CHESS#1340

The Cairns Cup is the latest initiative from millionaire philanthropist Rex Sinquefield who sponsors the US Championships and the Sinquefield Cup. The Cairns Cup, named after his spouse, Jeanne Cairns-Sinquefield, aims to boost the women’s game. 

The first edition offers $150,000 prize money to a field of 10 strong GMs in a round-robin. After seven rounds, Valentina Gunina leads with 6 points. She’s followed by Alexandra Kosteniuk (5.5) and Irina Krush (4.5). Dronavalli Harika (4) is also doing well. 

Every so often, FIDE tries to slide chess into the Olympics. It was demonstrated by Viswanathan Anand and Alexey Shirov in Sydney (2000). FIDE President Arkadij Dvorkovich has made a new pitch. FIDE’s Facebook page says, "Chess becomes a candidate to join Paris 2024 Olympic Games. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and French Chess Federation President Bachar Kouatly met with the French press to promote the vision. Rapid and blitz are the formats being considered. In France, 67 per cent of the members of the French Chess Federation are under 18 years. FIDE was created in Paris in 1924. Inclusion of chess would be an outstanding symbolic gift for FIDE’s 100th anniversary."

If it happens, it would mean more exposure and more money. It’s possible — bridge, which is a far slower and less physically taxing sport, is an Asiad event. Former Russian Deputy Premier Dvorkovich is well connected to IOC and FIFA. He was in charge of organising the last football World Cup and played a big role in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. 

The Grand Chess Tour 2019 sees Sergey Karjakin replacing Vladimir Kramnik. In addition to Saint Louis (rapid and blitz, Sinquefield Cup), Paris (rapid and blitz) and London (three format final), there are four  new events at Cote d'Ivoire (rapid, blitz), Croatia (Classical), Bucharest (rapid, blitz), and Kolkata (rapid, blitz). Twelve “full” participants will play both classical events and each will play three of the five rapid and blitz events. The prize fund is $1.75 million. 

The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board won the National Teams 2019 in both the open and women’s category. The Airport Authority of India secured 2nd and 3rd position in the open and women's category, respectively. As many as 18 GMs, 17 IMs and 7 WGMs participated. 

The Diagram, White to Play (White: Carlsen Vs Black: Rapport, Tata Steel GpA 2019) indicates why Carlsen is world champion. Weaknesses galore but how does white finish? 

He played 31.Ne3 Qc6 32.Rd5! Qe6 33.Rh5 Qf7 34.Qh3 g6 35.Rh4 Rb6 36.f5 Ne5 37.Nd5 Rd6. Black’s kept all his pieces in play. 

But 38.fxg6 Nxg6 39.Bxf6+! Rxf6. So what’s the killer? 40.Rxh7+! (1-0) . Since 40. — Qh7 41. Qxh7+ Kxh7 42. Nxf6+ & Nxe8. The use of the d5 square is instructive. 

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player