Clear winner

Levon Aronian ended up comfortable winner of the latest edition of the Tata Steel tournament at Wijk aan Zee earlier this week.

He achieved this despite a late scare when he lost unexpectedly to David Navara. But then, none of Aronian’s closest rivals could take advantage of this lapse and he preserved his lead.

At the end of the tournament, Aronian finished with a clear one-point lead over three players – Magnus Carlsen, Teimour Radjabov and Fabiano Caruana – who tied for the second to fourth places.  

Here is one of the more interesting games from the tournament. 

White: Anish Giri

Black: Levon Aronian

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bf4 (It strikes me that 5.Bf4 is getting more popular as players move away from the more traditional 5.Bg5. Let’s see how this game develops here) 5….0-0 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Be2 dxc4 8. O-O Nb6 9. Qc2 Nh5 10. Be5 f6 11. Ng5 fxg5 12. Bxh5 Bd7 (Black is one pawn to the good but the position is very unbalanced.) 

13. Bf3 (A logical move but it is a clear invitation for Black to sacrifice the exchange) 13...Rxf3 Rxf3 14. gxf3 Bd6 15. Qe4 Bc6 16. Qg4 Qe7 (Black’s position is solid and there is compensation for the sacrificed material. Especially, the white pawn on f3 is weak and can be attacked by the black bishop on c6 and a lack rook on f8 later. If White were to play e3-e4, then the f4 square becomes a weakness for him.) 17. Bxd6 cxd6 18. Ne4 h6 19. Qg3 d5 20. Nc3 Rf8 21. Ne2 Rf5 (In the last few moves, Black has straightened out his centre pawns, fortified his kingside position and took control of the fifle. The bishop seems hemmed in by the black pawns but it can be re-deployed quickly to the e8 square and then the h5 square to keep the pressure on the f3 pawn.) 

22. Kg2 Nd7 23. Rh1 Nf8 (The knight looks headed for the h4 square. Same idea to attack the f3 pawn but a much harder idea to meet.) 24. h4 Ng6 25. f4 (This move doesn’t mean that the weakness on f3 has been eliminated. It’s still there) 25….Nxh4+ (Winning a second pawn. I think by now, White is probably lost. His queen and rook are in very poor positions. In fact, White’s queen has become very passive. And once the king is forced onto the f1 square, the rooks become disconnected.) 

26. Kf1 Qb4 (A good move which keeps White’s king in the centre and at the same time, attacking White’s weak queenside pawns) 27.Rb1 Be8 (Black’s last piece springs into life.) 28. Nc3 Qe7 29. b4 Rf8 (Why the rook retreat? So that the bishop can move to g6 and then d3 next.) 30. Rb2 Bg6 31. Ke1 Bd3 32. fxg5 Nf3+ 33. Kd1 hxg5 (The black bishop and knight completely dominate the game.) 34. Qh3 Qf6 35. Kc1 Bg6 36. a4 Rd8 (After this move to guard the d5 pawn, Black prepares to force open the centre with a e6-e5 pawn push. Hardly preventable.) 

37. Ne2 e5 38. Qg4 exd4 39. exd4 Re8 40. Qd7 c3 (This move weaves a mating net around the white king. If now 41. Nxc3, then 41….Qf4+ wins. And if 41. Rc2, then 41….Rd8 followed by 42….Bxc2 wins.) 41. Ra2 Ne1 (See diagram. This move is the icing on top of the cake. It’s a beautiful move which forces the white rook to capture. If White doesn’t capture, then 42….Nd3+ follows next.) 42. Rxe1 Qf4+ (The queen cannot be captured because 42. Nxf4 Rxe1 is checkmate.) 43. Kd1 Qe4 0-1 (It is checkmate next with the queen on the b1 or c2 square.) 

The Grandmaster Group B was won by Pentala Harikrishna with Alexander Motylev and Lazaro Bruzon sharing the second and third prizes. In the Group C tournament, Maxim Turov was the clear winner ahead of Hans Tikkanen. 

Up Next

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will kick off this year’s Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng grand prix chess circuit with the first leg at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Clifford in Kuala Kangsar on Feb 12. 

This is the third series of the local grand prix which will see six legs held in Kuala Kangsar, Taiping, Slim River, Bagan Serai, Kampar and Ipoh until July. Last year’s second series attracted widespread interest from players around the country and were held at five different districts in the state. PICA is confident that this year’s series would attract even greater response. 

