Chess (#1225)
Viswanathan Anand lost 0.5-1.5 to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the finals of the Corsica Masters
 "Chess (#1225)")
Two Indians in the Top 10 of both Open and Women's November rating lists and seven in the top 100 of each list indicates the depth of chess talent. The World Cadets in Batumi, Georgia was considered a disappointment by the Indians because they only won bronzes and silvers. Favourite R Praggnanandhaa lost a key game to Nikhil Kumar (US) who won the Under-12. "Praggu" ended up with a bronze in a four-way tie for second place (Nihal Sarin was edged into fourth). V Pranav won the bronze in the Under-10 and Mrudul Dehankar and Divya Deshmukh won silver and bronze respectively in the Girls Under-12.
Viswanathan Anand lost 0.5-1.5 to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the finals of the Corsica Masters. The Frenchman is now reckoned to be the world's leading expert on the razor-sharp Sicilian Najdorf. Anand is an expert himself in that system and he's played hundreds of games with both colours. Veselin Topalov is also an expert, as was Kasparov and Bobby Fischer. Vachier-Lagrave won a sharp battle on the black side - it was the second time this year that he put it across Anand in a Najdorf.
The Russian Superfinals turned out to be riveting in the final rounds. Alexandra Kosteniuk pulled ahead with several sharp wins from double-edged positions to take her second title. The men's event (12 players, round robin) had Alexander Riazantsev and Vladimir Fedoseev in the lead going into the last round with 6 each. There were four players just behind with 5.5. Fedoseev lost, Riazantsev won a crazy game and took first place. Alexander Grischuk and Evgeny Tomashevsky shared second (6.5 each). Incidentally, prizes included not just decent money but Renault Kaptura cars for both champions. This presented Kosteniuk (whose alternate career is that of professional model) with a conundrum because she's never bothered to get a driving license!
The World Title match starts on November 11 in NYC. There are teasers that Agon will use virtual reality technology to create a special viewing experience. Magnus Carlsen is the heavy favourite. But Sergey Karjakin is a strong willed player. He also has the entire resources of the Russian Federation backing him. An upset certainly can't be ruled out.
The Diagram, BLACK TO PLAY ( White: Jakovenko Vs Black: Riazantsev, 69th Russian Championship, 2016) is from a must-win last round. Opposite castled positions often lead to wild tactics and both sides have attacks going.
Black played 33-g3! [34.f3 Bf4 wins with Qxf4-Qh4 to come] White defended with 34.Rb2 gxf2+ 35.Bxf2 Be4 36.Qb6 Rg8 37.Bf1 Bh2+! 38.Kh1 Rhg7 39.Qxe6 Rxg2! 40.Rxb7+ Kxb7 (0-1). White could continue with 41. Rb1 Bxb1 42. Bxg2 Rxg2 43. Qxd5+ Qc6 -it's hopeless with a piece down.
Viswanathan Anand lost 0.5-1.5 to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the finals of the Corsica Masters. The Frenchman is now reckoned to be the world's leading expert on the razor-sharp Sicilian Najdorf. Anand is an expert himself in that system and he's played hundreds of games with both colours. Veselin Topalov is also an expert, as was Kasparov and Bobby Fischer. Vachier-Lagrave won a sharp battle on the black side - it was the second time this year that he put it across Anand in a Najdorf.
The Russian Superfinals turned out to be riveting in the final rounds. Alexandra Kosteniuk pulled ahead with several sharp wins from double-edged positions to take her second title. The men's event (12 players, round robin) had Alexander Riazantsev and Vladimir Fedoseev in the lead going into the last round with 6 each. There were four players just behind with 5.5. Fedoseev lost, Riazantsev won a crazy game and took first place. Alexander Grischuk and Evgeny Tomashevsky shared second (6.5 each). Incidentally, prizes included not just decent money but Renault Kaptura cars for both champions. This presented Kosteniuk (whose alternate career is that of professional model) with a conundrum because she's never bothered to get a driving license!
The World Title match starts on November 11 in NYC. There are teasers that Agon will use virtual reality technology to create a special viewing experience. Magnus Carlsen is the heavy favourite. But Sergey Karjakin is a strong willed player. He also has the entire resources of the Russian Federation backing him. An upset certainly can't be ruled out.
The Diagram, BLACK TO PLAY ( White: Jakovenko Vs Black: Riazantsev, 69th Russian Championship, 2016) is from a must-win last round. Opposite castled positions often lead to wild tactics and both sides have attacks going.
Black played 33-g3! [34.f3 Bf4 wins with Qxf4-Qh4 to come] White defended with 34.Rb2 gxf2+ 35.Bxf2 Be4 36.Qb6 Rg8 37.Bf1 Bh2+! 38.Kh1 Rhg7 39.Qxe6 Rxg2! 40.Rxb7+ Kxb7 (0-1). White could continue with 41. Rb1 Bxb1 42. Bxg2 Rxg2 43. Qxd5+ Qc6 -it's hopeless with a piece down.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
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First Published: Nov 05 2016 | 12:01 AM IST