Chess (#1111)

The world chess title match has run into uncertainty with chances of the champion pulling out. The scheduled start is November 7, 2014, at the Sochi Winter Olympics village. The budget of $3 million includes $1.5 million as prize money, less than the $2.5 million Chennai paid in 2013. But that isn't the problem.

Sochi is in Krasnodar Territory and borders the Ukraine. Just across, separatists have set up the "Donetsk People's Republic". A title match on the edge of a war-zone will stretch logistics. Also, Aleksander Tkachev, governor of Krasnodar, and a key match-organiser, is one of several locals under European Union sanctions for backing the Donetsk rebels.

The sanctions may mean huge issues if there is no clear provenance for funding. Magnus Carlsen's manager alleged that the ownership of Agon, (www.agonlimited.com), the entity that controls the commercial rights to the match, is also unclear.

Carles, the world champion, had not signed the match contract at the time of writing. He has until Sunday to sign. If he doesn't, he may be disqualified, with Sergei Karjakin (second in the Candidates) replacing him. Challenger Viswanathan Anand has signed the contract.

Carlsen is playing the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis. That 6-player double rounder includes Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Veselin Topalov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave for an average Elo of 2802. After two rounds, Caruana leads with two wins, while Carlsen has two draws.

The Sharjah Women's Grand Prix has Ju Wenjun leading with 3.5 from 4 games. World champion, Hou Yifan is on 3 while Humpy is on 1.5 while Hou won their individual encounter. Hou and Humpy share the overall GP lead, with each having won two legs. The GP winner (or runner up if the winner is Hou) becomes the challenger.

In other news, two 15-year-old Indian IMs completed their respective GM norm requirements. Aravindh Chithambaram Vr ( Elo 2467), has scored his final GM norm, tying for 3-8 in the Riga Open. He beat Alexei Shirov in the last round to score 7 pts from 9. Meanwhile at the Abu Dhabi Open, Murali Karthikeyan (Elo 2462) scored 6.5 from 9 to share third spot and log his last norm. The two teens will receive GM titles once their ratings rise to the required level of 2500.

In the DIAGRAM (Chithambaram Vs Shirov Riga 2014) WHITE TO PLAY, moves like 20. Ba3 or 20. Bc4 are good. White played 20.Nxd5?! Bxb2 21.Nf4 Qf6? Black has a big edge if he defends with 21.-Bd7.

White won a pawn with 22.Rd6 Be5 23.Rxe6 Qf5 24.f3 Bxf4 25.exf4 exf3 26.Bxf3 Nd4 27.Re7 Nxc2 28.Qe4 Qf6 29.Rxb7 Nd4 30.Qd5+ Kh8 31.Qe5 Qxe5 32.fxe5 Rf5. He converted smoothly (1-0, 49 moves)

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player