NEW COLUMN BY JACOB AAGAARD: ALL-ROUND TRAINING ON FOUR TYPES OF DECISIONS AMERICAN CHESS MAGAZINE ACMCHESS.COM / IssUE No.4 FALL 2017 IT'S COOL TO BE SMART MAXIME VACHIER-LAGRAVE WINS THE SINQUEFIELD CUP “HE'S ONE HELL OF A PLAYER” Shak THE SHARK Mamedyarov MEET THE YOUNGEST for Dewain GRANDMASTER IN THE WORLD Barber AWONDER - A WONDER! INTERVIEW & EXCLUSIVE ANNOtatiONS Awonder Liang catch A RISING staR: MAGGIE FENG Yuanling Yuan THE BAKU OLYMPIAD REVISITED WHO BROUGHT NORTH CHAMpaGNE AMERicaN FOR THE US TEAM? Surya Ganguly U18 CHAMPION Bryce Tiglon WISCONSIN KASPAROV AT ST. LOUIS RAPID & BLITZ CHESS [NOT CHEESE] GARRY Denes Boros BACK TO ISSN 2572-2808 01703 THE FUTURE 9 772572 280005 2017 Chess Journalists BEST BEST BEST BEST of America LAYOUT LESSON ANALYSIS INTERVIEW Awards CJA Awards • 2017 CJA Awards • 2017 CJA Awards • 2017 CJA Awards • 2017 BECAUSE CHESS IS A GAME OF UNLIMITED BEAUTY. www.acmchess.com OPENINGS OPENINGS Editor-in-Chief JOSIP ASIK Art Director Deputy Editor VLADIMIR VUKSAN JIMMY ADAMS Managing Editor Senior Editor PETE TAMBURRO DUSAN KRUNIC Copy Editor Photo Editor PETER KURZDORFER DAVID LLADA Editor at Large Features Editor DIEGO HERMAN PETER LONG Chief Designer Chess Editor IT'S COOL TO BE SMART ALEKSANDAR GAJIC GORAN ARSOVIC Associate Editor Associate Editor CHRIS WAINSCOTT DANIEL PARMET AMERICAN Contributing Editors and Writers CHESS MAGAZINE JOEL BENJAMIN SHAK MAMEDYAROV MACKENZIE MOLNER ROBERT HUNGASKI JON EDWARDS S.P. 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Website: www.acmchess.com Ad design assistance Correspondence: [email protected] Emails to the editor: [email protected] acmchess.com/advertise Letters to:American Chess Magazine, 2028 E Ben White Blvd, Ste 240-2969, Austin, TX 78741 ; Or call: 512-910-2107 SUBMIT No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. The views included herein are those of the authors, and do not necessarily Manuscripts, photographs, chess reflect the opinions of the publisher. games and other correspondence are welcome. Letters become ISSN 2572-2808 the property of ACM and may be edited for publication. acmchess.com/submit CHESS MEDIA NETWORK AMERICAN CHESS MAGAZINE 2 FALL 2017 AMERICAN CHESS MAGAZINE 3 COVERSTORY CONTIssue no.4 ENTS 78 GREED DOESN’T PAY! GM Karsten Mueller 24 82 ASPHYXIATED PawNS Maxime Vachier- GM Alex Fishbein Lagrave Wins the 88 World Championship Match Sinquefield Cup THE ScaRY FUTURE OF CHESS? GM Ernesto Inarkiev "HE'S ONE HELL OF A PLAYER" 100 FRESH LEavES FROM THE BOOKSHELF 4 FM Carsten Hansen GM Shak Mamedyarov 106 TaBLEBasES! Jon Edwards Photo by Maria Emalianova by Photo 108 ONLINE VS (GET ALONG WITH) OvER-THE-BOARD 24 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave IM Danny Rensch 36 Wins the Sinquefield Cup "HE'S ONE HELL OF A PLAYER" 110 MUSINGS OF AN AMERIcaN AWONDER A GM Shak Mamedyarov GRANDmasTER GM Joel Benjamin WoNDER ! INTERVIEW: AWONDER A WONDER! Interview 36 SPICE PROGRAM AT WEBSTER Josip Asik 114 UNIVERSITY 40 MY BEST GAMES IN 2017 Chris Wainscott GM Awonder Liang ALL-ROUND TRAINING page 46 8 By GM Ivan Sokolov GM Jacob Aagaard 50 MAGGIE FENG - THE GIRL WITH 46 THE DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD WIM Yuanling Yuan ALL-ROUND Garry Kasparov TRAINING 55 ROCKY –ESQUE FIGHT GM Jacob Aagaard GM Michael Rohde 58 The Baku Olympiad Revisited WHO BROUGHT CHAMPAGNE FOR THE US TEAM? BACK GM Surya Ganguly and 118 TwO NEW U.S. IMs! GM Sarunas Sulskis Bryce Tiglon INTERVIEW: DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER 122 66 25 QUESTIONS FOR DEwaIN BARBER GM Vassily Ivanchuk Pete Tamburro 69 SEVIAN BLOOMS SEVIAN BLooMS TO THE 69 126 CHESS, NOT CHEESE! GM Robert Hungaski GM Denes Boros GM Robert Hungaski 74 The New Art of Positional Play 130 CHESS ACROSS AMERIca GM Mackenzie Molner WAITING FOR A QUEENSIDE BREAK FUTURE GM John Fedorowicz 135 TOURNAMENT REVIEW 4 FALL 2017 AMERICAN CHESS MAGAZINE 5 64 SQUARES LATEST NEWS LETTER WESLEY SO IN WORLD CUP SEMIFINAL Reigning US Champion Wesley So has advanced to the semifinals from the EDITOR of the World Cup in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he will face Chinese grandmaster Ding Liren. The other semifinal pairing is Vachier– Lagrave vs Aronian. On his road to the final four, Wesley won his mini–matches against J. D. Ruiz Castillo, Matthias Bluebaum WHAT’S THE GREATEST AWARD [See page 58! – Ed.], Francisco Vallejo Pons, Baadur Jobava and Vladimir Fedoseev. A MAGAZINE CAN RECEIVE? So many of the top