1/18/2010 – Shirov won two in a row, Carlsen and Nakamura drew first blood – those are the stories from the Super-GM in Wijk aan Zee. But there is something extraordinary in the B-Group: a 15-year-old has won his first two games, both in dashing style, to take the lead. According to a Dutch newspaper Anish Giri holds the "promise of greatness in Dutch chess". Special report.
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Anish Giri (15) is a man of few words. Do his classmates think he is weird
for playing chess so much? No. Is he nervous about his upcoming tournament?
No. Does he want to become the best chess player in the world? Yes.
He can be somewhat shy, his mother Olga explained when NRC Handelsblad
visited the Giri home in Rijswijk. But he does not seem shy in the least if
you ask him what his favourite opening is. He laughs in your face. “I
am not going to tell you that,” he scoffs. “They might be translating
this newspaper!”
Anish Giri in Wijk aan Zee
The Dutch chess community is brimming with anticipation. Giri, a Russian native,
has lived in Rijswijk for two years and is registered as a Dutch national with
the international chess federation FIDE. He just might be the next Dutch superstar.
He became a grandmaster at the tender age of 14, in September he became the
youngest player ever to win the Dutch chess championship. According to the Dutch
grandmaster and four-time national champion Hans Ree, Giri is a rare talent
indeed. “Tactical insight is common in young players,” he said.
“Patience is not. But Giri has it.”
One year ago in Wijk: Anish Giri, 14, made his final GM norm [photo
John Nunn]
At last year’s Corus tournament, Giri gave a
stunning demonstration of the former quality. The English grandmaster, John
Nunn, reigning world champion of chess puzzle-solving, was visiting the tournament
when the Armenian, Levon Aronian, decided to throw him a nice challenge of his
own making: white to move, mate in three. He jotted the position on a slip of
paper, and Nunn set up the pieces. It turned out to be a tough challenge indeed.
Metres away, Anish cast a glance at the board. Twenty second later, he spoke.
“The position is wrong. There are too many solutions,” he said,
quickly rattling off a few. Giri was right. Aronian had forgotten to note a
pawn when he wrote down the position.
Anish Giri and Vassily Ivanchuk analyse their drawn game at Univé Hoogoveen
in October 2009
Back to openings: Anish studies them using ChessBase, a database containing
four million games, as he was more than happy to demonstrate seated behind his
laptop in his attic. He prefers discussing his game with a chessboard handy.
Anish usually studies games between players boasting ratings in the 2,600s.
He himself is currently rated 2,588 by the FIDE, well over the grandmaster cut-off
point of 2,500. The highest-rated player in the world, 19-year old Magnus Carlsen,
stands at a lonely 2.810 points.
Anish Giri, 15, grandmaster and Dutch Champion
Pieces flew over the virtual board as Anish clicked his way through a game.
Chessbase allows him either to stick with a past game as it was played, or diverge
from it by introducing new moves. The computer then helps out by suggesting
possible follow-up moves. But it is not always right, Anish said. Its suggestions
can be bland or too risky. Only recently did Anish start practicing with a coach.
Time for some real chess. Anish has decided to play a game of bullet on Playchess.com.
In bullet chess, each side gets only one minute to play. His youngest sister
interrupts him a lot while playing – which doesn’t seem to annoy
him at all. A player going by the name of Karnatakagahan challenges him. In
the first game, Karnatakagahan offers Anish a draw, which he turns down, only
to lose later. In the second match, Anish makes a comeback, wiping his opponent
off the board. Karnatakagahan goes offline immediately after that.
That is how Anish spends most of his days: school, some TV, a couple hours
of analysing games, playing a few, and perhaps reading a book about chess, then
off to bed. Aside from chess, he enjoys action movies, the Black Eyed Peas and
table tennis.
11.e4N. This, many experts concluded, was a new move that
the 15-year-old GM had found in home prep. But Anish revealed to us that he
had been "out of book" since 8...Nd5 (which Garry Kasparov cynically
called "a well-known losing move"), and that he had found 11.e4 over
the board. 11...Nxc3 12.bxc3 Bxc3 13.Ra2
13...Bxe4. The alternatives were not so pleasant: 13...Bg6
14.Qb3 with a double attack on the bBc3 and the bPb7. 14...b5 15.Bxc3 bxc4 16.Qxb8+
Rxb8 17.Bxd4 wins for White, and 13...Bh3 14.Qb3 (14.Bxh3 Qxc4) 14...Bxf1 15.Rxf1
Bxd2+ 16.Rxd2 Qc5 17.Qxb7 0-0 18.Qxa8 Qxc4 19.Qxa7 leaves White an exchange
up and a very promising game.
14.Qc1 Bd3 15.Qxc3 Qxc3 16.Bxc3 Bxf1 17.Rxf1.
White has a piece for three pawns. Our chess engines evaluate the position
as around two pawns better for White. Anish goes on to win the game in fine
style. 17...0-0 18.Ke2 b6 19.Rd1 Na6 20.Rd6 Rfc8 21.Ne5 c5 22.a5 Nc7
23.axb6 Nb5 24.Rd3 axb6 25.Rb2 Nc7 26.Nc4 Re8 27.Nxb6 Ra6 28.Kd2 e5 29.Nd5 Ne6
30.Bxe5 c4 31.Nb4 Ra1 32.Re3 Rd8+ 33.Kc2 Rh1 34.Re2 Rdd1 35.Kc3 Rdf1 36.f4 h5
37.Kxc4 h4 38.Nd5 Rc1+ 39.Rbc2 hxg3 40.hxg3 Rxc2+ 41.Rxc2 f6 42.f5 Nf8 43.Bf4
g6 44.fxg6 Kg7 45.Ra2 Kxg6 46.Ra6 Nh7 47.Kd3 Re1 48.Ne3 Nf8 49.Ke4 Nd7 50.Rd6
Nf8 51.Kf3 Rb1 52.Kg4 Re1 53.Nd5 Nh7 54.Bg5 Re5 55.Nf4+
1-0. For this game Anish won the the 250 Euro best game
prize for the round. [Click
to replay]
In the second round Anish Giri faced a world class GM, second seed in this
tournament. Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania had the white pieces.
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