CHESS#1297

  The Grenke Classic is under way and it has a great field. The 10-player round robin is headed by Magnus Carlsen and includes Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, Viswanathan Anand, Niita Vitiugov, Arkady Naiditsch, Georg Meier, Matthias Bluebaum and Hou Yifan. After four rounds, the lead is shared by Caruana, Vitiugov and Vachier-Lagrave, all with 3 points. Carlsen and Aronian follow with 2.5.
 
The first round clash between Carlsen and Caruana was eagerly awaited. The world champion got an edge but he missed a delicate win in an endgame that looked like a composed problem. Caruana’s played well to log two wins in the sharp positions he likes. Vitiugov is a bit of a dark horse — an extremely strong Russian GM who gets many opportunities at the highest level. He’s also played well, starting with two straight wins, including a fantastic combination. Anand has suffered one loss to Vachier-Lagrave, who outplayed him from a near-equal position. Carlsen has been efficient but not really looked in top form.

 
Even with this stellar field and exciting games, the focus has been on the Grenke Open, which started a little earlier. That was a monster nine-round Swiss that attracted 787 players, including 49 GMs. It was won by a 13-year-old!
 

Vincent Keymer became an IM at the age of 10 and three months, a record subsequently beaten only by R Praggnanandhaa. Grenke could be a breakout tournament for the German teenager, who won with 8 points from 9, scoring a GM norm in the process and playing at a rating performance close to 2800. Apart from getting the GM norm and receiving ^15,000 as prize money, Keymer also gets an automatic entry into next year’s classic. This is, understandably, being compared to Bobby Fischer’s win at the US Open in 1956 at a similar age.

 
Meanwhile, a huge contingent of Indians has made it to the Asian Youth and Age group Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The opening rapid event saw excellent results from the Indians who won six golds, three silvers and a bronze. The ongoing Dubai Open has another large Indian contingent, including several strong GMs. After three rounds, Surya Ganguly, Sethuraman and S L Narayanan share the lead with perfect scores.
 
The Diagram, BLACK TO PLAY (White: Richard Rapport Vs Black: Vincent Keymer, Grenke Open 2018) is from the last round. Black survived a vicious attack by a superb tactical defence. Material is equal but black’s piece is worth more than the pawns.

 
Now Keymer played 43...Bxh3! 44.Kg1 Rg7 45.Nh4 Rxf2 46.Kxf2 Rxg2+ 47.Nxg2 Qxg2+ 48.Ke1 Qf1+ 49.Kd2 Bg4! [Black must see this before he plays Bxh3, which means he calculated till the 51st move] White tried 50.Qe8+ Ka7 51.Qxa4 Qf2+ (0–1). Black will come out a piece up.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player