Chess (#984)

Hikaru Nakamura leads the London Classic after five rounds. The American GM met four 2800 players in a row for a score of +1 with wins versus Aronyan and Anand, loss to Carlsen, and draw with Kramnik. Under the soccer-scoring system, he has 10 points, (another win against David Howell).

In a nine player round-robin, somebody has a bye every round, making it difficult to track leaders. Given soccer-scoring, and 12 decisions in 20 games, so far., it’s still anyone’s tournament. Magnus Carlsen (+2,=3) is second with 9 points from five games. Kramnik and McShane both have a game to spare and 8 points from four games with chances to overtake. Anand and Aronyan are both 5 from four.

 

Naka started 2011 with a terrific win at Corus and he’s ending in style. In between, he had indifferent form. It’s now well-known that he has undergone training sessions with Garry Kasparov, who also mentioned that he’s unhappy about Naka’s poker hobby.

The American GM, who is of Japanese origin and learnt chess from his Sinhalese stepdad, seem to have slowed down and solidified his repertoire. He’s extremely popular for his combative style, and he’s also had luck with him in London. Aronyan and Anand both blundered in winning positions, giving Naka full-point swings.

Anand seems off-form apart from holding back on sharp lines. He lost to Naka after a string of 12 consecutive draws, starting from the recent Tal Memorial. The world champion climbed back to 50 per cent (normal scoring) with a win against Short. He has a tough second half with pairings versus Kramnik, Aronyan and Carlsen.

Aronyan has been achieving good positions but unable to put them away, letting Carlsen off the hook as well as Naka. Despite Naka’s start, the world no:1 would still be the polling favourite. Carlsen has been in average form but he’s pulled off draws against McShane and Aronyan from inferior positions and he’s won when he’s got the edge.

The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (Carlsen Vs Nakamura, London 2011) is flat-equal on the computers and “easier to play intuitively for white” according to the winner. It magically transforms into a mating attack after a positional exchange sacrifice.

26.d4 cxd4 27.cxd4 Qg5 28.Kh2 Nf6 29.Bd1 Rfb8. Carlsen felt 29. - Ra8 30. h4 Qa5 was better. 30.h4 Qg6 31.Rxf6! gxf6. White’s minor pieces have lots of targets (f5,h5, d6,f6.h6, not to mention the black K).

32.Qf4 Rb2 33.Bh5 Qg7 34.Bf3 Ra8 35.d5 Bc8 36.Nh5 Qf8 37.Nxf6+ Kh8 38.Rc1 Kg7 39.e5 dxe5 40.Nh5+ Kh7 41.Be4+ (1-0). Post time control, black doesn’t want to play out 41.-- f5 42. Rc7+ or 41.--Kg8 42. Qg3+ Kh8 43. Qxe5+.

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Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player