CHESS#1235

Five rounds into the Tata Steel Chess tournament, Wesley So leads with 4 points. The Filipino-American Grandmaster has wins against Richard Rapport, P Harikrishna and Loek Van Wely and draws against Anish Giri and Magnus Carlsen. World champion Carlsen shares second place with Pavel Eljanov (3.5 each). The Ukrainian GM was doing really well until he blundered against Levon Aronian (3) in round five.  

A pack of six including Giri, Harikrishna, Dmitry Andreikin, Sergey Karjakin, Wei Yi and Radek Wojtaszek all have 50 per cent (2.5 each). Baskaran Adhiban (2) is on a roller coaster is his first Super-event. He blundered to a loss against Harikrishna and won a big game against Karjakin.  In the B, top seed Markus Ragger (Austria) leads with 4.5 from 5.  The brilliant 15-year-old Jeffery Xiong (3.5) and Lu Shanglei (3) are within striking distance.

So was superb throughout 2016 and he’s jumped up a level or two in playing strength. He has also been lucky here against the stronger players.  He won from a dead-lost position against Rapport.  So also played a clinically lovely game against Harikrishna, strangling the Indian GM.  

Despite the scoreline, the favourite would still be Carlsen who started steadily by mopping up two wins. The world champion is looking for his fifth title here and he has an impressive record when it comes to imposing his will in such situations. Freed of the tensions of defending “his” title, the Norwegian will also have a bank of preparation to unleash. The same things also hold true for Karjakin, except that his mental state is likely a bit more fragile, given the failed challenge.

In other news, Tajik GM Farrukh Amonatov won the 15th Delhi Open with 8.5/10. He was followed by the 18 year old GM Diptayan Ghosh and Marat Dzhumaev (both 8). Participation came to nearly 2,000 players across three sections. Niranjan Navalgund scored a GM norm while Aradhya Garg scored an IM norm and 15-year-old Arpita Mukherjee scored an WIM norm.  

The DIAGRAM, BLACK TO PLAY, (White:  So  Vs Black: Rapport, Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2017)  is chaotic.  Black struck by exploiting the Nd3 fork 24...Bc1! 25.Ng3 Bxb2 26.Nb5 Bc1!  27.gxh5 Bf4  Now wholesale exchanges favour black due to the extra pawn after say, 28. Qc2 Bxg3+ 29. Rxg3 gxh5

Play continued 28.Nc3 f5 29.hxg6+ Rxg6 30.Nxf5 Rag8 31.Kf1 b5!  32.cxb5 Rg2!  33.Qb1 Qf7?? [ Just 33...Rd2! 34. Rg1 Rxg1 35. Kxg1 Nd3 (or Qe8) wins]  In time trouble, black blundered again with 34.Ne2 Qg6?? 35.Ne7 Rf2+ 36.Kxf2 Qg2+ 37.Ke1 Rg3.

So broke the attack with 38.Rxg3! Qxh1+ 39.Rg1 Qxf3 40.Nxf4 Qe3+ 41.Ne2 Nd3+ 42.Qxd3! Qxd3 43.Ng8 Qf3. Here on, it's cruel.  White won with 44.h5 Kh8 45.Rg6 Qh1+ 46.Kd2 Qxe4 47.Nf6 Qb4+ 48.Ke3 (1–0). Mate can’t be stopped.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player