Chess (#1020)

The women’s grand Prix at Ankara is heading for a tight finish. Two rounds to go; Anna Muzychuk leads with 7 points from 9 games. She’s ahead of Koneru Humpy (6.5) after winning their personal encounter. These two have the best shot at coming second in the overall GP and thus, winning a chance to challenge Hou Yifan for the title. Essentially if either wins at Ankara, they clinch it. Muzychuk is obviously favourite but Humpy has an easier draw for the the last two games and hence, chances of catching up.

Meanwhile in London, at the men's GP, Boris Gelfand leads with 4 points from 6 games (+2,=4). This is a 12-player round robin with a total prize fund of $240,000. Grischuk, Leko, Topalov and Mamedaryov are tied in 2-5 with 3.5 points each. It’s a powerful field with Ivanchuk, Giri, Wang Hao and Nakamura all languishing on minus scores. Nakamura is top seeded but he's taken too many risks.

The SaoPaolo-Bilbao Masters has an unexpected leader after three rounds. Fabiano Caruana has notched wns against Carlsen and Karjakin and had the better of a draw against Anand. He’s ahead in terms of both soccer and traditional scoring. Aronyan also has a plus score with a win versus Karjakin. Anand has three draws, Carlsen has a win and a loss. Karjakin and Vallejo Pons are on minus scores.

The young Italian American has played well, winning a beauty against Karjakin. But he's also been lucky when Carlsen blundered to lose a winning position. Anand hasn't really looked in great touch. The Brazilian half ends on Saturday and then the circus, complete with glass cube, moves to Spain.

The DIAGRAM, BLACK TO PLAY, (Karjakin Vs Caruana, Masters 2012) shows divergence between machine and man. Black's on the verge of central breakthrough. The machines suggest 26.-- Bxd2 27. Nxd2 Nxd5 28. exd5 Rxe3 29.fxe3 Rxe3. The GM played 26- Nxe4!? This wins and in more human fashion. White just can't disentangle the queen-side traffic jam before black gets at the king. Every black piece coordinates in attack.

Play continued 27.Nxe4 Rxe4 28.Bxe4 Rxe4 29.Qc2 Qe7 Returning the exchange with 30. Re1 Bxe1 31. Rxe1 will lose because black picks up d5 and/or breaks through with c4. The opposite bishops are deadly given an exposed white king.

Karjakin defended with 30.Rg1 Rxe3! 31.fxe3 Qxe3 The minor pieces dominate the rooks. Again, 31. Rbe1 Bxe1 32. Nxe1 Nf4 is convincing and so white played 32.Rbf1 Be2 33.Qf5 Bd3 34.Qd7 Be5+ 35.Kh1 Be4 36.Qe8+ Nf8 (0-1). The machines prefer alternative lines like 33.-- Nh4! and 34.-- Ne5 but black never lets go.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player