An interesting development for chess presented itself momentarily when news of Anand’s methodical demolition of Aronian percolated out of the ongoing FIDE 2014 Candidates elimination tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik are the two grandmasters who have been tipped to win the Candidates based on their FIDE ratings and their recent tournament results. The tournament is being played to provide a challenger for world champion Magnus Carlsen later in the year.
Anand never featured seriously as a contender to win the Candidates. He lacked initiative, it was thought, and probably was too old for the game. Yet he annihilated one of two early favourites, creating speculation, causing eyes to look up in surprise and tongues to wag. By round four, Anand had switched his sudden unexplained dominance to Mamedyarov, after holding the mighty Topalov to an exact draw where only the two kings remained on the chess board. In round four, the game against Kramnik, the Russian grandmaster and former world champion was fabulous, and the game was exciting. Anand sacrificed a pawn for the initiative in the opening, and spectacular fireworks followed. Kramnik parted company with a knight which was blocking his undeveloped bishop, and managed to create a perpetual check situation that fizzled the game into a draw. At the end of round five, Anand had grasped a minuscule half-point lead in the Candidates. A win counts as one point, a draw as a half point and a loss as no points. Was Anand’s sudden burst of positive energy a fluke? It is a question to ponder.
It is much too early to form a scholarly opinion on the subject of a winner of the tournament. Fourteen games are to be contested with each player opposing every other one twice, once with the white pieces and the other with the black pieces. I support an unpopular view that it could very well be anybody’s tournament – Anand, Aronian, Kramnik, Svidler, Andreikin, Karjakin, Mamedyarov or Topalov. They are almost all evenly matched, with the exception being the Armenian super-grandmaster Levon Aronian, who is one of only two active players to have reached and surpassed the magical 2800 mark (Carlsen is the other).
The US champion, Hikaru Nakamura did not qualify to participate in the Candidates playoff. In 2012, Carlsen won the Candidates following a tie with Kramnik, whom he eventually surpassed in a tie-break situation. Carlsen was adjudged to be the undisputed winner because he had one more win than Kramnik and fewer draws, although both men finished with the same number of points. In the Candidates, winner takes all. Only one player can qualify to clash with the world champion.
There is some amount of controversy surrounding the choice of a ‘wild card’’ for the Candidates. Chess Base published a comment about Peter Svidler’s participation in the Candidates tournament, which may interest readers. Svidler is the host country, Russia’s, wild card. The criticism was influenced by the large number of emails which have been circulating from the chess public on the matter. It read in part as follows: ‘’While it is understandable to allow a sponsor-organizer to add a player in an unofficial event such as the Grand Slam events , or even in the individual stages of the Grand Prix, the use of a Wild Card in a Candidates tournament, an event that qualifies a player directly to a match for the World Championship, is completely inappropriate. It not only takes away from the strict qualification that others underwent, such as winning the FIDE Grand Prix series or the World Cup, but allows potentially less (or much less) worthy participants a shot at the world title for no other reason than they are fortunate enough to be from the organizing country, and in the good graces of the organizers. The potential for abuse and corruption is clear.’’
That being said, Svidler is an exceptionally strong player, but as with Nakamura, he failed to qualify for the Candidates. After six games, Anand is leading the Candidates with a 4/6 score. The scores of the other players are as follows: Aronian, 3/5 from six; Kramnik, 3 from six; Mamedyarov, 3 from six; Topalov, 3 from six; Svidler, 3 from six; Karjakin, 2/5 from six and Andreikin, 2 from six.
Anand’s enthusiastic chess fans should not take anything for granted at the almost halfway mark of the tournament. He still has to face Aronian and Kramnik with the disadvantaged black pieces. And we should not discount the dynamism of Topalov, or the unpredictability of Svidler. It is still anybody’s tournament.
Chess games
The following games were played recently at the 2014 World Chess Championship Candidates elimination tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.
