CHESS#1294

Five rounds into the Candidates and nobody is dominating. Fabiano Caruana leads with 3.5 points while Vladimir Kramnik and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (both 3) share second-third. Ding Liren, Levon Aronian and Alexander Grischuk are all on 2.5 points. Sergei Karjakin and Wesley So (both 1.5) trail.
 
Caruana has wins versus So and Kramnik. The latter game was a flawed epic. Both players missed clear wins in an extremely complicated queenless middlegame. Kramnik made the last blunder. Apart from that, the former world champion has played well, with a lovely win against Aronian.
 
Mamedaryov has been solid, winning a big game versus 2016 Challenger Karjakin and drawing the rest. Grischuk pulled off an impressive attack versus So. Ding is “doing a Giri”, with five straight draws. Aronian has cranked out a win against Karjakin.
 
It’s been extremely hard-fought. The lack of a clear leader suggests that tensions will mount to an extraordinary degree. We could well have a situation where three or four players are in with a chance even after round twelve (it’s a 14-round double round robin). The winner will probably need to score “plus five”, given the way the event is going. Caruana, is playing with a strong sense of purpose but the danger with playing to win every game is that there might not be much gas in the tank towards the end.
 
Meanwhile, the Bobby Fischer Memorial Gamma Reykjavik Open ended in a triumph for Baskaran Adhiban who won with 7.5 from nine rounds and a rating performance of 2737. Maxime Lagarde and Yilmaz Mustafa shared second-third (7 each). Vaibhav Suri and Praggnanandhaa (both 6.5) were in a multiple tie for 4th-20th. The really good news was that Nihal Sarin (6) completed his second GM norm with a rating performance of 2668. Nihal lost in the last round against Lagarde, pushing for a win which would have taken him into second place. The 13-year-old had already clinched the GM norm by then.
 
At the Diagram, WHITE TO PLAY, White: Kramnik  Vs Black: Caruana, Candidates 2018, White can win with 46.Bc6 h2 47.Rh1 Rg1+ 48.Kb2 Rxh1 49.Bxh1 Nd1+ 50.Kb3 f3 51.Bxf3 Nf2 52.c6.
 
Instead he tried 46.Rb8? Rxa7 47.Rg8 Bf6! [Now 48. Rxe3+ fe3 49. Rxg4 h2 Or 48. Rxg4 Kf5 49. Rg8?? Ra1# win for black] 48.d8Q Bxd8 49.Rxg4 Bf6. This is about equal. Play continued 50.Rg6 Rb7 51.Be2 Rxb4+ 52.Ka2 Nc2 53.Rc1 Nd4 54.Bd3 Ra4+ 55.Kb1 Nb3 56.Re1+ Kd5 [Now 57.Rxf6 Ra1+ 58.Kb2 Rxe1 59.Kxb3 h2 60.Bc4+ Kxc5 61.Rf5+ Kd4 62.Rxf4+ Ke3 63.Rh4 draws]
 
But white played 57.Kc2 Nd4+ 58.Kb1 Nf3 [Even now 59.Rxf6 Nxe1 60.Bf1 h2 61.Rh6 may draw.] 59.Rd1? Ra1+ 60.Kc2 Rxd1 61.Ba6 Rd2+ 62.Kc1 Bb2+ 63.Kb1 Kxc5 64.Bb7 Ne5 65.Rf6 f3 66.Rf5 f2 (0-1).

Devangshu Datta is aninternationally rated chess and correspondence chess player