CHESS#1293

The Tal Memorial Rapid featured a stellar 10-player field competing for $130,000, with $25,000 as the first prize. The time control was 25 minutes with a 10-second increment. There were two former world champions — Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand, two former challengers — Boris Gelfand and Sergei Karjakin, four candidates — Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk, Hikaru Nakamura and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The young Russian stars, Daniil Dubov and Ian Nepomniahtchi completed the field.

The blitz that followed was a 14player event with Vladimir Fedoseev, Vladislav Artemiev, Dmitry Andreikin and Alexander Morozevich added. It had a $30,000 prize, with $10,000 for first place at a control of five minutes, with a 3-second increment.

Anand won the Rapid with a round to spare. He scored six points from nine games, with one loss to Mamedyarov and wins versus Nakamura, Dubov, Nepomniachtchi and Grischuk. The game against Grischuk featured a superb mating combination. Second-third-fourth went to Mamedyarov, Karjakin and Nakamura (all on 5). The Blitz was won by Karjakin who scored an amazing 10 (+8, =4,-1) from 13 games. He was followed by Hikaru Nakamura (8.5) in second and Ian Nepomniahtchi (8). Anand finished on 6 (+3, =6, -4) after a roller-coaster.

Presumably “Shakh”, Kramnik, Karjakin and Grischuk would have used the Tal Mem as a tune-up for the Candidates event that begins this weekend in Berlin. They would all have been avoiding critical opening lines that they will have prepared. The best guess would be that a "plus 4" score — four wins above 50 per cent — will be enough to win the double-round-robin 14 player event.

It's an open question whether playing the Tal Memorial, or the just-prior Aeroflot Open was a good idea before going into the Candidates. Karjakin’s Tal Memorial performance may, for example, have helped him run into form. But on the other hand, there is physical stress and taking a break might have helped in saving energy and staying fresh. That's what Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana have done.

Speaking personally, I’d love to see Aronian or Caruana go up against Magnus Carlsen. Both are capable of bursts of superhuman chess when they can string together several wins. Carlsen has played two title matches versus Anand, who was unrecognisable in the first match and not stable enough in the second. Carlsen has also played a match against Karjakin who pushed him close but never seemed capable of winning several games.

In the Diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (White: Anand Vs Black: Grischuk, 11th Tal Mem Rapid 2018), white sets up a wonderful but possibly flawed idea. He played 25.Rg5!? Qe6 26.Rf5 Rg8? [Black holds with 26. —f6! when the Rf5 is trapped. Now it's white to play and win]

The finish was 27.Ng5+! hxg5 28.Rxf7+! Qxf7 29.hxg5+ Kg7 30.Qh6# [1–0].