Chess (#1145)

The exhibition match between Nigel Short and Garry Kasparov this weekend in St. Louis is likely to be hard-fought and also well-covered in mainstream media for extraneous reasons. Short expressed provocative opinions in a recent column (Short Stories, New in Chess- Magazine, #2, 2015), where he said there were biological reasons why men played better chess than women. 

The English Grandmaster is now being pilloried in the mainstream press. His win at the Bangkok Open (short tied for first with Surya Ganguly and Kamil Dragun) was overshadowed by a storm of sexism charges. To give him credit, Short defended his assertions.

This is likely to spill over into St. Louis. Of course, the 13th world champion has no problems with courting controversy himself, so the press conferences could be electric. The match itself is hard to call. Kasparov retired in 2005 and he's played only a few exhibitions since (including the one he won 4.5-3.5 against Short in 2011). Short is prolifically active and ranked #64. Maybe, the Englishman will finally take some small measure of revenge for his traumatic loss in the 1993 title match.

The Gashimov Memorial is delivering super chess. Magnus Carlsen leads with 4.5 from 6. Wesley So is in second place with 4. Viswanathan Anand has 3.5. Shakhriyar Mamedaryov and Fabiano Caruana are on 3, with Anish Giri, Vladimir Kramnik, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Rauf Mamedov and Michael Adams, all at minus scores.

Anand and Carlsen are unbeaten. The latter has been top-notch, defending an inferior position against Anand, and hammering Vachier-Lagrave, Mamedaryov and Caruana. The young Filipino-American has played well. Anand has had only one victory, with a spectacular Knight sacrifice against So, but he's played enterprisingly throughout.

The World Teams are also ongoing. The men's event has Cuba (7 match points) surprisingly in the lead with three match victories after four rounds. Ukraine and China (6 match pts) are tied in 2nd-3rd with India and Israel, sharing 4th-5th, ahead of Russia, UA, Armenia, Hungary and Egypt. In the women's event, Georgia leads (7 MP from 4 rounds), India trails in 9th place after losses to Russia and Kazakhstan.

The diagram, White to play (White: Carlsen Vs Black: Vachier-Lagrave, Gashimov Mem 2015), illustrates the champion's awesome technique. He is a pawn up but there are black threats of Nb5-c3, hitting a2.

White played 46.Bd7! Rc2 47.Bc6! Rxa2 Black sacs the Kt since 47...Na6 48.Bd5 Nc5 49.Rc6 is just dead. Carlsen played 48.Rd7+ Kf6 49.Rxc7 Rc2 50.Rxh7! Kg6. Alternatives like 50...Rxc6 51.Rxh6+ Kg7 52.Rxc6;  Or 50...a2 51.Ra7 Rxc6 52.Rxa2 are both just lost.

The game ended 51.Rc7 Kf6 52.h5 Rc1 53.Rh7 a2 54.Bd5! (1-0). The finish is elegant 54.--a1=Q 55. Rf7+ Kg5 56. Rf5#

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player