Guyana’s Chess Olympiad players will have opportunity to see grandmasters in action

Following six rounds of scintillating chess, the Sinquefield Cup is off to a brilliant start in St Louis, Missouri. The Cup features seven of the top ten players of the chess world. At the time this column was written US grandmaster Wesley So was leading the select group of ten accomplished grandmasters with two victories and four draws for a 4.0/6 score. He was closely followed by Vishy Anand of India (3.5/6), with five draws and a win and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria with three draws and two victories for a 3.5/6 score. Victories at this elite level of chess are difficult to navigate. Errors of judgment are rare although they occur from time to time. In the games section of the column, four rare victories are revealed.

In round six, So outplayed Topalov in 41 moves. He created a passed C-pawn which his opponent could not prevent from becoming an additional queen. The games are being recorded live on the internet and are easy to follow. The Anish Giri (Netherlands)/Anand encounter turned out to be a thriller although the game was eventually drawn. Anand came dangerously close to losing against Giri and it was only a blunder on move 40 which saved the former world champion from defeat. Giri had four seconds remaining on his chess clock to reach the time limit when he blundered. Levon Aronian (Armenia) succumbed to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) in a symmetrical English after he sacrificed a pawn for active play but was unable to keep his initiative alive. US grandmasters Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura played a Benoni Variation to a tame draw. Ding Liren, China’s highest ranked chess player, defeated Russia’s Peter Svidler to score his first victory of the tournament. Earlier in the tournament, Ding had lost to Topalov. His other games ended in draws.

The array of stars participating in the Sinquefield Chess Cup would also be playing in the 2016 Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan. Our Guyanese participants for the Olympiad would therefore have an opportunity to at least see them in action over the chess board early next month.

Chess games
The following games were played at the Sinquefield Chess Cup in St Louis, Missouri, one of the strongest tournaments of 2016. At the elite level, featuring the very best in the world, most of the games are draws. However, an attempt has been made to bring the decisive games of the Cup, which are not many. The tournament is ongoing.

White: Wesley So
Black: Hikaru Nakamura

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Ne5 Nc6 8. Nxc6 bxc6 9. Na3 Bxa3 10. bxa3 Ba6 11. Qd2 Rb8 12. Qa5 Qc8 13. a4 Rd8 14. Ba3 Rxd4 15. Rfb1 Rb6 16. Bc5 Rd7 17. Rd1 h6 18. Rxd7 Nxd7 19. Bxb6 cxb6 20. Qd2 c5 21. Rd1 Nf6 22. Kf1 Kh7 23. Qc2+ Kg8 24. Qd2 Kh7 25. Qd8 Qxd8 26. Rxd8 c3 27. Ke1 Bc4 28. Kd1 Bxa2 29. Kc2 Bc4 30. e3 b5 31. Kxc3 a6 32. Ra8 Nd5+ 33. Bxd5 exd5 34. a5 b4+ 35. Kd2 Bf1 36. Rc8 c4 37. Rb8 b3 38. Kc3 1-0.

White: Veselin Topalov
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. a4 b4 9. d3 d6 10. a5 Be6 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. Nbd2 d5 13. c3 Bd6 14. d4 bxc3 15. bxc3 exd4 16. cxd4 dxe4 17. Nxe4 Bb4 18. Bd2 Nxe4 19. Rxe4 Qd5 20. Bxb4 Qxe4 21. Bxf8 Rxf8 22. Rc1 h6 23. Qd2 Rb8 24. Qe3 Qd5 25. h3 Rb4 26. Qc3 Nxd4 27. Qxb4 Ne2+ 28. Kh1 1-0.

White: Hikaru Nakamura
Black: Anish Giri

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. a4 Bb4 7. e4 Qa5 8. Bd2 c5 9. Bxc4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 O-O 11. Nc2 Nc6 12. Nxb4 Qxb4 13. b3 Qe7 14. O-O Rd8 15. Re1 Ne5 16. Bf1 Bd7 17. Qe2 Bc6 18. Bg5 h6 19. Bh4 Ng6 20. Bg3 Rd7 21. f3 Rad8 22. Qe3 a6 23. Rab1 Qb4 24. Rec1 e5 25. Be1 Qe7 26. Na2 Rd4 27. Ba5 R8d7 28. Bc3 Bxe4 29. fxe4 Rxe4 30. Qa7 b5 31. Qxa6 Ng4 32. h3 Qc5+ 33. Kh1 Nf2+ 34. Kh2 Qe3 35. Re1 Qf4+ 36. g3 Qf5 37. Bg2 Rh4 38. Qa8+ Kh7 39. Qf3 Rxh3+ 40. Kg1 Qxf3 41. Bxf3 Nd3 42. Re3 Rxg3+ 43. Kh2 Rxf3 44. Rxf3 bxa4 45. bxa4 e4 46. Rf5 Nh4 47. Rfb5 Nf4 48. R5b4 Rd3 49. Rxe4 g5 50. Rxf4 gxf4 51. Rf1 Nf3+ 52. Kh1 Kg6 53. a5 Kf5 54. a6 Ng5 55. a7 Rh3+ 56. Kg1 Rg3+ 57. Kf2 Ne4+ 58. Ke1 Rg8 59. Bd4 Kg4 60. Be5 1-0.

White: Levon Aronian
Black: Peter Svidler

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. b3 Bg4 7. Qd2 Nbd7 8. Ne5 Nxe5 9. dxe5 Nd7 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Qxd5 e6 12. Qd4 h5 13. Bd2 Qb8 14. Ne4 Qxe5 15. a4 Bf5 16. Ng3 Bc2 17. axb5 h4 18. Ne2 Qxb5 19. Qc3 Bh7 20. Nd4 Qb7 21. h3 Be7 22. Be2 O-O 23. Bf3 Be4 24. Bxe4 Qxe4 25. Qc6 Nc5 26. Qxe4 Nxe4 27. Nc6 Bc5 28. Ra4 Nxd2 29. Kxd2 Rfc8 30. Na5 Be7 31. Rc1 Rxc1 32. Kxc1 Rc8+ 33. Rc4 Rxc4+ 34. Nxc4 g5 35. Kd2 f5 36. Ne5 Bd6 37. Nf3 Be7 38. Ne5 Bd6 39. Nf3 Be7 40. Kd3 Kg7 41. Ne5 Bb4 42. Kc4 a5 43. Kb5 Kf6 44. Nc4 Be1 45. f3 g4 46. Nxa5 gxh3 47. gxh3 Ke5 48. Nc4+ Kd5 49. Nb6+ Kd6 Kc4 Kc6 51. Na4 Bf2 52. e4 fxe4 53. fxe4 Kd6 54. Nb2 1-0.