The chess news from Moscow simply inundated the world this month; first as former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia demonstrated that he is still a strong contender for that title. He won the Tal Memorial, held in Moscow in early November in a star-studded field of 10 of the world’s highest rated grandmasters. Since Kramnik lost his unified world title in 2007 to Viswanathan Anand, there have been questions about what the future held for him but he has certainly reasserted himself this year. Besides capturing the Tal Memorial, he also buttoned up his ninth title in the Dortmund, Germany, tournament. In the Tal tourney, Kramnik scored 6 points, heading off Magnus Carlsen and Vassily Ivanchuk with 5.5 points.
But the Tal Memorial news was but a mere trickle compared to what happened at the World Blitz held Nov. 16-18. This tournament involved 22 players, including three former world champions: Kramnik, Anatoly Karpov, and Ruslan Ponomariov, plus the current champion Anand. They in indulged in (or suffered) three days of a marathon (or orgy) double round robin for a total of 42 games by each player. They endured a time limit (or torture) of 3 minutes, 2 seconds per move for each game. The winner, Magnus Carlsen, who turns 19 today, became the youngest player to win this event and one of the foremost heroes of Norway’s Viking history. The games were broadcast live and it is noteworthy that the record of each game is preserved despite the insane time limit.
Just how the players thrive at blitz defies explanation. For one thing they may know each opening that they play for a length of 15 moves or more. We say, “may know’’, as all sorts of diverting opening play is possible. Given the opening advantages of 3 seconds per move, that still leaves over 2 or 3 minutes of reflexive choices through the jungle of the middle game and the dangerous races of the end game. No doubt, players decide some moves while their opponents are thinking, or reflecting, as the case may be.
In any event, Anand set the pace in the first round of 21 games, threatening to rout the field with 12 wins in his first 14 games, but at the end of the first round Carlsen was just one half point behind. Carlsen took some significant bumps in the first round, as Karpov (who had a great first day but faded thereafter) overcame Carlsen with the black pieces and Carlsen blew a whole rook against women’s world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk (who had otherwise had a disastrous tourney) in their game. Carlsen passed Anand on the third day and cruised to a certain victory with two games to go. Some final scores: Carlsen 31-11, Anand 28-14, Sergey Karjakin, 25-18 and Kramnik 24.5 -17.5.
Brevity: H. Staunton v. H.W, Popert, London, 1840. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bb4+ 5.c3 dxc 6.bxc Ba5 7.e5 d6 8.Qb3 Qe7 9.0--0 dxe5 10.Ba3 Qf6 11.Nd2 Bf5 12.Bxf7+ Qxf7 13.Qxb7 Rd8 14.Qc6+ Bf5-d7 15.Qc5 Bb6 16.Qe5+ Ne7 17.Rae1 c5 18.Ne4 Bc6 19.Ng5. 1-0, (Black can’t castle and is bound to lose more material)
Winners: BCC Early Bird Rapid, 1st, Christopher Williams, 3-0. 2nd-4th, Chris Chase, Lawyer Times, Max Chia-Hsin Lu (13 years old) 2-1. Boston University Open, 1st, David Vigorito, 4-0. 2nd, Anya Corke (Wellesley College), 3.5-5,
Coming events: Tues., Dec. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 MetroWest Holiday Swiss, Kennedy Sr. Center, Natick, inforequest@MetroWestChess.org. Thurs., Dec. 3, 10, 17, Thursday Night Swiss, Boylston Club 240B Elm, Somerville. www.BoylstonChessClub.org. Sun. 12/5, Third State Championship/Spiegel Cup Qualifier, Hudson, www.MassChess.org.
