CHESS #1380

Ding Liren is the 2019 Grand Chess Tour Champion, beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the finals of the London Classic. Magnus Carlsen beat Levon Aronian to take third place. Ding took home $150,000, while MVL won $100,000. Carlsen collected $60,000 versus Aronian’s $40,000. Ding has played great chess in 2019 but he’s still been overshadowed by Carlsen who has now gone 107 classical games without loss.

In the concurrent Fide Open, Praggnanandhaa and Anton Smirnov (both 7.5/9) tied for first place. Aravindh Chithambaram (7) was in a tie for 3rd-5th. Pragg’s Elo is now above 2600, which makes him the second-youngest to reach that exalted level.

In the Monaco Women’s Grand, Aleksandra Goryachkina (6) leads after 8 rounds. Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika (both 5.5) are tied in 2nd-3rd spot. The last round match-up between Humpy and Goryachkina may be crucial. This is the second of a four-leg GP where the overall winner qualifies for the Candidates. Humpy won the first GP in Skolkovo while Goryachkina (who is guaranteed a Candidates spot as the current Challenger) tied for 2nd-3rd with world champion, Ju Wenjun.

The Jerusalem Grand Prix is a 16-player knockout. The top two GP finishers will earn a spot in the 2020 Candidates Tournament. The first two rounds in the eight mini-matches yielded 16 draws, which means every match goes into tiebreaks. Alexander Grischuk has almost sealed one Candidates spot. His nearest rivals, MVL and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov are both in action in Jerusalem.

In India, all this was a sideshow compared to the celebration of Viswanathan Anand’s 50th birthday. Even enumerating the achievements of India’s first grandmaster and multiple world champion would take several pages. His new book, Mind Master, offers a look at some of the pivotal moments of his life and career through an entertaining mix of anecdote and reflection.

The Diagram, Black to Play (White: Aronian Vs Black: Anand, Wijk An Zee 2013) is from Anand’s choice as the most beautiful game he’s played. He had forgotten his prep though he had reached this position in home analysis!
 

After 30 minutes thought, he found 15. – Bc5!! 16. Be2 [16. dxc5 Nxc5 17. Nxf8 Nxd3 and black has threats like Qd4+] But what does black do now since 16.- Bxd4+ 17. Kh1 Nxh2 18. Ng5 is winning for white?

Anand played 16. – Nde5!! [The idea is 17. fe5 Qxd4+ 18. Kh1 Qg1+ 19. Rxg1 Nf2#.] 17. Bxg4 Bxd4+ 18. Kh1 f5! 19. Ng6 Qf6 20.h3 Qxg6 [Anand: “Black is attacking very slowly but there’s little white can do because of the power of my bishops and Ng4”] 20. Qe2 Qh5 21. Qd3? Now there’s a fantastic finish with 21.--- Be3!! (0-1). The threat is 22. Bxe3 Qxh3+ and Qg2#.

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Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player