Continental Drift

John B. Henderson • Mar 15, 2023

There’s an effective chess brain drain going on in Russia following the geopolitical fallout after the Ukraine invasion and the ongoing war in the country. Many top grandmasters have left Mother Russia by switching to new federations, the most high-profile being the former Women’s World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, who now officially represents Switzerland, having dual nationality from her first marriage.

And in a further embarrassing controversy that was instantly decried by the European Chess Union (ECU) to be a “shameful day” for the game, FIDE paved the way with the announcement of a series of pre-approved measures to enable the Chess Federation of Russia (CFR) to quickly change continents, thus able to evade sanctions with a historic switch to Asia.

The move comes following a year-long spat between the ECU and the CFR, with strong pressure from the Ukraine Chess Federation and many other European federations to sanction and suspend the Russian federation and its Belarusian equivalent after the tanks rolled into Ukraine.

The decision comes with far-reaching consequences for Russian players who will no longer be eligible to play in ECU events from 1 March. Russians who wish to compete in Europe after then will have to follow the exodus by having to take the difficult step of abandoning their home country and changing federation.

Before the switch came into force at the start of the month, it was confirmed that all Russian players, playing under a neutral Fide flag, would still be eligible to take part in their last European event, the 23rd European Individual Chess Championship, which was held in the old Serbian spa town of Vrnjacka Banja, and ran from 23 February through to 3 March.

Ironically, the key deciding game for the destination of the title proved to be the Round 9 clash between the young Russian, Alexey Sarana, and Ukraine veteran Anton Korobov.

That win was crucial for Sarana, 23, to not only go on to take the title on tiebreak - after he finished on 8½/11, alongside co-leaders Kirill Shevchenko and Daniel Dardha - but also he now enters the annals as the last Russian winner of the European continental title.

GM Alexey Sarana - GM Anton Korobov

23rd European Indie. Championship, (9

Bogo-Indian Defence

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+The Bogo-Indian, was named after the Russian-born German master Efim Bogoljubow, who was an early 20th-century title challenger. This solid option to 3.Nf3 became popular in the 1980s as the venerable Queen's Indian suffered a double reputational setback, first with the dangerous Polugaevsky Gambit in the Fianchetto Variation, and then the Kasparov-Petrosian Variation. 4.Bd2 c5 5.Bxb4 cxb4 6.e3 b6 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.Nbd2 O-O 9.O-O a5 10.Re1 d6 11.e4 White has a big space advantage due to his central pawn mass.11...Nc6 12.Nf1 e5 13.Bc2 Rc8 14.Rc1 g6 15.Ba4 Qe7 16.Ne3 Nxd4 17.Nxd4 exd4 18.Qxd4 Nxe4 It was either this or seeing White consolidate with f3 and then relentlessly prey on the weak d6-pawn. 19.Ng4 Qg5 20.Bd7 Rc5 21.Rcd1 h5 22.Rxe4! hxg4 Losing quickly was 22...Bxe4?? 23.Nf6+ Kh8 24.Nxe4+ Qe5 25.Nxc5 and Black can resign being both a piece and the position down. 23.Rxg4 Qe5 24.Qxd6 Qxd6?The turning point in the game, and Korobov picks the wrong way to go about trying to save the ending, as all he achieves is to better activate Sarana's pieces - and it all goes quickly downhill from here for Korobov. His best try was to look to better activate his own pieces, and with that in mind, the engine soon finds 24...Bc8! that forces 25.Qxe5 Rxe5 26.Bxc8 Rxc8 27.Kf1 White has to stop ...Re2 at all costs. 27...b5! 28.Rd5 (Not 28.cxb5?! Rc2! 29.b6 Rb5 and Black's active rooks will save the game.)

28...Rxd5 29.cxd5 Kf8 30.Re4 Rc5 31.d6 Rd5 32.Ke2 Rxd6 33.Re5 Rc6 and a R+P ending that has excellent saving chances. 25.Rxd6 Rd8 26.Rgd4 Kf8 27.Bb5 Rxd6 28.Rxd6 Be4 29.Rxb6 Bd3 30.Rb8+ Ke7 31.b3 Bb1 32.Ba4 Re5

