Other notable changes: Armenian GM Levon Aronian gained 13 points but dropped to fourth place. Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan gained 18 to climb from 14th to sixth. Veterans Boris Gelfand and Peter Svidler are up a few places, while Peter Leko is down from sixth to ninth. The unpredictable Vassily Ivanchuk shed 17 points and dropped from eighth to 12th.
The other notables, according to ChessBase: Hikaru Nakamura lost 20, Evgeny Tomashevsky gained the same number, Vallejo 15, Wang Yue 18, Navara 15, Almasi 19 and Adams 16. Leinier Dominguez Perez of Cuba is now the highest ranked player in the Americas.
The top 21:
1 Topalov, Veselin BUL 2810
2 Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2801
3 Anand, Viswanathan IND 2788
4 Aronian, Levon ARM 2786
5 Kramnik, Vladimir RUS 2772
6 Gashimov, Vugar AZE 2758
7 Gelfand, Boris ISR 2758
8 Svidler, Peter RUS 2754
9 Leko, Peter HUN 2752
10 Morozevich, Alexander RUS 2750
11 Radjabov, Teimour AZE 2748
12 Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR 2739
13 Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR 2739
14 Grischuk, Alexander RUS 2736
15 Jakovenko, Dmitry RUS 2736
16 Wang, Yue CHN 2734
17 Eljanov, Pavel UKR 2729
18 Karjakin, Sergey UKR 2723
19 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE 2719
20 Shirov, Alexei ESP 2719
21 Dominguez Perez, Leinier CUB 2719
Game of the week. Here’s the crown prince in action at the recently held tournament which he dominated. IM Jack Peters annotates.
White: GM Magnus Carlsen (2772)
Black: GM Dmitry Jakovenko (2742)
Queen’s Gambit Declined
Nanjing 2009
1 d4 This was the final round, after Carlsen had clinched first prize. d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Be7 4 cxd5 exd5 5 Bf4 c6 6 Qc2 Else 6…Bf5. Bd6 Stodgy. Either 6…Nf6 or 6…g6 is livelier. 7 Bxd6 Qxd6 8 e3 Ne7 9 Bd3 b6 10 Nf3 Ba6 11 0-0 Bxd3 12 Qxd3 A dull position. But don’t expect a quick draw! Nd7 After 12…0-0, Black could answer 13 e4 by 13…dxe4 14 Nxe4 Qf4 15 Rfe1 Nd7, with no more than a tiny edge to White. 13 e4! 0-0 Not 13…dxe4? 14 Nxe4 Qc7 15 Qa3! or 14…Qd5 15 Qa3! Qxe4 16 Rfe1. 14 e5 Qe6 Black expects to stifle White on the Kingside by controlling f5. Instead, 14…Qg6 15 Qxg6 Nxg6 16 b4 favors White slightly. 15 Rae1 Pointless is 15 Ng5?! Qf5. Rfe8 16 Nh4! Intending the steamroller f2-f4-f5. Ng6?! Toughest appears 16…f5. 17 Nxg6 Qxg6 18 Qd2 Now Black will suffer. Nf8 19 f4 Qf5 After 19…f5 20 Nd1 Ne6 21 Ne3, White will arrange a breakthrough with g2-g4. 20 Nd1 f6 The precarious 20…Ne6 21 h3 h5 22 Ne3 Qe4 thwarts White on the Kingside, but 23 Nc2 Qf5 24 Nb4 Rec8 25 Rc1 Nd8 26 Qc2 causes trouble on the c-file. 21 Ne3 Qd7 22 Qd3 fxe5? Black must resort to 22…Rad8 23 Nf5 Ne6, with hope of a timely…c6-c5. 23 dxe5! Ne6 24 f5 Crushing. Nc5 25 Qd4 Ne4 Yielding a pawn. However, Black cannot survive 25…Qc7 26 f6! Rxe5 27 f7+ Kf8 because 28 Nxd5! Rxd5 29 Qe3 sets up 30 Qe8+. Also 26…gxf6 fails, to 27 Ng4 fxe5 28 Nh6+! Kh8 29 Rxe5 Rxe5 30 Nf7+ Qxf7 (worse is 30…Kg8 31 Qg4+) 31 Rxf7. 26 Nxd5! Qxd5 Or 26…cxd5 27 Rxe4. 27 Qxe4 Rad8 White refutes 27…Qxa2 convincingly by 28 Rd1!, threatening 29 Rd7. 28 e6 Qxe4 The endgame is hopeless, but 28…Qxa2 would lose quickly to 29 e7 Rc8 30 f6 gxf6 31 Rxf6 Qd5 32 Qf4, threatening 33 Rf5. 29 Rxe4 Rd6 Or 29…Rd2 30 g4 Rxb2 31 g5. 30 g4 Kf8 31 g5 Ke7 32 Kg2 Rd5 33 Kg3 Kd6 34 h4 c5 35 f6 The pawns will claim at least a Rook. gxf6 36 gxf6 Rd3+ 37 Kh2 Rd2+ 38 Kh1 and Black Resigns.
Puzzler.
White — Ka4, Ba6, Nb8, Nc6, Qc1, pawns on e3 and h4
Black — Kd5, Nd6, Rf7, Bh7, Rh3, pawns on b3, c4, c7, d4, e6 and f3
White to play and mate in four.
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