Chess (#683)

Two Indians will be playing world title matches in the next 12 months. Viswanathan Anand will be defending his title against Boris Gelfand of Israel. Koneru Humpy will be challenging Hou Yifan (PRC). The All India Chess Federation (AICF) has just been awarded the Anand-Gelfand match. It will be hosted in Chennai and backed by the Tamil Nadu government, which has committed Rs 20 crore.

Home advantage has to balanced off against the three-ring circus that’s likely to erupt in Chennai. But Anand is the overwhelming favourite against the Israeli GM. The Indian is younger (by a year, if that counts), and much higher-rated. Anand also has a big plus score in personal encounters and a much more impressive career record as well as a strong, settled team. In Gelfand’s favour, he’s nerveless, well-prepared, and not prone to blunders.

The Humpy-Yifan venue is undecided as yet. This match is more difficult to call. Humpy has a poor personal score against Yifan — she has lost twice in key KO matches to the Chinese prodigy. Their ratings are close.

While Humpy is very strong, one would rate Yifan as even more gifted. Yifan does have patches of poor form — the recent AAI meet in Delhi bears witness to that. In contrast, Humpy is capable of playing at her very best in crunch situations — as she did, on the road to the title match when she won a series of games to order.

Humpy has hobbled herself somewhat by largely taking care of her own preparation and insisting that her dad, Koneru Ashok, a strong amateur, is her permanent personal trainer. In the process, she’s had a disagreement with the AICF, which is now unwilling to back her to the hilt by bidding for a match. This is a pity. Humpy needs to jump several levels in preparation to pit herself successfully against a gifted opponent backed by a well-honed Chinese team.

The diagram (White To Play, Negi Vs So, AAI Delhi 2011) is an interesting example of the importance of preparation. This is out of a Petroff Defence — supposedly very drawish. Black has just moved 18. - Be7 (from d6), his only error. The engines say only 18.--f6 seems to work here.

White found the forcing 19.Rfc1 Qxa2 20.Rc7 Bd8 — the deadly threat is 20. - Rfe8 21. Rxe7 Rxe7 22. Qf6. Now after 21.Rxb7 Rc8 22.Qe3 f6 23.Ra1 Qc4 24.Rc1 Qa2 25.Rxc8 Bxc8 26.Rxa7 Qe6 27.Ba3 (1-0). This seems like an abrupt resignation until you see 27.-- Re8 28. Bd5! Or 27. --Rf7 28. Bd5! Or 27. --Bb6 28.Qh6 Rf7 29. Rxf7 Qxf7 30. Bd5! In problemist shorthand, this sort of aligned bishop-pair is known as “Harrwitz Bishops”.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player