If only Black could capture on a2 he might have saving chances - but alas, the a2-pawn is strictly verboten. After 32...Bxa2? 33.Re8+ Kd6 34.Re1! Re5 35.Rd1+ Kc5 36.Kf1 and Black can't stop Rd1-a1 from picking up the trapped Black bishop. 33.f4 Re1+ 34.Kf2 Rc1 35.Re8+A nice piece of technique now carries Sarana to victory. 35...Kd6 36.Re1 Rc2+ 37.Re2 Rc3 38.Rd2+ Kc5 39.Be8! f6 40.Rd5+ Kb6 41.Rd6+ Kc5 42.Rd5+ Kb6 43.Rd2 Kc5? Sans a couple of pawns, and with bishops of the same colour on the board, Black faces eventual defeat - but as hopeless as the situation is, a better fist of trying to hang on was to be found with 43...g5 44.fxg5 fxg5 45.g3 where, although White creates the outside passed h-pawn, a working shift still needs to be put in to convert for the full point. As it is, Korobov's move just makes White winning task a less onerous one. 44.h4! Putting the big kibosh on ...g5 - and with it, now Sarana easily converts for a crucial win en route to victory.44...Be4 [see diagram] 45.f5! White was winning anyway, but this is a nice little endgame finesse. 45...gxf5 Worse was 45...Bxf5 46.h5! gxh5 47.Rd5+ winning the bishop and will pick off all of Black's kingside pawns for an easy win. 46.h5 The running h-pawn now wins the day. 46...a4 47.Bxa4 f4 48.Re2 Bxg2 A nice tactical try to save the game, but alas...49.Bd7! Covering the crucial h3 square, preventing the Black rook from getting behind the dangerous h-pawn as it storms unhindered up the board.

49...Bf3 50.h6! "Finis", as they would say at the end of those sub-titled European movies! 50...Bxe2 51.h7 Rc2 52.h8=Q Bg4+ 53.Ke1 Rc1+ 54.Kd2 Rd1+ 55.Kc2 Rxd7 56.Qxf6 Material-wise, it might well look roughly equal - but Sarana's dominatrix queen will soon mop up more material. 56...Bd1+ 57.Kc11-0 Korobov resigns, facing the hopeless future of 57...f3 58.Qf8+ Kc6 59.Qc8+ Kd6 (or worse, 59...Rc7 60.Qe6+ Kb7 61.Kxd1 with a trivial win.)

60.Kxd1 etc.

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The 42 Paradox

By John B. Henderson • 02 Oct, 2023

Well, well, well. After rampaging his way through many of the finals and opponents throughout the 2023 Champions Chess Tour, Magnus Carlsen’s “final boss” reign came to a screeching halt in what proved to be an enthralling AI Cup Grand Final on Friday, as the favourite was beaten not once but in three games, and over two matches, by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who sensationally grabbed the last remaining spot in the Champions Tour Final in December. Earlier, Carlsen had defeated MVL in the final of the winners’ bracket, before the Frenchman gained the right to a rematch in the double-elimination contest by beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final of the losers’ bracket. In the Grand Final, buoyed up and firing on all cylinders, MVL beat Carlsen by a 2½-1½ score.

We'll Meet Again

By John B. Henderson • 29 Sep, 2023

The self-proclaimed “final boss of chess” does what the final boss of chess does best of all: Magnus Carlsen beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final of the AI Cup winners’ bracket, the sixth and final leg of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour regular season, to reach yet another Grand Final in the novel double-elimination contest. But it wasn’t without an epic bare-knuckle street fight from both players, as MVL proved to be a worthy opponent for what looked to be an unstoppable Carlsen, who narrowly prevailed in the Armageddon to take the match 3-2. "This is the sort of thing that happens when you play Sicilians in every game," said a magnanimous Carlsen in victory after four fighting Sicilians left the match tied at 2-2.

Tiers For Fears

By John B. Henderson • 27 Sep, 2023

Fans were treated to arguably the greatest online rivalry in chess history recently, with the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship Grand Final showdown between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura seeing the Norwegian narrowly snatch victory by a solitary win to end the American speed maven’s hopes of a sixth successive victory. But Carlsen’s narrow win left the salivating fans feeling they’d been denied seeing this epic gladiatorial speed contest going into overtime - but they didn’t have to wait long for the rivalry redux, as a couple of days later, both Carlsen and Nakamura went head-to-head yet again in the opening day of the AI Cup, the sixth and final leg of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour regular season.

Bossing It

By John B. Henderson • 25 Sep, 2023

Magnus Carlsen more than lived up to his self-proclamation of being “The Final Boss of Chess” with a revenge-is-sweet narrow victory over fellow chess influencer Hikaru Nakamura, as he denied his long-time arch-rival a sixth successive Chess.com Speed Chess Championship title last Friday. Last year, it was Nakamura who narrowly squeaked home by one point - this time, in yet another thrilling match consisting of three different speed limits - 5+1, 3+1 and 1+1 (more commonly known as ‘bullet’) - between the two speed titans, it again ended with the same scoreline, though this time seeing Carlsen triumph by a solitary win after two pulsating hours of thrilling play, as he took the $150,000 2023 Speed Chess Championship presented by Coinbase, 13.5-12.5.

