Chess (#1133)
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Magnus Carlsen duly won the top section of the 77th Wijk An Zee Tata Steel tournament (yes that's a mouthful). The world champion scored 9 from 13 (6 wins, 1 loss, 6 draws). All his wins came in one glorious burst. Carlsen was pursued by the quartet of Wesley So, Anish Giri, Ding Liren and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (MVL) who all scored 8.5. In sixth and seventh, Vassily Ivanchuk (7.5) and world No 2 Fabiano Caruana (7) had plus scores.
That top quintet consists of players with five different passports. The oldest duo, MVL and Carlsen are both 24. Carlsen adds a little to his stratospheric rating with a 2877 performance. So, Giri, MVL and Ding all gain big Elo ratings. At the other end, Levon Aronian loses a lot (5.5/13). Fans of the Armenian GM and former No 2 must be worried since he's been in poor form for a year. Nobody went through unbeaten.
The second section saw a commanding performance from 15-year-old prodigy, Wei Yi. Wei is the youngest member of the Top 100. He scored an incredible 10.5/ 13 (8 wins, 5 draws), which catapulted his rating to 2695 and guaranteed him a place in the 2016 top section. David Navara scored an excellent 10 (7 wins, 6 draws), which wasn't enough. After round 9, Navara led with 7.5/9 ahead of Wei on 7/9 before the teenager cracked out a finishing burst of 3.5/4.
The strong Gibraltar Open started immediately after Wijk An Zee. The top seed there is Veselin Topalov with Hikaru Nakamura, Peter Svidler, Nikita Vituigov and others, heading a list with dozens of strong GMs. (If Wei manages to pull his rating above 2700, he will break the Super GM age-record currently held by Carlsen). As always, there is a large contingent of women players due to special prizes starting at £15,000 for top women players. Overall, there is a massive prize fund, with first at £20,000 and multiple category prizes restricted by ratings. The women can "double up" - if Hou Yifan wins the overall event for example, she could take home £35,000.
The DIAGRAM (Caruana Vs Vachier Lagrave,M, Wijk aan Zee 2015), BLACK TO PLAY is the set up for a lovely manoeuvre which leads to a violent attack. 22.-- Bd8! The threat of Bc7 is deadly enough for white to "advance-sacrifice". He played 23.Bxe4!? fxe4 24.Nxe4 Qf4 25.Qxf4 Rxf4 26.f3 Be7 27.Kf2 Rcf8 28.Ke3 Be8 29.c5 Bb5 30.b4 Rxe4+! Or 30.Rf2 Rxe4+ 31.Kxe4 Bxc5. It's unusual to develop a mating attack in centrefield with queens off. 31.Kxe4 Re8! 32.Kf4 g5+ 33.Kf5 Kf7 34.Rfe1 Bd3+ 35.Re4 Bf6 (0-1). Now Re5# is coming.
That top quintet consists of players with five different passports. The oldest duo, MVL and Carlsen are both 24. Carlsen adds a little to his stratospheric rating with a 2877 performance. So, Giri, MVL and Ding all gain big Elo ratings. At the other end, Levon Aronian loses a lot (5.5/13). Fans of the Armenian GM and former No 2 must be worried since he's been in poor form for a year. Nobody went through unbeaten.
The second section saw a commanding performance from 15-year-old prodigy, Wei Yi. Wei is the youngest member of the Top 100. He scored an incredible 10.5/ 13 (8 wins, 5 draws), which catapulted his rating to 2695 and guaranteed him a place in the 2016 top section. David Navara scored an excellent 10 (7 wins, 6 draws), which wasn't enough. After round 9, Navara led with 7.5/9 ahead of Wei on 7/9 before the teenager cracked out a finishing burst of 3.5/4.
The strong Gibraltar Open started immediately after Wijk An Zee. The top seed there is Veselin Topalov with Hikaru Nakamura, Peter Svidler, Nikita Vituigov and others, heading a list with dozens of strong GMs. (If Wei manages to pull his rating above 2700, he will break the Super GM age-record currently held by Carlsen). As always, there is a large contingent of women players due to special prizes starting at £15,000 for top women players. Overall, there is a massive prize fund, with first at £20,000 and multiple category prizes restricted by ratings. The women can "double up" - if Hou Yifan wins the overall event for example, she could take home £35,000.
The DIAGRAM (Caruana Vs Vachier Lagrave,M, Wijk aan Zee 2015), BLACK TO PLAY is the set up for a lovely manoeuvre which leads to a violent attack. 22.-- Bd8! The threat of Bc7 is deadly enough for white to "advance-sacrifice". He played 23.Bxe4!? fxe4 24.Nxe4 Qf4 25.Qxf4 Rxf4 26.f3 Be7 27.Kf2 Rcf8 28.Ke3 Be8 29.c5 Bb5 30.b4 Rxe4+! Or 30.Rf2 Rxe4+ 31.Kxe4 Bxc5. It's unusual to develop a mating attack in centrefield with queens off. 31.Kxe4 Re8! 32.Kf4 g5+ 33.Kf5 Kf7 34.Rfe1 Bd3+ 35.Re4 Bf6 (0-1). Now Re5# is coming.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
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First Published: Jan 31 2015 | 12:15 AM IST