Chess (#1116)

The World Youth Chess Championships (WYCC) in Durban, South Africa was a big success for the rainbow nation. The Republic of South Africa is now hosting international events and many young South Africans are playing. So it could soon start producing strong players.

The WYCC has age-group world championships from under-8 to under-18, with each age group having both an open and a girls section. India took gold in the U-10 section via Divya Deshmukh and Nihal Sarin. In all, Indians won six medals (2 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze). Silver medallists, Aravindh Chithambaram (U-16) and Vaibhav Suri (U-18) will both be disappointed. Sahej Grover won the Durban Open, which happened alongside the WYCC.

Many of the youngsters from Durban will be in action in Pune at the World Junior (U-20) starting Monday. The first Grand Prix of the new season also began on Thursday in Baku. This 12-player round-robin has a prize fund of Euro 120,000 with a field of Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Grischuk, Sergey Karjakin, and Hikaru Nakamura, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Teimour Radjabov, Boris Gelfand, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Leinier Dominguez, Peter Svidler, Evgeny Tomashevsky and Dmitry Andreikin.

There's just five weeks to go for the world title match. Reportedly, Magnus Carlsen is being assisted by a large team, including Jon Ludvig Hammer, Laurent Fressinet, Peter Heine Nielsen (who were all on his side in 20013) and two newcomers, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Ian Nepomniachtchi. Vachier-Lagrave and Nepomniachtchi are creative, world-class players.

Viswanathan Anand's team is unknown. It's likely to include Sandipan Chanda, who accompanied Anand to the Candidates. Krishnan Sasikiran, Peter Leko and Radoslaw Wojtascek also contributed in 2013. But the former world champion has reportedly recruiting fresh blood.

Carlsen normally plays bland openings to try and postpone the battle till the middle game and endgame. However, Vachier-Lagrave and Nepomniachtchi will bring creative tension to the prep since both are advocates of sharp play. Sharpening would surely increase Carlsen's chances of tripping Anand early but it could also expose Carlsen to an early counter-punch.

The DIAGRAM, WHITE TO PLAY Viswanathan Anand Vs Francisco Vallejo Pons Bilbao 2014 is a fine example of piece domination. Material is equal, pawns are symmetrical. But all the white pieces are more active and coordinated.

White finished with 22.Nf5 Rc4 23.Nd6 Rc6 24.a3 Qb3 25.R5d3 Qb6 26.Nf5 Re8 27.Rd7 Rf6 28.Qg4. After a series of obvious looking moves, white telegraphs a threat of h4-h5. It can't be stopped. Black tried the desperate 28...Qc6 29.h4 h5 30.Qxh5 Qxe4 31.Rd8 Qc6. If 31.-Rxf5 32. Rxe8+ Nf8 33. Rxf8+ Kxf8 34. Qh8+ leads to mate. The finish was 32.Qg5 Qe6 33.R1d6 (1-0). A deceptively simple game.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player