The Cinderella Story

John B. Henderson • Jun 15, 2023

Elite-level invitational tournaments for females are very few and far between, whether that be in America or organised via Fide elsewhere in the globe. But one outstanding event is the Cairns Cup, the equivalent of the Sinquefield Cup, similarly organised and hosted by Saint Louis Chess Club - and with the same family connection and sponsorship!

Inspired by its mission to further promote the game of chess to females, the always-innovative Chess Club aptly chose the name “Cairns Cup” in honour of co-founder and US Chess Hall of Famer Dr Jeanne Sinquefield’s maiden name: A 10-player, nine-round classical event with the strongest female fields ever, with a record-breaking $180,000 prize fund on offer.

The 3rd Cairns Cup ran June 3-12 with top seeds Humpy Koneru, Alexander Kosteniuk, Nana Dzagnidze and Harika Dronavalli expected to duke it out for the title and the lion’s share of the generous prize fund - but it didn't go to the script for the favourites, with the Cinderella-story proving to be a US veteran turning in the performance of her long career to become the unlikely winner.

Sadly, due to an ongoing medical issue, India’s Humpy Koneru had to withdraw after four rounds; with the results of her games, as per the FIDE rules, being cancelled - these withdrawal rules have been around for decades and have always proved controversial, and this was no different, as it directly hit Kosteniuk, who saw an early win over a main rival being annulled, which crucially could have seen the two-time former women’s world champion possibly finishing on 6/9.

But through it all, the player who got off to a storming start was the lowest-rated player in the field, the four-time US Women’s Champion, IM Anna Zatonskih, who defied the rating and the age odds to clinch the tournament with a round to spare, who with some memorable big wins - most notably against Kosteniuk, who fought back with a very strong winning run to take second place - notched up an undefeated score of 6/8 to take the title and $45,000 first prize.

In the process, Zatonskih, 44 - the lowest-rated player in the field by some 150-points - not only had the biggest victory of her long career, but late in life she also attained her first full GM norm, as she ecstatically proclaimed in victory: "Very happy. Wow, unbelievable! Yes, the best achievement in my chess career, definitely, the best in many years… Ketevan Arakhamia became a GM at the age of 40; she’s one of my role models.”

For the record, at 44 years and 11 months, Zatonskih now becomes the oldest American to achieve a full GM norm, eclipsing the past feats of John Donaldson (44y 9 m) and Enrico Sevillano (44y 4.5m). Larry Kaufman doesn't count in this respect, because with no previous GM norms, he only achieved the full title at the ripe-old age of 61 by virtue of winning the World Senior Championship title.

Final standings:

1. IM A. Zatonskih (USA) 6/8; 2. GM A. Kosteniuk (Switzerland) 5; 3-4. GM B. Khotenashvili (Georgia), GM I. Krush (USA) 4.5; 5. GM N. Dzagnidze (Georgia) 4; 6-7. GM H. Dronavalli (India), GM E. Paehtz (Germany) 3.5; 8. IM G. Mammadzada (Azerbaijan) 3; 9. GM Z. Abdumalik (Kazakhstan) 2.

GM Alexandra Kosteniuk - IM Anna Zatonskih

3rd Cairns Cup, (4)

C02: French, Advance

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 Zatonskih has been a lifelong devotee of the French Defence. 3.e5 Rather than the more standard replies of 3.Nc3 and 3. Nd2, the Advance variation is the reserve for those souls with more enterprising spirits! 3...c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Na3!? More usual in the Advance is 6.Be2/6.a3 (or perhaps even 6.Bd3 and the Milner-Barry Gambit) - but this an interesting, relatively newish millennium move championed by Russian original thinker Vadim Zyjaginsev with a speciality of surprising opponents with an early Na3, such as his provocative line against the Sicilian Defence with 1.e4 c5 2.Na3!?. 6...cxd4 7.cxd4 Bd7 The principled move is the immediate 7...Bb4+ 8.Bd2 and then 8...Bd7 (Highly dubious is the pawn snatch 8...Bxa3 9.bxa3 Nxd4 10.Qa4+ Nc6 11.Bd3 Ne7 12.Rb1 Qc7 13.O-O and White has excellent compensation for the pawn) 9.Nc2 (The reason behind 6.Na3) 9...Bxd2+ 10.Qxd2 Qxb2 11.Bd3 Nge7 12.O-O Qb6 13.Qg5 Ng6 where White has compensation, but Black does have the pawn! 8.Be2 Bb4+ 9.Kf1