Each leg of the grand prix will be played over seven rounds with a 25-minute time control. Players can register for the open, the under-16 or the under-12 sections. Grand prix points shall be awarded to the top 10 winners of the open section of each leg and these would accumulate till the final leg in Ipoh. Those that register under the two junior categories will not be eligible for the open prizes or grand prix points. 

Entry fees for the first leg in Kuala Kangsar: RM25 (open section), RM15 (under 16 years old), RM10 (under 12 years old). For PICA members and Perak residents: RM20 (open section), RM10 (players under 16 years old). Closing date: Feb 9. For more information, call Yunus (013.3908129), Abu Bakar Martin (019.4007663), Azhar (013.4570443) or check the PICA blog at http://perakchess.blogspot.com for updates. 

Rakan Muda JB

The Rakan Muda Johor Bahru, Johor Chess Academy, Johor Bahru Chess Association and the Southerncity Giant hypermarket  are the joint organisers of this year’s seventh Johor Bahru junior tournament on Feb 19. Venue will be the concourse area of the hypermarket in Johor Bahru. Seven-round Swiss event with 25 minutes time control.

Entry fees: RM15 (players under 17 years old) and RM13 (players under 12 years old). Closing date is Feb 17. Details available from Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525, jb_chess_association@yahoo.com).

USM chess festival

Chess players who have been waiting for the 18th Universiti Sains Malaysia chess festival should take note that it has been rescheduled to the middle of March because of the early Chinese New Year festivities. This year’s chess festival will comprise an eight-round individual event on Mar 10-11 and a seven-round team event on Mar 17-18. Time control for both events will be 45 minutes per game. 

Entry fees for the individual tournament are RM17 (under-12 players), RM19 (under-18 players), RM21 (university and college players) and RM27 (others). Members of the Penang Chess Association will be charged at RM15, RM17, RM19 and RM22 respectively. For the team event, entry fees are RM80 (under-12 teams), RM90 (under-18 teams), RM100 (university, college and school teams) and RM110 (all other teams). 

Details are available from Ng Sok Ling (014.9443919, sokling_9100@hotmail.com), Chung Yao Liang (017.4343182, yaoliang_1228@yahoo.com) or Lee Youn Hock (014.9445491, chessmanlee@hotmail.com). 

 

Masters meet

The close proximity of the Chinese New Year to the dates of this year’s Tata Steel chess tournament has meant that I haven’t been able to give this annual international chess event in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands, much attention. 

This Wijk aan Zee tournament has a very long history that goes back to 1938. Before Tata Steel came into the picture, it used to be called the Corus tournament and before that, the Hoogovens event. Wijk aan Zee itself is the Dutch seaside town from where the tournament takes its name.

Anyway, the Tata Steel chess tournament is traditionally a very strong event and only the world’s best players will ever get a chance to be invited. There are three Grandmaster groups with 14 players each.

Since Jan 13, the eyes of the chess world have been focused mainly on the Grandmaster Group A tournament. And why not when this year’s participants include six of the world’s eight highest-ranked players in Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov, Veselin Topalov, Sergey Karjakin and Vassily Ivanchuk? Only the names of Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand are missing from this list. 

To round up the player’s list, there are also Vugar Gashimov, Hikaru Nakamura, Boris Gelfand, Fabiano Caruana, Gata Kamsky, Anish Giri, David Navara and local Dutch grandmaster Loek van Wely in the starting line-ups.

Until the eighth round, Carlsen and Aronian were leading the tournament but so far, it did not look like a complete domination to me. They were just a half point ahead of Radjabov who in turn was half a point ahead of Ivanchuk, Caruana and Nakamura.

Gelfand’s inclusion in this premier event was a surprise. He is due to play Anand for the world chess championship title in May and I thought he would have withdrawn himself from active play in order to prepare for the match of his life. However, he must be believing that the best preparation is to keep on playing actively, at least for this one or two months.

The Grandmaster Group B included players like Lazaro Bruzon, Vladimir Potkin, Alexander Motylev and Sergey Tiviakov. It was rather disappointing to see only Pentala Harikrishna and Harika Dronavalli as the only Asian players in this group because last year there were three Asian players in Wesley So, Li Chao and Le Quang Liem.

Nevertheless, it was interesting to notice the inclusion of four women chess players – all grandmasters – in this Group B tournament, namely, Harika, Kateryna Lahno, Daniele Vocaturo and Viktorija Cmilyte. 

This week, I’d like to feature an interesting game from the third round of this tournament. 

