Regular visitors to this site may be wondering what is happening with the new stars of chess, the Chinese, whom we have featured from time to time. Well, the latest FIDE list has just been published and China has three players in the top twenty, second only to Russia: Ding Liren (9), Li Chao (15) and Yu Yangyi (20). Where is Wei Yi, you may ask? Well, he comes in at 39 behind three more Chinese players so he still has some ground to make up. Time is on his side, however. Recently, he represented his country in the Asian Nations Cup (Wei Yi third from left in the team photo) where he had mixed fortunes as did his team which could only finish second to India. However, he managed to fit in one classic king hunt typical of his style in the round 3 match against Vietnam.

White:  Wei Yi (2714)          Black: Thien Hai Dao (2481)

Asian Nations Cup (Dubai) 2016  

   1.  e4  c5  2.  Nf3  d6  3.  d4  cd4  4.  Nd4  Nf6  5.  Nc3  a6  6.  Bg5  e6 7.  f4  Nbd7  8.  Qe2  Qc7  9.  O-O-O  Be7  10.  g4  h6  11.  Bh4  g5 12.  fg5  Nh7  13.  Bg3  hg5  14.  Nf5  ef5  15.  Nd5  Qb8  16.  ef5  Ne5 17.  Ne7  Ke7  18.  Rd6  Qd6  19.  Be5  Qd5  20.  Bg2  Qa2  21.  Bd6 Kd6  22.  Rd1  Kc7  23.  Qe5  Kb6  24.  Qd4  Ka5  25.  Qc5  b5  26.  Qc7   

This year’s Chess Grand Tour will have a slightly different appearance after it was announced in January that Norway was pulling out of the three-venue competition. The London Chess Classic and the Sinquefield Cup continue as before and the organisers have acted quickly to find alternatives, and rapid and blitz tournaments in Paris and Brussels have been added to the tour.   Unfortunately,  World Champion, Magnus Carlsen, has decided not to play in London or St Louis in order to prepare for his title defence in November although he will play in Paris and Brussels. The most notable absentee from all four tournaments is Sergey Karjakin, Carlsen’s title challenger. Otherwise, nine of the top ten players in the world will play in all four tournaments.

Each tournament can pick one wild card. The London organisers have yet to decide, St. Louis have picked the Chinese number one, Ding Liren, while Brussels and Paris chose Magnus Carlsen. The tour kicks off with the rapid and blitz tournaments in Paris from June 7th-13th.

Bank holidays often provide fairly quiet evenings for those chess clubs that meet on Mondays.  Last night’s turnout of six was par for the course and with nothing arranged, it seemed a good idea to look through a few games from the recently-completed Moscow Candidates tournament.  We were fortunate in being able to analyse the decisive final game between Sergey Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana (see report below) two days before it appeared in the papers. David then suggested that we could play a mini-tournament between the six of us with all playing all and ten minutes each on the clock. Reg, Richard and the two Michaels were given a two-point handicap bonus because of their grades and this made it a close contest that was only decided with the last match between the Michaels. Michael Doyle was a worthy winner not just because he achieved the highest score but also because he beat David fair and square in their contest.  It was an enjoyable evening and possibly something we might repeat on bank holidays in the future when few games are arranged.

The Moscow Candidates Tournament concluded this afternoon with a fitting climax. By chance, Sergey Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana, the two leading players in this seemingly endless all-play-all competition, were drawn against each other in the final round to decide who would challenge Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship.

Your correspondent’s choice from the start was Caruana, a solid player who does not lose very often and who has a good recent record against Karjakin in classical chess. Karjakin, though, had the advantage of the white pieces and the tie break rules dictated that if both players finished on the same score – which they would if the game were drawn – then after checking the results between the two players (they drew their first game), the second tie break decider would be the number of games won, which would favour Karjakin.  Victory for either player would win the tournament.

White:  Sergey Karjakin (2760)          Black: Fabiano Caruana (2794)

World Championship Candidates (Moscow) 2016  Game 14

   1.e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O Bd7 9. f4 h6 10. Bh4 b5 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. f5 Qb6 13. fxe6 fxe6 14. Nxc6 Qxc6 15. Bd3 h5 16. Kb1 b4 17. Ne2 Qc5 18. Rhf1 Bh6 19. Qe1 a5 20. b3 Rg8 21. g3 Ke7 22. Bc4 Be3 23. Rf3 Rg4 24. Qf1 Rf8 25. Nf4 Bxf4 26. Rxf4 a4 27. bxa4 Bxa4 28. Qd3 Bc6 29. Bb3 Rg5 30. e5 Rxe5 31. Rc4 Rd5 32. Qe2 Qb6 33. Rh4 Re5 34. Qd3 Bg2 35. Rd4 d5 36. Qd2 Re4 37. Rxd5 exd5 38. Qxd5 Qc7 39. Qf5 Rf7 40. Bxf7 Qe5 41. Rd7+ Kf8 42. Rd8+   

Congratulations to Sergey Karjakin whose inspired 37th move was worthy of winning any competition.  He now goes on to meet Carlsen in New York in a 12-game match in November where he may need a few more moments of inspiration like this one if he is to triumph.  After I had trumpeted the rise of the Chinese in recent months, a Russian (albeit Ukranian-born!) shows that they are not dead yet.