CHESS #650

Last year when Carlsen played the first Nanjing Super GM, he knocked off an incredible 8 points from 10 games. This time, he's managed to stay comfortably in the lead from round one although he won't achieve the same score again. Carlsen has done enough to retain the number one ranking, assuming no outright disasters at the finish.

The Norwegian world number one is on 5.5 points from eight games (+3,=5). Two draws at the finish would mathematically guarantee a share of first. It’s a great comeback since he was coming into this event after a string of five recent losses.

 

Bacrot and Anand could, in theory, challenge Carlsen if either strings two wins in the last two rounds. Etienne Bacrot has played well to share of second place with 4.5 points. Bacrot was a little lucky to win a drawn position from Anand but he played well throughout after being smashed in the first round by Carlsen.

Anand has been in “average form”, playing at very close to his rating. He failed to hold a difficult technical draw against Bacrot and had to defend tenaciously to eke out a half point against Carlsen. Nevertheless, he's scored 4.5. It’s been a poor event for Topalov, and Gashimov are tied for 4-5 with 3.5 points each. At the rear is Wang Yue who has been the whipping boy here with three losses .

Nanjing has been an oddly scratchy tournament. There have been far too many games decided (or not decided in a couple of cases!) by big blunders and counter-blunders. None of the participants has displayed exceptional opening preparation — form and prep are often connected. There’s nothing like high voltage opening preparation to impart confidence. But here we’ve seen a succession of sincremental improvements rather than bombshells.

The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (Carlsen Vs Topalov, Nanjing 2010) is an interesting example of how rapidly a position goes downhill if there's a bad plan. White has a stable advantage with the bishop pair and he played 21.f4 Bg4 22.Qd3 exf4 23.Bxf4 Nc4 24.Bc1 c5 25. Rf1 cxd4 26 cxd4 Qd8.

In lashing out, black has conceded open lines, and damaged his own pawn structure. His minor pieces are also decidedly unstable now. White continued building 27. h3 Be6 28. b3 Black is now lost - the threat is the brutal 28.

- Nb6 29. e5 dxe5 30. Rxf6. In apparent desperation, he continued with 28-- Qa5 29. Kh2! Nh7 30. e5 g6 31. d5 Nxe5 32. dxe6! (1-0). There's not much point in playing 32.-- Nxd3 33.exf7+ Kf8 34.Bxh6+ Ke7 35.fxe8Q+ and otherwise black is a plain piece down.

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