Crypto Cup underway
A selection of the world’s top players will see action today as the $320,000 Online FTX Crypto Cup, the sixth leg of the Champions Tour, gets underway.
Magnus Carlsen, winner of the tour’s fifth edition, leads a very strong 16-player field as he seeks to add another feather in his cap and an outright grand finals spot in the $1.5 million Meltwater Champions Tour in September. Joining the Norwegian world champion is Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, who became the world championship challenger after dominating the recent Candidates Tournament in Sochi.
Carlsen will open his campaign against Azeri top gun Shakriyar Mamedyarov while Nepomniachtchi is pitted against compatriot Daniil Dubov. Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi will meet in round two. The rest of the pairings will be Peter Svidler (RUS) vs Levon Aronian (FIDE); Fabiano Caruana (USA) vs Alireza Firouzjha (FIDE); Teimnour Radjabov (AZE) vs Hikaru Nakamura (USA); Wesley So (USA) vs Alexander Grischuk (RUS); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) vs Ding Liren (CHN) and Alan Pichot (ARG) vs Anish Giri (NED).
Competitions will be conducted via an all-play-all preliminary and knockout finals. The top eight finishers in the prelims will advance to the knockout phase consisting of quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. Time control is fifteen minutes plus 10 seconds increment.
Games can be followed live with commentaries at varous chess websites starting at 1700 CEST.
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Meanwhile, the 2021 Chinese Championship held May 7-15 in Xinghua ended in a logjam with three players tied for first, each scoring seven points out of a possible eleven. In tie-break order, defending champion Yu Yangi nosed out his co-winners Wei Yi (second) and Li Di (third).
The 12-player, single-round robin tournament featured the participation of reigning women’s world champion Ju Wenjun.
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The game shown below is not necessarily the best game of the tournament, rather it has been selected for being the representative of the style of the winner and for being the representative of the tension and temperament of each game.
2021 Chinese Championship
W) Yu, Yangi GM
B) Xu Yinglun GM
Reti Opening
1. Nf3 ....
The Reti Opening, a flexible move reachable by one transposition or another, and named after Richard Reti (1889-1929), author and dean of Hyper modern chess.
2.... Nf6, 2. g3 d5, 3. Bg2 ....
This is the Hypermodern setup, applicable also in a number of other lines. As the early chess writers wrote, ‘”Richard Reti, more than any other, is responsible for putting the Fianchetto on the book.”
3.... c6, 4. O-O Bg4, 5. h3 Bxf3, 6. Bxf3 e5, 7. d3 Bc5, 8. c4 d4, 9. Na3 Bxa3
Seems premature to surrender the two Bishops at this point. As Richard Reti wrote, “Most chess players know, thanks to the study of masters games, that two Bishops are stronger than two Knights, though very few know the reason for this advantage and how to turn it to account.”
10. bxa3 Nbd7, 11. a4 O-O, 12. Ba3 Re8, 13. Rb1 Qc7, 14. Qc2 Rab8, 15. Rb3 b6?!
Intending to close the diagonal a3-f8, but the text creates complications which favors White. The engine prefers 15....Nf8.
16. c5! bxc5 , 17. Bxc5 Nd5?
And here’s the fatal blunder overlooking White’s combination. Correct is 17....Rbc8, though after 18. Rc1, White enjoys a big positional plus due to Black’s backward c Pawn.
18. Bxd4! ....
White picks up a Pawn as after 18....exd4, 19. Bxd5 regains the piece.
18.... Nb4, 19. Qd2 exd4, 20. Rxb4 c5, 21. Rc1 Rxb4, 22. Qxb4 Rc8, 23. Qb5 g6, 24. Bg4 f5, 25. Bf3 Kg7, 26. a5 Qd6, 27. Qb7 Rc7, 28. Qa8 ....
Here White is a Pawn up and positional advantage.The only question now is how long can Black hold.
28.... Qa6?
This move eases White’s task. But after 28....Qe7, the crusher is 29. Rb1!
29. Qd8! ....
This is the painful invasion. The open b file greatly contributes to White’s superiority in controlled space.
29.... Qxa5
30. Qe7ch Kh6
31. e3 Qb6
31....dxe3 is also hopeless in view of 32. Qxe3ch Kg7 33. Qe7ch Kh6 34. Rc4!
32. exd4 cxd4
33. Rxc7 Qxc7
34. Kg2! ....
As the early chess writers used to say, “a quiet move is sometimes more impressive than a display of fireworks.” After the text, Black will soon run out of reasonable moves.
34.... Qc8
35. Qh4ch 1-0
The rest of the story (although Black is no longer interested) would be 35....Kg7 36. Qxd4ch Kf7 37. Qxa7.
Solution to last week’s puzzle:
White to move and win.
White=Kg1, Qe2, Rb3, Be3, Pa2, Pc4, Pf2, Pg3, Ph2
Black=Kc8, Qf5, Rd6, Nd3, Pa7, Pc6, Pf7, Pg7, Ph4
1. Bf4! Rd8
if 1....Nxf4 2. Qe8ch Kc7 (2....Rd8 3. Qxc6 mate)
3. Qb8ch Kd7 4. Rb7ch Ke6 5. Qe8ch Kf6 6. Rxf7ch
and wins)
2. Qe7 1-0
There’s no adequate defense against the
multiple threats of 3. Rb8, 3. Qb7 and 3. Qc7.
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