CHESS #641

The NH Experience Vs Rising Stars match ended with a tiebreak between two Rising Stars. Part of the booty — the most important part — is an invite to the Amber blindfold-rapid for the best performer on the youth team.

The rising stars led by 4 points as the last round started. So the team result was hardly in doubt. Among the Rising Stars, Anish Giri led Hikaru Nakamura by a half-point. But Giri lost to Peter Hiene Nielsen while Naka drew Gelfand. Experience won the last round but the Rising Stars won the overall match 26-24.

Nakamura and Giri played a tiebreaker, which Naka took. Both managed 6 points with 2750-odd performances. Nakamura is one of the very best active and blitz performers with quick board sight and a strong sense of fantasy. The Amber format should suit him.

 

Gelfand produced a rock-solid effort, logging the best individual score of 7 with a 2824 performance. Svidler scored 5.5. But the other oldsters did badly with Van Wely, Ljubo and Nielsen hitting minus scores.

The match confirms, if confirmation was needed, that chess is increasingly a young man’s game. Svidler and Gelfand are both top-class. Van Wely and Nielsen are strong second-rung practitioners. Only Ljubo could be considered an out-of-touch veteran.

Meanwhile another veteran, Anand was at the centre of an absurd controversy that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. The HRD ministry questioned his citizenship when the University of Hyderabad wanted to award him a honorary Phd. Anand has always retained his Indian passport. This is a simple matter for the HRD Ministry to check, (especially after Anand faxed his passport details). But it was one of those many occasions when the left hand of bureaucracy refused to find out what the right hand was doing. The HRD Ministry sat on the application for three months. Anand shrugged it off after apologies from HRD minister, Kapil Sibal.

Memory is a key factor in practical strength. It helps to remember both specific move sequences as well as general tactical patterns. Along with declining energy levels, memory lapses can play a key role in older players losing their edge.

The DIAGRAM, BLACK TO PLAY, (Nakamura Vs Van Wely, NH 2010) is an extreme illustration of a memory lapse. Van Wely annotated this specific position recently. He played 12. - Nd7 ? A move he had himself refuted. This is not an improvement on Smith -Laznicka, World Open 2010 where black went 12. — Ng4 13.Nd5 Qc5 14.Nb3 Qc6 15.Na5 and won (0-1, 47 moves).

Nakamura continued with Van Wely's own suggestion 13.Nd5 Qc5 14.Nb3 Qc6 15.Na5 Qc5 16.Nxb7 Qc6 17. Rb6!! (1-0). The queen goes since 17.— Nxb6 18. Nf6+ exf6 19. Qd8#.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally-rated chess and correspondence chess player