CHESS#1260

The Leon Masters ended in victory for Wesley So who beat Viswanathan Anand in a hard-fought final. The two players were tied after four tense rapid games that all ended in draws after both missed possible chances. So won the first blitz tiebreak after Anand made a serious error on move six and he drew the second blitz game without too much trouble. The Indian star was gunning for his 10th title but it was not to be. 

The Commonwealth Championships in New Delhi saw local lad Abhijeet Gupta claim his fourth Commonwealth title with 7.5 points from the 9-round Swiss. Delhiwala Vaibhav Suri (7) took silver and Tejas Bakre (7) won bronze, since Suri had the better tiebreak. On the distaff side, Swati Ghate (6) became the ladies champion while Mary Ann Gomes (6) came second, and Tania Sachdev third. In case you’re wondering, the clean sweep by India was quite creditable given the large contingent of overseas players. 

There are two strong events on at this instant. The Grand Prix in Geneva has a three-way tie for first after six of the nine rounds. Alexander Grischuk, Pentalya Harikrishna and Teimour Radjabove (all 4) share the lead. The two 2800 players, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Levon Aronian, share fourth with Peter Svidler, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Li Chao (all 3.5). Harikrishna has played well and he’s also been lucky when Aronian had an off-day with consecutive errors that gave Harikrishna an upset win. There are three rounds left and everything to play for. 

The other strong event is the Super GM at Danzhou where Wei Yi leads with 2.5 after 3 rounds. The visiting contingent in the 10-player round robin include Vassily Ivanchuk, Ruslan Ponomariov, Vladimir Malakhov, Arkady Naiditsch and Liem Le Quang. The lowest-rated of the visitors is Ponomariov, who has slid to 2699. The locals are led by #1 Ding Liren, and Yu Yangyi, and also include Wang Hao, Lu Shanglei and Wei of course. This weekend, the Dortmund Super GM will start as Geneva ends. 

THE DIAGRAM, BLACK TO PLAY

(White: Aronian Vs Black:  Harikrishna FIDE Geneva Grand Prix 2017 ) has been preceded by a white novelty that got Aronian an edge. However, he became overoptimistic, lashing out with f4 and e3.  

Black has a deadly tactical threat in 22...Ne5! [ Now if 23.fxe5 Bxe3+]  So play went 23.Rcd1 Ng4! 24.h3 Nxe3 25.Rxd8 Rxd8 26.Kh2 g5 27.fxg5 Qxg5 28.Qe6 f4 Opposite coloured bishops lend an edge to the attack. Black dominates the dark squares. 

Hari’s excellent technique showed up as he finished with 29.Ne4 Qg7! [This is easier than 29.— fxg3+ 30. Kh1] 30.g4 Nc2 31.Rf1 Nd4 32.Qf6 Qxf6 33.Nxf6 Bxa3 34.Bxb7 Bd6 35.h4 a4 36.g5 a3 37.Kh3 Be5 38.Kg4 Nc2 (0–1). The threats are Ne3, and a2-a2. 

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player