CHESS#1288

Magnus Carlsen took a record sixth title at the Tata Steel, winning a tiebreaker after sharing first place with Anish Giri. Carlsen and Giri both scored 9 points from 13 games and remained unbeaten. Carlsen won the first of two tiebreakers (at 5 min + 2 sec increment) and drew the second with an inspired counter-attack from an inferior position.

Vladimir Kramnik and Shakhriyar Mamedaryov followed in third-fourth (8.5 each) and Viswanathan Anand (8) shared fifth-sixth place with Wesley So (8). Carlsen has an incredible record — he's won every tiebreaker he has played since 2006. Giri had the better tournament performance rating at 2891 — no surprise since his opposition included Carlsen (TPR 2885). This is the Dutchman's maiden Super tournament win. He's been trying to play more sharply after he acquired a reputation for being "Drawnish" Giri. 

Kramnik played very positive chess (six wins, two losses). That included a last-round gift from Baskaran Adhiban, who made a suicidal exchange sacrifice when he held an edge. Shakh consolidated his position at world #2 with a solid performance (apart from a loss to Giri). Anand took a loss to Kramnik in his stride. Incidentally, Mamedaryov is the ninth player to occupy the #2 slot since Carlsen took over as #1. 

The Challengers turned into a triumph for Vidit Gujrathi (9/13), who eventually won comfortably. His closest rival, Anton Korobov (8), lost to Dmitry Gordievsky (7.5) in the last round. A win could have vaulted Korobov into first place ahead of Gujrathi since the Ukrainian had the better tie-break score. Dronavalli Harika (5/13) will gain some rating points despite a minus score. 

At the time of writing, Hikaru Nakamura, David Howell, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Daniiil Dubov (all 6.5) share the lead in the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters after eight rounds. There are several young Indians, including the 12-year-olds, R Praggnanadhaa, Raunak Sadhwani, and teenagers, Hemant Sharma and Prithu Gupta, in the hunt for sundry GM and IM norms. 

The Diagram, Black to Play ( White: Olga Girya Vs Black: Vidit Gujrathi , Tata Challengers 2018) leads into an interesting example of how a flawed attack can win. Black played 16.— h3! [This is forced to stop white defending with h3]

Play continued 17.Bh1 Bd7 18.Rd1 Rde8 19.dxe5 Qxe5 20.Bd4 Nxd4 21.Nxd4 Bxg4?! [A calm 21.— Qd6 or Qe7 wins. White gets steam-rollered. Black miscalculated, or mis-assessed the position, when he sacrificed].

White played 22.Rde1? [This is the wrong rook, - white needs a flight square. Instead 22.Rfe1! Qh5 23.Rxe8+ Rxe8 24.fxg4 Qxg4+ 25.Kf2 Bh6 26.Qxh6 Qxd1 27.Qxh3+ Kb8 28.Bf3 White has chances to survive]. Black finished 22...Qh5 23.Rxe8+ Rxe8 24.fxg4 Qxg4+ 25.Kf2 Qh4+ 26.Kg1 Bh6 ! (0–1). 

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player