The youngest, Anish Giri of the Netherlands, is 16, while the oldest, Evgeny Tomashevsky of Russia, is 23.
The other participants were Fabiano Caruanaof Italy, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, Dmitry Andreikin of Russia, Wesley So of the Philippines, Evgeny Tomashevsky of Russia, Maxim Rodshtein of Israel, David Howell of England and Parimarjan Negi of India.
So scored 2.5/3 to take the lead after three rounds, but he lost to Caruana in the 5th and then to Giri in the 8th. He ended in a tie for 5th to 7th places, a point behind Nguyen, Vachier-Lagrave and Caruana who finished first in a three-way tie. Andreikin was solo 4th.
Nguyen had the best Sonneborn-Berger points so he qualified for the final. Caruana, who was born in Miami, Florida and holds dual U.S. and Italian citizenship, then beat Vachier-Lagrave in two blitz games to set up a mano a mano with the Vietnamese GM. They drew the first game, but Caruana won the second to claim the grand prize.
Born on July 30, 1992 to an Italian-American father and an Italian mother, Fabiano Luigi Caruana began playing chess when he was 5. His family had already moved to Brooklyn, New York at the time. His first chess coach, at age 6, was the famous NM Bruce Pandolfini. When he was 8, he studied for four years with Grandmaster Miron Sher. In 2004, he and his family moved to Madrid, Spain where he trained with International Master Boris Zlotnik.Grandmaster Alexander Chernin is Fabiano’s current trainer.
Caruana became a GM when he was 14. He currently lives in Lugano, Switzerland and plays for Italy. In an earlier interview, he said he excels in defense and tactical positions but his main weakness may be opening theory. Like Carlsen, however, Caruana is a serious, focused young GM who is expected to scale greater heights in the chess world.
Games of the week.
White: P. Negi (2615)
Black: F. Caruana (2697)
Closed Sicilian
Biel 2010
Against Caruana, the 17-year-old Indian GM essayed the Closed Sicilian, which can be played aggressively. “Here,” says our annotator IM Malcolm Pein, “Negi…played Nge2 as opposed to Nf3 and this makes the standard attacking plan of Be3, Qd2, Bh6, f2-f4 and f5 a little less potent as the knight cannot reach g5. White could still try and attack here but he has a quieter plan in mind which works up to a point.”
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nge2 Nf6 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.d3 d6 7.0–0 Rb8 8.h3 b5 9.a3 0–0 10.Rb1 Bd7 11.Bg5 a5 (Black pursues the standard plan of queenside expansion, intending b5-b4) 12.a4 bxa4 (12…b4 13.Nb5 intending c4 was White’s idea when the knight is hard to dislodge) 13.Nxa4 Ne5 14.Nec3 Bc6 15.b3 Re8 White’s knights are a little awkward but if he could get one to c4 then a5 might be vulnerable 16.Qd2 Qc7 17.Nd5?! (17.Nb2 Qb7 18.f4 Ned7 19.Nc4 looks quite good) 17…Nxd5 18.exd5 Bxa4 19.bxa4 Rb4! 20.Ra1 Reb8 21.Rfe1 c4! 22.Ra3 (22.d4 c3! 23.Qe3 Rxd4 24.Qxd4 Nf3+) 22…cxd3 23.cxd3 Rb2 24.Qe3 Rc2 25.Raa1 h6! 26.Bxh6? Bxh6 27.Qxh6 Rbb2 28.Rab1Qb6 attacks b1 and f2. In fact 28…Qa7 was also good enough. 0–1
Bobby Ang annotates the following game in which the young Filipino GM takes on a 21-year-old Russian-Israeli former U-16 champion of the world.
