Chess (#1021)

The London Grand Prix ended in a photo-finish while the women's GP at Ankara also had an exciting end. Fabiano Caruana leads after the first half of the Sao Paolo-Bilbao Masters. At Ankara, Koneru Humpy logged wins in the last two rounds to overtake Anna Muzychuk who had two draws in her last two games.

Humpy ended with 8.5 points from 11 games despite losing to Muzychuk, who was second with 8. This gives Humpy the right to challenge Hou Yifan in the 2013 title match. At Tirana 2011, in the last title match featuring the same due, Hou won easily with a 5.5-2.5 scoreline.

In London, Boris Gelfand led till round 9, when he went down to Alexander Grischuk in a spectacular encounter. That put Shakhriyar Mamedaryov into the lead with Gelfand, Veselin Topalov and Grischuk sharing 2-4. All of them drew in the 10th and penultimate round. In round 11, Gelfand and Topalov won against Kasimdzhanov and Giri respectively while Mamedaryov and Grischuk drew. This left Gelfand, Mamedaryov and Topalov tied for 1-3 with 7 each. Topalov was unbeaten. Both “Shakh” and “Bora” lost to Grischuk, who placed 4th with 6.5 points. The three shared the prize money but the GP points divided by tiebreak with Topalov awarded 160 pts, Gelfand 130 and Mamedaryov 110.

It was Gelfand's first event since he lost the title match in Moscow. Topalov was also playing after a hiatus and seemed to come into his own in the latter stages. Mamedaryov wiped out the bottom four and held draws against the higher placed. Top seed Nakamura would have been very disappointed, tying for last with Giri.

In Sao Paolo-Bilbao, Caruana leads with a fantastic score of +3,=2, for a 3000-plus Elo performance. The 20-year-old was lost against Aronyan and successfully confused the world no:2. He beat Carlsen, Karjakin and Vallejo Pons and had the better of a draw versus Anand. Aronyan also has a plus score (+1,=4). The soccer-scoring reads Caruana 11 pts, Aronyan 7, Carlsen 6, Anand 5, Vallejo and Karjakin 3 each. Play resumes on Monday 8th October after crossing the Atlantic.

The Diagram, WHITE TO PLAY, (Grischuk Vs Gelfand Grand Prix - London 2012) saw the powerful 17.Re3! b5 18.Rae1 c4? Black missed the 23rd move after 19.bxc4 bxc4 20.Bxf6 Bxe4 21.Rxe4 Bxf6 22.Bxc4 Qxd2? 23.Bxe6! fxe6 24.Rxe6+ Kd7? Or 24...Kf7 25.Qh5+ g6 26.Qf3 hitting Bf6 and after 26.--Qd4? 27. Qb7+! or 26.--Rhf8 27. Rxf6+ leaves black material down, defending a mating attack. 25.Qg4 Kc7 26.Qc4+ Kd7 27.Qa4+ Kd8 28.Qxa6 Kd7 29.Qb5+ Kd8 30.Re8+! 1-0 since 30.Re8+ Rxe8 31.Rxe8+ Kc7 32.Qc5+ and 31.Qxc8+.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player