Chess with Errol

World class players at Sinquefield Chess Cup

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ChessLogo“Once every four years, the world goes to war. They call it the games.” – From the Michael Winner 1970 film The Games with Ryan O’Neal and Stanley Baker.

It feels sentimental to remind ourselves of the poignant and heartbreaking story surrounding the film in which four runners from four different nations trained for the 26.2-mile Olympic marathon in Rome. The Olympic Games began on Friday. Starting simultaneously alongside the unique Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, was the extraordinary Sinquefield Chess Cup which began in St Louis, Missouri, USA.

The influential nature of the tournament resides in the fact that seven from ten of the planet’s foremost chess minds are participants.

Guyana’s Julia Clementson, 17, participating in the 2016 FIDE Sub-Zonal Chess Tournament which was held in Barbados in April. Clementson is a member of the Guyana Women’s Team which would be competing for honours at the 2016 Chess Olympiad next month in Baku, Azerbaijan. A School of the Nations student, Clementson learnt the game in 2009. Subsequently, she taught chess at her school as a service project. Recently, she placed third in the Barbados Under-18 Women’s Chess Championship.
Guyana’s Julia Clementson, 17, participating in the 2016 FIDE Sub-Zonal Chess Tournament which was held in Barbados in April. Clementson is a member of the Guyana Women’s Team which would be competing for honours at the 2016 Chess Olympiad next month in Baku, Azerbaijan. A School of the Nations student, Clementson learnt the game in 2009. Subsequently, she taught chess at her school as a service project. Recently, she placed third in the Barbados Under-18 Women’s Chess Championship.
Yolander Persaud, 25, has been named captain and player of the 2016 Guyana Women’s Chess Olympiad team by the Guyana Chess Federation. Persaud accompanied the Guyana Olympiad chess team to the Tromso Olympiad in 2014. She attended the Instructors and Arbiters’ seminars in Tromso where she qualified for a Development Instructor’s licence and was awarded a FIDE Arbiter International Certificate following her success in the FIDE examination.
Yolander Persaud, 25, has been named captain and player of the 2016 Guyana Women’s Chess Olympiad team by the Guyana Chess Federation. Persaud accompanied the Guyana Olympiad chess team to the Tromso Olympiad in 2014. She attended the Instructors and Arbiters’ seminars in Tromso where she qualified for a Development Instructor’s licence and was awarded a FIDE Arbiter International Certificate following her success in the FIDE examination.

The world chess champ Magnus Carlsen is a notable absentee as he is preparing for his world championship title match in November with Sergey Karjakin. And former world champion Vladimir Kramnik was forced to withdraw from the tournament because of health issues. Add Karjakin to the withdrawal equation and it leaves Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2), Fabiano Caruana (4), Levon Aronian ( 5), Hikaru Nakamura (6), Anish Giri (7), Ding Liren (8), Viswanathan Anand (10), Wesley So (11), Veselin Topalov (13) and Peter Svidler (14), still an enormously impressive field. It is problematic to bring the planet’s top ten chess players together for the identical tournament, but billionaire business entrepreneur and chess lover Rex Sinquefield created a competition that is played annually in his hometown of St Louis.

The said competition compares favourably in monetary prizes with the Las Vegas Millionaire chess tournament which Jamaican-born chess grandmaster Maurice Ashley introduced. The Sinquefield Cup is the third of four stops on the 2016 Grand Chess Tour (GCT), a circuit of international chess events featuring the world’s elite chess talent, created in partnership by Sinquefield’s  Chess Club and Scholastic Centre of St Louis, Chess Promotions Ltd and the Kasparov Chess Foundation. The other stops on the GCT are Paris, (France), Leuven (Belgium) and London (UK).

The legendary Garry Kasparov, one of the world’s finest ambassadors for chess, inspired the Grand Chess Tour and helped solidify the partnership between the organizers. His tireless efforts to popularize the game around the world mirror the goals and ambitions of the Grand Chess Tour. Hundreds of thousands of spectators worldwide are expected to enjoy the games as they are broadcast live on the internet with insights by the all-star team of grandmasters Yasser Sierawan, Ashley and Jennifer Shahade. Last year’s winner of the Cup was Armenia’s Aronian. The games begin at 1 pm local time.

