CHESS#1291

Every Russian village has a few young, hungry, underrated Chess players

The Aeroflot Open is one of those super-strong opens that have become the norm. But unlike Dubai, Isle of Man, or Gibraltar, the home contingent is truly formidable. Every Russian village has a few young, hungry, underrated players. There are 60 GMs and 27 IMs in the field this year. Just two players held perfect scores after the three rounds. India, with 16 hopefuls, has the largest foreign contingent, including Vidit Gujrathi and Krishnan Sasikiran and the two young GM-aspirants in R Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin.

Aeroflot will be followed by the Tal Memorial Blitz and Rapid and then March hots up with the Candidates in Berlin. The imminent freezing of Fide's Swiss bank account due to Fide President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's financial dealings with Syria will not impede the tournament. Ilyumzhinov has incidentally said the bank account shutdown is "fake news".

Meanwhile, there's sad news from blind national champion Kishan Gangolli, who just clinched his fifth title. The 25-year-old Gangolli is also the reigning Asian champion and an individual gold medallist at the blind Olympiads. He's considering chucking it all for a job.

Gangolli has a first-class postgraduate degree in economics and has decided to study for the UPSC exams, aiming for the IAS. Financial considerations have driven his decision. He's received no reward for putting time into the game and needs a day job.

There are shades of Parimarjan Negi here. Negi shelved his chess ambitions when he was rated above 2670 and opted for a computer science degree from Stanford, rather than seeking more chess laurels. Of course, Negi has also continued to be a prolific writer of superb opening manuals.

The C960 match between Magnus Carlsen-Hikaru Nakamura highlighted some things about the format. One is that it is possible to play very good chess from weird positions. Second, a classical opening style is easier to apply than hypermodern. Both players occupied the centre. 

The diagram, BLACK TO PLAY (White: Nakamura Vs Black : Carlsen, Game 7, C960 Match , Norway 2018) saw a clinical attack. White's king is exposed and his rook is stuck in the corner. 

Black started by exchanging off the active rook 1..Rcf8! 2.Rxf8+ Rxf8 3.Bxh7 Qxh7 4.g4 h2+ 5.Kh1 Qg8! Hitting g4 and threatening to occupy h1-a8

6.Bxh4 Qxg4 7.Bf2 Qg8! The geometric switchback combines attack down g-file, attack down h1-a8. Also the white bishop is loose. 

Play continued 8.Bh4 Qd5+ 9.Qe4 Qf7 ( A back rank threat on f1) 10.Qg2 Qf4 11.Bg5 Qxd4 12.Bh6 Re8 13.Rd1 Qxd3! (Back rank again) 14.Rf1 Ka8 (This and the next ensures no counter-tactics) 15.Rc1 Bb8 16.Qd2 Qe4+ 17.Qg2 Qe1+ 18.Qf1 Qe6 (0-1). The Bishop has no good square. If 18. Bg7 Rg8 wins.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player