White: M. Rodshtein (2609)
Black: W. So (2674)
Gruenfeld Defense
Biel 2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 Back in 2004 GM Konstantin Sakaev wrote a 166-page book on “How to Get the Edge Against the Gruenfeld” and two years later expanded it into a giant 425-page “An Expert’s Guide to the 7.Bc4 Gruenfeld.” It recommended 7.Bc4 followed by 8.Ne2 as in this game (I heartily recommend to everyone to get these two books). This system is now more or less the main line of the Gruenfeld. 7…c5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 0-0 10.0-0 Na5 A recently popular line. The most played continuation is 10…Bg4 11.f3 Na5 when White has the choice of: a) Bronstein’s 12.Bd3 cxd4 13.cxd4 Be6 14.d5 sacrificing an exchange for attacking chances; b) 12.Bd3 cxd4 13.cxd4 Be6 14.Rc1 giving up the a2 pawn for strong pressure, and; c) 12.Bxf7+ Rxf7 13.fxg4 Rxf1+ 14.Kxf1 winning a pawn but allowing Black a strong initiative. 11.Bd3 b6 This move is played not so much to fianchetto his c8-bishop, but to prepare …e7-e5, putting the question on White’s center. 12.Qd2 [12.Rc1 is the other main line] 12…e5 13.Bh6 Known to be without bite is 13.dxc5 Be6! 14.Rfd1 Qc7 15.cxb6 axb6 16.Bh6 Rfd8 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 Marin,M: Black has excellent compensation for the pawn in view of White’s queenside weaknesses and badly placed minor pieces. 18.Qe3?! Bxa2! Black retrieves his pawn and now has excellent positions for his pieces. Ni Hua (2703)-Navara, D (2672)/ Dagomys 2008 0-1 (29). 13…cxd4 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.cxd4 exd4 16.f4 f6 17.f5 This is Najer’s try to get an advantage for white. Previously we had 17.Rac1 Bg4! 18.Ng3 Bd7 19.Ne2 Bg4 20.Ng3 Bd7 21.h4 Rc8 One pair of rooks come off and Black is looking good. Cheparinov, I. (2687)-Kamsky, G. (2723)/ Sochi 2008 1-0 (43). 17…Nc6 The stem game for 17.f5 continued 17…Bd7 18.Nf4 Nc6 19.Bb5 Ne5 20.Qxd4 g5 21.Ne6+ Bxe6 22.Qxd8 Rfxd8 23.fxe6 Ng6 24.Rac1 Rac8 25.e5! fxe5 26.Rf7+ Kg8 27.Rxc8 Rxc8 28.Rxa7 Kf8 29.Rxh7 with a winning endgame. Najer, E. (2665) – Safarli, E. (2594)/ Moscow 2010 1-0 (38). 18.Bb5 Ne5 19.Nxd4 The general belief here is that Black was in trouble, but Wesley shows how resilient the Black position can be. 19…gxf5!? A new idea. Black opens the g-file for his rooks and, to add poison, both his queen and bishop will be putting pressure down the h1-a8 diagonal. 20.exf5 Kh8 21.Rad1 Bb7 22.Rf4 Qd5 23.Bf1 Rg8 24.Kh1 Rad8 Wesley’s novelty has been successful — Black is going for the win. 25.Qf2 Rg4 26.Rd2 Taking the rook is dangerous: 26.Rxg4 Nxg4 27.Qh4 (27.Qe2 Qe4 28.Qxe4 Bxe4 drops the f5-pawn) 27…Qe4 28.h3 Rxd4! 29.Rxd4 Qxd4 30.Qxg4 Qxg4 31.hxg4 looks lost. 26…Rdg8 27.Ne6 Qc6 28.h3 The attractive looking 28.Nd8 falls for the same tactical trick as in the previous variation: 28…Rxf4! 29.Qxf4 Qe4! 28…Rxf4 Another try is 28…Nd3, the main point of which is that 29.Rxd3? Rxg2! 30.Bxg2 Qc1+ 31.Kh2 Bxg2 (31…Rxg2+?? 32.Qxg2 white wins because of the threatened back rank checkmate) 32.Qg1! (32.Qxg2?? Rxg2+ 33.Kxg2 Qc2+ Black wins) 32…Qxg1+ 33.Kxg1 Be4+ Black still has the upper hand. 29.Nxf4 Qe4 30.Nh5 Qc6 31.Kh2 Qc7 Threatening mate starting with …Nf3+ 32.Kh1 Qc1 33.Kh2 [33.Nxf6?? Bxg2+ 34.Qxg2 Rxg2 35.Rd8+ Kg7 36.Nh5+ Kf7 37.Kxg2 Qc2+ 38.Kg3 Qxf5 either White’s bishop or knight will fall] 33…Qc7 34.Kh1 Qf7 35.Nf4 Be4 36.Rd6 Qg7 37.Nh5 Qh6 The pawn on f6 is taboo. If White takes it then 38.Nxf6?? Qxh3+ 39.Kg1 Nf3+ it is time to resign. 38.Qh4? Simply 38.Qf4 is sufficient. 38…Bxg2+! 39.Bxg2 Qc1+ 0-1. White did not want to see 40.Kh2 Nf3+ 41.Bxf3 Qg1#
Puzzler.
White: Qa1, Nd5, Bg5, Kh7
Black: Ke5
White to play and mate in three.
Send your answers to “64” c/o Marianas Variety, P.O. Box 500231, Saipan MP 96950. Our fax no. is 670-234-9271. You can also e-mail idlasts @lycos.com or [email protected].
