 "Chess (#1189)")
India's two best players met recently in a Bundesliga match. The 29-year-old P Harikrishna is now #14 on the live ratings list, with an Elo of 2758 while Viswanathan Anand is at #12 with 2761. Anand plays for Baden Baden while Harikrishna represents Solingen. A win for Harikrishna would have meant him overtaking Anand but they played a hard fighting draw. (The match ended 4:4).
Anand's next big tournament is the Candidates. Starting March 11 in Moscow, that would qualify the challenger for the title match, tentatively due to be held in October. Anand's current rating would make him the sixth seed in a field including Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian, Veselin Topalov, Sergei Karjakin and Peter Svidler.
Magnus Carlsen has learnt a lot in the last two years. He is much better prepared in the openings and has a formidable team, including top players like Ding Liren and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. At a personal level, I would like Anand to win the Candidates and challenge Carlsen all over again. But it may be a bridge too far and chances of Anand beating Carslen are low.
In objective terms, the two Candidates with the best chances of beating Carlsen are probably Caruana and Giri. Both have fantastic preparation and good head-to-head records against the champion. Giri is more solid. But Caruana is a more universal player and capable of occasionally finding "super-gear".
The Women's Grand Prix in Tehran has seen big swings in fortune. Ju Wenjun won with 7.5 from 11 rounds in the 12 player round robin. Local IM, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (7) produced a terrific performance to score a GM norm and share second-third with Zhao Xue (7). Zhao led until round 10 when she lost to Khademalsharieh. Two other erstwhile leaders, Natalija Pogonina and Nana Dzagnidze (6.5 each) shared 4th-5th places, while top-seeded Koneru Humpy (6) managed just sixth place. Harika trailed with 4.5.
The DIAGRAM, WHITE TO PLAY (White: Adhiban Vs Black: Dreev, Tata Challengers 2016) features an increasingly rare beast - the strong novelty. This position has been seen many times. White has tried 15. Rb1 and 15. Bb5.
The new move is 15.e4!? c4? [15.-- Bxa1 16. exd5 is strong compensation since 16.- O-O 17. Bxh7+ is horrible. The engines like 15 - Bc6 and rate it equal ]. Now [15.- c4 16.Bxc4! Bxc4 17.e5! is a big attack but white played another good move] 16.Be2! Bxa1 17.Rxd5 Qc7 18.Ba3 Bf6? 19.Bxc4 Be7. Now white finds a very accurate continuation with 20.Qa4! Bxa3 21.Rxd7 Qxd7 22.Bb5 Qxb5 23. Qxb5 Kf8 24. Qb3! (1-0). The deadly threat is Ng5/ Ne5 with Qxf7#.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
