All is well Isle of Man

The Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown Dependency located between Great Britain and Ireland. Its capital city is Douglas, Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state and is represented by a Lieutenant Governor. Foreign relations and defense are the responsibility of the British Government while the island’s own parliament and government have competence over all domestic matters. Total area of the island is 148 square kilometers and it has a total population of around 85,000. And once every year it organizes a giant chess open tournament where the chess elite and chess tourists + enthusiasts can mingle and just enjoy themselves.

Isle of Man Masters 2017 Sept. 23- Oct. 1, 2017 Douglas, England

Final Top Standings ( all GM) 1. Magnus Carlsen NOR 2827, 7.5/9 2-3. Viswanathan Anand IND 2794, Hikaru Nakamura USA 2781, 7.0/9

4-12. Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2803, Fabiano Caruana USA 2799, Michael Adams ENG 2738, Pavel Eljanov UKR 2734, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2702, Emil Sutovsky ISR 2683, Richard Rapport HUN 2675, Alexei Shirov LAT 2630, Swapnil Dhopade IND 2532, 6.5/9

13-24. Maxim Rodshtein ISR 2695, Peter Leko HUN 2679, Rustam Kasimdzhanov UZB 2676, Sergei Movsesian ARM 2671, Hou Yifan CHN 2670, Julio Granda Zuniga PER 2653, Gabriel Sargissian ARM 2652, Erwin L’Ami NED 2611, Falko Bindrich GER 2598, Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan IND 2568, Aleksandr Lenderman USA 2565, Dennis Wagner GER 2564, 6.0/9 Total of 160 players Time Control: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes play-to-finish. Thirty seconds added to time after every move starting move 1.

The reigning world champion was knocked-out in the 3rd round of the 2017 World Cup. This did not please him at all, but at least it gave him time to jet down to Douglas to take part in its ridiculously strong annual chess open tournament. Magnus was accompanied by his girlfriend Synne Christin Larsen (no relation to the “Great Dane” Bent Larsen), no parents and seconds but that did not stop him from tearing through the field with six wins and three draws for 7.5/9, a 2890 performance rating and solo first place.

We finally saw vintage Magnus Carlsen again — playing openings with no goal in mind except to get a playable middlegame and then completely outclassing his opponents.

Eljanov, Pavel (2734) — Carlsen, Magnus (2827) [B00] Isle of Man Open Douglas (6), 28.09.2017 1.Nf3 b6!?

Yup, Magnus Carlsen likes to show that he can play anything he wants and still win.

2.e4 Bb7 3.Nc3 e6 4.d4 Bb4 5.Bd3 Nf6 6. Qe2 d5 7. exd5 Qxd5! 8.0– 0 Bxc3 9.bxc3 Nbd7 10.c4 Qh5 11.Bf4 Rc8 12.a4 a5 13.Rab1

Eljanov always plays to win with the white pieces, no matter who is sitting across the board. Carlsen pointed out that 13.Nd2 Qxe2 14.Bxe2 would leave White is the slightly better position because of his center, but nothing special and the queens are off.

13...0–0 14.Rb5 c5 15.dxc5 Rxc5 16.Bd6 Rxb5 17.cxb5?

The first move which comes to mind, as it straightens white’s queenside pawns. However, 17. axb5 is better as Black does not take over the c-file.

17... Rc8 18. c4 Nc5 19. Bc2 Nce4 20.Bf4?

GM John Nunn wrote a nice book on the Secrets of Practical Chess where he gave pointers on how to play the game. For example there is the principle of DAUT, don’t analyze unnecessary tactics and, an important concept, LPDO, or Loose Pieces Drop Off. Most games are decided by relatively simple tactics involving undefended pieces when the LP would duly DO. Here better for White was Bg3 because now the bishop becomes vulnerable.

20...Nc3! 21.Qd3 Qg4

More to the point would have been 21...Bxf3! and now if 22.gxf3 (22.Qxf3 Qxf3 23.gxf3 Ne2+; 22.Qxc3 Nd5 23.Qd2 Qg4 24.Bg3 Qxc4) 22...Qg6+ 23.Qxg6 (23.Kh1 Qxd3 24.Bxd3 Nxa4) 23...hxg6 the c4–pawn is under attack and white cannot save it: 24.Bd3 (24.Bb3?? Ne2+) 24...Rd8 and White has a big problem because of the potential knight check on e2.

22.Be5?

Carlsen’s idea was 22. Qxc3 Qxf4 23.Nd2 Ng4 (23...Qg5 Bojkov, Dejan 24.f3) 24.g3 Qe5! 25.Qxe5 Nxe5 26.Rd1 g5 27.Bb3 when White’s pieces are stuck on defensive chores and Black will be moving his king to b4. No doubt Eljanov saw all of this, but his cure is worse than the disease!

22...Qxc4 23.Qxc4 Rxc4 24.Bd3 Rc8

Now Carlsen is a healthy pawn up and it is for all intents and purposes game over.

