Chess Contents Founding Editor: B.H. Wood, OBE. M.Sc † Executive Editor: Malcolm Pein Editorial....................................................................................................................4 Editors: Richard Palliser, Matt Read Malcolm Pein on the latest developments in the game Associate Editor: John Saunders Subscriptions Manager: Paul Harrington 60 Seconds with...Thomas Engqvist...........................................................7 Twitter: @CHESS_Magazine The Swedish author and IM twice enjoyed playing David Bronstein Twitter: @TelegraphChess - Malcolm Pein Website: www.chess.co.uk Battling with the Best .......................................................................................8 Andrew Ledger reports from the European Club Cup in Greece Subscription Rates: United Kingdom Mr & Mrs Monopolise the Manx Money.................................................12 1 year (12 issues) £49.95 The Isle of Man attracted a stellar field, watched by John Saunders 2 year (24 issues) £89.95 3 year (36 issues) £125 Brilliancies in Batumi .......................................................................................20 Europe Ding Liren and Sarunas Sulskis both won in style at the Olympiad 1 year (12 issues) £60 2 year (24 issues) £112.50 The Welsh Ordeal ..............................................................................................24 3 year (36 issues) £165 Carl Strugnell reports as much on the Kobuleti Olympiad as Batumi USA & Canada 1 year (12 issues) $90 The 300 Most Important Chess Positions ............................................30 2 year (24 issues) $170 Thomas Engqvist presents three and you can win his new book 3 year (36 issues) $250 Rest of World (Airmail) Christmas Stocking Fillers ............................................................................31 1 year (12 issues) £72 Uncertain what you want for Christmas? Sean Marsh has some tips 2 year (24 issues) £130 3 year (36 issues) £180 Never Mind the Grandmasters...................................................................34 Distributed by: Carl features a game won and annotated by Jovanka Houska Post Scriptum (UK only), Unit G, OYO Business Park, Hindmans Way, Forthcoming Events.........................................................................................35 Dagenham, RM9 6LN - Tel: 020 8526 7779 How Good is Your Chess?..............................................................................36 LMPI (North America) 8155 Larrey Street, Montreal (Quebec), Daniel King thought Poland were the hard luck story of the Olympiad H1J 2L5, Canada - Tel: 514 355-5610 Opening Trends..................................................................................................40 Views expressed in this publication are not Lines of the English remain popular, as shown by Aronian-Duda necessarily those of the Editors. Contributions to the magazine will be published at the Editors’ discretion and may be shortened if space is limited. Find the Winning Moves.................................................................................41 Can you do as well as the players at the 4NCL International? No parts of this publication may be reproduced without the prior express permission of the publishers. Still Going Strong..............................................................................................44 All rights reserved. © 2018 Sarah and Alex Longson reflect on running the UK Chess Challenge Chess Magazine (ISSN 0964-6221) is published by: Chess & Bridge Ltd, 44 Baker St, London, W1U 7RT Overseas News...................................................................................................50 Tel: 020 7288 1305 Fax: 020 7486 7015 Mike Basman took on a fellow chess legend in Haarlem Email: [email protected], Website: www.chess.co.uk Home News..........................................................................................................52 FRONT COVER: Matthew Turner and Simon Williams qualified for the British KO Cover Design: Matt Read Cover image: John Saunders Solutions ...............................................................................................................54 US & Canadian Readers – You can contact us via our American branch – Chess4Less based in West Palm This Month’s New Releases ..........................................................................55 Beach, FL. Call toll-free on 1-877 89CHESS (24377). Sean Marsh looks at new books on the Trompowsky and QGD You can even order Subscriber Special Offers online via www.chess4less.com Saunders on Chess............................................................................................58 John on what a chess player really shouldn’t say, but sometimes does Printed in the UK by The