CHESS#1259
Magnus Carlsen sizzled at the blitz section of the Grand Chess Tour, Lieven. After the Rapids section, Wesley So (7 points from 9 games) led. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (6) was second and Carlsen (5.5) shared third with Anish Giri (5.5). Since the Rapids has twice the weight, the gap looked insurmountable.
But Carlsen scored an amazing 14.5 points from 18 blitz games. So fell away, scoring only 8.5 while Giri (10) and MVL (10) shared second-third, a distant four points behind. Put together, Carlsen won with 25.5 (doubling rapid score) while So (22.5) and MVL (22) followed. Once again, he shifted up a gear when he needed to.
Fast play is not a format that favours older players. The 47-yearold Viswanathan Anand (16), who was, for a decade, the best rapid player in the world, ended in 8th spot, ahead of another "oldie" Vassily Ivanchuk (15.5) and Baadur Jobava (3.5). Anand excoriated himself later for poor play in somewhat politically incorrect terms.
Incidentally, speaking of oldies, Garry Kasparov will play the St Louis leg of the GCT. On the basis of his display last year in a four-person exhibition versus So, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, the 54-year-old legend is still a formidable competitor.
The July list has an unprecedented six players rated at above 2800. Carlsen looks human at 2819, which is 62 points. Vladimir Kramnik is #2 with 2812. So has slid to #3 with 2810. Levon Aronian has jumped to 2809. Caruana is 2807 and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov has joined the 2800 club with exactly 2800. There are seven Indians in the top 100, five in the top 100 Women and 11 in the top 100 juniors list, which is most heartening. Vidit Gujrathi (2693) could soon become the fourth Indian to cross 2700.
The Commonwealth Championships is on in New Delhi with a field of about 110 players in the Open section. Three rounds in, there are 6 players with perfect scores in the 9-round Swiss.
In the Diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (White: Carlsen Vs Black: Vachier Lagrave, GCT Blitz Leuven 2017), Carlsen played creatively against a major rival. White found 19.Rxg7!?
19...Qxg7? [ The cool 19...Kf8! is much better with maybe an edge for black] Play went 20.Nxf6+ Kd8 21.Qf5 Re8 22.Nxe8 Kxe8 23.c5 with a huge bind. White is essentially a piece up with a safe king as well.
White found an interesting way to grab the g-file with 23...b5 24.Bd3 f6 25.Ke2 Kf7 26.Rh1! Rb8 27.Kf1! Qg6 28.Qf3 Qh6 29.Rg1 Ba6 30.Qg4 Rd8 31.Rg3 e4 32.Qxe4 Re8 33.Qg4 Bc8 34.Kg2 Qg5 35.Qf3 Qd5. Giving up after 36.Qxd5+ cxd5 37.Bxh7 Re5 38.f4 Re2+ 39.Kf1 Rxh2 40.Bg8+ Kf8 41.Bxd5 Rh8 42.Kf2 Ba6 43.Ke3 Ke8 44.Kd4 Kd8 45.Rg7 Bc8 46.c6 dxc6 47.Bxc6 a5 48.Kc5 (1–0).