CHESS #1386

Fabiano Caruana produced a standout performance to take the Tata Steel with a round to spare. “Don Fabi” scored 10  points from 13 rounds for a 2945 performance with an incredible unbeaten plus seven result. Magnus Carlsen (8) came in second with Wesley So (7.5) in third. Two young GMs, Jordan Van Foreest and Daniil Dubov (both 7), shared fourth-fifth. 

Caruana gains 20 Elo for this result. He would be the obvious favourite for the Candidates, which starts on March 15 in Yekaterinberg. The even younger Alireza Firouzja finished on 6.5 after leading the field for a while. Viswanathan Anand also scored 50 per cent. But Caruana acknowledged that their personal encounter proved crucial with the american’s luck turning after he won from a lost position. After that, he gave no chances, knocking off win after win. 

In the Challengers, David Anton Guijarro (8.5/13) won, qualifying for next year’s Masters. He was followed by Nordibek Abdusattorov, Pavel Eljanov and Erwin L’Ami (all 8) in a tight finish. Suryasekhar Ganguly (7.5) and Nihal Sarin (7) will both gain some Elo.   

The Gibraltar Open ended with a seven-way tie and a tiebreaker was played out among the four toppers. Andrey Esipenko, Wang Hao, Daniil Yuffa, David Paravyan, Maxime Vachier Lagrave, David Navara and Mustafa Yilmaz (all 7.5/10). The first four played a tiebreaker which was won by Paravyan. Aryan Chopra, Murali Karthikeyan, R Praggnanaandha and Krishnan Sasikiran (7 each) all landed in the top 20. Pragg beat Veselin Topalov in a stunning game. Tan Zhongyi (7) was the best-placed woman player. 

Speaking of ratings, there’s a scandal brewing in the Ukrainian Federation. Two professional coaches, FM Ihor Kobylianskyi and GM Iuri Shkuro are respectively in the Top 10 of the World Rapid and Blitz ranking lists. If you don’t know these names, don’t be disheartened. Even Ukrainian players don’t know them! Kobylianskyi is 50, while Shkuro is 37, so they’re not exactly prodigies. Both have gained the system by organising events where they play weak opposition and log perfect scores. 

The diagram, White to Play (White: Praggnanandhaa Vs Black: Topalov, Gibraltar 2020) saw the prodigy launch a stunning attack.  White played 23. Nf6+!! gxf6 24. Rad1! [This intermediate move is necessary since 24. exf6? Qd4+ exchanges queens.  Now if 24. — Qc7 25. ef6 Kh8 26. Rd3 and Rh3 wins but white must avoid 26,. Re3? Rd8! ].

Play continued 24.—Nxe5 25. Rxd8 Rfxd8 26. Qxf6 Ng6 27. h4! So white’s a queen ahead for rook and minor piece.  He continues to attack with pawn thrusts and finished powerfully with 27... h5 28. Rf1 f4 29. g4! Rd3 30. gxh5 Rg3+ 31. Kf2 Nxh4 32. Qxh4 Rxc4 33. Re1 (1-0). 

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player