CHESS#1326
The Tata Steel Chess in Kolkata is overshadowed by the world title match in London with both events starting Friday. That's a pity. The Tata is a strong event, likely to produce interesting chess. The field includes five top-class foreign GMs in World #3 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (#8 on the rapid list), Wesley So (#6 Rapids), Levon Aronian (#7),Hikaru Nakamura (#2) and Sergey Karjakin (#9). The Indian squad is Viswanathan Anand, Pentalya Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Nihal Sarin in the rapids. Sarin is swapped for Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa in the following blitz event. The prize fund is about $40,000.
The title match has an official bookmaker in Unibet, the online sports betting site. Carlsen is somewhat the stronger at classical time controls, going by overall records. In the head-to-head, they've played 33 classical games, with 15 drawn. Carlsen has won 10 and Caruana has won five. In the rapids, Carlsen (2880) outrates Caruana (2789) comfortably and Carlsen (2939) is massively stronger than Caruana (2767) at blitz. The champion may opt for risk-free play. If he can't break through, he can look to outplay Caruana in shorter controls.
Beyond the technicalities and the stats, the psychological dimensions will be fascinating: Who wants to win more? Vladimir Kramnik and Nigel Short feel Caruana may win because he's hungrier. There's no lack of mutual respect. Carlsen (Classical Elo 2835) recently said "Caruana (2832 classical) is the most difficult to play against. He is not the most difficult to beat as he takes risks, but along with Aronian, he is the one I feel, who has outplayed me most often."
Caruana on his part believes, “Magnus is clearly the strongest player in the world. But I've shown I can take him on, on equal terms, maybe even outperform him. It should be a close match but of course, it's a whole new experience for me."
The other title event, the women's championship, continues at Ugra, Russia. Dronavalli Harika is the only Indian into the round of 16. While Padmini Rout and Bhakti Kulkarni lost in the first round, #2 seed Koneru Humpy was knocked out by Polish WGM Yolanta Zawadska in round two.
The DIAGRAM, Black to Play (White: Caruana Vs Black: Carlsen, Isle of Man 2017) is a counter-intuitive position. White has a big centre, dominating pieces. But he's struggling. Carlsen played 24. — Qd8! [Now 25. Rcb1!? Nxa5 26. Nh5 may give compensation. Or 25. d5 Bex3 26. Qxe3 Bd7 27. c4!? ]. White played 25. Qb2? Nxa5 26. Nd2 d5! 27. Re1 Bb8 28. exd5 Bxd5 29. Bf5 Rc6 30. Qa3 Nb7 31. Rad1 exd4 32. Bxd4 Ng5! 33. c4 Rxe1+ 34. Rxe1 Be6 35. Qe3 Bf4!! [This finishes due to forks on f3,h3 — Bxd2 is a threat] (0-1)