Chess

The Israeli grandmaster Boris Gelfand celebrated his 45th birthday last Monday (24 June) with outright victory in the Tal Memorial elite super-tournament in Moscow. Given that Gelfand has recently tied first in the Alekhine Memorial in Paris, this means that over a total of 18 games against the world’s best in these two competitions, Gelfand has won 5 and drawn 13 while losing none. With such youngsters as Carlsen and Karjakin, both in their early twenties, pushing rapidly to the fore, it is a remarkable feat by a man over twice their age to be performing at such a high level. The idea that brain power can increase with age, if it is trained appropriately, appears to be borne out by Gelfand.

Viswanathan Anand, the world champion from Chennai (formerly known as Madras), defends his world title in a $5 million match in his home town in November against Magnus Carlsen. The venue will be the five-star Hyatt Hotel. This week, in my occasional series previewing the championship, I give a fine win by Anand against an ingenious but erratic opponent. A feature of Anand’s play has been an extraordinary facility to counterattack decisively with the black pieces.   Ivanchuk-Anand: Linares 1998; Sicilian Defence   1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 Nc6 6 Bg5 e6 7 Qd2 Be7 8 0-0-0 0-0 9 f3 Nxd4 10 Qxd4 (see diagram 1) 10 ...

Thessaloniki is said to be named after a half-sister of Alexander the Great. Fidé staged a recent Grand Prix there, with the surprising outcome that it was won by the Cuban grandmaster Lenier Dominguez Perez with 8/11, ahead of such luminaries as Gata Kamsky and Fabiano Caruana on 7½ as well as Hikaru Nakamura, Veselin Topalov, Peter Svidler, Alexander Morozevich and Vasyl Ivanchuk.   Dominguez was given a boost when Ivanchuk failed to convert a winning position in an early round. The blow to Ivanchuk’s morale sent him into a tailspin into last place with just 3½/11.   Ivanchuk-Dominguez Perez; Thessaloniki Grand Prix 2013   With his next move Ivanchuk overlooks 26 Be5! winning at once. The threat is 27 Qxh6+ and 26 ...

World champion Vishy Anand will defend his title against Magnus Carlsen of Norway in November in a $5 million match in the Hyatt hotel in Chennai. Continuing my series on former World Championship matches, this week’s game is one where Vishy came horribly unstuck after forgetting his preparation in a critical line of the Grünfeld Defence. Although the Grünfeld remains popular with many players, including Peter Svidler, its record in championship contests is abysmal. Offhand, I can only think of three games won by Black in World Championship matches since the Grünfeld was invented in the 1920s. In contrast, I can recall a mass of losses, including the following game.

As a result of the London Candidates tournament, Magnus Carlsen will challenge Viswanathan Anand for the World Championship in Chennai in November, with a match budget exceeding $5 million. Between now and then I shall give occasional extracts from heroic deeds from past world title clashes. This week’s game comes from the marathon series of battles between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. The puzzle is a coruscating victory by Alexander Alekhine, who held the world title from 1927 until 1946, when he died as champion, with a break of two years between 1935 and 1937.   Bogolyubov challenged Alekhine twice but was crushed both times.

Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian chess superstar who will be challenging Viswanathan Anand for the world title later this year, disappointed his home supporters by failing to win the first ever elite tournament to have been played on Norwegian soil. In spite of defeating 23-year-old Sergei Karjakin in their individual game, 22-year-old Magnus Carlsen stumbled at the final hurdle, much as he did in the London Candidates. This time, though, there was no time left to make up the lost ground. The final scores (out of 9) were as follows: Karjakin 6; Carlsen and Nakamura 51/2; Svidler, Aronian and Anand 5; Wang Hao 41/2; Topalov 4; Radjabov 3 and Hammer 11/2.

Sergei Karjakin stormed into an early lead with 4/4 in the elite tournament at Stavanger in Norway, which finishes on Saturday 18 May. Karjakin also triumphed in a blitz tournament (four minutes per player per game) preceding the main event, the results of which were used to determine pairings for the competition proper. Leading scores in this speed event were: Karjakin 61/2/9; Anand, Carlsen and Nakamura 6. Here is the game which Karjakin won against Carlsen in the blitz event.   Karjakin-Carlsen: Norway Masters Blitz 2013; Philidor Defence   1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 e5 4 Nf3 Nbd7 5 Bc4 Be7 6 0-0 A tempting alternative is 6 Bxf7+ Kxf7 7 Ng5+ Kg8 8 Ne6 Qe8 9 Nxc7 Qg6 when White is well on top after 10 Nxa8. However, 7 ...

