New (Global) Challenges

John B. Henderson • Jun 22, 2023

Having abdicated his classical world crown, his world ranking on the slide after an abysmal failure at the recent Norway Chess Tournament, and his own online company sold off to a one-time rival, Magnus Carlsen could be looking for new challenges with the formation of the Tech Mahindindra Global Chess League (GCL), the first franchise-based team chess event.

The GCL - a cross venture with Indian and Dubai funding - officially launched on Wednesday and is being played in Dubai, running through to 2 July. With no online play, the unique twist is that six teams of six will include an icon of the game, two elite GMs, two women GMs and an under-21 junior.

“Now I’m probably more concerned about going for events that I find interesting,” Carlsen said in a recent interview. The GCL seems to have ticked all the Norwegian’s boxes, and he’s one of the six “icons” on show, with his opponents including the new world champion, Ding Liren, the defeated 2021 challenger, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and the former six-time champion Vishy Anand.

Carlsen’s team, SG Alpine Warriors (the “SG” standing for Sanjay Gupta, CEO of its sponsoring firm), includes three top Indian talents Dommaraju Gukesh, 17, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, also 17, and Arjun Erigaisi, 19 - and not unsurprisingly, they are among the favourites to win the inaugural title.

“I especially like being on a team with younger players. That excites me a lot,” Carlsen added. “Any questions they have, I’m happy to answer, to try and inspire them for the future. Hopefully, I can learn a thing or two from them as well.”

One of Carlsen’s young team members who probably excited him this week was Gukesh D, with the world #13 on top form as he convincingly trounced GM Raunak Sadhwani by a seven-point margin, 17.5-10.5, in the all-Indian grand final to become the Chess.com 2023 Junior Speed Chess Champion.

Apart from earning $21,582 in total for his overall performance - winning every single match against his fellow best juniors in the world by at least a six-point lead - the world’s top teenager (now that Alireza Firouzja recently turned 20) also gets his ticket to play among the "big boys" in the main Chess.com Speed Chess Championship in December.

GM Gukesh D - GM Raunak Sadhwani

Chess.com Junior Speed Chess Final, (3) 

B08: Pirc, Classical System (5.Be2)

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 Very Karpovian! The Classical against the Pirc Defence was the favoured approach of Anatoly Karpov, the Soviet who supplanted Bobby Fischer as World Champion. His approach was less dashing, like Tal or Kasparov, but more of a positional squeeze - and in Karpov's hands in the period of the mid-1970s through to the 1980s, that squeeze was very python-like. 5...O-O 6.O-O a6 During peak Karpov times, more usual was 6...Nc6 or even 6...c6 (followed by ...Nbd7) - but for those playing ...Nc6 lines, it was discovered that playing ...a6 first was more beneficial, as forcing White to respond with a4 offers up an ideal square on b4 for the Black knight. 7.a4 Nc6 8.d5 Nb4 9.Re1 c6 10.dxc6 Nxc6 11.Bf1 Bd7 12.Nd5 As typical in the Classical, White enjoys a little space advantage, and Gukesh ruthlessly exploits this in true Karpovian style. 12...Rc8 13.c3 Bg4 14.h3 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 Nd7 16.Bg5 Nc5 17.b4! There is nothing much in this position - but with some deft handling, Gukesh makes the most of his tiny advantage by expanding on the queenside. 17...Ne6 18.Bh4 f6? Panic seems to be setting in early doors for Raunak. Black has to fight more energetically to stay competitive, and the only to do so was with 18...a5 19.bxa5 (The only move. After 19.b5?! Ne5 20.Qe3 f6 Black is very solid) 19...g5 20.Bg3 Nc5 21.Rad1 Ne5 22.Qe3 h6 and take your chances here. 19.Qe3 Kh8?! Again, another timid/cautious move - and with it, this gives Gukesh all the momentum he needs for a total stranglehold over his opponent. 20.f4 Nc7 21.Nb6 Rb8 22.b5 Na7 23.Rab1 More testing, as the engine is quick to spot, is 23.f5! that just totally blocks Black in. 23...Nc8 24.Nd5 As in the previous note, better again was 24.Nxc8 Qxc8 25.f5! 24...axb5 25.Bxb5! Black's b-pawn is now a liability. 25...e6

No better is 25...Nxb5 26.Rxb5 e6 27.Nb4 as long-term, the b-pawn will become a big liability. 26.Nxc7 Qxc7 27.Red1 Gukesh has the bishop-pair and the better rooks, so what's not to like here for White? 27...Ne7 28.Bf2 f5 29.e5! Offering up a pawn sacrifice that Black dare not accept, as the game opening up will only be to White's advantage with his rampant rooks and bishops lurking with intent. 29...Nd5 It's getting desperate now for Black. And while slightly better was 29...Nc8 it is no answer as White comes in over the top with 30.Qd4! dxe5 31.Qc5! Qxc5 32.Bxc5 Rg8 33.Bc4 and the bishops and rooks will soon be mopping up a lot of material. 30.exd6 Qxd6 (see diagram) 31.c4! This might be blitz, but Gukesh's masterful handling of the game and now the transition to the endgame, easily sees him going on to win with ease. 31...Nxe3 32.Rxd6 Nc2 33.Rxe6 Nd4 34.Re7 Bf6 35.Rd7 Ne2+ 36.Kf1 Nxf4 37.Ba7 Rbd8 38.Rxb7 It's not just the matter that White's a pawn up, the decisive factor is that his a- and c-pawns are passed and well supported by his bishops and rooks. The end comes swiftly. 38...Rd2? This whole game had to be agony for Raunak, who, frustrated, now decides he may as well hang for the sheep as for the lamb.

39.Be3 Rd4 40.Bxd4 Bxd4 41.a5 Nh5 42.Ke2 Bc5 43.Rd7 Nf6 44.Rc7 Ne4 45.Kd3 Nf2+ 46.Kc2 Ne4 47.a6 f4 48.a7 1-0 Black resigns with no answer to the coming Bc6 and Rb8. It is a blitz game, but nevertheless superbly executed in true Karpovian style by rising star Gukesh D!

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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.