The 2018 women’s title match is being played in Shanghai (first half) and Chongqing. The challenger, Ju Wenjun, hails from Shanghai and the defending champion Tan Zhongyi is from Chongqing. Neither is anywhere near as strong as world #1 Hou Yifan (ELO 2658), but the former world champion is taking a sabbatical from chess. She’s in Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship. Tan Zhongyi (ELO 2522) is #10 on the women’s list. Ju Wenjun (2571) is#2. Ju leads the ten-game match 3.5 -1.5 after five games. Coverage has been very basic.
The Russian Team Championships are on in Sochi. There are ten teams in the fray but several big names (Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Grischuk) are not playing. The St Petersburg outfit, Bronze Rider with Peter Svidler and Nikita Vitiugov, leads after six rounds. Moscow’s “Legacy Square” is second.
Vidit Gujrathi shared first place with Nils Grandelius at the TePe Sigeman round robin in Malmö. Both scored 3.5 in the six-player round robin, which also featured Alexander Morozevich (playing after a long hiatus) and Aryan Tari, the world junior champion from Norway.
It was a relatively quiet period in terms of playing activity but there’s all sorts of action on the political side. The Fide elections come up at this Olympiad and, despite personal sanctions against him, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is seeking re-election for the umpteenth time. Kirsan’s erstwhile deputy, Georgios Makropoulos, has been handling Fide’s business since the sanctions put a crimp in Ilymzhinov’s freedom of travel. Fide has also struggled to keep its financial affairs straight since its Swiss bank account was terminated. Makropoulos is challenging for the Presidency and, so is England’s Nigel Short.
Evgeni Vasiukov (1933-2018), Soviet GM, renowned coach and blitz specialist, died last week in his home-town, Moscow. If he had not been a Soviet citizen, he would have undoubtedly played the Candidates. He was a terrific tactician and one of the very few with a blitz-plus score against Fischer.
In the Diagram, White to Play (White: Evgeny Vasuikov vs Black: Loek Van Wely, Aeroflot, Moscow 2002), the 68-year old played 1.f5! hxg5 2.hxg5 Nd7 3.fxe6 Ne5 4.Rh1 fxe6 5.b3! Qb4. White needs to hit e6.
Play continued 6.Rh8+ Kf7 7.Qf4+ Bf6 8.Rh7! Kg8 9.gxf6 Kxh7 10.Qg5 Rc7 11.Nxe6 Rac8 [11.Rh1+ mates quicker but there’s no reason to hurry] 12.fxg7 Kg8 13.Rh1 Bxe4 14.Rh8+ Kf7 15.Nxc7 Qxc3 16.g8Q+ (1-0).
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
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