Chess (#1204)

Viktor Korchnoi (1931-2016) passed away on Monday in Switzerland. The 85-year-old had been ailing after he suffered a stroke in 2012. However, despite impaired mobility, he continued to play the game he loved.

In 1976, Korchnoi defected from the Soviet Union, and settled in Switzerland. For many years, he suffered boycott. The USSR would not allow its players to participate if Korchnoi played and that meant organisers were wary of inviting Korchnoi. But of course, he could not be kept out of title cycles.

Korchnoi was a title contender every time between 1962-1992. He lost two world title matches (1978, 1981) to Anatoly Karpov. They also played an earlier Candidates Final which became a title match because Bobby Fischer did not defend his title. Korchnoi registered wins against champions ranging from Mikhail Botvinnik (born 1911,) to Magnus Carlsen (born 1990, reigning world champion 2013-). He was rated in the Top 100 until his late 70s.

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The Third Gashimov Memorial saw local hero Shakhriyar Mamedyarov storming to first. "Shakh" won a 4-game tiebreak 2.5-1.5 against Fabiano Caruana to clinch it . Caruana had led throughout and could have sealed first place if he had not taken a draw in a winning position against Anish Giri in Round 7.

In Round 8,. Caruana landed in a deceptively inferior endgame against Mamedyarov. At first glance, everything was fine but Caruana was actually struggling. Shakh duly put that away. The ninth and last round started with Caruana (5.5) Vs Sergey Karjakin (4.5) and Mamedyarov (5) Vs Giri (5.5). The Caruana-Karjakin game was a flat draw and Shakh won a sharp rook ending to force the tiebreak.

The final score: Caruana and Mamedyarov (both 6 points) sharing first-second. Giri (5.5) was third and Karjakin, fourth (5). Rauf Mamedov (4.5) fifth. P.Harikrishna (4) blundered to a last round loss versus Eltaj Safarli (4) and they tied with Teimour Radjabov (4). Hari beat Mamedyarov.

Sethuraman won the Asian Championships, scoring 7/9. Liem Quang Le, Wei Yi, Deep Sengupta, Surya Ganguly (all 6.5) were among those who tied for 2nd-9th place. Ganguly beat top seed, Liem in the last round. On tiebreak, Sengupta and Sethuraman, qualify for the World Cup. Bhakti Kulkarni (7/9) won the women's event, with Soumya Swaminathan (6,5) sharing second.

The diagram WHITE TO PLAY (White: Korchnoi Vs Black : Karpov, Candidates Final, Game 21, Moscow 1974) is the fastest loss Karpov ever suffered. White played 13.Nxh7! Re8 [13.-- Kxh7 14. Qh6+ Kg8 15. Qxg6+ Kh8 16. Qh6+ Kg8 17. Be4! f5 18. Bd5+ is very convincing] What followed was slaughter 14.Qh6 Ne5 15.Ng5 Bxg5 16.Bxg5 Qxg5 17.Qxg5 Bxd5 [ a last chance is 18. cxd5?? Nf3+] but 18.0-0! Bxc4 19.f4 and (1-0).

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player