It's no biggie, but the difference is the little king shuffle to f1 does at least preserve the bishop-pair. 9...Bxa3 As explained in the above note, this is a little suspect as White has the bishop-pair and open lines to attack - but on the other hand, Black has a solid position and the better pawn structure. 10.bxa3 Na5 Looking to play ...Bb5 to trade off the light-squared bishops. 11.Qd3 A little puzzling, as I thought the way to continue for White was 11.Bd3 Bb5 12.Rb1 Bxd3+ 13.Qxd3 Qc6 14.Bd2 Nc4 15.g3 with a space advantage; though once again, Black having a solid position and the better pawn structure. 11...Ba4 12.Bd2 Nc4 13.Rb1 Qc6 14.Qc3 Yet another puzzling queen move - I thought White had to play 14.Kg1 followed by h4-h5 etc. 14...Ne7 15.Qb4 Rc8 16.Bg5 The pawn is taboo for the obvious reason that 16.Qxb7?? Nxd2+ 17.Nxd2 Qxb7 18.Rxb7 Rc1+ winning. 16...Rc7 17.Bd1? A blunder that leaves Kosteniuk struggling to stay competitive. Once again, better was 17.Kg1 with the plan of h4-h5 etc. 17...Bxd1 18.Rxd1(see diagram) 18...Qa6! The reason for playing Kg1 earlier now becomes abundantly clear. 19.Kg1 Nc6 20.Qb3 Qxa3 What's not to like here for Zatonskih? She has an extra pawn AND the position. 21.h4 It's all too little too late now for Kosteniuk, as she has to defend a bad endgame sans a pawn. 21...Qxb3 22.axb3 Na3 23.h5 h6 24.Bd2 Nb5 25.Rh4 O-O Also, a good option was 25...Ne7 followed by ...Rc2. But either way, Black stands much better with an easy endgame squeeze. 26.Rg4 Kh7 27.Be1 Rfc8 Zatonskih just gets on with the job of building up her position. 28.Rd3 Ne7 29.Bd2 Rc2 30.Bb4 Nc6 Better was 30...Rc1+ 31.Kh2 Nc6 32.Bd6 Rc2 as this gains a move, leading to 33.Kg1 Rd8 34.Rf4 Kg8 and White is set to lose a second pawn as the bishop has no retreating squares. 31.Bd2 Ne7 32.Bb4 R8c7 33.Nh4 An awkward move to have to make, but White has to stop ...Nf5 somehow. 33...Nc3 34.Bd6 Rd7 35.Bb4 Rc7 36.Bd6 Rd7 Zatonskih just repeats a couple of moves to gain time on the clock heading to the first time-control. 37.Bb4 Ne4 38.Rf4 Nc6 39.Ba3 Ra2! Rendering White's bishop somewhat impotent - as well as the rest of the game, which just becomes academic for Zatonskih as she easily goes on to win a vital game against the tournament top seed en route to a famous victory. 40.b4 a6 41.f3 Losing the h5-pawn, but then again, what else to do considering that 41.g3 allows the forcing sequence 41...g5! 42.hxg6+ fxg6 43.Rff3 g5 44.Ng2 Kg7! 45.Ne3 Rf7 46.Rxf7+ Kxf7 47.Nd1 Rd2! 48.Rxd2 Nxd2 49.Bb2 Nb3 and the d4-pawn falls. 41...Ng3 42.Rg4 Nxh5 43.b5 axb5 44.Bc5 g5 45.f4 Nxf4 There are so many ways to win now, so it's a case of take your pick - but the engine being the engine, goes for the jugular with 45...f5! winning a piece with 46.exf6 Nxf6 etc. 46.Re3 Ne7 47.Nf3 Nf5 48.Rb3 Kg6 The rest is elementary for Zatonskih. 49.Kh2 Kh5 50.Rxf4 gxf4 51.Ne1 Ne3 52.Kh3 Kg5 53.g3 Nf5 54.Nf3+ Kg6 55.gxf4 Rf2 56.Bb6 Re7 57.Ba5 Re8 58.Be1 Re2 59.Rxb5 Ra8 60.Ba5 b6 61.Bb4 Re3 0-1

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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.