White: Magnus Carlsen

Black: Levon Aronian

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 c6 6.Qc2 Nf6 7.h3 g6 8.e3 Bf5 9.Qd2 h5 10.Bd3 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 Nbd7 12.Nge2 a5 13.0-0 0-0 14.f3 b5 15.e4 dxe4 16.fxe4 Nc5 17.Qf3 Ne6 18.Be3 (I should think that White has a firm grip on this game. His centre is strong while his opponent has several weaknesses all over the board, in particular the pawn on c6 and a very loose kingside due to his pawn on h5. It’s not so clear yet, as it’s hidden by the knight, but the pawn on f7 is also weak.) 18….b4 19.Nb1 Nh7 (Now we see Black’s other weakness exposed: the pawn on f7.) 20.Nd2 Rc8 21.Rad1 Bh4 22.g3 Bf6 23.Nc4 Bg7 (Black’s position is all passive. He has no counter-play and can only react to White’s play.) 24.b3 Qe7 (Black realises that the pawn on a5 cannot be defended for long and so, prepares to give it up.) 25.Qg2 Nc7 26.Nxa5 Rfe8 27.e5 Nd5 28.Bd2 Red8 29.Nf4 Qa7 30.Nxc6 (The start of a little combination) 30….Rxc6 31.Nxd5 Rc2 (Not 31….Qxd4+ 32. Kh1 Qxe5 when 33.Ne7+ wins material.) 32.Kh1 Bf8 33.e6 (Superb play by White. Black’s kingside becomes totally exposed. The next few moves are just about forced for both sides.) 33….Qa8 34.exf7+ Kh8 35.Nf4 Qxg2+ 36.Kxg2 Rxd4 37.Rf2 Rd6 38.Bc1 Rxf2+ 39.Kxf2 Rxd1 40.Bb2+ Nf6 41.Bxf6+ Kh7 42.Ne6 Bd6 43.Be5 Be7 (43….Bxe5 44.f8=Q, naturally. Anyway, there is no doubt that White is already winning in the endgame.) 44.f8=Q Bxf8 45.Nxf8+ Kh6 46.Ne6 g5 47.h4 gxh4 48.gxh4 Kg6 49.Nd4 Rd3 50.Nc6 Rd2+ 51.Ke3 Rxa2 52.Bd6 Ra1 53.Kd4 Rg1 54.Kc5 Kf5 55.Nxb4 Rc1+ 56.Kd4 Re1 57.Nc6 Re4+ 58.Kd5 Rxh4 59.b4 Rh1 60.b5 Rb1 61.Nd4+ Kg4 62.Kc6 Rc1+ 63.Kd7 Rb1 64.Kc7 h4 65.b6 Kh3 66.b7 Kg2 67.Nf5 h3 68.Nh4+1–0 (See diagram. White will promote his pawn next and after which, the knight will manoeuvre to f3 where it combines with the bishop to stop Black’s pawn from any further advance.)

The event only ends on Sunday, so you can still follow the last three rounds of the Tata Steel tournament from their website, http://www.tatasteelchess.com/, from 8.30pm nightly. Do enjoy the games!

Up Next

InSoFar chess

The InSoFar Chess Academy will hold its first event of the year at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. Players can choose to play in any one of three sections – the rapid open, the junior scholarship open and the adult scholarship open – which will all be run off together.

Seven Swiss rounds with a 25-minute time control. Entry fees: RM20 (rapid open), RM50 ( junior scholarship open and adult scholarship open). To register, please send your full name and age by text message to Mat Zaki Yeop (017.2032051). Entries are limited to the first 64 players only.

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will kick off this year’s Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng grand prix chess circuit with the first leg at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Clifford in Kuala Kangsar on Feb 12. 

This is the third series of the local grand prix which will see six legs held in Kuala Kangsar, Taiping, Slim River, Bagan Serai, Kampar and Ipoh until July. Last year’s second series attracted widespread interest from players around the country and were held at five different districts in the state. PICA is confident that this year’s series would attract even greater response. 

Each leg of the grand prix will be played over seven rounds with a 25-minute time control. Players can register for the open, the under-16 or the under-12 sections. Grand prix points shall be awarded to the top 10 winners of the open section of each leg and these would accumulate till the final leg in Ipoh. Those that register under the two junior categories will not be eligible for the open prizes or grand prix points. 

Entry fees for the first leg in Kuala Kangsar: RM25 (open section), RM15 (under 16 years old), RM10 (under 12 years old). For PICA members and Perak residents: RM20 (open section), RM10 (players under 16 years old). Closing date: Feb 9. For more information, call Yunus (013.3908129), Abu Bakar Martin (019.4007663), Azhar (013.4570443) or check the PICA blog at http://perakchess.blogspot.com for updates. 

