The Candidates Tournament for 2016 has all but been decided. The place will be Moscow. The time: 10-30 March 2016. With such a strong lineup–eh, I should run down the lineup to cut down on Googling.
Viswanathan Anand (2796) qualified by virtue of being last year’s challenger.
Sergey Karjakin (2766) and Peter Svidler (2743) qualified through being the winner and runner-up, respectively, of this year’s World Cup.
Fabiano Caruana (2787) and Hikaru Nakamura (2793) made it to the Tournament by finishing first and second, respectively, in the most recent Grand Prix.
Levon Aronian (2783) was the organiser’s choice.
This leaves two players who are virtually certain to qualify by rating average for 2o15: Veselin Topalov (2803) and Anish Giri (2783).
If one of those mentioned above decides not to play, Dmitry Jakovenko (2737) will be the replacement, as he finished third at the World Cup. Alas, poor Jakovenko! He could also muster only third at the Grand Prix and so must hope for the rumors that Topalov is seriously considering whether to play to be true. I read this in a recent chess24 article, which claimed “Topalov has said he’s still considering whether to take part…” However, he will probably play, and I hope he does, as there seems to be no reason not to, and it sets a strange example for others in the future if he doesn’t.
The World Championship date has not been posted on the FIDE website. The recent clashes have been in early fall, so perhaps it will be the same this time around? Hopefully it will triumph over the United States presidential election to win the newly minted Hikaru Junction title of “Most Interesting Fall Competition.”
The most interesting chess on American soil currently is, though, the Showdown in St. Louis (SISTL), which features two matches: Fabiano Caruana–Hikaru Nakamura and Hou Yifan–Parimarjan Negi. The event featured Basque Chess (Two simultaneous games), rapid games, Fischer Random, and, today, blitz! Here are two highlights:
First, a brilliant endgame by Negi:
Hou Yifan-Parimarjan Negi SISTL 2015 Basque Chess
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "b3k2r/2p2ppp/P2bpn2/4n3/R1p5/6P1/1P1NPP1P/2B2RK1 w k - 3 17"]
17. Nxc4 Nxc4 18. Rxc4 {After a spirited opening, Negi achieved the advantage of two pieces for a rook and pawn.} Kd7 19. f3 {Yifan blunts the light-squared bishop, but missed 19. Bf4!, ridding Black for the bishop pair.} Bd5 20. Ra4 {Preventing this move with 19…Bc6! was better.} Bc6 21. Ra5 Bb4 22. Rd1+ Ke7 23. Ra1 Ra8 {Black, having untangled, has much better coordination than White.} 24. Kf1 Bb5 {Negi forces the pawn to step forward…} 25. a7 Bc5 {Then attacks it once more! The minor pieces come into their own.} 26. Bf4 Nd5 27. Ra5 {This threat is easily parried.} c6 28. Bd2 Rxa7 {Black finally has dealt with the White nuisances and so is free to take the pawn.} 29. Rxa7+ Bxa7 30. Ke1 Bc5 31. Ra1 Ne3 {While White shuffles to and fro, Black improves his pieces.} 32. Rc1 Bb6 33. Bb4+ Kd7 34. b3 e5 35. Bc5 Bxc5 36. Rxc5 {Black no longer has the bishop pair, but now gains a tempo to centralize the king.} Kd6 37. Rc1 f5 {Black starts a plan to post a pawn on f4, strengthening the knight-outpost on e3.} 38. Kd2 f4 39. gxf4 exf4 40. Rg1 {The White rook searches fruitlessly for a target.} g6 41. Rg5 Nf5 {The knight makes room for the king to intrude, sealing the win of further material and the game.} 42. Rg4 Ke5 43. h4 {The Black knight now switched targets like a tracking missile, forking two pawns.} Nd4 44. Rg5+ {White writhes, struggling for a hope of counterplay.} Kf6 45. b4 Nxe2 46. Ke1 Nc3 {White resigned, seeing that more material would soon be won by Nd5, wherein the b-pawn would be indefensible.} 0-1
Next, a lowlight for Hikaru, giving us all hope.
Fabiano Caruana–Hikaru Nakamura SISTL 2015 Rapid
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.Bxc6+ bxc6 5.e5 {An interesting push.} dxe5 6.Nxe5 f6 {?? No! This beginner’s blunder should be erased by Qd5, forking the knight and g2 pawn.} 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Nxg6 hxg6 9.Qxh8 {White wins the exchange.} Qd5 10.O-O Kf7 {Black tries to somehow trap the queen, but his flailing turns quickly into failing.} 11.Nc3 Qd4 12.d3 Bg7 13.Qh7 f5 {Black tries to at least control some territory.} 14.Ne2 Qd6 15.Nf4 Bd7 {? e5 is better and obvious.} 16.Nh3 Be8 17.Ng5+ Kf8 18.Re1 {Caruana gets the e6 square.} e5 19.Bf4 {If Black takes, Ne6+ is crushing.} Bf6 20.Qb7 Bxg5 21.Bxe5 {Nakamura resigned, and declined to give an interview afterwards.} 1-0
And lastly, I leave you with the trailer that the Poland team made for the European Team Championship (of chess, or course). The team consisted, in the first round, of Radoslaw Wojtasek, Jan-Krzysztof Duda (whose name took no less than six tries for me to type), Grzegorz Gajewski, and Mateusz Bartel, in board order.
Enjoy.
Wasn’t that awesome? Let’s all root for Poland!
HikaruShindo