My Indian Summer

John B. Henderson • September 8, 2023

The past couple of years have proved to be a major one for India - not only a global player with world leaders descending this week in New Delhi for the G20 Summit and recently successfully landing a spacecraft on the moon but now also a fully-fledged chess superpower, with many exciting young talents set to make the country a dominant force for the foreseeable future.


Many would even speculate that Indian Chess could well turn into a hegemony, in much the same way as the Soviets dominated the chess scene in the 1945 post-war period until its collapse and ultimate dissolution in 1991. The latest big chess tournament to be held in India coincides with the G20, with the fifth Tata Steel Chess India Rapid & Blitz - a spinoff from the larger Dutch super-tournament, the Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee - taking place 5-9 September in Kolkata.

It features many of those young Indian talents facing some experienced elite-level players. The full line-up includes: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan), Alexander Grischuk (FIDE), R Praggnanandhaa, Santosh Gujrathi Vidit, Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Arjun Erigaisi, Gukesh D, Pentala Harikrishna and Vincent Keymer (Germany).


But the first half of the tournament, the rapid, didn’t exactly go to the expected script for the home crowd with Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave admitting that he rode his luck throughout, as he secured first place with a round to spare by amassing an unbeaten tally of 7/9, a full 1½ points ahead of his nearest rival, Teimour Radjabov, trailing the leader with 5½ points! 


And as MVL rolls back the years with an exceptional first-half performance, will the momentum be enough to secure him an Indian summer double title as the tournament now moves to the double-round blitz with a time control of 3+2.


Tata Steel Chess India Rapid (final standings):

1. M. Vachier-Lagrave (France) 7/9; 2. T. Radjabov (Azerbaijan) 5½; 3-5. R. Praggnanandhaa, S. Vidit, A.Grischuk (FIDE) 5; 6. Gukesh D. 4½; 7. N. Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) 4; 8. V. Keymer (Germany) 3½; 9. A. Erigaisi 3; 10. P. Harikrishna 2½.

GM Santosh Vidit - GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Tata Steel India Rapid Open, (3)


B94: Sicilian, Najdorf (6.Bg5)

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 Just as a leopard never changes its spots, MVL can't stop playing his favourite Sicilian Najdorf - the fabled uber-sharp variation of the Sicilian named after Miguel Najdorf, and championed by world champions Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov. 6.Bg5 Nbd7!?! The latest wrinkle in the Najdorf. The main line, as favoured by Fischer, runs 6...e6 7.f4 etc. But MVL eschews those well-trodden lines in preference for one of the murkier Najdorf sidelines. 7.a3 A little bit timid, you might think, but what Vidit wants to play is a Sozin-like approach with Bc4, but wants to avoid any complications with ...b5 and ...b4. 7...g6 8.Bc4 Bg7

What MVL has now, is what's known as a sort of "Dragondorf", a cross between the Sicilian Najdorf and the Sicilian Dragon - but avoiding all the mainline complications of the critical lines in both cases. 9.f3 O-O 10.Qd2 Ne5 11.Bb3 Bd7 12.O-O-O Rc8 13.h4 Nc4 14.Qd3 b5 15.g4 h6 16.Be3 Nxe3 Even 16...h5!? looks good. But who can blame MVL for the human gut reaction of going for the bishop-pair? 17.Qxe3 Qa5 18.Nde2 Perhaps caught a little off-kilter with MVL's 6...Nbd7, Vidit misses the critical line of 18.g5! which, according to the always reliable Mr. Engine, seems to force the typical Sicilian exchange sacrifice 18...Rxc3!? 19.Qxc3 Qxc3 20.bxc3 Nh5 21.Ne2 Be5 22.gxh6 Nf4 23.Nxf4 Bxf4+ 24.Kb2 a5 25.Rhe1 Kh7 and Black appears to have good compensation for the sacrificed material.

18...b4? The complications work out well for MVL in the long-term, but there's a good reason why Mr. Engine wants to first play 18...e6!? 19.e5 Ne8 20.exd6 b4 and a typically murky Najdorf/Dragon-like position. 19.axb4 Qa1+ 20.Kd2 Qxb2 21.Ra1 Rxc3 22.Nxc3 Rc8 23.e5 dxe5 24.g5 e4!? A totally bonkers position where Black is just flat-out busted - but as MVL explained at the end of the rapid tournament, he carried his luck with him into the tournament!