25.Ra1 Nfd5 26.Nd2 f6 27.Bd6 Nb4 28.Bc4 Bd5 29.Bf1 Nba2! 0–1

Black is winning another pawn so Eljanov gives up.

The former world champion Viswanathan Anand also had a good tournament with five wins and four draws to tie for second with Hikaru Nakamura. Perhaps it was the relaxed atmosphere of the tournament, but like Magnus he just put in a smooth performance reminiscent of his best years.

Anand, Viswanathan (2794) — Hou, Yifan (2670) [C01] Isle of Man Open Douglas (9), 01.10.2017 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6

As we had seen from the just-concluded World Cup, the Petroff is back as the preferred weapon for Black if a draw result is satisfactory.

3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d3

The main line of the Petroff goes 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0–0 Be7. The text move transposes into the French Defense Exchange Variation. Magnus Carlsen also plays this line.

5...Nf6 6.d4 d5

This is a bit of a weird situation. I remember GM Andrew Soltis once writing about symmetrical positions, that an extra move is sometimes more of a liability than an asset. He notes that the Exchange French position arising after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Nf6 “is pretty equal.” The same position, but with Black’s knight moved to e4, arises in Petroff ’s Defense after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5. That position offers White better chances precisely because Black’s extra move (...Ne4) allows the advanced knight to become a target for attack.

So if we are to follow that logic, why did Anand force the knight back to f6 — it was weak on e4. This thing is giving me a headache, perhaps reason for going over to the Exchange French is simply to avoid exchanging pieces and keep the game alive.

7.Bd3 Be7 8.0–0 0–0 9.Re1 Bg4 10.Bg5 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Re8 12.c3 c6 13.Qc2 h6

GM Alex Yermolinsky in his notes to this game on the chessbase Web site remarked that Black’s position is not as easy as you might think. For example 13...Nf8 is met with 14.Ne5 Bh5 15.f4! and now 15...h6 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Nf1 Bxe5 18.fxe5 f6 19.Ng3 Bf7 20.Nf5 fxe5 21.dxe5 Black is in a dangerous situation.

14.Bf4 Nh5 15.Be5 Bg5 16.h3 Bxf3 17.Nxf3 Bf4

Anand’s next move shows his class. <D>

POSITION AFTER 17...BF4

18.Bh7+! This move forces the king into the corner. You will see why Anand wanted it there in a few moves.

18...Kh8

[ 18... Kf8? 19. Qf5! Ndf6 20. g3 Bxe5 21.dxe5 Black has to shed some material]

19.Bxf4 Nxf4 20.Bf5!

The black knight on f4 is getting encircled.

20...Qc7

Hou would like to get her knight back into her side of the board but couldn’t find a safe way to do it. For example 20... Ne6 21.Bxe6 Rxe6 22.Rxe6 fxe6 23.Re1 Qe7 24.g3! followed by Nh4 is not in her best interest.

21.Bxd7 Qxd7 22.Ne5 Qe6 23.Re3 Kg8

Now we see why Anand took the black king to the corner on move 18. On h8 it cannot prevent White from occupying the seventh rank after 23...Ng6 24.Nxg6+ Qxg6 25.Qxg6 fxg6 26.Rae1 Rxe3 27.Rxe3 followed by Re7.

24.Rae1 Qc8

The former Women’s World Champion is in a difficult position. Alternatives: 24...Qf6?? 25.Nd7; 24...Qd6 25.Qf5 (attacking f7) 25...Qf6 26.Qxf6 gxf6 27.Ng4 Rxe3 28.fxe3 Nd3 29.Re2! Black is going to lose the knight;

25. Nxf7! Rxe3 26. Rxe3 Kxf7 27.Rf3

The point

27...Kg8

Not 27...g5 28.Qh7+

28.Rxf4 Qe6 29.Qf5 Re8 30.Qxe6+ Rxe6 31.Kf1

For ordinary mortals like us we could still hope to get a draw as “all rook endings are drawn.” But this is Anand with White 31...a5 32.Rf3 Rg6 33.a4 Rd6 34.Ke2 Rd8 35.Kd3 Rb8 36.Rf5 b5 37.axb5 Rxb5 38.Kc2 Rb7 39.f4 Rb8 40.g4 a4 41.Re5 Kf7 42.f5 Ra8 43.Re6 Rc8 44.Re5 Ra8 45.h4 a3 46.bxa3 Rxa3 47.Kb2 Ra8 48.g5 hxg5 49.hxg5 Rb8+ 50.Kc2 Rh8 51.Re6 Rh5 52.g6+ Kf8 53.f6 1–0

These two “oldies” have done very well in a tournament circuit which the youngsters seem to be taking over. But the best “oldie but goodie” story is the one about GM James Tarjan. Never heard of him? He was a mainstay of the US Olympiad team in the ’70s and early ’80s but quit chess in 1984. That was 33 years ago. He unretired recently and came up with a big performance here in the Isle of Man. Read about it in our Tuesday column.