Death, Taxes, Magnus & Hikaru

By John B. Henderson • 22 Sep, 2023

With a smorgasbord of online chess events out there now, the granddaddy of them all is surely the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship , with a $150,000 prize fund that determines just who is the best blitz and bullet players. It has become the perennial fan-favourite with arguably the best viewing experience - and the fans are set for yet another spectacular finale later today, as the two rivals who dominate the roll of honour, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, get set for another explosive showdown in the 2023 final. Friday’s final and commentary, free to view, starts at 14:00 ET (11:00 PT; 20:00 CEST; 23:30 IST) on Chess.com. Carlsen and Nakamura have won each edition since the inaugural Speed Chess Championship event in 2016 - Carlsen won the first two speed titles before taking a hiatus, only for Nakamura to rule the roost, winning four more times.

A Messi Kid

By John B. Henderson • 19 Sep, 2023

India today is a land of amazing young talents and prospects in chess, with the country seemingly having a never-ending production line of prodigies rolling off the factory conveyor belt. But for some countries, such as Argentina, prodigies only seem to come around with all the regularity of Halley’s Comet . One of the first notable post-war chess prodigies was Oscar Panno from Buenos Aires, who became the first world-class player born in South America. In 1953, at the age of 17, he became only the second World Junior Champion , having won the coveted youth title ahead of a strong cadre of future elite-level Grandmasters such as Boris Ivkov (who in 1951 was crowned the first World Junior Ch), Bent Larsen, and Fredrik Olafsson.

The Great Rook 'n' Roll Swindle

By John B. Henderson • 14 Sep, 2023

“Chess is a cruel game. We all know that feeling when your position has gone awry and everything seems hopeless. You feel like resigning. But don’t give up! This is precisely the moment to switch to swindle mode. Master the art of provoking errors and you will be able to turn the tables and escape with a draw or sometimes even steal the full point!” So wrote David Smerdon, an Australian chess grandmaster and one of his country’s leading behavioural economists, on the back cover of his witty and wickedly entertaining, not to mention the much-lauded and deserving 2020 ECF Book of the Year winner, The Complete Chess Swindler (New in Chess).

No Country For Young Men

By John B. Henderson • 11 Sep, 2023

With the top teenage talents being overshadowed in the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid in Kolkata by a dominant performance from seasoned veteran Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, there were hopes of a homeland comeback in the follow-on Blitz tournament - and one looked to be on the cards, only for another “old guy”, this time Alexander Grischuk, crashing the teenage party by capturing the second, even faster speed title. Early doors, all eyes were firmly on Rameshbabu “Pragg” Praggnanandhaa, with his flying start of a perfect 5/5 on the opening day of the two-day double-round contest. But that was as good as it got for the 18-year-old Candidate-qualifier, who could only finish the day on 6.5/9, and despite being the sole leader, he held what looked a very slender half-point lead over nearest rivals Santosh Vidit and Grischuk, ominously the only unbeaten player.

My Indian Summer

By John B. Henderson • 08 Sep, 2023

The past couple of years have proved to be a major one for India - not only a global player with world leaders descending this week in New Delhi for the G20 Summit and recently successfully landing a spacecraft on the moon but now also a fully-fledged chess superpower, with many exciting young talents set to make the country a dominant force for the foreseeable future. Many would even speculate that Indian Chess could well turn into a hegemony, in much the same way as the Soviets dominated the chess scene in the 1945 post-war period until its collapse and ultimate dissolution in 1991. The latest big chess tournament to be held in India coincides with the G20, with the fifth Tata Steel Chess India Rapid & Blitz - a spinoff from the larger Dutch super-tournament, the Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee - taking place 5-9 September in Kolkata.

Me & The Kids

By John B. Henderson • 04 Sep, 2023

The fifth and latest leg of the Champions Chess Tour , the Julius Baer Generations Cup more than lived up to its name with the world No.1, Magnus Carlsen, after overpowering Alireza Firouzja in the winners’ final, to effortlessly cruise his way into the Grand Final, declaring: “It’s just me against the kids now!” After three clean kills that included a brace of back-to-back 2½-½ victories over Iranian Amin Tabatabaei and his old title foe Caruana, Carlsen proceeded to sweep Firouzja 3-0 to reach the Grand Final of the contest - but it wasn’t lost on the “old man” that non of his old rivals were left in the competition, and that meant that Denis Lazavik (16), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (18), and Firouzja (20) were the only three left standing to see who would go forward to meet him in the Grand Final.