Chess (#1055)

Mickey Adams won the Dortmund Super GM with something to spare. The English GM finished with a fantastic 7 points from 9 games and a rating performance (RP) of 2900-plus. He drew his last game with Vladimir Kramnik, who was second with 6.5 and a RP of 2870. Peter Leko and Arkadij Naiditsch shared third with 4.5 each. It was a terrible event for Fabiano Caruana, who ended on a minus score. Kramnik had suffered a seventh round loss to Dmitry Andreikin, pulling him back after the pair led from the start. Adams was unbeaten, playing in his usual unhurried style.

The Dortmund Sparkassen Open, running concurrently, saw a cheating scandal. GM-elect Jens Kotainy was disqualified while leading on 7/7. His moves had a very high match with chess engines. He was carrying a cellphone, which vibrated regularly. His defence: the vibration was from an anti- theft program that logs location data.

Maxime Vachier Lagrave won the four-way tie breaker at Biel. He beat Ding Liren 2-0 in one semi-final, while Olexandr Moiseenko beat tienne Bacrot 2-0 in the other. MVL won the first game in the finals and drew the second.

Pendyala Harikrishna won the strong Biel Open running concurrently. Hari scored 8.5 from 11 and gained over 20 rating points to move back into the 2700 club. Parimarjan Negi also won the strong Politiken Open at Helsingor (aka Elsinore), Denmark. Negi scored an amazing 9/10, facing GM opposition throughout.

There's lots of speculation about title match seconds floating around. Magnus Carlsen is definitely using compatriot, Jon Ludvig Hammer and perhaps, getting some support from former coach, Gary Kasparov. V Anand is using SS Ganguly and suspected to have drafted in Sandipan Chanda as well.

Adams is noted for his calm temperament and his technique. He also has plenty of tactical vision. In the DIAGRAM, BLACK TO PLAY (Caruana Vs Adams, Dortmund 2013), he could just continue with 17. Nd5 and a roughly equal position.

Instead, Adams played 17.--- Rh2+!? An unusual piece sacrifice. There are many unforced moves in what follows. Play continued 18.Kg3 Rxc2 19.Nh7 c5 20.Nxf8 Bc6. White cannot rescue with 21. Nh7 Rg2+ 22. Kf4 Rh8 23. Ng5 Rh4 without risking mate. The alternative 21. Nd7 Rg2+ 22. Kf4 Rh8 23. e6 f6 also looks nasty.

White tried 21.f6 Rg2+ 22.Kf4 gxf6 23.exf6 Rf2+ 24.Ke3 Rxf6 25.Nh7 Rf3+ 26.Kd2 Rd8+ 27.Kc2 Rxc3+ 28.bxc3 Ba4+ 29.Kb2 Rxd1 30.Bg5 Nc6 31.Rxd1 Bxd1. Opposite bishops won't save this. The game concluded 32.Bf4 Bxg4 33.Nf6 Bf3 34.Ne8 Na5 35.Nxc7 Bc6 36.Kc2 Kc8 37.Kd3 Kd7 38.Kc2 Nc4 39.Na6 Bb7 40.Nb8+ Kc8 41.Kd3 b5 (01). It's an open question how much of this Adams calculated and how much was simply played by feel.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player