March Madness

John B. Henderson • Mar 20, 2023

Upsets have always been a defining element surrounding March Madness and this year has proved no different. The 2023 NCAA basketball tournament had barely tipped off when No 13 seed Furman, the smallest school in the field and making their first appearance in 43 years, sent fourth-seeded Virginia packing out of the competition. 


By the end of opening weekend, half of the four No 1 seeds were already out - and the really big shock came with Fairleigh Dickinson stunning Purdue to set an all-time upset for the little guy. 

Conversely, in the American Cup, the new $300,000 all-American invitational knockout chess tournament - that was timed to coincide with all the hoopla hype that surrounds the marquee NCAA contest - devised by the Saint Louis Chess Club- there were no similar shock feats of giant-killing heroics from the little guy, with all the top seeds winning their matches - the only minor element of upset seeing Levon Aronian losing out in his mid-bracket match-up with Leinier Dominguez, and the former now having to rely on the second chance ‘elimination bracket’ to stay in the contest.


All eyes, though, were on Hikaru Nakamura's return to classical chess after an eight-month hiatus, and he didn’t disappoint with fast-start to the American Cup and a decisive 1.5-0.5 win over Sam Sevian - more than enough to nudge the chess influencer and streamer up to world #5 on the unofficial live rating list, as he leapfrogs in the process Anish Giri, the Tata Steel Masters victor


Also marching through on tiebreaks to join Nakamura in the ‘championship bracket’ was Fabiano Caruana (over Ray Robson), Wesley So (over Sam Shankland) and Dominguez (over Aronian). All four American Women’s Cup matches were decided in classical chess, including 13-year-old Alice Lee beating Atousa Pourkashiyan 2-0.


And as Nakamura impressed the most, the smoothest win came from defending champion Caruana who, despite the intense pressures, turned in a classic Catalan as he emphatically beat Robson in the rapid tiebreaker.


There's live coverage of all the cup action, and free to watch with commentary by GMs Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila, IM Jovanka Huska, and others.

GM Fabiano Caruana - GM Ray Robson

American Cup, (1.4)

Catalan Closed

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Bb4+ 5.Nd2 A bit more in the spirit of the Catalan than 5.Bd2 more usually seen here. 5...O-O 6.Nf3 dxc4 Robson is a player who likes to push the envelope whenever he can with aggressive play. 7.Qc2 In the first game of this match, Caruana got nothing out of the opening from 7.0-0 c5, but when it matters the most, he risks all by coming up with a well-prepared new continuation for this decisive encounter. 8.0-0 Rare, very rare - more usual here is 8.dxc5 that Robson has seen a few times previously, and dealt easily with. But Caruana’s bold gamble pays off handsomely for the defending champion, as it catches Robson off-guard. 8…cxd4 9.Nxc4

Black is only ever temporarily a pawn up in the Catalan, as he can never hold on to the d-pawn with the mounting pressure down the d-file after Rd1. 9…Nc6?! This is where Robson started to lose the plot - an interesting and clever try is 9…d3!?.10.Rd1 Qe7? Robson opts to quickly return the pawn by 'getting on with' developing his pieces. A better try was 10...Bc5 11.a3 Bb6 12.Bf4 with a lot of central pressures with Rac1 and Qd3 coming to collect the d-pawn.11.a3 Bd6 12.Nxd4 Nxd4 13.Rxd4 Bc7 14.Rd1 Rb8? This is just wrong and Caruana soon capitalises on Robson's series of miscues - better was sacrificing the b-pawn with 14...Bd7 15.Bxb7 Rab8 16.Bf3 Rfc8 which at least offers Black good compensation for the pawn.15.Bd2! Suddenly Robson is in a whole world of hurt, as he realises that the threat of Bb4 now sees his uncomfortable position becoming, well, er, distinctly more uncomfortable! 15...Rd8 16.Bb4 Qe8 Worse was 16...Rxd1+ 17.Rxd1 Qe8 18.Nd6 Bxd6 19.Bxd6 Ra8 20.Bc7 Nd7 21.Ba5 and Black is quickly running out of sensible moves that don’t lose outright.17.Nd6 Bxd6 18.Bxd6 Ra8 19.Bc7! Again, Robson has to go through uncomfortable contortions in an effort to try to stay in the game.19...Rd7 20.Rxd7 Nxd7 21.Rd1 a5 22.Qb3 Something is going to have to give soon in Black's position, and Robson's hope is that it is only a pawn - but Caruana has other ideas! 22...h6 23.Qb5! Ruthlessly, Caruana ups the ante by heaping more pressure on Robson's pitiful position. 23...a4 24.Rd4 With Black's position all but paralysed, a much stronger option was to be found in 24.e4! b6 25.Qc6 Ra5 26.Bf4 Rc5 27.Qxa4 Ra5 28.Qb4 e5 29.Be3 with b6 also falling, and with it Black's position. 24...Qe7?? All tied up like a sadomasochist relishing the pleasure in all the pain, Robson either blunders big-time here or he realises that the jig is up anyway - but there was no fun at all to be had even by finding the 'right' move of 24...Ra7 25.Be4! g6 26.Bc2 e5 27.Rxa4 and once again, as the a-pawn falls, so does Black's position with it. 25.Bxb7 e5 [see diagram] 26.Bxe5! For some reason, the multi-Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once comes to mind here! 26...Ra7 27.Bxc8 Nxe5 28.Re4 f6 29.Rxa4 All roads lead to Rome here, but the quickest way to get there was with 29.f4! Qd8 30.fxe5 Qxc8 31.exf6 and Black's king can't survive the coming carnage. 29...Rc7 30.Bf5 g6 31.Ra8+It is academic anyway being three pawns up, but nevertheless, Caruana finds a stylish way to win. 31...Kh7 32.Qb8! Qg7 33.Be6 h5 34.b4 f5 35.b5 h4 36.gxh4 Kh6 37.Qh8+ Qxh8 38.Rxh8+ Kg7 39.Rc8 Rb7 40.a4 Kf6 41.Bd5 Rd7 42.Rc5 Ke7 Robson is merely 'going through the motions' of making moves here, waiting for Caruana to come in for the kill. 43.b6 Kd6 44.Rb5 Rh7 45.a5 Nd7 46.Bf3 Nb8 47.Rd5+ Ke7 48.Rd4 Rh8 49.Kg2 Ke6 50.e3 Ke5 51.Bb7 f4 52.a6 fxe3 53.fxe3 Nxa6 54.Bxa6 1-0

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.
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