Chess (#1067)

The Russian Superfinal ended in a tie. Ian Nepomniachtchi caught up leader Peter Svidler. Nepomniachtchi managed wins in the last two rounds against Anton Shmoev and Vladimir Kramnik. It was a magnificent effort by both players, since they scored 6.5 from 9 in a very strong league.

Svidler won the rapid tiebreak comprehensively despite Nepomniachtchi's reputation as a fantastic speed player. Svidler ruthlessly exploited a tactical error in game 1 and he reached a winning position in game two without much effort before taking a draw. This clinched a record seventh Russian Championship.

Meanwhile, Levon Aronian lifted the Bilbao tournament. He scored 10 from six games (+2,=4) in the soccer-scoring format. This put him in front of Michael Adams (+2,=3,-1) who lost a key encounter to Aronian. Shakhriyar Mamedaryov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave both had minus scores. Aronian goes back over the 2800 rating mark.

Fabiano Caruana won the Bucharest event with 5 from 8 (+3,=4,-1) ahead of Wang Hao (4.5), Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Ruslan Ponomariov and Teimour Radjabov. The Italian GM could have lifted over 2800 and pushed himself to number 3 in the live world ratings if he hadn't suffered a loss to Wang.

Alexey Dreev won the Indonesia Open in Jakarta, an 11-round Swiss ahead of a field of 108 with 38 GMs. It was a well-funded tournament with first place worth $20,000 and a total fund of over $100,000. The Indian contingent of Surya Ganguly, Vaibhav Suri, Abhijeet Gupta, GN Gopal and Shyam Sundar were all part of the pack tying for 2nd-10th places. The Chigorin Memorial in St Petersburg was running concurrently. That saw a 11-way tie for first (!) with Pavel Eljanov edging the others on the break.

The excitement about the title match next month is still building up with titbits of information being leaked from both camps. Magnus Carlsen will apparently travel with his own personal physician. Both sides are still being very cagey about the helpers.

The DIAGRAM BLACK TO PLAY (Maxim Matlakov Vs Eljanov, St Petersburg 2013) is the launch pad for one of the best combinative efforts of 2013. White attacks Re8 and there is, at first glance, nothing better than 22..- Bd7 since 22.--Rd8 23. Ba5 is unpleasant. But white's focus is queen-side and the kingside is bereft of minor pieces.

So 22...Bh3!! Taking h3 is mate after 23.gxh3 Qxh3 24.f4 Rc2 25.Rf2 Nf3+ 26.Kh1 Qxh2+! 27.Rxh2 Rxh2#. The other try 23.Bxe8? Qg4 is easier.

White defended with 23.Qd4 Nf3+! 24.gxf3 Re4! A problem theme - hitting g4. Now if 25.fxe4 Qg4+ 26.Kh1 Qg2# and if 25.Qd2 Rg4+ 26.Kh1 Bg2+ 27.Kg1 Bxf3#

The game ended 25.Qxd5 Rxb4 26.Rfd1 Rxb5! 27.Qxb5 Rc5 28.Rd8+ Qxd8 29.Qxc5 Qf6 (0-1). If 30. Qd4 Qxf3 or if 30. Rc1 Qg6+.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player