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BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE, the World’s Oldest Chess Journal BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 387 IMPRESSUM Contents BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE Founded 1881 www.britishchessmagazine.co.uk Chairman Shaun Taulbut Director Stephen Lowe Editors Heroic Caruana Milan Dinic and Shaun Taulbut 403 Wins on Carlsens Turf Photo editor David Llada 389 The Grand Chess Tour Americans dominate Prepress Specialist in Leuven and Paris Milica Mitic By GM Aleksandar Colovic Photography 410 FIDE presidential elections Grand Chess Tour oicial, Everything is possible, and Altibox Norway Chess 2018 oicial, nothing is impossible sports.sina.cn, skpula.hr By Milan Dinic Advertising Stephen Lowe 412 Tournament report: Pula Open, Croatia An impressive performance of Enquiries English players at the Pula Open [email protected] By IM Shaun Taulbut ISSN 0007-0440 417 BIG READ: Lord Dunsany © The British Chess Magazine Limited The Renaissance man of chess Company Limited by Shares By Milan Dinic Registered in England No 00334968 428 The Three Sailors' Gambit Postal correspondence: By Lord Dunsany Albany House, 14 Shute End Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 1BJ 434 The 29th NATO Chess Championships Poland NATO chess champions Subscription By Carl Portman [email protected] 12 monthly issues UK: £55 | RoW: £85 438 Openings for Amateurs Understanding the struggle Printed in the UK: by Lavenham Press Ltd in the centre By Alan Smith Cover photography: Russian Chess Federation, 444 Quotes and Queries Nigel Short, Oicial Facebook page Champions of British counties By Alan Smith 388 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE July 2018 The Grand Chess Tour Americans dominate in Leuven and Paris By GM Aleksandar Colovic, Photo: Grand Chess Tour official This year’s edition of the Grand Chess in the GCT count double than the blitz Tour kicked off with the rapid and blitz points), but things got slightly out of events in Leuven (12−16 June) and Paris hand in the blitz... (20−24 June). The only major difference from last year is the absence of the World With a short break Champion. Perhaps it is not surprising between Leuven and then that the attention of the public was considerably diminished. Paris the form of the players remained the ‘Slow and steady’ − those were the words same. Sometimes a break Garry Kasparov used to describe Wesley So’s first major triumph in Saint Louis in the routine can cause in 2016. Little has changed since then, as the form to change, for slow and steady are indeed Wesley So’ s better or worse, but this preferred ways of doing things. wasn’t the case here. Sometimes, however, life has its own way So, Karjakin, Nakamura, of giving us what we want. It appeared Vachier Lagrave and that So’s dominance in the rapid section of the Leuven tournament would easily Aronian were again the seal his overall victory (the rapid points best players BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 389 07/138 So like Capablanca 15...e4 the complications lead to an equal position. 16.¤e5 ¤xe5 17.dxe5 ¥xe5 The following game is perhaps So’s best 18.¥xe4 ¥xe4! 19.¦xd8 ¥xc2 20.¦xa8 effort in the rapid – the technique he ¦xa8 21.¦xc2 ¦d8 with an equal endgame. displayed resembles that of Capablanca. 15.¤d2 ¥xg2 16.¢xg2 ¥g5?! Wesley So – Anish Giri XIIIIIIIIY GCT Rapid YourNextMove Leuven BEL (4) 9r+-wqr+k+0 9+pzp-+pzpp0 1.c4 ¤f6 2.g3 e5 3.¥g2 d5 4.cxd5 ¤xd5 5.¤c3 ¤b6 6.¤f3 ¤c6 7.d3 ¥e7 8.0–0 9p+n+-+-+0 0–0 9.¥e3 ¥e6 10.¦c1 This is what Anand 9+-+-zp-vl-0 played against So only 12 days prior to this 9-+-+-+-+0 game! Using opening ideas from your rivals is a common theme in chess, only here - 9zP-+PvL-zP-0 after suffering with Black - So switches 9-zPQsNPzPKzP0 sides and pushes this line with White. The first players who made these switches 9+-tRR+-+-0 successfully were Karpov and Kasparov in xiiiiiiiiy their matches in the 1980s. Simplifications do not always make one’s life easier. After the exchange of the bishop 10...¤d5 11.¤xd5 ¥xd5 12.£c2 ¦e8 on e3 White gets a chance to push e3 and d4. 13.a3 a6 Giri doesn’t weaken the b5–square. 16...£d7 17.¤e4 ¥e7 18.£c4 is slightly 13...a5 14.£a4 immediately, eyeing the better for White, but also better for Black weakened b5–square. 14...¥d6 15.¤g5 when compared to the game. (15.£b5) 15...¥xg2 16.£c4 £e7 17.¢xg2 ½–½ (35) Anand,V (2760)-So,W (2778) 17.¥xg5 £xg5 18.e3 White has an easy Stavanger NOR 2018. play here - he aims to push d4 while at the same time his knight can land on c5 via e4. 14.¦fd1 In a typical reversed Dragon White has comfortable play, but Black shouldn’t 18...£e7 19.¤e4 ¦ac8 20.¤c5 ¤d8 21.d4 have too much trouble either. It is surprising Black has been going only backward and how quickly Giri lands in difficulties. White only forward. White has a solid advantage here. 14...¥f6 14...¥d6 was preferable. Perhaps he was worried about 15.d4, but after 21...e4?! XIIIIIIIIY So was in a class of 9-+rsnr+k+0 his own in the rapid. It appeared that his 9+pzp-wqpzpp0 dominance in the rapid 9p+-+-+-+0 section of the Leuven 9+-sN-+-+-0 tournament would 9-+-zPp+-+0 easily seal his overall 9zP-+-zP-zP-0 victory, but things got 9-zPQ+-zPKzP0 slightly out of hand in 9+-tRR+-+-0 the blitz xiiiiiiiiy 390 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE July 2018 Out of the frying pan into the fire. I will try to point out some characteristic decisions in this phase. 21...exd4 22.¦xd4 when the control over the d-file, coupled with the dominating 30...¢f7 31.¤d4 g6 32.¦c3 The engine knight, increases White’s advantage, but at suggests a4 first, but So activates the rook least here Black isn’t losing by force. by pinning down the b7–pawn. 22.d5! This fixes the c7–pawn and leaves 32...¢f6 33.¦b3 ¦e7 34.a4 Now the pawn the knight on d8 without squares. advances to a5, further fixing the b7–pawn. 22...f5 Allowing a nice tactical shot. 34...¢e5 35.a5 ¢d5 36.¦b6 ¦f7 Black can only wait here. But in order 22...¦b8 avoids the pin along the c-file, but to win White will need a second front after 23.£b3 …¤a6 23...£d6 24.£a4 £e7 on the kingside because Black’s pieces 25.¦d4 f5 26.¦b4 £b3 White still wins. are centralised and can defend against a direct attack on the queenside. A 23.¤xa6! ¤f7 23...bxa6 24.d6 a nice classical example of the principle of geometry, threatening d7. 24...£d7 two weaknesses! 25.dxc7 £f7 26.cxd8£ ¦cxd8 27.£c6 and it’s not so much about the pawn as 36...¢c5 37.b3. it is about Black’s weaknesses on a6 and the central files. 37.b3 g5 38.a6 White eliminates the b7– pawn in order to give his rook greater 24.d6 Avoiding a blockading knight on d6 freedom.