25.gxf6 Bxf6 26.Nxe4 Bd4 27.Qxh6 Bg7 28.Qe3 Bb5 29.Rhb1 Qe5 30.Kc1 And with it, you just sit back and wait for your opponent to resign - but that's simply not a word to be found in MVL's vocabulary! 30...Rd8 31.c3 Qh2 32.Bc2 f5 33.Ng5 Bc4 34.Kb2?? A monumental blunder, as Vidit believes he's unravelling with his king move, and set to next play Rd1 - but he doesn't even get the chance to do so! The simple win was 34.Rxa6! Bxa6 35.Bb3+ e6 (If 35...Kf8 36.Ne6+ and 35...Kh8 36.Nf7+ etc.) 36.Bxe6+ Kf8 37.Bb3 Be5 38.Ne6+ Ke8 39.Nxd8 Kxd8 40.Qd2+ with the simplest of endgame wins with the extra material. 34...Rd3! What a sudden reversal of fortunes, as the game turns with the blunder in a completely winning position, as now Vidit's king is caught in the crossfire. 35.Qe1 Rxc3? I dare say in the adrenalin rush of realising he's not losing, and with both players by now somewhat short of time, MVL played the obvious move - and in doing so, most likely seeing the Frenchman wiping his brow in relief. But with a little thought, MVL might well have realised that White was now totally lost if he had found the move Mr Engine screams out, namely 35...Rd2! 36.Rc1 Qd6! 37.Ra4 Bxc3+!! 38.Kb1 (The bishop is, of course, taboo: if 38.Kxc3 Qd4#) 38...Rxc2! 39.Qxc3 Rxc3 40.Rxc3 Qd1+ and White can resign with the Ra4 hanging. 36.Qxc3 Bxc3+ 37.Kxc3 Qxh4?? It's hard to be critical given the time constraints and this being the most obvious move under the circumstances - but alas, as ever, the engine with no nerves sees deeper and wants to play 37...Bd5! with ...Qc7+ being awkward to meet. 38.Rg1? The mad dash with the metaphorical ticking of the clock shows the human frailty in chess, as the engine quickly finds 38.Rd1! and White is winning again with the threat of Rd4 and Black's bishop being the crucial factor.

38...Bd5! 39.Bb3 Qh8+! The single most difficult thing to spot in chess, according to many experts, is a long backward retreat from the queen that wins - and here kudos for MVL to have spotted in the mad time-scramble the long check down the h8-a1 diagonal that tips him the win. 40.Kc2 Qh2+ 41.Kc3 Qe5+ 42.Kd3 It's effectively game over now as 42.Kc2 Qe2+ 43.Kc3 Qe3+ and White can resign. 42...Bxb3 43.Ra5 Qb2 44.Nh3 Kf7 The stone-cold winner was 44...e5! but with little or no time left on the clock, sometimes the easy, unthinking move is the best. 45.Ke3 Bc4 46.Rc5 Qxb4 For the rest, it's just a simple mopping-up exercise for MVL, as he prepares the ground to rapidly push his a-pawn up the board. 47.Rc6 Bd5 48.Ng5+ Kg7 49.Rcc1 f4+ 50.Kd3 a5 51.Rge1 a4 52.Re5 Qd6 53.Rce1 e6 54.Kc3 Qa3+ 55.Kc2 Qb3+ 56.Kd2 Kf6 Now 57.Nxe6 just sees a mass trade down to a winning K+P endgame. 57.Ne4+ Bxe4 58.R5xe4 g5 59.Rh1 Qxf3 60.Rh6+ Kf5 61.Rexe6 Qd5+ 0-1 And Vidit throws the towel in with ...Qxe6 leaving the simplest of K+P endgame wins for Black.

The 42 Paradox

By John B. Henderson • October 2, 2023
Well, well, well. After rampaging his way through many of the finals and opponents throughout the 2023 Champions Chess Tour, Magnus Carlsen’s “final boss” reign came to a screeching halt in what proved to be an enthralling AI Cup Grand Final on Friday, as the favourite was beaten not once but in three games, and over two matches, by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who sensationally grabbed the last remaining spot in the Champions Tour Final in December. Earlier, Carlsen had defeated MVL in the final of the winners’ bracket, before the Frenchman gained the right to a rematch in the double-elimination contest by beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final of the losers’ bracket. In the Grand Final, buoyed up and firing on all cylinders, MVL beat Carlsen by a 2½-1½ score.

We'll Meet Again

By John B. Henderson • September 29, 2023
The self-proclaimed “final boss of chess” does what the final boss of chess does best of all: Magnus Carlsen beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final of the AI Cup winners’ bracket, the sixth and final leg of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour regular season, to reach yet another Grand Final in the novel double-elimination contest. But it wasn’t without an epic bare-knuckle street fight from both players, as MVL proved to be a worthy opponent for what looked to be an unstoppable Carlsen, who narrowly prevailed in the Armageddon to take the match 3-2. "This is the sort of thing that happens when you play Sicilians in every game," said a magnanimous Carlsen in victory after four fighting Sicilians left the match tied at 2-2.

Tiers For Fears

By John B. Henderson • September 27, 2023
Fans were treated to arguably the greatest online rivalry in chess history recently, with the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship Grand Final showdown between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura seeing the Norwegian narrowly snatch victory by a solitary win to end the American speed maven’s hopes of a sixth successive victory. But Carlsen’s narrow win left the salivating fans feeling they’d been denied seeing this epic gladiatorial speed contest going into overtime - but they didn’t have to wait long for the rivalry redux, as a couple of days later, both Carlsen and Nakamura went head-to-head yet again in the opening day of the AI Cup, the sixth and final leg of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour regular season.

