Chess (#1125)

It's one of those busy times of the year. The Russian Superfinal is on. The London Classic is due to start this weekend. The Ukrainian Championships and the inaugural Qatar Masters Open have concluded.

Qatar may be the strongest open of all time (there was a floor of Elo 2300 for entries) with 92 GMs, 56 of them over 2600 and 14 GMs over 2700. Of the 39 nations represented, India had the largest contingent of players with 21 players, followed by China (14).

The prize fund was decent at $90,000 with $25,000 for first. In addition, great playing conditions, appearance fees for high-rated and the indefatigable efforts of the amiable Qatari GM, Mohamed Al-Medaihki, helped attract a very powerful field.

Anish Giri set a hot pace with 6/6 before Vladimir Kramnik beat Giri in round 7. Giri then lost another game to Yu Yangyi. Going into the last round, Kramnik led with 7, Yu was second on 6.5. Giri had dropped back into a tie for third place. In the ninth round, Yu beat Kramnik, while Giri beat Vladimir Akopian. Yu took unshared first while Giri and Kramnik tied for 2-3.

The Ukrainian Championships in Lviv was a Category 17 (Elo average of 2659) 12-player round robin, while the women's was a 10-player round robin. The Ukraine is one of the strongest chess nations, with several 2700-plus players. However, it faces an uncertain political future. Russia has annexed the Crimea, there's socio-economic upheaval and an ongoing civil war. Ukrainian stars Sergey Karjakin and Kateryna Lagno emigrated to Russia recently.

Playing through distractions, Yuriy Kuzubov and Pavel Eljanov finished with 7.5/11. Kuzubov won the title on tiebreak. Ruslan Ponomariov, Vassily Ivanchuk and Yuriy Kryvoruchko were three 2700-players who finished lower. The women's event saw Anna Muzychuk (6/9) win, ahead of Natalia Zhukova (5.5).

In Russia, Igor Lysyj (2685) is the leader in the Superfinals, which is a 10-player Round Robin. Lysyj is a 27-year-old who is reckoned strong but not world-class. He has 3.5/5 while Dmitry Jakovenko and Ian Nepomniachtchi share 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. Peter Svidler, Alexander Morozevich and Karjakin are in the bottom half. In the women's Superfinal (another 10-player round robin), Aleksandra Goryachkina leads with 4.5 /5 while Alisa Galliamova is on 4.

The DIAGRAM, WHITE TO PLAY (Kryvoruchko Vs Hovhannisyan, Qatar 2014) is from a game that turned out to be inconsequential. But the finish was worthy of a problem. The overloaded queen must protect d8 and b7. 1.d5!! cxd5 Or 1...exd5 2.Re1! Qd7 3.Nc5 At the minimum, white wins a minor piece. The same issues arise after 1. - Rxd5 2. Bxd5 exd5 3. Re1 since d8 must still be protected. The game finished 2.Rc7 Rd7 3.Rxd7 Qxd7 4.Nc5 Qc8 5.Qxb7 Nc6 6.Qxc8+ Rxc8 7.Nxa6 (1-0).

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player