Chess (#1026)

The AICF-AAI cup ended with Anton Korobov claiming first, gaining 12 rating points and $7,500 prize-money. The Ukrainian GM was very lucky when he was gifted a blunder from Wojtaszek in the last round. Korobov scored 6.5 from ten games and a TPR of 2788. If Wojtaszek had lost the last game, there would have been a three-way tie for first place. Evgeny Alekseev of Russia was second with 5.5 and Sasikiran placed third with 5. Wojtaszek shared 4-5 with Abhijeet Gupta (both 4.5 points). Parimarjan Negi was sixth with 4 points. It was a hard fought event as the small spread between places indicates. Everybody logged at least one win and one loss.

Incidentally, Vidit Gujarathi and Shyam Sundar have completed requirements to become India’s 30th and 31st GM respectively. The Delhi Open starting this Saturday could provide more norm chances for other aspirants along with a prize fund of over ~20 lakhs.

An interesting exhibition took place in Tokyo when Vachier-Lagrave played a chess simul against two Shogi masters. Shogi, aka Japanese chess, is much more popular in Japan than chess. It has a complex title hierarchy. It’s played on a 9x9 board with 20 pieces each.

Pieces have geometric rules similar to chess (including knight’s move and promotions). One unusual rule is the “drop” where a piece off-board is placed in play. Another is “reversal” where a captured piece changes sides.

Shogi is tactical and masters tend to be good chess-players. The two champions in the simul, Yoshiharu Habu and Toshiyuki Moriuchi would both rate IM strength despite lack of exposure. Vachier-Lagrave won both games but not easily. His strategy involved retaining queens because Shogi lacks a “combined R+B piece” though it does have promotions to R+K and B+K.

The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY, (Wojtaszek Vs Korobov, New Delhi 2012) is a razor-sharp opposite castled position with both players in time trouble. White should come first. The cold-blooded 21. Ka1 or 21. Rc3 could keep him ahead.

White played 21.Rg3!? Bxh4 22.Rh3 Be7 23.e6 Bf8. Now 24. Bxc4 dxc4 25. Be5 Bxe6 26. Rxh6+ Kg8 27. Rg6 still favours white. After 24.g4? Bxe6 25.g5 Rac8 26.gxh6 g6 27.Bxc4 Rxc4 28.Be5+ Kh7 29.Qd2 Be7, it's equality. White retains balance with 30.f4.

The tables turned with 30.Nf3? f4! 31.Rhh1 Bg4 32.Qxd5 Be6 33.Qd2 Bg4 34.Qd5 Bf5+ 35.Ka1 Be6 36.Qd3?? Rc1+! (0-1). The sane 36. Qd2 Qc6 leaves black better, as does the mad 36. Qd6!? Qxd6 37. Rxd6 Bg4, but not 36. Qd6 Bxd6?? 37. Ng5+. This was a sad end to a wild game. As winner said “Fortune favours the brave and I must be very brave indeed to survive this!”

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player