Chess (#1196)

The Asian Nations Cup concluded with light-hearted blitz and rapid sections. The initiative to introduce separate ratings for speed events makes such events more competitive. China swept both the open and women's gold medals with India taking bronzes in open and women's events. Vietnam and Kazakhstan took silvers in the Opens.

Comparison of ratings at different time controls can provide unusual insights. For example, Fabiano Caruana is severely under-rated in blitz. Veselin Topalov is also apparently much less powerful in blitz and rapid player than in classical. This is a little strange at first glance because Topalov is a noticeably quick classical player. But speedplay depends as much on intuition as on calculation and it seems Topalov doesn't trust his intuition as much as he should.

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The Bangkok Open and the Dubai Open are in progress at the moment with large Indian contingents. Loek Van Wely leads Bangkok with 5/5 while Dubai has multiple players with perfect scores of 3/3. The Asian Youth championships are also on, in Ulaanbataar (Mongolia). India has won silver in the Girls Under-16, gold and bronze in the Girls U-14, gold in the Girls Under-12, gold in the Open Under-12.  

The Norway Super GM starts on Monday. The field consists of top invitees, Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Anish Giri, Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Veselin Topalov, P Eljanov and Pendyala Harikrishna. Nils Grandelius won a qualifier to take the ninth place.

The late withdrawal of Sergei Karjakin, who won Norway in 2013 and 2014, has caused consternation. Karjakin withdrew immediately after winning the Candidates, citing tiredness. This avoids a classical head-to-head versus Carlsen until their title match in New York. The organisers were deeply unhappy for obvious reasons. There are rumblings and rumours that they may take legal action. Carlsen called the pullout "cynical". Li Chao replaces Karjakin. China's #2 reportedly postponed his wedding to accept the late invite!

Karjakin is unlikely to care about any financial indemnities that might be imposed for breach of contract.  The vast resources of the Russian Federation are backing him. He's playing for huge stakes and anything that improves his chances of winning the title will be deemed worth it.

The diagram, BLACK TO PLAY (Caruana Vs Karjakin, Candidates 2016) illustrates Karjakin's ice-cool calculation and practical nous when he is under rpessure. Black found 28.-- d4! 29.Qxc4 d3 30.g5 d2 31.gxf6+ Kh8 32.Bf3 Be4!!  This must be seen before 28.--d4. Now black threatens to win by 33.Qxf7? d1Q+ 34.Bxd1 Rxd1+ 35.Kh2 Rg8! (with Rh1#) The alternative 32. -- d1=Q? 33. Bxd1 Rxd1+ 34. Kh2 wins for white with threats of mate by Qf4-h6 coupled to h5/f5. Play concluded 33.Kh2 Bd5! 34.Qg4 Rg8 35.Bd1 Rxg4 36.hxg4 h6 (1/2-1/2).
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player