September Chess
By GM Lubomir Kavalek
September was a great month for chess.
The world's top-rated chess player Magnus Carlsen played his first official
tournament in America (part
one of this article described that event), 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.
Hou Yifan regains the world title
With three wins and three draws, the Chinese GM Hou Yifan matched Carlsen's
result from Saint Louis after six games of the Women's World Championship
10-game match against the Ukrainian title holder Anna Ushenina in Taizhou,
China. Hou regained the title by winning Game 7, scoring overall 5.5-1.5.
At the age of 12, Hou dreamt of overtaking the all-time best woman Judit
Polgar. In 2010, Hou became the youngest women's world champion at the age
of 16. She defended the crown next year against Humpy Koneru of India. In
2012 she was knocked out in the second round of the Women's championship,
but became a challenger by winning the 2011-2012 FIDE Women's Grand Prix.
Now at 19, she is a university student and her ambitions are more modest.
She prefers to by happy and healthy.
Parisien blues
Nakamura went straight from Saint Louis to Paris to participate in the
last FIDE Grand Prix tournament. Things were looking up for him when he
met Fabiano Caruana, one of two players with a chance to qualify for the
2014 Candidates by winning the event alone.
| Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
14...hxg6? 14...fxg6 15.Bxd4 Bxd4 16.Qh6 e5 15.Bxd4! Qxd4 15...Bxd4 16.Qh6 Qd6 17.Rxd4 Qxd4 18.Qh7+ Kf8 19.Qh8+ Qxh8 20.Rxh8+ Kg7 21.Rxd8 16.Qe1 16.Qf4 e5 17.Rxd4 16...Qxd1+ 17.Nxd1 1–0
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| Nakamura,H | 2772 | Caruana,F | 2779 | 1–0 | 2013 | D70 | FIDE GP Paris | |
Please, wait...
The loss must have been devastating for Caruana. Nakamura, on the other
hand, moved to the lead by adding a win against Vassily Ivanchuk, who overstepped
time in a roughly equal position. Hikaru could win it all, I thought, but
there was one problem: his opponent was the 45-year-old Boris Gelfand, the
2012 world championship challenger. He was Nakamura's "angstgegner"
and no matter what Hikaru did against the Israeli GM, it usually turned
out badly. Yet again, he could not overcome the psychological barrier.
There was an additional twist: Hikaru has never beaten Gelfand with the
white pieces in a major tournament and it was his seventh loss in Paris.
The win helped Gelfand to share first place with Caruana with 7/11. Nakamura
and Etienne Bacrot finished a half point behind the winner.
Caruana almost made it to the Candidates, but he needed to win it alone.
The Azerbaijani GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov clinched the last spot instead.
The winner of the FIDE Grand Prix Veselin Topalov went to Novy Bor, a Czech
town of glass artists, to play a six game match against Viktor Laznicka.
It was an equal fight at first, but the Czech GM lost due to his habit -
the time trouble.
Topalov won 4-2 and took home a nice glass trophy. Laznicka's downfall
began in the following position:
31...Qg5! 31...Qf6 32.Qe2!? 32.Rxc6? exf3 33.gxf3 Qxf3-+ 32...exf3 32...Bd5 33.c6 exf3 34.gxf3 Qg5+ 35.Qg2= 33.gxf3 Bd5 34.c6= 32.Rxc6? 32.h4! Qf6 32...Qe3+ 33.Qf2= 32...Qxh4 33.Qf2= 33.Qb3 33.fxe4? Qf1+ 34.Kh2 Rf4!-+ 33...exf3 34.gxf3! Qxh4 35.Rxc6 Qg3+ 36.Kh1 Rf6 37.Qd3 Rg6 38.Qxg6 Qxg6 39.Rc8+ Kf7 40.c6 32...exf3-+ 33.g3 33.Rxe6 f2+ 34.Kf1 34.Qxf2 Rxf2 35.Kxf2 Qf5+-+ 34...Qxg2+ 35.Kxg2 f1Q+-+ 33...Qe5!? 33...Qf6! 34.Rd6 f2+ 35.Kf1 Qf3 36.Rd1 Qh1+ 37.Ke2 f1Q+ 38.Rxf1 Rxf1 33...Qe3+! 34.Qf2 34.Kf1 f2 35.Qb1 Qf3-+ 34...Qc1+ 35.Qf1 f2+ 36.Kg2 Qe3 37.Rc7 Qe4+ 38.Kh3 Rf5 39.g4 h5 34.Qf2 34.Qd2 Qa1+ 35.Kf2 Qh1-+ 34...Qa1+ 35.Qf1 Qd4+ 36.Kh1 36.Qf2 Qd1+ 37.Qf1 f2+ 37...f2+ 38.Kg2 Qf3+ 39.Kh3 Qxc6-+ 38.Kg2 Qd5+ 36...f2 36...f2 37.h3 Qd5+ 38.Kh2 Qxc6 0–1
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
- Create an account to access the games cloud.
| Laznicka,V | 2677 | Topalov,V | 2769 | 0–1 | 2013 | E21 | | |
Please, wait...
Images by Anastasiya Karlovich from Taizhou, Alina l'Ami
from Paris and Vladimir Jagr from Novy Bor
Original
column here – Copyright
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