Chess (#664)

Hastings has been a New Year’s fixture since the 1890s. The Sussex resort is of course famous as the venue for the 1066 English equivalent of the Battle of Panipat. It has also played host to all world champions except Fischer and Kasparov.

The Hastings Congress still draws a fairly strong field though it’s no longer a premier event. There’s a huge contingent of desi norm hopefuls this year. Top seed, GM Eduard Romain (2620) of France leads with 6 points from 7 rounds in the 9-round Swiss (96 players). He’s followed by David Howell, Danny Gormally, Shyam Sundar, Anwesh Upadhyaya (all 5.5).

Reggio Emilia, Italy also has an illustrious chess history. In 1991, it hosted what was then the strongest tournament ever. The 53rd edition is a 10-player round-robin with Ivanchuk (2764), Movsesian (2721), Gashimov (2733), Morozevich (2700). Caruana (2709), Navarra (2708), all rated above 2700. Of the rest, Nigel Short (2680), “Paco” Vallejo Pons (2698), Alexander Onischuk (2683) are scarcely pushovers. The “weakie” is Michel Godena, the Italian no:2 ( a respectable 2549). After six rounds, Vallejo leads with 4.5, ahead of Onischuk, Gashimov and Movsesian (3.5 each).

Just as Hastings and Reggion Emilia will end, the Ninth Parasvnath Open kicks off today in Delhi and offers $30,000 US in prize-money. This is a mammoth event with 350+ confirmed entries, including 26 GMs and a half-dozen 2600+ players. The new January list shows Carlsen has snatched back no:1 ranking at 2814 (up from 2802) while Anand slides to no:2 despite improving to 2810 (from 2804). Levon Aronyan consolidates third place with 2805. Kramnik is in fourth, with a perceptible gap at 2784. They will renew rivalries at the Tata Steel in Wijk An Zee from January 14.

Nakamura (2751) breaks into the top 10 while Ian Nepomniachtchi (2733) jumps to no:15. The woman’s list has three 2600+ players for the first time with the new world champion Hou Yifan crossing that barrier to join Judit Polgar and Koneru Humpy.

The diagram, Short Vs Vallejo (Reggio Emilia 2010-11), BLACK TO PLAY, saw 18...fxe5! 19.Nxc6 e4!! 20.Nce5 Rxf4! 21.Nh2 Qf5 - the Kt is trapped 22.Neg4 Rxf1+. The engines say 22.-- h5! with lines like 23. Ne3 Qf6 24. Qc2 e5 25. g4 hxg4 26. Rg3 Qxh4 and the pawn roller nukes white. But 22. rxf1+ is much simpler and also very strong

After the forced 23.Nxf1 Qxg4, play continued naturally with 24.Ne3 Qg6 25.Kf2 e5 26.Rg3 Qf6+ 27.Kg1 Be6 28.Qe1 Rf8 29.Rd1 Kh8! 30.h5 Qh4! - hiding the king with Kh8 prevents Rxg7+ here. Black has “over-compensation” for the exchange and he finished brutally with 31.c4 d4 32.c5 Nc4 33.Nf1 Qxh5 34.Rc1 e3 35.b5 e4 36.Qb4 e2 37.Nh2 Qf5 38.Nf3 Qf4 39.Qe1 Qe3+ (0-1).

[ Devangshu Datta is an internationally-rated chess and correspondence chess player ]