seeds got knocked out in first three rounds: Carlsen (vs Bu Xiangzhi) Kramnik (vs Ivanchuk), Caruana (vs Najer), Nakamura (vs Fedoseev), Anand (vs Kovalyov), Karjakin I have always believed that quality ultimately wins. (vs Dubov), Mamedyarov (vs Kuzubov), etc. The road is often longer but it is undoubtedly the right one on which to travel. With that said, I was genuinely surprised by the accolades the American BERMUDA PartY Chess Magazine received in the Chess Journalists of ABDUMALIk – A SENsaTION at THE WORLD OPEN It looked like chess fans were going to America Awards for 2017. Not that we do not deserve remember 25–year old Anton Kovalyov them – oh yes, I certainly believe we do! – it’s just that 17–year old Zhansaya Abdumalik as the man who eliminated Vishy Anand such recognition came sooner than I anticipated. And from Kazakhstan was the sensation at the World Cup. But then he was party this was based only on the first two issues! So thank Vuksan – who, as it happens, was my classmate ever of the 45th World Open in to an even bigger sensation. Just minutes you, good folks from the CJA – we are of course all since 1st grade of primary school. With about 40 years of Philadelphia. She earned a GM before the start of the third round, Kovalyov absolutely delighted and honored by your choices. friendship, it is obvious that we complement each other, norm while sharing 2nd place with was approached by arbiters and organizers The Best Interview Award was given for the “It ain’t as shown for example by our endless arguments about half a dozen strong GMs, half who claimed that his wearing of Bermuda over till it’s over” feature in ACM 01. As I was the writer, color, which photo should be included, why a diagram has a point behind the sole winner shorts contravened the FIDE dress code. for obvious reasons I won’t make any comment. However to be here and not elsewhere... He is the “Jonathan Ive” Armenian Tigran L. Petrosian. The Canadian grandmaster was so upset by what I do want to say is that a good half of the praise of chess design, whereas I can only take credit for inviting Wins over GMs Moradiabadi, what he considered to be unwarranted and should go to David Llada, a photographer from Spain such a great talent into our chess world. Popilski and Zherebukh finally aggressive treatment by chief organizer Zurab whose artwork made such a visual impact. He brilliantly Our Managing Editor, Pete Tamburro, received propelled Abdumalik to board Azmaiparashvili, that he withdrew from the depicted the atmosphere in Moscow and the mood of an Honorary Mention for Best Journalist of The 1(!) for her last round game - tournament and swiftly left Georgia. This the challenger prior to his world title match with Magnus Year. He is indeed a living legend in American chess which she drew against Jeffery incident has provoked serious controversy Carlsen. And, looking at the bigger picture, I feel that ACM journalism and I am so very grateful for the energy and Xiong. which has yet to run its full course. is making a significant contribution to chess photography enthusiasm he has brought to ACM. Top chess is our in general and highlighting its importance in presenting specialty but Pete is the one who finds hidden gems in our game to a wider audience. local chess, and who is always on the lookout for a little The Best Chess Analysis Award went to GM story that deserves to be broadcast to the wide world. SEVEN MEDALS MEET THE Ivan Sokolov for his work in ACM 01. Ivan’s analysis It’s about making chess bigger and better, and Pete has FOR U.S. CADETS “REAL” JENNIFER YU sends us on a truly worthwhile journey, albeit one that always been a man with a mission. is sometimes over rough terrain with many obstacles Awards are a big bonus but it is the judgment of the IN BRAZIL for the unsuspecting reader. However, this is because readership that counts for much more. Issue no. 4 also In ACM 03, on page 104, we he does not shy away from the challenge of answering marks the first major challenge for the American Chess US youngsters swept gold in all incorrectly tagged a photo of difficult questions in the ever changing field of opening Magazine. Hopefully, there will be many of you, dear three Open divisions of the World Carissa Yip as being Jennifer Yu. theory and always approaches the job in hand with chess friends, who will choose to renew your subscription, Cadet Championships, held during We would like to apologize for great passion and honesty.