Raymond Keene

This Saturday (2 March) sees the annual varsity match between the teams of Oxford and Cambridge. Oxford are strengthened this year by the addition of China’s Hou Yifan, the former women’s world champion, and are likely to be the favourites.   As usual, the match starts at noon in the traditional venue of the RAC in Pall Mall and spectators are welcome, though there is a smart dress code for those who wish to watch.   A continuing problem is the failure of Oxford to award their players half blues in recognition of their distinction in representing the university. The more enlightened authorities at Cambridge granted this deserved honour many years ago. It is time for the Oxford players to demand their rightful due.

This year’s Gibraltar Masters saw some surprising results at the top, chiefly the victory by the young Russian, Vladimir Artemiev, who netted £25,000. He came in ahead of a host of established grandmasters, including Levon Aronian, Vassily Ivanchuk, Michael Adams and Wesley So.   The winner’s style was marked by restless aggression with both black and white pieces. This week’s game shows him overwhelming a pre-tournament favourite. The notes are based on those by John Saunders in the official bulletin.   Artemiev-Nakamura: Gibraltar Masters 2019; Réti Opening   1 Nf3 Nf6 2 g3 d5 3 Bg2 e6 4 0-0 Be7 5 c4 0-0 6 b3 c5 7 Bb2 Nc6 8 e3 b6 Black decides against the double-edged 8 ...

The former world champion Vladimir Kramnik recently announced his retirement from competitive chess. He is one of the greats of the modern game, winning three World Championship contests — against Garry Kasparov, Peter Leko and Veselin Topalov — and retaining the title from 2000 to 2007. This tenure puts him on a par with other champions such as José Capablanca, Tigran Petrosian and Viswanathan Anand, who all reigned for around half a decade on the supreme chess throne. Kramnik was crowned champion when he defeated Kasparov in their match in London in 2000.

A notable feature from the recently concluded elite tournament at Wijk aan Zee was the abject failure of former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who finished in equal last place. I have been conjecturing that it might be time for him to put his pieces back in the box, in the style of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Tis all a Chequer-board of nights and days. Where Destiny with men for Pieces plays: Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays, And one by one back in the closet lays. He could evolve into an elder statesman for the new Fidé regime led by Arkady Dvorkovich and his vice-president Nigel Short. Now, at the age of 43, he has stunned the chess world by taking this dramatic step, announcing his retirement from active play.

The start of the year sees the elite of the chess world divided between Wijk aan Zee in Holland and the Gibraltar Masters. In Gibraltar, from where I am writing this column, grandmasters such as Wesley So, Lev Aronian and Hikaru Nakamura cross swords with the British aspirants Michael Adams, Gawain Jones and Nigel Short. In Wijk aan Zee, the world champion Magnus Carlsen reasserted his authority with a decisive victory. Leading scores were: Carlsen 9/13; Giri 8½; Nepomniachtchi, Ding and Anand 7½.

Game Changer, the long-awaited book by Matthew Sadler and Natasha Regan, has now appeared. This represents the most thorough inside story about the sensation that is AlphaZero. It includes material by the DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis and by Garry Kasparov, who must be gratified by the authors’ conclusion that DeepMind’s brainchild plays in the style of the 13th world champion — aggressive, sacrificial, seeking the initiative while keeping its own king safe. All these are hallmarks of Kasparov.   AlphaZero-Stockfish: London 2017, Queen’s Indian Defence   1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 b6 3 d4 e6 4 g3 Ba6 5 Qc2 c5 6 d5 exd5 7 cxd5 Bb7 8 Bg2 Nxd5 9 0-0 Nc6 10 Rd1 Be7 11 Qf5 Nf6 12 e4 g6 13 Qf4 0-0 14 e5 Nh5 15 Qg4 Re8 This is new.

The 2018 UK Knockout, won by Gawain Jones, ahead of Luke McShane (silver) and Michael Adams (bronze), was played in conjunction with the rather unsatisfactory finale of last year’s Grand Tour. The latter ended in victory for the US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, who prevailed over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final. Sadly there was a dearth of decisive games. In contrast, the UK Knockout was packed with excitement. A fine example was this win by Gawain Jones, in the enterprising style of Mikhail Tal.   Jones-Howell: UK Knockout, London 2018; Giuoco Piano   1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 0-0 Nf6 5 d3 d6 6 c3 a5 7 Re1 White has chosen the Giuoco Piano, which means ‘quiet game’.

The Dutch grandmaster Genna Sosonko specialises in biographies of the greats of the Soviet era. His earlier forays covered the careers of David Bronstein and Viktor Korchnoi; the latter is my choice of book of the year for 2018. Now Sosonko, a Soviet émigré himself, has turned his focus on Vassily Smyslov, world champion from 1957 to 1958, who also made history as the oldest world championship contender of all time in 1984 when he reached the Candidates final in his mid-sixties.   Smyslov won the supreme title in 1957 and came close to retaining it in the revenge match a year later. The final turning point came in this week’s puzzle, where Smyslov could have caused Botvinnik’s resignation in a crucial game, but faltered and went on to lose.

The time has come again when I award the accolade of most spectacular game of the year. It adds lustre if this is from one of the great matches. However, not one of the games from the London World Championship comes close to creating the requisite brilliance and drama. Instead, my choice falls on the game Aronian-Kramnik from the Fidé Candidates in Berlin.   Aronian-Kramnik: Fidé Candidates Berlin 2018; Ruy Lopez   1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6 4 d3 Bc5 5 Bxc6 This kind of ‘delayed exchange’ is a popular counter to the Berlin Defence  5 ... dxc6 6 0-0 Qe7 7 h3 Rg8 (see diag 1) This is an extraordinary idea and shows an admirable flexibility of thought.

Last week I compared the Norwegian world chess champion Magnus Carlsen to a lurking crocodile, ready to grab its oblivious prey. Perhaps a more apt metaphor is that of the whale in Milton’s Paradise Lost: ‘haply slumbering on the Norway foam…’. Mariners in Milton’s narrative mistake the leviathan for an island, moor their craft, and are undone as the whale wakes and dives.   So it was with Carlsen, who destroyed Caruana once he roused himself to action. This week, the third, final and decisive game from the tie-break which confirmed him as world champion again.