September was a great month for chess.
The world's top-rated chess player Magnus Carlsen played his first official tournament in America, his last event before the world championship match against the titleholder Vishy Anand in November. The Chinese GM Hou Yifan regained the women's world title. The FIDE Grand Prix winner Veselin Topalov relaxed in the Czech town of Novy Bor while the last GP event in Paris spilled into October with a nice but sad victory for Fabiano Caruana.
Within a few years Rex Sinquefield transformed Saint Louis into the center of professional chess in the United States. He founded the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis and brought in the Chess World Hall of Fame. The well-financed U.S. championships and visits by world-class players are yearly attractions, drawing the attention of the media.
The Sinquefield Cup, a double-round tournament with the participation of Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura and Gata Kamsky, was the most significant event in Saint Louis since the 1886 first official world championship match between the Prague-born William Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort, a Polish-born player who settled in London in 1872.
Steinitz began the match in New York with a disastrous 1-4 score, but he overcame the deficit in St. Louis, winning three games. From that moment on, Zukertort was in Steinitz's grasp. Exhausted and ill after the match moved to New Orleans, he lost almost without resistance. The final tally was 12.5-7.5 in Steinitz's favor.
Three seems to be Carlsen's magic number in Saint Louis as well. He finished first undefeated, winning three and drawing three games. His victory was far from easy. The start belonged to the local hero Nakamura with two wins and one draw. He won the first game with a little luck.
In the second round Nakamura played well in time pressure and defeated Kamsky. He outplayed Carlsen with the black pieces, but the Norwegian defended well and secured a draw.
After the first half Nakamura was leading the field, but he had problems in the past to convert leads into tournament victories. Like a "rabbit" in track and field races, he would give his all to lead other players and help them to win by dropping out of sight.
He did it again against Aronian, rather recklessly sacrificing a piece. Nakamura lost and allowed Carlsen to pass him. But Hikaru still had a chance in the key game of the tournament: a victory with the white pieces against Magnus would have propelled him back to first place.
Carlsen met the Spanish opening with the Berlin defense, hotly contested in the Steinitz-Zukertort match, and the game got on the way.
The draw brings us back to the match Steinitz-Zukertort. Eight games out of the first nine were decisive. And the only draw in Saint Louis seemed very suspicious to the onlookers. They did not understand why the players could negotiate the result during the game. Something was fishy with the game of chess. The next day, according to news reports, the audience dwindled. Draws and how to avoid them are very much on the mind of chess fans today. The remedy remains the same: play with a fighting spirit. It worked for Bobby Fischer as it does for Carlsen, Nakamura and many others who are willing to fight until only two kings remain on the board.
Final standings of the Sinquefield Cup:
Images by Alejandro Ramirez from Saint Louis
– Part two will follow soon –
Original column here – Copyright Huffington Post
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