Chess (#1150)

Wisden, the cricket almanac, carried the obituary of a woman, Mrs Martha Grace (1812-84), many years before women officially played cricket. She was, of course, the mother of three Test cricketers, including W G Grace. In a somewhat similar vein, chess publications are carrying obituary notices for Mrs Sushila Viswanathan, mother and the first coach of Viswanathan Anand.

Mrs Viswanathan, who passed away last week at the age of 79, was "Sushila Aunty" to the chess community. A talented amateur, she never formally studied the game herself. But she taught the game to her three children and accompanied her prodigiously talented youngest child on the circuit until he hit the age of 16. She will be remembered by her wide circle of friends and acquaintances as a charming, modest and gracious lady.

The Khanty-Mansiysk Grand Prix saw a photo-finish. Dmitry Jakovenko tied for first with Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. They all scored 6.5 points from 11. Caruana and Nakamura focused on ensuring that they took the top two slots in the overall GP and hence, qualified for the Candidates.

The fourth-fifth spots were shared by Boris Gelfand and Leinier Dominguez (both 6), while Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler , Anish Giri and Sergey Karjakin scored 5.5. Georgy Timoshenko was on 5, while Baadur Jobava (4) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (3.5) had horrible results. Nakamura and Gelfand remained unbeaten. Tomashenko suffered a strange tragedy. He was a favourite to qualify and he played well enough to generate good positions in many games. But he blew three outright wins.

Caruana coasted in the lead until Round 8 when he blundered versus Jakovenko. The tenth round featured Caruana-Nakamura, which was drawn. Meanwhile, Jakovenko beat Karjakin to catch up. The last round featured Nakamura-Jakovenko where the Russian GM could have cracked the Candidates had he won.

Jakovenko is third overall in the GP so he could slide into the Candidates in some scenarios. If he had won, the DIAGRAM, BLACK TO PLAY, (White: Jakovenko Vs Black: Gelfand, Khanty-Mansiysk Grand Prix 2015) he would have qualified outright.

This position is likely to haunt Jakovenko for a while. Black seems lost. He can't move either Kt without losing the other. White has too many pawns anyway. One trick is 45. fxe5? Qf1+ with a perpetual.

Gelfand tried 44 - g5! 45.f5 Nd3!? 46.Qxd7 Qa8+ 47.Kg1 Nf4 Threat Qg2# 48.Kf2 g4 49.hxg4?? White wins after 49. Kg3 Qg2+ 50. Kxf4 Qf3+ 51. Kg5 Qe3+ 52. Kg6! when the existence of the g4-pawn prevents stalemate. But now Gelfand played 52 - Qg2+! 50.Ke3 Nd5+! 51.Kd4 Qf2+! 52.Kxd5 Qd4+! 53.Kxd4 (½-½)

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player