Magazine Printing Photo credits: Joost Jansen (p.51), Batumi Olympiad (pp.21, 23), Niki Riga (pp.9-10), Company using only paper from FSC/PEFC John Saunders (pp.1, 12-19). suppliers www.magprint.co.uk www.chess.co.uk 3 Mr & Mrs Monopolise the Manx Money A stellar field contested the Isle of Man International, but Radek Wojtaszek and his wife Alina Kashlinskaya were the standout successes, reports John Saunders The 5th Chess.com Isle of Man International Open, held at the Villa Marina, Douglas, over nine rounds from 20th to 28th October, once again attracted an amazingly strong field to compete for its huge rewards – the first prize being £50,000 – and resulted in a feast of chess for players and spectators alike. Some commentators have billed this as the strongest open of all time, and by some metrics this is a perfectly valid claim, given the 75 GMs present, of whom no fewer than 20 were rated above 2700. The only real rival to this claim would be its immediate predecessor in 2017, which gloried in the presence of the world champion Magnus Carlsen and his soon to be challenger Fabiano Caruana, whereas the 2018 tournament, because of the proximity of the London world championship match, lacked these two and also the other two current players with ratings in excess of 2800. Ding Liren had been slated to play, but unfortunately his Can you spot any superstars? The impressive setting of the Villa Marina in Douglas once ongoing mobility problem ruled this out. again played hosted to the Chess.com Isle of Man International, the world’s strongest open. Another difference between the 2017 and 2018 tournaments was the absence of a This year the same two young stars were Swiss-paired first round, the results go 0-1, random draw for the first-round pairings. back, showing off their shiny new GM titles 1-0, 0-1, 1-0, etc, monotonously down the Though FIDE’s rating overlords had allowed and, of course, stronger than ever, but there page with very few exceptions, as Goliath this innovation to go ahead in 2017 – were more where they came from (and bashes David with his heavy club and drives successfully, if one takes account of the show elsewhere). To their ranks had been added D. him into the ground like a tent peg. of hands vote in its favour by a substantial Gukesh, born in 2006, already an IM and with If you do this with the 2018 pairings, you proportion of the competitors at the prize- at least one major GM scalp to his name; will find just one result which went in favour giving – after the 2017 tournament FIDE had Raunak Sadhwani, born in 2005, and already of the weaker party – we’ll return to that one had a change of heart and brought in a ruling an IM; and, as well as the above young presently – but there were more draws than whereby scores achieved in competitions Indians, Vincent Keymer of Germany, born in might usually have been expected. The point, where random pairings had been used 2004, with the IM title and a formidable I suppose, is that 2600-2700 players may be wouldn’t count towards norms. This ultra- coach in the shape of Peter Leko. Keymer’s stratospherically strong, but players in the cautious decision might have had a reputation went before him as he had won 2300-2400 range are no mugs either, and detrimental effect on the 2018 result. the Grenke Open in March/April of this year quite a lot of them dug in for draws against As well as the long list of established ahead of 49 GMs, while scoring an eye- the superstars, several of whom were less players, the tournament also had its fair share watering 8/9 and, needless to say, a GM familiar than their opponents when it came to of dangerous aspirants, and the prospect of norm (page 50 of the June CHESS features the rough and tumble of life in an open clashes between present and future stars is one of his wins from that event). tournament. one of the factors which gives open To the play: shorn of its first-round Deprived of a first round win were such tournaments of this quality their huge random pairing bizzaz (let’s hear a loud ‘boo’ names as Anish Giri, Vladimir Kramnik, Wesley spectator appeal. Last year we saw some of for those FIDE killjoys), round one consisted So and Hikaru Nakamura – the last perhaps the earliest encounters between the leading of 82 mismatches between players separated being the most surprising since he is probably lights and the young stars such as by 300 rating points. Yet all was not lost... by the most adept open tournament performer Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin, the weaker players. Usually when you run amongst the elite players, with his string of born in 2005 and 2004 respectively. your eye down the results of an orthodox successes in Gibraltar. Amongst the English December 2018 12 Brilliancies in Batumi England