CHESS#1331

The London Classic has a Knockout format. Two matches, Fabiano Caruana vs Hikaru Nakamura, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs Levon Aronian, took place with two classical games, two rapids, four blitz. Nakamura and Lagrave won to go through to a final with a similar format.  Aronian and Caruana play out a third place match. First prize is $120,000,with $80,000 for 2nd, $60,000 for 3rd and $40,000 for 4th. 

One talking point: Lagrave edged Magnus Carlsen to go to #1 on the live Blitz list. The French mathematician’s speedplay talents are, if anything, under-rated. He isn’t a flamboyant personality unlike Nakamura. As of now, Lagrave is favourite since he out-rates Nakamura in classical (Lagrave 2780 to Nakamura 2748) and blitz (Lagrave 2948 to Nakamura 2895). Nakamura holds the edge in Rapid (Lagrave 2797 to Nakamura 2849). 

In the other match, most people will back Aronian since he’s a very strong Blitz (2847) and Rapid player (2791), outrating Caruana (2761 in both formats). But Caruana has this nasty habit of gradually improving in weak areas. 

In the Asian Continentals, Makati (Manila), there’s huge participation. The 9-round Swiss is a World Cup Qualifier for the top five finishers. There’s a prize fund of $50,000 ($35,000 for the Open and $15,000 for the Women’s leg). Seeds include Wang Hao (2730), Wei Yi (2728), Lê Quang Liêm (2714), Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2701) and Baskaran Adhiban (2695). In the Women’s leg, Zhu Jin’er (2409) is top seed, followed by Guliskhan Nakhbayeva (KAZ, 2371) and Guo Qi (CHN, 2368). 

This started with widespread complaints about being overcharged for substandard hotel rooms. Three Indians, Gujrathi, Abhijit Kunte and M R Lalith Babu, were also mugged. However, conditions are said to have improved.  After Rd 4, Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Wei Yi and S P Sethuraman (all 3.5) share the lead in the Open while Padmini Rout, Pham Lê Thao Nguyên and Turmunkh Munkhzul (all 3.5 ) share the lead in the Women’s section. 

THE DIAGRAM, White to Play (White: Caruana Vs Black: Nakamura, London Classic, Blitz, 2018) leads into one of my pet rants. This was at 5 minutes plus 3 second/move. Kibitzers yelling Caruana missed an “easy win”. 

Play went 25. Qc1? Nbd3 26. Qd2 Nf4+ 27. Kg1 Kf7 28. Rh7 Rc8 29. Bc4 b5 30. Nge2 g5 31. Nxf4 gxf4 32. g5 Rg8 33. Be2 Kf8 34. Kf1 fxg5 35. f3 b4 36. Nd1 Nxb3 37. Qc2 Nd4 38. Qc1 b3 39. axb3 a2 (0-1). 

The “easy win” is 25. g5!! with variations like 25.— fxg5 26. Nf5! Bxf5 27. ef5 Rxf5 28. Qh8+ Kf7 29. Rh7 and 25.— Kf7 26. Nh5! and 25. — Qd8 26. Nf5!. Try finding g5 and working out the variations with no engine and a clock set to, let’s say, 10 minutes.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player