The summer of red hot games began in earnest on Friday in Rio for the inimitable Olympics, and for chess in St Louis. Best wishes to the Guyana Olympic team in Rio.

Chess puzzle

Solution to last week’s puzzle

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs Samy Shoker, France, 2002

White to play and win

Chess Puzzle7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

– Black played: …Qxh2+

Chess games

French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave opposed Russia’s Peter Svidler in a classical four-game chess match recently in Biel, Switzerland. Lagrave won the match.

White: Peter Svidler
Black: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. O-O a6 5. Bd3 Ngf6 6. Re1 b57. c4 Rb8 8. cxb5 axb5 9. a3 Ne5 10. Nxe5 dxe5 11. Qe2 Ba612. b4 e6 13. Nc3 Nd7 14. Nxb5 Be7 15. Bc4 O-O 16. bxc5 Nxc517. a4 Qd7 18. Ba3 Rfc8 19. Reb1 Bd8 20. Bxc5 Rxc5 21. d3 g622. g3 Be7 23. Rd1 Bxb5 24. Bxb5 Qc7 25. Bc4 Qa5 26. Qc2 Rcc827. Kg2 Bc5 28. Rab1 Bd4 29. Rxb8 Rxb8 30. Bb5 Kg7 31. Qd2 Bc332. Qc2 Bd4 33. Qd2 Bc3 34. Qc2 1/2-1/2.

White: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Black: Peter Svidler
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d3 Bd6 13. Re1 Bf5 14. Qf3 Qf6 15. Nd2 Qg6 16. Bd1 Bxd3 17. Ne4 Bxe4 18. Qxe4 Qxe4 19. Rxe4 f5 20. Re2 Rfe8 21. Bd2Bf4 22. Be1 Nb6 23. g3 Bc7 24. Rxe8+ Rxe8 25. Bf3 Re6 26. b3Be5 27. Rd1 Kf7 28. Kf1 g6 29. Rc1 a5 30. c4 bxc4 31. Bxa5cxb3 32. axb3 Nd5 33. Rxc6 Rxc6 34. Bxd5+ Re6 35. Bd2 Ke7 36. Bxe6 Kxe6 37. Ke2 Kd5 38. Kd3 h5 39. b4 Bd6 40. Kc3 h4 41. Be3 h3 42. b5 Ke4 43. b6 Kf3 44. b7 Bb8 45. Kd3 Kg2 46. Bf4 Ba7 47. g4 1-0.

White: Peter Svidler
Black: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e6 7. g4 h6 8. Bg2 Be7 9. h4 Nc6 10. g5 hxg5 11. hxg5 Rxh1+12. Bxh1 Nh7 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. g6 fxg6 15. Qd3 e5 16. Qc4 Bd7 17. Bd2 Bg5 18. O-O-O Qf6 19. Na4 Rb8 20. Bxg5 Qxg5+ 21. Kb1Nf6 22. a3 Qh4 23. Qd3 d5 24. Nc5 d4 25. Qxa6 Qxf2 26. Rf1 Qg3 27. Bf3 Qh3 28. Rh1 Qxf3 29. Rh8+ Ke7 30. Rxb8 Nxe4 31. Nxd7Nd2+ 32. Ka2 Qd5+ 33. b3 Qh1 34. a4 Qb1+ 35. Ka3 Qa1+ 36. Kb4Qc3+ 37. Ka3 Nb1+ 0-1.

White: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Black: Peter Svidler
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Re8 10. d4 Bb7 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. d5 Nb8 13. Nf1 Nbd7 14. N3h2 Nc5 15. Bc2 c6 16. b4 Ncd7 17. dxc6 Bxc6 18. Bg5 Qc7 19. Bxf6 Nxf6 20. Ng4 Nxg4 21. hxg4 Be7 22. Bb3 Bg5 23. Qf3 Qb7 24. Rad1 Red8 25. c4 bxc4 26. Bxc4 g6 27. a3 Rd7 28. Qd3 Kg7 29. Nh2 d5 30. exd5 Rad8 31. Nf3 Bxd5 32. Bxd5 Rxd5 33. Qe4 Bf6 34. g5 Be7 35. g3 Qb5 36. Rxd5 Rxd5 37. Kg2 Bd6 38. a4 Qd3 39. Qxd3 Rxd3 40. Nxe5 Rb3 1/2-1/2.

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