Anand v Kramnik
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5 c5 7.Bxc4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Qa5 10.Bb5+ Nbd7 11.Bxf6 Qxc3+ 12.Kf1 gxf6 13.h4 a6 14.Rh3 Qb4 15.Be2 Ne5 16.h5 Qd6 17.Qd2 Nc6 18.Rd3 Qh2 19.f4 Rg8 20.Bf3 Bd7 21.Ne2 Qh1+ 22.Ng1 Nd4 23.Rxd4 Bb5+ 24.Kf2 Qh4+ 25.Ke3 e5 26.fxe5 Qg5+ 27.Kf2 Qg3+ 28.Ke3 Qg5+ 29.Kf2 Qg3+ 30.Ke3 Qg5+ 1/2-1/2 .
Mamedyarov v Anand
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Qc2 dxc4 5. Qxc4 Bg4 6. Nbd2 Nbd7 7. g3 e6 8. Bg2 Be7 9. Ne5 Bh5 10. Nxd7 Nxd7 11. O-O O-O 12. Nb3 a5 13. a4 Bb4 14. e4 e5 15. Be3 exd4 16. Bxd4 Kh8 17. e5 Re8 18. f4 f6 19. exf6 Nxf6 20. Bf3 Bxf3 21. Rxf3 Re4 22. Re3 Rxe3 23. Bxe3 Qe8 24. Bb6 Qh5 25. Bd4 Re8 26. Rf1 Ng4 27. Qc2 c5 28. Nxc5 Rc8 29. Rd1 Bxc5 30. Bxc5 h6 31. Kh1 0-1
Aronian v Svidler
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8. Rb1 O-O 9. Be2 cxd4 10. cxd4 Qa5+ 11. Bd2 Qxa2 12. O-O b6 13. Qc1 Bb7 14. Bc4 Qa4 15. Bb5 Qa2 16. Re1 Rc8 17. Qd1 Qc2 18. Qe2 Nc6 19. Bd3 Qa2 20. Bc4 Qa4 21. Bb3 Qa3 22. Bxf7+ Kxf7 23. Qc4+ e6 24. Ng5+ Ke8 25. Nxe6 Qe7 26. Nxg7+ Qxg7 27. Bc3 Nd8 28. Qb3 Rc7 29. Ba1 Rac8 30. d5 Qd7 31. Qb2 Qe7 32. Rbd1 Nf7 33. e5 Rc2 34. Qb5+ Qd7 35. Qxd7+ Kxd7 36. e6+ Kd6 37. exf7 Rf8 38. Re6+ Kd7 39. Rf6 Re2 40. f4 Re7 41. Be5 Rexf7 42. Rd6+ Ke8 43. Re1 Re7 44. Rc1 Rff7 45. Bf6 Rd7 46. Re6+ Kf8 47. d6 Kg8 48. h4 Rf8 49. Bg5 Kf7 50. Rce1 Bc6 51. h5 a5 52. Re7+ Kg8 53. hxg6 hxg6 54. R1e6 Rf7 55. Rxg6+ Kh7 56. Rh6+ Kg7 57. Ree6 1-0.
Anand v Aronian
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nbd2 Qd7 12.Nxe5 Nxe5 13.Rxe5 Nf6 14.Re1 Rae8 15.Nf3 Bd6 16.Be3 Re7 17.d4 Rfe8 18.c3 h6 19.Ne5 Bxe5 20.dxe5 Rxe5 21.Qxd7 Nxd7 22.Red1 Nf6 23.c4 c6 24.Rac1 R5e7 25.a4 bxc4 26.Bxc4 Nd5 27.Bc5 Re4 28.f3 R4e5 29.Kf2 Bc8 30.Bf1 R5e6 31.Rd3 Nf4 32.Rb3 Rd8 33.Be3 Nd5 34.Bd2 Nf6 35.Ba5 Rde8 36.Rb6 Re5 37.Bc3 Nd5 38.Bxe5 Nxb6 39.Bd4 Nxa4 40.Rxc6 Rd8 41.Rc4 Bd7 42.b3 Bb5 43.Rb4 Nb2 44.Bxb5 axb5 45.Ke3 Re8+ 46.Kd2 Rd8 47.Kc3 1-0