Rakan Muda JB

The Rakan Muda Johor Bahru, Johor Chess Academy, Johor Bahru Chess Association and the Southerncity Giant hypermarket  are the joint organisers of this year’s seventh Johor Bahru junior tournament on Feb 19. Venue will be the concourse area of the hypermarket in Johor Bahru. Seven-round Swiss event with 25 minutes time control.

Entry fees: RM15 (players under 17 years old) and RM13 (players under 12 years old). Closing date is Feb 17. Details available from Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525, jb_chess_association@yahoo.com).

 

The big four

As had been expected last week, the Indian grandmaster and current world chess champion, Viswananthan Anand, has been knocked off the second spot on the latest international rating list which was released by the World Chess Federation earlier this week. 

His rating took a tumble from the 2810 rating points a year ago (the January 2011 rating list) to 2799 this January. Without a doubt, his last three performances in Bilbao, Moscow and London had greatly affected his ratings and he is now placed fourth in the world rankings.

The Norwegian grandmaster, Magnus Carlsen, now 21 years old, has retained his number one standing in the world. But more than that, over the past year, his rating has increased from 2814 points in January 2011 to 2835 points in the January 2012 list. 

Considering that the top players in the world are playing with one another exclusively, this is actually a gain of 21 points against top chess opposition.

More tellingly, Carlsen’s present rating of 2835 points is a good 30 points more than his nearest chess rival, Levon Aronian from Armenia. Over the past year, Aronian’s rating has not changed and remains at 2805 points. But because of Anand’s drop down the list, Aronian has been propelled from third to second-placed. 

Similarly, Vladimir Kramnik has been pushed up from fourth to third in the world ranking. But at least for this Russian grandmaster, he has seen his rating increase by 17 points from a year ago to 2801 in January 2012. This has been helped by an impressive display of chess technique at the London Chess Classic last month which he won comfortably.

So there you have it, the top four players in the world today are Carlsen, Aronian, Kramnik and Anand. 

Fifth in the world rankings is Azerbaijan’s Teimour Radjabov whose rating is 2773. His rating had also risen by 29 points over the past year. At this time last year, he was placed in 12th position among his peers.

The Bulgarian grandmaster, Veselin Topalov, remains sixth in the world today, unchanged from a year ago. However, five points have been shed by him and he stands today with 2770 rating points.

Sergey Karyakin is in seventh position with 2769 points, Vassily Ivanchuk is eighth with 2766 points, Alexander Morozevich is ninth with 2763 points and Vugar Gashimov rounds up the top ten with 2761 points.

Outside of this top list includes Alexander Grischuk who is also with 2761 points, Hikaru Nakamura with 2759 points, Peter Svidler with 2749 points, Boris Gelfand with 2739 points (placed 16th in the world today), Fabiano Caruana with 2736 points, China’s Wang Hao with 2733 points and Gata Kamsky with 2732 points.

There are 44 players whose ratings are at least 2700 points. Apart from Anand and Wang, the only two other Asian players in this exclusive 2700-plus club are Le Quang Liem from Vietnam with 2714 points and Krishnan Sasikiran from India with 2700 points. 

Sasikiran’s position in the world rankings has remained relatively unchanged: an increase of 10 rating points has seen his ranking rise from 45th a year ago to 44th position this January.

Le’s climb has been more phenomenal: a 50-point increase. Accordingly, his ranking has gone up from 79th in the world to 29th today.

Turning my sights to the top women players in the international rating list, I see that Judit Polgar is still the number one woman chess player in the world with 2710 rating points. Her grip on the women’s world ranking has been total. Nobody has been able to touch her for years. 

But in the next few years, we may be able to see someone else come closer to challenging Polgar’s status. If there is any woman chess player who can do it, it is likely to be that lass from China, Hou Yifan, who is the current women’s world champion.

In the January 2012 rating list, Hou is finally the number two in the world, having displaced the former number two, Humpy Koneru, who is now the world’s number three woman player.

But interestingly enough, Hou’s present rating is very little changed from a year ago. Then, she was at 2602 points while now, her gain is only three rating points to 2605. It is just that Humpy’s poor performances lately have lost the Indian player some 18 points. She had been most affected by her terrible display at the women’s world championship match in November. 

Finally, I should also mention that China’s Ju Wenjun who was here in Kuala Lumpur playing in last year’s Malaysia open championship is now ranked as the sixth best woman chess player in the world. Over the past year, she had risen from 13th position.