 "Chess (#1081)")
Viswanathan Anand has confirmed he will play the Candidates in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. That is mid-march and temperatures will be well below zero. The former world champion would be the fourth seed in the 8-player field of Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov, Anand, Sergey Karjakin, Peter Svidler, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Dmitry Andreikin. It will take a major effort to shake off the psychological impact of the loss of the title and regain form in a double-round-robin where he is, by far, the oldest player.
Based on current form, Aronian must fancy his chances at the Candidates. The world number 2 was rated at 2812 in the January list and he's very likely to gain some more rating at the Tata Steel. After nine rounds, he's opened up a big lead, scoring 7.5, with five wins, including full points against Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Karjakin.
In second place on 5.5 there's a tie among Anish Giri, Caruana, Leinier Dominguez and Karjakin. Pendyala Harikrishna and Wesley So are tied for 6-7 with 5 each. Harikrishna has what's likely to be the quickest win of the tournament - a 19-mover against Arkadij Naiditsch who played a wild attack which was clinically refuted. With two rounds to go, it would take a total collapse for Aronian to let go of first place. As always, the Armenian GM's play has been very inventive and he's also displayed fine technique. There have been a lot of spectacular games.
In the Masters, there's a tie for first. Ivan Saric and Baadur Jobava are neck and neck with 7.5 each from 10 rounds. The old master, Jan Timman, is on third with 7, and Anna Muzychuk has produced an excellent effort to hold fourth with 6.5. There's three rounds left. Jobava has a wild style and he's guaranteed to provide much entertainment in the closing stages whether he overhauls Saric or not. There is also a fair chance that Timman could pull through since he is yet to play Jobava.
Back in Delhi, Abhijeet Gupta won the Parsvnath Open, free and clear, with 8 points from the 10-round Swiss. A five-way tie for second place resulted at 7.5 points with Deepan Chakkravarthy among the five. This twelfth edition beat the prior record set by the 11th edition for participation by logging 1,396 players in the three-section Swiss tournament.
In the DIAGRAM, (Harikrishna Vs Nakamura, Tata Steel 2014), WHITE TO PLAY, black has just made an uncharacteristic error with 29...Qc5?, which leaves him open to a lightning attack.
30.Nh5!! Bg7 If 30...Qxa7 31.Nf6+ Kh8 32.Bxf8 Ne3 33. Bxd6 is deadly and of course black can't defend with 30...gxh5 31.Qg5+ Kh8 32.Qf6+ Kg8 33.Qxf7+. The game concluded 31.Bxg7 Qxa7 32.Qh6 f5 33.Ng5 (1-0). The sudden shift from queenside to kingside is surprising.
Based on current form, Aronian must fancy his chances at the Candidates. The world number 2 was rated at 2812 in the January list and he's very likely to gain some more rating at the Tata Steel. After nine rounds, he's opened up a big lead, scoring 7.5, with five wins, including full points against Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Karjakin.
In second place on 5.5 there's a tie among Anish Giri, Caruana, Leinier Dominguez and Karjakin. Pendyala Harikrishna and Wesley So are tied for 6-7 with 5 each. Harikrishna has what's likely to be the quickest win of the tournament - a 19-mover against Arkadij Naiditsch who played a wild attack which was clinically refuted. With two rounds to go, it would take a total collapse for Aronian to let go of first place. As always, the Armenian GM's play has been very inventive and he's also displayed fine technique. There have been a lot of spectacular games.
In the Masters, there's a tie for first. Ivan Saric and Baadur Jobava are neck and neck with 7.5 each from 10 rounds. The old master, Jan Timman, is on third with 7, and Anna Muzychuk has produced an excellent effort to hold fourth with 6.5. There's three rounds left. Jobava has a wild style and he's guaranteed to provide much entertainment in the closing stages whether he overhauls Saric or not. There is also a fair chance that Timman could pull through since he is yet to play Jobava.
Back in Delhi, Abhijeet Gupta won the Parsvnath Open, free and clear, with 8 points from the 10-round Swiss. A five-way tie for second place resulted at 7.5 points with Deepan Chakkravarthy among the five. This twelfth edition beat the prior record set by the 11th edition for participation by logging 1,396 players in the three-section Swiss tournament.
In the DIAGRAM, (Harikrishna Vs Nakamura, Tata Steel 2014), WHITE TO PLAY, black has just made an uncharacteristic error with 29...Qc5?, which leaves him open to a lightning attack.
30.Nh5!! Bg7 If 30...Qxa7 31.Nf6+ Kh8 32.Bxf8 Ne3 33. Bxd6 is deadly and of course black can't defend with 30...gxh5 31.Qg5+ Kh8 32.Qf6+ Kg8 33.Qxf7+. The game concluded 31.Bxg7 Qxa7 32.Qh6 f5 33.Ng5 (1-0). The sudden shift from queenside to kingside is surprising.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player