Chess (#675)

The rule of thumb for a Swiss open is that, given n players (say 64), it takes the square root of n +1 rounds (8+1=9) to have a clear champion. Well, with 393 players in the European championships at Aix-Les Bains, the number of required rounds is at least 21!

Since the Euro had “only” 11 rounds, multiple ties were guaranteed. There was a four-way tie for first between Potkin, Wojtaszek, Judit Polgar and Moiseenko (all 8.5 from 11). There was another tie for 5-15th place between players on 8.

It was the third set of 8 places from 16-23, which caused real complications. There were 29 players tied at 7.5 and the Euro offers 23 spots for World Cup qualifiers. There are many tiebreak methods. The Euro system was unusual and it has holes. Tournament performance ratings were used. But before TPR was applied, the highest and lowest rated opponent was eliminated, get a median-of- opponents’ TPR.

The player who scores the least points against the strongest and weakest opposition would gain. This leads to bizarre situations. Two players with the same rating could face the same opposition and score the same points. But the median TPR difference may be 500 points as Peter Heine Nielsen pointed out.

PHN was among the unlucky. He drew a 2626 opponent in the last round and ended with a TPR of 2703, which wasn’t enough. If instead, he had drawn a 1200 (!) opponent, his TPR would have jumped to 2717 and he would have got in.

The Chinese championships saw the 19-year-old Ding Liren winning the open title with a fantastic 9 from 11 (2867 TPR). Zhang Xiaowen won the women’s with 8.5. These were 12-player round-robins. The reigning world champion , Hou Yifan played the open and scored 6 (2640 TPR). This may be a signal that the PRC is willing to let her move into the territory Judit Polgar has occupied for so long.

Footnote: On April 9, Aruna and Anand became the parents of baby Akhil, their first child after 14 years of marriage. Congratulations to the new parents.

The Diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (Zhao Jun Vs Xiu Deshun, Chinese Chps 2011) is an amazing combination. White played 16.Bxd6!! Qxd6 17.e5 Qe7 18.Ng3! Nxg3 19.Rf6!! Kg7. If there’s a defence, it’s here but Kg7 isn’t enough. Play went 20.Qg4! Rg8 21.hxg3 Nb7 22.Raf1 Nd8 23.Qe4 Qb7 24.d5 Rh8

The incredible continuation was 25.Qg6+!! fxg6 26.Rxg6+ Kh7 The windmill leads to mate after 27.Rxg5+ Kh6 28.Rg6+ Kh7 29.Rg4+ Kh6 30.Rf6+ Kh5 31.Rh4+ and 32. Rg6# (1-0). It’ll take a while and lots of fruitful analysis to see if white’s play was totally sound — it was certainly among the most creative attacks ever carried out.

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