The Alekhine Memorial split between Paris and St Petersburg has been won jointly by Lev Aronian and Boris Gelfand. The final scores (out of 9) were as follows: Aronian and Gelfand 51/2; Anand 5; Vitiugov, Fressinet, Kramnik, Adams and Vachier-Lagrave 41/2; Ding Liren 31/2 and Svidler 3. Britain’s Michael Adams got off to a blazing start, winning against both Anand and Svidler. However, these were to be his only two victories and his final placing was creditable rather than glorious. The concluding phase of his game against the world champion was instructive. Anand-Adams: Alekhine Memorial, Paris/St Petersburg 2013 (see diagram 1) Endgames often come down to a race between a mass of passed pawns and a rook. Inexperienced players often allow the pawns to triumph.

As I write, the prestigious Alekhine Memorial tournament is drawing to a close. Brainchild of sponsor Andrei Filatov, this high-powered event is taking place partly in the Louvre in Paris and partly in the Mikhailovsky Palace of the State Russian Museum in St Petersburg, combining Mr Filatov’s twin passions for chess and art. The event celebrates the brilliant Russian world champion Alexander Alekhine and this week I give samples of his ingeniously creative mind. Next week I shall report on final results and best games.   Alekhine-Rubinstein; Carlsbad 1923; Queen’s Gambit Declined   1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 Be7 5 Bg5 Nbd7 6 e3 0-0 7 Rc1 c6 8 Qc2 a6 9 a4 Re8 10 Bd3 dxc4 11 Bxc4 Nd5 12 Bf4 (see diagram 1) White agrees to give up his bishop at f4 for the knight.

Trust the French to have cuisine in mind when coining their phrase for April Fool. On the front page of the Daily Telegraph of 3 April, I spotted a statistical prediction by my old rival for the British chess championship, Bill Hartston, that Seabass (a horse, not a marine delicacy) would win the Grand National. Bill’s theory, which seemed a sure thing at the time, was that according to past results, stretching back 174 years, winners would have a name of one word consisting of between seven and 11 letters and beginning with S, R, M or C. The winning horse would also be aged nine or ten.

Adrian, who died earlier this year, was both an Oxford classicist from Keble College and a Correspondence Chess Grandmaster. One of the outstanding personalities of British chess, he won the UK Correspondence Chess Championship three times, either outright or shared. But his superlative achievement was to win a world title. From 1982 to 1987 he represented Great Britain in the 9th Correspondence Olympiad, winning the World Championship ahead of the USSR, Germany, Hungary and Yugoslavia.   Chess is usually played over the board, whereas correspondence players deliberate at leisure over their moves, then transmit them by post to the opponent. Such slow-motion games can last years or more, and in some cases chess by mail has resulted in spectacular misunderstandings.

Magnus Carlsen has qualified from the London Candidates tournament to earn a title match against the incumbent world champion Vishy Anand of India. Final scores were as follows: Carlsen and Kramnik 8½; Svidler and Aronian 8; Grischuk and Gelfand 6½; Ivanchuk 6 and Radjabov 4. Kramnik tied for first and in my opinion played better chess but all the tie-breaks were in Carlsen’s favour. I would like to have seen a play-off between Kramnik and Carlsen. However, the 600 million worldwide who follow chess (the figure from the latest YouGov poll), will doubtless enjoy 22-year-old Magnus challenging Anand, who is twice his age. Here is one of Kramnik’s best wins from London followed by a Carlsen puzzle.

This week, further fascinating positions from the world championship qualifier Candidates tournament recently concluded in London. Although there were the regulation number of draws, for such an elite event, the general tenor was one of superb fighting chess, with little quarter asked or given. The theme of many of the games from the second cycle was the advance of massed passed pawns. I start with a position which heralded the comeback of last year’s title challenger Boris Gelfand. Gelfand-Aronian; London Candidates 2013 White can now seize a key pawn. 27 Bxf5 Bc4 This was the resource upon which Aronian had been relying. 28 e6 Black had overlooked the strength of the advance. The threat of e7 now proves exceedingly dangerous. 28 ...

In the history of suppression of press freedom in the UK, now once again a fierce topic of debate, an honourable role was played by the chessplayer, writer, editor and irrepressible optimist James Mortimer. An officer in the US diplomatic corps, Mortimer was posted to Paris from 1855 to 1860, during which time he was one of the privileged few to witness the celebrated 1858 match between Adolf Anderssen and Paul Morphy. This was a de facto contest for the world championship. The cachet attached to being a friend of Morphy, as well as a first-hand observer of this stellar match, resulted in many subsequent invitations for Mortimer to important chess competitions.

