The Circus is in Town!

John B. Henderson • Jul 06, 2023

The chess world is almost resembling a travelling circus these days. There are rivalling big-money tours, online tours, team-franchise events and an ongoing Armageddon Series, to name but a few. And with little or no rest to breathe between them, “one town’s very like the other,” as the lyrics to Chess the Musical's hit One Night in Bangkok would have it.

And following hard on the heels of the inaugural Tech Mahindra Global Chess League in Dubai, a number of the big names packed their bags and headed straight over to Croatia for the Superunited Rapid & Blitz in Zagreb, the third leg and midway point of the $1.4m Grand Chess Tour; a series of five classical and speed tournaments held in Europe and the USA that will conclude in Saint Louis through November and early December with the season-ending Sinquefield Cup.

The GCL in Dubai might not have ended in success for Indian legend Vishy Anand, but it definitely blew away all the rust from lack of tournament praxis for the five-time ex-World Champion, with the wild card hitting the ground running in Zagreb with two wins and a draw (with the rapid scoring 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw) to take the opening-day honours, as he leads the 10-player field by a point.

Tied for second place are World No.1 Magnus Carlsen, Jan-Krzystof Duda, and Richard Rapport, each just a point behind Anand. And while a rejuvenated Anand impressed, another opening-day standout performer proved to be the always-entertaining and enlightening Rapport, with his brace of impressive wins over Fabiano Caruana and Duda.

The 2023 SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz can be followed live each day starting at 7:05 AM CT with Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Evgenij Miroshnichenko, Cristian Chirila and International Master Nazi Paikidze on the official Grand Chess Tour site and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels.

Rapid Day 1

1. V. Anand (India) 5/6; 2-4. M. Carlsen (Norway), JK Duda (Poland, R. Rapport (Romania) 4; 5-6. F. Caruana (USA), I. Saric (Croatia) 3; 7-9. A. Firouzja (France), I. Nepomniachtchi (FIDE), Gukesh D. (India) 2; 10. C. Lupulescu (Romania) 1.

GM Richard Rapport - GM Fabiano Caruana

SuperUnited Rapid 2023, (1)

 C00: French, King's Indian Attack

1.e4 e6 2.d3 The King's Indian Attack against the French Defence is very rarely - if ever - seen at the top-level anymore these days; but this was a big favourite of the young Bobby Fischer, who saw no wrong in it, as he would get a King's Indian Defence with an extra tempo. 2...d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 The KIA of 4.Ngf3 c5 5.g3 Nc6 6.Bg2 has all been well-worked out with the correct Black set-up to stop the vicious kingside assault that a young Fischer used to revel in. 4...Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.g3 Nc6 7.Bg2 f6 8.exf6 Nxf6 9.Ngf3 Bd6 10.O-O O-O 11.Re1 Qc7 12.Qe2

The early battle is over control of the vital e5-square - White cannot afford to let Black play ...e5 to burst the game open. 12...Bd7 13.c3 Kh8 14.Nb3 b6 If 14...Rae8 15.Ne5! with d4 coming next. 15.d4 Ne7 16.Be3 Nf5 17.Bf2 Ne4 18.Nbd2 Nxf2 19.Qxf2 Rac8 20.Kh1 cxd4 21.Nxd4 There's really nothing in the game with Rapport happy to see pawns and pieces being exchanged off. 21...e5 22.fxe5 Bxe5 23.Nxf5 Rxf5 24.Qe3 Bd6 25.Nb3 Now the focus moves to control of the d4-square and the battle over Black's isolated d-pawn - but as usual in these IQP scenarios, Black has the bishop-pair and active play for compensation. 25...Rcf8 26.Nd4 Rf2 27.Re2 R2f6 28.Rae1 b5 Two better alternatives looked like 28...Qc4!? 29.a3 Bg4 30.Rd2 or just cut to the chase with 28...Bg4!? 29.a3 a5

Caruana is looking to break-up the queenside with ...b4 and open the game more for his active pieces - but he is handicapped somewhat by the awkward IQP. 30.Qg5 b4 31.axb4 axb4 32.Re3?! Simpler and better was 32.Qxd5 bxc3 33.bxc3 Qxc3 34.Ne6 Rxe6 35.Rxe6 Bxe6 36.Qxe6 and next stop is Drawsville. 32...bxc3 33.bxc3 Bc5 Also good was the alternative of 33...Qc4!? with the looming threat of a "happening" on f1 indirectly protecting the IQP. 34.Qe5 Qb6 35.Qxd5 Bc6 36.Nxc6! Rapport gets to "mix it up" a little with a queen sacrifice, but not one that should be winning - though enough to make Caruana eat well into his clock time that ultimately proves fatal for the American. 36...Bxe3 37.Ne5 Bf2 38.Rd1 Qc7 39.Nd7 Rd8 40.Nxf6 Rxd5 41.Nxd5 Qe5 42.Ne3 h5 43.Nf1 g5 44.Rd5 Qe7 45.h4! The reason for Rapport's last move, as now both of Black's remaining pawns fall. 45...gxh4 46.Rxh5+ Kg7 47.Rxh4 Qe2 48.Re4 Qc2 49.Kh2 Retaining the second passed c-pawn can't be wrong, so better was 49.c4 and 49...Qd1 50.Kh2 Qh5+ 51.Rh4 but after 51...Qg5 I can't see how White makes any meaningful progress that would lead to a win. 49...Bc5 Taking the c3-pawn looks right, but I can imagine in the time-scramble that Caruana might fear that his king was going to be cut off on the h-file after 49...Qxc3 50.Rg4+ Kh8 - but I don't sense any mating dangers and, indeed, the engine just throws up total digital equality with "0.00". But the fear would have been there in the back of anyone's head, let alone Caruana's, that cutting the king off on the h-file potentially could be dangerous. 50.c4 Qf2 51.Rg4+ Kh6 52.Rf4 Qc2 53.Kh3 Kg7 54.Bd5 Bd6? This is where it all starts to go Pete Tong for Fabi - the draw was to be had with 54...Qh7+ 55.Kg2 (There's no escaping the draw. If 55.Rh4 Qf5+ 56.Rg4+ Kf6! and the king is out of the corner, leading to 57.Nh2 Ke7 58.Nf3 Kd6 59.Be4 Qd7 60.Kh4 Be3! and no progress that can lead to White winning) 55...Qc2+ 56.Kh3 Qh7+ etc. 55.Rf7+ Kh8 56.Ne3 Now the White pieces are mobilising with menacing intent - but it takes Caruana's time-trouble to help Rapport win this. 56...Qg6 57.Rf3 Qh7+ 58.Kg2 Qd3 59.Nf5 Qe2+ 60.Rf2 Qe5 61.Kh3 Be7?? (see diagram) Black holds the draw with 61...Qf6 62.Kg2 Qe5! - but easy for me to say aided by an engine and not having to worry about my flag metaphorically hanging on my digital clock! 62.Kg4! 1-0 And Caruana resigns, only now realising the sting in the tail being that Rapport's king coming forward opens up an unexpected and unstoppable mate with Rh2!

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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.