Aeroflot ended in a photo-finish with Polish GM Mateusz Bartel, and the Ukrainian duo of Anton Korobov and Pavel Eljanov tied with 6.5/9. Bartel had the best tiebreak and makes it to Dortmund. The best Indian performance came from Sasikiran who tied for 9th with 5.5. Among other notable performances, two 14-year-olds, Russian Grigoriy Oparin and Vaibhav Suri both scored GM norms while the 12-year-old Chinese FM Wei Yi managed an IM norm.
Meanwhile, there is movement on the title cycle. Fide has announced the next Candidates will be played in London in October -November 2012. It will be sponsored by Agon Group, a Russian media conglomerate (LiveJournal may be familiar) owned by expat US citizen, Andrew Paulson.
Relocating to London solves diplomatic problems. Armenian Levon Aronyan has issues playing in the alternate location of Baku since Azerbaijan and Armenia are technically at war. But inducting Agon as a sponsor is complicated. Fide has earlier commitments to the Chess Network Company and needs some legal fast dancing to reassign various rights.
The format is an 8-player double round robin, with Carlsen, Aronyan, Kramnik, Radjabov, Ivanchuk, Grischuk, Svidler and the loser of the Anand-Gelfand match. Apparently Carlsen has decided to play after opting out of the previous cycle. He did however, point out in a recent interview that the Candidates is scheduled to start just 10 days after the Bilbao Grand Slam.
In most round-robins and in matchplay, the sensible strategy is “Win with white, draw with black”. But opens with their compulsion to generate high scores demand “Win with Black” mindsets. This can lead to apparent insanity and great entertainment when risk-taking backfires.
The Diagram, BLACK TO PLAY, (Emanuel Berg Vs Vachier-Lagrave, Gibraltar Open 2012) is a case in point. The much higher rated French GM doesn't want the normal 15.--Nc6 16. Nxc6 bxc6 17. e5 dex5 18. Qg6 Bd7 (18.-- Qxc3 19. Rf3 is good for white) 19. Bxf6 Rxf6 20 Rxf6 Bxf6 21. Bd3 e4 22. Qxe4 Kg8 when white has at least a draw.
So, he played 15...Nbd7 16.Nxe6 Ne5 17.Nxf8! Nxd3 18.Ng6+ Kh7 19.Bxd3 Kxg6? Here black's only defence is to allow a draw by 19...Bd8 20.e5 dxe5 21.Nxe5+ Kg8 22.Bc4+ Kh7 23.Bd3+. Black can't deviate with 21. – Kh8 22. Nf7+ or 22. Ne4.
Now Berg goes into berserker mode with 20.e5+ Kh5. Alternatively 20...Kf7 21.exf6 Bxf6 22.Nd5 is also a winning attack. Material is irrelevant – there's a traffic jam on a8,c8 and an exposed king. 21.exf6 Bxf6 22.Bxf6 gxf6 23.Rb3 Qa5 24.Rxf6 Bd7 25.Ne4 Bg4 26.h3 Rg8 27.hxg4+ Rxg4 28.Be2 Qe1+ 29.Kh2 (1–0). Black believed, reasonably enough, that white would find 29.-- Qxe2 30.Rh3+ Rh4 31.Rxh4+ Kxh4 32.Rf4+ Kh5 33.Ng3+.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
