Chess (#1048)

The Tal Memorial is seeing a horosho (Russian for "good") performance for Hikaru Nakamura and a horror-show from Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik. Naka started with a loss to Shakhriyar Mamedaryov and then won three straight games. He leads with 4.5 from six games, including wins against Kramnik and Anand. Boris Gelfand is second with 4. Mamedaryov and Magnus Carlsen are both on 3.5.

Kramnik started with two losses, to Carlsen and Naka, and has so far, failed to win a game. Anand started with a loss against Fabiano Caruana, and has lost to Carlsen and Nakamura, while beating Alexander Morozevich. The loss to Carlsen, who beat the world champion easily, is being seen as a harbinger of proceedings in the title match.

That may or may not turn out to be true. One thing is clear, Anand needs to work out the "Fritz kids" - the generation which learnt to play after engines became powerhouses.

Chess theory evolved in overlapping waves between the 1850s and the 1970s. Between 1970 and 1990, people learnt to play the same way. They studied games by GMs, analysed with coaches and friends, and played against human beings.

In the 90s, databases and engines changed the environment. The Fritz kids ("Fritz" from Chessbase is among the oldest engines and still one of the best) learnt to play with engines as primary partners. By say, 1995, engines were finding strong moves that humans from earlier eras didn't "see", or rejected out of hand for some violation of principle.

The Fritz kids are more concrete, and less influenced by dogmatic preconceptions. Although Carlsen, Nakamura, Karjakin, Caruana etc, have very individual styles, their annotations and games show this common trait of thinking differently.

Anand's generation started using computers as adults - their thought process were already formed. Anand's recent losses include multiple losses against Carlsen, Caruana, Nakamura and Wang Hao - all Fritz Kids. Understanding how they think is a problem he must solve before the title match.

The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (Carlsen,Magnus Vs Anand, Moscow 2013) is where white starts taking control. 17.Nf4 Bc8?! Too slow 18.Qa4 Rc7 19.f3! Be6 20.e4 dxe4? This loses outright but black's already under pressure. After 21.fxe4 Qd7 22.d5! cxd5 23.Qxd7 Rxd7 24.Nxe6 fxe6 25.Bh3!, white is clearly winning.

Anand tried 25...Kh8 Or 25...Re8 26.exd5 Rd6 27.Rxe6 wins. Now 26.e5! Ng8 27.Bxe6 Rdd8 28.Rc7 d4 29.Bd7 (1-0). White play e6s, captures the d-pawn and sails on. What did Anand miss in this simple position? It must have been an idea, rather than a straight tactic. Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player