The Indian grandmaster misses an opportunity

A sizeable number of chess aficionados, including a sprinkling of Guyanese, are viewing the live coverage of the World Championship Chess match via the internet. The diagrammed position features Game 6 which was played two weeks ago Saturday. Carlsen (white) played 26. Kd2? , committing an inelegant mistake. One minute later, Anand, failing to read the position accurately, responded disappointingly, with seemingly, a purposeless move, 26…a5?? This action could cost Anand the match and approximately US$1 million in prize money.

The Indian grandmaster missed an opportunity to play 26…Nxe5!! because the Rook at g4 is unprotected. If 27. Rxg8 , then 27… Nxc4+ , 28. Kd3 Nb2+ and the Knight is safe. When the King moves, Black takes the Rook. White cannot take the Knight when Black devours the e-pawn, because he will lose the Rook on the g-file.

Anand did not blunder in the position, but he discarded, perhaps, a winning position. Carlsen eventually won the game. The Norwegian grandmaster is +1 after nine games and is set to retain the title in the best-of-12 game series. The match ends on Tuesday.

Chess games
The FIDE 2014 World Championship title match is continuing in Sochi, Russia. Here are four games.

The Umada Cup is an English-speaking Caribbean chess tournament which is hosted annually by FIDE, the World Chess Federation. This year, Guyana is hosting the 2014 version of the competition under the auspices of the Guyana Chess Federation. The tournament has a prize fund of US$16, 000. The nine round swiss system competition begins on Thursday, November 27, and ends on December 1. On Wednesday, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony launched the exclusive tournament at the Sleep Inn hotel, Brickdam, on behalf of the Government of Guyana. Explaining to the Minister the statistical arrangements for the tournament is President of the Guyana Chess Federation Irshad Mohammed (right). Executive member of the GCF Wayne Brown is on the Minister’s left. Guyana is expected to host about nine chess Caribbean nations for the event.

Round 4
White: Carlsen
Black: Anand
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 d5 5.exd5 exd5 6.O-O Nf6 7.d4 Be7 8.Be3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bg4 10.Qd3 Qd7 11.Nd2 O-O 12.N2f3 Rfe8 13.Rfe1 Bd6 14.c3 h6 15.Qf1 Bh5 16.h3 Bg6 17.Rad1 Rad8 18.Nxc6 bxc6 19.c4 Be4 20.Bd4 Nh7 21.cxd5 Bxd5 22.Rxe8+ Rxe8 23.Qd3 Nf8 24.Nh4 Be5 25.Bxd5 Qxd5 26.Bxe5 Qxe5 27.b3 Ne6 28.Nf3 Qf6 29.Kg2 Rd8 30.Qe2 Rd5 31.Rxd5 cxd5 32.Ne5 Qf5 33.Nd3 Nd4 34.g4 Qd7 35.Qe5 Ne6 36.Kg3 Qb5 37.Nf4 Nxf4 38.Kxf4 Qb4+ 39.Kf3 d4 40.Qe8+ Kh7 41.Qxf7 Qd2 42.Qf5+ Kh8 43.h4 Qxa2 44.Qe6 Qd2 45.Qe8+ Kh7 46.Qe4+ Kh8 47.Qe8+ Kh7 1/2-1/2.

Round 5
White: Anand
Black: Carlsen
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Nc3 Bb7 7.Bg2 c6 8.e4 d5 9.exd5 cxd5 10.Ne5 O-O 11.O-O Nc6 12.cxd5 Nxe5 13.d6 Nc6 14.dxe7 Qxe7 15.Bg5 h6 16.d5 Na5 17.Bxf6 Qxf6 18.dxe6 Qxe6 19.Re1 Qf6 20.Nd5 Bxd5 21.Bxd5 Rad8 22.Qf3 Qxb2 23.Rad1 Qf6 24.Qxf6 gxf6 25.Re7 Kg7 26.Rxa7 Nc6 27.Rb7 Nb4 28.Bb3 Rxd1+ 29.Bxd1 Nxa2 30.Rxb6 Nc3 31.Bf3 f5 32.Kg2 Rd8 33.Rc6 Ne4 34.Bxe4 fxe4 35.Rc4 f5 36.g4 Rd2 37.gxf5 e3 38.Re4 Rxf2+ 39.Kg3 Rxf5 1/2-1/2.

Round 6
White: Carlsen
Black: Anand

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Qd3 Nc6 8.Nxc6 dxc6 9.Qxd8+ Kxd8 10.e5 Nd7 11.Bf4 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 Kc7 13.h4 b6 14.h5 h6 15.O-O-O Bb7 16.Rd3 c5 17.Rg3 Rag8 18.Bd3 Nf8 19.Be3 g6 20.hxg6 Nxg6 21.Rh5 Bc6 22.Bc2 Kb7 23.Rg4 a5 24.Bd1 Rd8 25.Bc2 Rdg8 26.Kd2 a4 27.Ke2 a3 28.f3 Rd8 29.Ke1 Rd7 30.Bc1 Ra8 31.Ke2 Ba4 32.Be4+ Bc6 33.Bxg6 fxg6 34.Rxg6 Ba4 35.Rxe6 Rd1 36.Bxa3 Ra1 37.Ke3 Bc2 38.Re7+ 1-0.

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