4,=2) to grab clear first. The trio of Morozevich, Nakamura, Caruana shared second on 15 each.
In normal scoring, Giri would have placed first on 6, with Moro, Naka and Caruana on 5.5 each. Ivanchuk and Vituigov brought up the rear. Both played a key role with last-round wins that downed two of the three co-leaders. Ivanchuk beat Nakamura while Vituigov found a great defence to up-end Moro from a lost position.
In another traditional New Year event, Wang Yue took first place at the Hastings Open. Wang scored 7.5/9. Hastings turned out to be an happy occasion for several Indians as well. The second to fourth places (all 7) were shared by Andrei Istratescu and teenaged IMs, Lalith Babu and Shyam Sunder, who both scored GM norms. World U-12 champion Murali Karthikeyan, scored 5.5.
The fourth edition of the SDAT-RMK Chennai Open is concluding now. After 10 rounds, Yu Ruiyuan of China leads with 8.5 ahead of Aleksej Alexandrov, Martyn Kravtsiv, Akshayraj Kore, and Dzhumaev Marat (all 8 each).
Play starts today at the Tata Steel in Wijk An Zee. Group A features 10 of the Top 20 in a 14-player 2754 rating average with Carlsen, Aronyan, Radjabov, Topalov, Ivanchuk, Karjakin, Nakamura, Gelfand, Giri, etc. The B and C Groups are strong events also. Indian participation includes Harikrishna and Harika in the B and Adhiban, Sahaj Grover and Tania Sachdev in the C.
The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (Vitiugov Vs Morozevich, Reggio Emilia 2011-12) shows white finding a remarkable defence to the threat of doubling rooks and mate down the h-file. 29.Bf1 Kg6 30.axb6 Bf6 31.Re1! Rh8 32.Rxe4!! Rfh7 33.Rh4! gxh4 34.Bd3+ Kg7 35.Bxh7 Kxh7. Black should win but it’s very difficult.
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36.Ra1 Bxc4 37.Rxa7 Bxb3? Here 37...Rd8! wins with 38.Nc5 Bxd4 39.Rxd7+ Rxd7 40.Nxd7 hxg3 41.Be1 Ba6 (or 41.b7 Bxf2+ 42.Kh1 g2+ 43.Kh2 g1Q+). After this miss, the b-pawn takes over. 38.Rxd7+ Kg6 39.Bf4 39...hxg3 40.Bxg3 Ba4 41.Rd6 Rg8 42.b7 Kf5 43.Ra6 Bxd4 44.b8Q Rxb8 45.Bxb8 Bc2
Now white must exchange bishops, and push the black king back, before returning the exchange to force a winning pawn-ending. Vituigov offers a textbook technical demo. 46.Kh2 Bd3 Since 46...Bxf2 47.Ra2 47.Ra4 Be5+. Or 47...Bxf2 48.Rf4+ Ke6 49.Rxf3. 48.Bxe5 Kxe5 49.Kg3 Be2 50.Kg4 Kf6 51.Kf4 Bd1 52.Ra6+ Kf7 53.Ke5 Be2 54.Rf6+ Kg7 55.Kf5 Bd3+ 56.Kg5 Be2 57.Rf4 Kg8 58.Kh6 Bd1 59.Rd4 Be2 60.Rd7 Kf8 61.Kg5 Ke8 62.Ra7 Kf8 63.Kf4 Kg8 64.Ra3 Kf7 65.Rxf3 Bxf3 66.Kxf3 Kf6 67.Kf4 (1–0). A fascinating game, which indicates why Vituigov is highly respected in Russia.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
