(already subscribe? log in).

Chess notes

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

January 30, 2012|By Harold Dondis and Patrick Wolff

Chess has always been a game in which votaries prefer to play rather than watch. Instead, of a stadium in which there are just a few players on the field and hundreds or more in the stands, chess usually found the field full and the stands reasonably empty. Nor could chess players get anywhere with persuading television producers to follow their contests.

Now, however, with the Internet, the play and public attention has greatly expanded in a way that chess organizers have always hoped. At any particular time, there is a major world chess event going on. Chess is not seasonal like sports; so, anytime fans all over the world can tune in on the live tournaments, watch videos, and look at the positions - and as ever “watch the grass grow.’’ However, there is particular interest not only in the openings and the positions, but the players who come from a wide variety of countries and have their national followers.

The Tata Steel tournament in the Netherlands is a good illustration of that growing spectator interest. The competition has 14 grandmasters, with an average rating of 2755, from 12 different countries, who face each other in a single round robin. Nearly all the world’s great players are competing minus notables Vladimir Kramnik, world champion Viswanathan Anand, and the colorful Luke McShane, who does not play full time.

For American fans, the clash is interesting because Gata Kamsky has reappeared after concentrating on US play. The current question is whether Hikaru Nakamura can successfully challenge Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Carlsen seems to be the Emanuel Lasker, the Bobby Fischer, or the Garry Kasparov of his time. Carlsen is an average schoolboy, but one in 10 million chess player. He’s not a theorist but plays patient, accurate chess with diverse openings. He appears to be in little haste in the early part of the game but patiently finds good positions from which to dominate the board.

We usually expect Carlsen to win but we are closely watching Nakamura. He first drew with Vasily Ivanchuk and then lost a Leningrad Dutch in the second round against Armenian Levon Aronian. He had draws in rounds thee and four against youngsters Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri but then triumphed in a dangerous sacrificial attack against David Navara of the Czech Republic. Round 6 found him defeating world champion challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel. At the end of the 10th round, the leaders were Aronian with 7.5 points and Ivanchuk in second 2 with 6.5 points. Carlsen, after a loss to Sergey Karjakin in the ninth round, is tied for third with Teimour Radjabov, with 6 points. Nakamura has 5.5 points and Kamsky has 5.

Brevity: K. Richter v. K. Darga (1950) 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Bxf6 Bxf6 6.e5 Be7 7.Qg4 0-0 8.Bd3 c5 9.dxc5 Nd7 10.Nf3 Nxc5 11.0-0-0 Qa5 12.Bxh7+ Kxh7 13.Qh5+ Kg8 14.h4 Re8 15.Ng5 Bxg5+ 16.hxg5 Kf8 17.g6 fxg6 18.Qxg6 Bd7 19.Rh7; 1-0. (If 19… Ke7, then 20. Qg5+ leads to mate.)

Winners: Spiegel (Scholastic) Qualifier No. 4: 14&U: 1st, Bowen Wang, South Easton, 11&U, 1st, Alan Sakarov, Newton, 8&U, 1st, Maxwell Zhao, Bolton; Boylston CC Jan. Quads; Quad No. 1, 1st, Mika Brattain 3-0, 2d, Chris Chase 2-1; Quad No. 2, 1st, Felix Yang, 3.0, 2d,Taylor Curtis, 1.5-1.5.

Coming Events: Boylston C.C. Thursday Night Swiss; Feb. 2, 9, 16, 23, 240B Elm St., Somerville; Brown University Open; Feb. 4, Brown University Alumnae Hall. 194 Meeting Street, Providence; rhodeislandchess@yahoo.com