This week’s final of the $160,000 World Chess Cup in Baku descended into farce when Russia’s Peter Svidler and Sergey Karjakin produced a series of blunders before Karjakin emerged the winner at 6-4. Svidler led 2-0 in the best-of-four classical games but missed several easy chances to clinch the match then and in the ensuing speed tie-breaks as the pair swapped errors like tired heavyweights.
The most notable negative moment came when Svidler chose the Marshall Attack, a dangerous weapon which he knows well. Karjakin countered with a novelty so poor that it should have lost instantly but Svidler failed to spot the winner and late in the game the seven-time Russian champion hung a rook, which Karjakin’s queen captured with check.
Is this a bad sign for their performance in the 2016 world title candidates, for which both qualified from Baku? Not necessarily. Baku had tie-breaks at progressively faster time rates, aggravating fatigue after a long tournament. The candidates, in contrast, will be 14 rounds of slow classical games.
Karjakin, who was runner-up to Vishy Anand at the 2014 candidates, has long held ambitions to take on his contemporary, Norway’s world champion, Magnus Carlsen. The Russian, aged 25, won the 2013 and 2014 editions of Norway Chess on Carlsen’s home turf but was invited to only a low-category qualifier for its 2015 renewal.
Back in the UK, the strong PokerStars Open at Villa Marina, Douglas, on the Isle of Man, has its closing two rounds live and free on the internet this weekend. England’s Michael Adams, Nigel Short, David Howell and Gawain Jones are all competing.
Howell won tactically in an early round against the European senior champion Keith Arkell’s Fort Knox Defence (a French with Bd7-c6). The key was White’s 8 Neg5 and Black’s error 9...Bxf3 (h6!) which set up 11 Nxe6! when Black’s defence is already difficult. Later 20 Rxe7! drove the black monarch into mid-board, launching a king hunt which led to mate.
David Howell v Keith Arkell
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Bd7 5 Nf3 Bc6 6 Bd3 Nd7 7 O-O Ngf6 8 Neg5 Bd6 9 Re1 Bxf3? 10 Qxf3 h6 11 Nxe6 fxe6 12 Rxe6+ Kf7 13 Bc4 Kf8 14 Qf5 Nb6 15 Bb3 Be7 16 Bd2 c5 17 dxc5 Qxd2 18 cxb6 Qg5 19 Qf3 axb6 20 Rxe7 Kxe7 21 Qxb7+ Kd6 22 Qxb6+ Ke5. See the puzzle diagram for the finish.
Leading grandmasters have good memory databanks for their favourite opening lines. Adams, the No1 seed in the Isle of Man, has always favoured 3 Nd2 against the French and, when his Polish opponent, below, followed a main line, Adams was very willing to go along. Possibly 11...Qc7 is better. As played, they reached an ending of rook and two pawns against knight and bishop, where results show a healthy plus for White, and diverged on a previous game which went 21 Re3 only when Adams unleashed 21 f3! which mobilises his king side pawns and quickly showed that White is winning.
Michael Adams v Radoslaw Jedynak
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7 5 Bd3 c5 6 c3 Nc6 7 Ne2 cxd4 8 cxd4 f6 9 exf6 Nxf6 10 Nf3 Bd6 11 O-O O-O?! 12 Bf4 Bxf4 13 Nxf4 Ne4 14 Qc1 Ng5 15 Nxg5 Qxg5 16 Bxh7+ Kxh7 17 Nxe6 Qxc1 18 Nxf8+ Kg8 19 Raxc1 Kxf8 20 Rfe1 Bf5 21 f3! Kf7 22 g4 Nxd4 23 Kf2 Be6 24 Rc7+ Kf6 25 h4 Rd8 26 Rxb7 Rc8 27 Rxa7 Rc2+ 28 Ke3 Nc6 29 Rc7 d4+ 30 Kf4 Bxa2 31 g5+ Kg6 32 h5+ 1-0
3411 23 Qe6+ Kf4 24 g3+ Kf3 25 Bc4! (threat Qe2 or Be2 mate) Ne4 26 Be2+! Kxe2 27 Qxe4+ Kd2 28 Qd3 mate.
