CHESS#1236

Ten rounds into the Tata Steel Chess tournament, Wesley So has cemented a lead with 7 points. America's #2 is now the world #3 and he’s unbeaten so far, with wins versus P Harikrishna, Richard Rapport, Loek Van Wely and Radoslaw Wojtaszek. Second place is shared by a huge pack comprising Levon Aronian, Magnus Carlsen, Sergei Karjakin, Wei Yi, and Pavel Eljanov (all 6). Baskaran Adhiban (5.5) is seventh while Harikrishna (5) shares 8th-9th with Anish Giri (5).  

 So’s solidity indicates that the fantastic results of last year were not just the product of a run of excellent form. He belongs to the “hyper-elite” brigade of players who consistently perform at 2800-plus. Carlsen has been uncharacteristically inaccurate. He missed a mate in three moves in an epic encounter with Giri and he lost a spectacular game to the tail-ender, Richard Rapport (3.5). 

 Adhiban’s play has been a revelation. He’s known on the circuit as a fighter with an inability to throttle back the aggression. He’s made his own luck in his first super GM event, playing unusual openings (The King’s gambit, Owen’s defence) and seeking unbalanced complications. Losses to Harikirshna and Eljanov have been balanced off by elegant wins against Karjakin, Dmitry Andreikin and Wojtaszek.

There are three rounds to play, at the time of writing. Anything could still happen but So would be the heavy mathematical favourite to triumph. In the Tata B event, Markus Ragger, Jeffery Xiong and Ilya Smirin ( all 7) are tied for the lead. Forgive me for being partisan but with all due respect to the 29-year-old Ragger and the 49-year-old Smirin, I’m hoping the 15-year-old Xiong wins and qualifies for the 2018 Premier. Xiong’s career graph so far bears comparison with the likes of Carlsen and Karjakin.  

 In other news, Adam Tukhaev won the Chennai Open (8.5/10) which was interrupted by the Jallikattu agitations that forced rescheduling of one round. The Gibraltar Open has just got going. The “Rock” features luminaries like Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Veselin Topalov, Vassily Ivanchuk, Michael Adams and Peter Svidler. A total of 12 players are rated at 2700-plus. There’s a huge Indian contingent as well. 

The diagram, Black to Play ( White: Rapport Vs Black: Carlsen,Magnus, Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2017) is equal but unbalanced. Black can try 22.— Rb8 23. Rxb8+ Qxb8 24. Qa5 Qc8  when white can't  improve. Instead he played 22. — d3?! 23.e3 Ne5 24.Bg2! Rc8. White controls the h1-a8 diagonal, stopping tricks like Nf3+, Be4 hitting Rb7/ Nf3. The e-f pawn roller is worth more than the blocked d3 passer. 

Play went 25.f4 Neg4 26.e4 Re8 27.e5 Nxe5 28.fxe5 Rxe5 29.Rb6! Qe7 30.Rb8+ Ne8 31.Bc6!  Two shots Rb6, Bc6 make the win seem easy. The game ended  31.— Re1+ 32.Qxe1 Qxe1+ 33.Nf1! (1–0) White controls d2 and he will be a piece up. 

Devangshu Datta is an  internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player