Bossing It

By John B. Henderson • September 25, 2023
Magnus Carlsen more than lived up to his self-proclamation of being “The Final Boss of Chess” with a revenge-is-sweet narrow victory over fellow chess influencer Hikaru Nakamura, as he denied his long-time arch-rival a sixth successive Chess.com Speed Chess Championship title last Friday. Last year, it was Nakamura who narrowly squeaked home by one point - this time, in yet another thrilling match consisting of three different speed limits - 5+1, 3+1 and 1+1 (more commonly known as ‘bullet’) - between the two speed titans, it again ended with the same scoreline, though this time seeing Carlsen triumph by a solitary win after two pulsating hours of thrilling play, as he took the $150,000 2023 Speed Chess Championship presented by Coinbase, 13.5-12.5.

Death, Taxes, Magnus & Hikaru

By John B. Henderson • September 22, 2023
With a smorgasbord of online chess events out there now, the granddaddy of them all is surely the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship , with a $150,000 prize fund that determines just who is the best blitz and bullet players. It has become the perennial fan-favourite with arguably the best viewing experience - and the fans are set for yet another spectacular finale later today, as the two rivals who dominate the roll of honour, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, get set for another explosive showdown in the 2023 final. Friday’s final and commentary, free to view, starts at 14:00 ET (11:00 PT; 20:00 CEST; 23:30 IST) on Chess.com. Carlsen and Nakamura have won each edition since the inaugural Speed Chess Championship event in 2016 - Carlsen won the first two speed titles before taking a hiatus, only for Nakamura to rule the roost, winning four more times.

A Messi Kid

By John B. Henderson • September 19, 2023
India today is a land of amazing young talents and prospects in chess, with the country seemingly having a never-ending production line of prodigies rolling off the factory conveyor belt. But for some countries, such as Argentina, prodigies only seem to come around with all the regularity of Halley’s Comet . One of the first notable post-war chess prodigies was Oscar Panno from Buenos Aires, who became the first world-class player born in South America. In 1953, at the age of 17, he became only the second World Junior Champion , having won the coveted youth title ahead of a strong cadre of future elite-level Grandmasters such as Boris Ivkov (who in 1951 was crowned the first World Junior Ch), Bent Larsen, and Fredrik Olafsson.

The Great Rook 'n' Roll Swindle

By John B. Henderson • September 14, 2023
“Chess is a cruel game. We all know that feeling when your position has gone awry and everything seems hopeless. You feel like resigning. But don’t give up! This is precisely the moment to switch to swindle mode. Master the art of provoking errors and you will be able to turn the tables and escape with a draw or sometimes even steal the full point!” So wrote David Smerdon, an Australian chess grandmaster and one of his country’s leading behavioural economists, on the back cover of his witty and wickedly entertaining, not to mention the much-lauded and deserving 2020 ECF Book of the Year winner, The Complete Chess Swindler (New in Chess).

No Country For Young Men

By John B. Henderson • September 11, 2023
With the top teenage talents being overshadowed in the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid in Kolkata by a dominant performance from seasoned veteran Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, there were hopes of a homeland comeback in the follow-on Blitz tournament - and one looked to be on the cards, only for another “old guy”, this time Alexander Grischuk, crashing the teenage party by capturing the second, even faster speed title. Early doors, all eyes were firmly on Rameshbabu “Pragg” Praggnanandhaa, with his flying start of a perfect 5/5 on the opening day of the two-day double-round contest. But that was as good as it got for the 18-year-old Candidate-qualifier, who could only finish the day on 6.5/9, and despite being the sole leader, he held what looked a very slender half-point lead over nearest rivals Santosh Vidit and Grischuk, ominously the only unbeaten player.

Me & The Kids

By John B. Henderson • September 4, 2023
The fifth and latest leg of the Champions Chess Tour , the Julius Baer Generations Cup more than lived up to its name with the world No.1, Magnus Carlsen, after overpowering Alireza Firouzja in the winners’ final, to effortlessly cruise his way into the Grand Final, declaring: “It’s just me against the kids now!” After three clean kills that included a brace of back-to-back 2½-½ victories over Iranian Amin Tabatabaei and his old title foe Caruana, Carlsen proceeded to sweep Firouzja 3-0 to reach the Grand Final of the contest - but it wasn’t lost on the “old man” that non of his old rivals were left in the competition, and that meant that Denis Lazavik (16), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (18), and Firouzja (20) were the only three left standing to see who would go forward to meet him in the Grand Final.

Vanity Fair

By John B. Henderson • August 29, 2023
The game’s world governing body, FIDE, has launched yet another World Championship event, the inaugural World Team Championship , that was held over the past weekend in Dusseldorf, Germany - but this one is mildly controversial, as the clue can be found in the eventual final result, as it took on the air of a vanity project dominated by the event sponsor’s own powerhouse WR Chess team. It had its attractions though, with forty-two sponsored teams registered to take part in the tournament and a unique blend of professional players, top women, and amateurs on each team. The novel format, faster time control (15 minutes per player, with a 10-second increment per move), and inclusion of amateur players alongside professionals aimed to make the event accessible to a wider audience (and that part failed, apparently).
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