The Candidates tournament to decide the challenger to world champion Anand is the strongest tournament ever to have graced the capital. As I write, three rounds of fighting chess have produced the following scores: Aronian 2½, Carlsen and Svidler 2, Kramnik Grischuk and Radjabov 1½, Gelfand and Ivanchuk ½. The tournament continues at the IET building, No. 2 Savoy Place, London until early next month (www.worldchess.com/candidates). This week, some dramatic positions from the early rounds. Ivanchuk-Aronian: Fidé Candidates London 2013 (see diagram 1) In this position Black finds an extraordinary move to keep his chances alive. Ivanchuk was in awful time trouble, racing against the clock to complete 40 moves. 31 ...

The world championship qualifier, known as the Candidates’ tournament, should now be underway in London. (For details see the website worldchess.com/candidates.) The favourite is Magnus Carlsen, who has identified Lev Aronian of Armenia as his most dangerous rival according to an interview in the Guardian with Stephen Moss. If Magnus fails to rise to the occasion, I favour Vladimir Kramnik, who usually plays well in London, where he was crowned world champion in 2000 when he defeated Kasparov.   One of Carlsen’s great strengths is his ability to adopt seemingly harmless openings and then manoeuvre endlessly until the opponent cracks. A case in point was his victory with the antediluvian Ponziani Opening, which he used to great effect at Wijk aan Zee earlier this year.

There are two new books about Aron Nimzowitsch, chess strategist and author of My System. Aron Nimzowitsch on the Road to Chess Mastery 1886-1924 by Per Skjoldager and Jorn Erik Nielsen is published by McFarland, while Aron Nimzowitsch 1928-1935 by Rudolf Reinhardt (on which the notes to today’s game are based) is shortly to be published. This week, a game and puzzle by the crown prince of chess, as he was sometimes known. Nimzowitsch-Asztalos: Bled 1931; English Opening 1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 c5 3 g3 Nc6 4 Bg2 e6 5 Nh3 Nimzowitsch tries something unusual instead of the normal 5 Nf3. 5 ... Be7 6 d3 d6 7 0-0 0-0 8 Nf4 a6 9 b3 Qc7 10 e3 Rb8 11 a4 b6 12 d4 White has expanded in the centre whilst preventing the black freeing moves ... b5 and ... d5. 12 ...

Rudolph Spielmann, a contemporary of Rubinstein, Reti, Alekhine and Capablanca, can be seen as the Romantic equivalent to a further great master of the 1920s, Aron Nimzowitsch. Whereas Nimzowitsch made his literary reputation with his book of chess strategy, My System, Spielmann entrusted his thoughts on the right way to play chess in his parallel tome, The Art of Sacrifice. The ideal in Spielmann’s eyes was to play the opening like a book, the middlegame like a magician, and the endgame like a machine. Spielmann believed that the power of sacrifice lay not necessarily in its soundness, but in its ability to daze and confuse the opponent.

The Bride and the Bachelors is an impressive exhibition of the work of Marcel Duchamp, John Cage and related artists which is on at London’s Barbican Centre until 9 June. Cage learnt chess in order to communicate with Duchamp without asking crass questions. Other artists, notably Max Ernst, Picabia, Calder and Man Ray also took up chess, impressed by Duchamp’s abilities. Duchamp was a master player at chess whereas the others were mere dabblers in comparison. Marcel Duchamp was arguably the most influential artist of the 20th century, more so than Dalí, Picasso or Matisse. In 1923 he began to concentrate on chess rather than art and he came close to achieving master status. He competed in the French Championships and also in the Olympiads from 1928-1933.

Any book by the erudite Steve Giddins is an event and he has now produced a valuable guide to the popular Winawer Variation of the French Defence, championed by the eponymous Simon Winawer, as well as  Nimzowitsch, Botvinnik, Petrosian and Korchnoi. The Winawer gives up the bishop pair early on in most lines, seeking to exploit the doubled white c-file pawns which frequently arise. It is a line for those who prefer the counter attack rather than equalising defence. Interestingly, the computer has proved a great friend to the Winawer, since Black’s strategy often hangs by a complex tactical thread, which computer analysis can justify. This theme comes across strongly in the book, Move by Move: The French Winawer (Everyman Chess).