Cup Fever

John B. Henderson • March 17, 2023

Back in the middle of the 19th century, international sporting events started to get organised. In 1851, the world’s first international chess tournament was held in London, and that year also heralded in the yachting world's America’s Cup, which is now recognised to be the oldest trophy in international sport.


The newest cup competition comes in chess and has a similar sounding name: the American Cup, one of the latest innovations from the always-creative Saint Louis Chess Club, which made an exciting debut on the chess scene last year and saw Fabiano Caruana re-finding his form to clinch the inaugural title.

And cup fever returns once again in St. Louis with the second edition of the American Cup, with the $200,000 double-elimination knockout competition set to kick off today and will run through 17-26 March. The novel format has two brackets composed of eight players each. The field competes against each other in knockout style. The double-elimination format ensures a second shot at the top for any player who loses a match. 


Caruana is back to defend his title, though he’s likely to face some serious competition from elite rivals Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, and Levon Aronian.  There is also a women’s American Cup with a $100,000 prize fund. The full bracket opening round draw:


The full bracket opening round draw:

Hikaru Nakamura v Sam Sevian

Wesley So v Sam Shankland

Fabiano Caruana v Ray Robson

Levon Aronian v Leinier Dominguez

 

The full women's bracket opening round draw:

Irina Krush v Tatev Abrahamyan

Alice Lee v Atousa Porkashiyan

Anna Zatonskih v Nazi Paikidze

Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova v Katerina Nemcova


There's live coverage of all the cup action and free to watch with commentary by GMs Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila and IM Jovanka Houska and others.

The key game for Caruana going on to lift the cup last year proved to be a dramatic table-turner over Aronian in the final, as the latter rehabilitated one of his old favourites against the English Opening that was first played over half a century ago by its original creator, Viktor Korchnoi.  


GM Fabiano Caruana - GM Levon Aronian

2022 American Cup Final, (4)

English Opening, Four Knights

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Nd4!? A relatively rare sideline that is an old favourite of Aronian based on an original 1972 idea from Korchnoi. It doesn’t promise much for either side, based on 5.Nxd4 exd4 6.Nd5 Nxd5 7.cxd5 Bc5 and both sides will be stymied due to the symmetrical position and quadruple d-pawns. 5.Bg2 Nxf3+ 6.Bxf3 Bc5 7.d3 0-0 8.0-0 a5!?N A novelty from Aronian, and clearly better than 8…h6 that’s normally played here. 9.Bg2 c6 10.Bd2 d6 11.a3 Be6 12.Qc2 h6 13.Na4 The more natural, English Opening-type move was 13.Rab1 and looking to expand on the queenside with b4. What Caruana played, just offered Aronian a little added edge in the position with his better bishop-pair. 13...Ba7 14.c5 This was Caruana's plan, looking to remove the potential of Aronian's bishop-pair. 14...dxc5 15.Nxc5 Bxc5 16.Qxc5 Bd5 17.f3 A provocative call from Caruana, who is looking to complicate matters rather than the simple solution of 17.Bxd5 Qxd5 18.Qxd5 Nxd5 (It's bad to recapture with the pawn, as 18...cxd5?! 19.Rfc1! and with Rc7 looming, White's rooks and bishop become very active and can easily harass Black's pawns.) 19.Rfc1 Rfd8 20.Rc5 a4 21.Rac1 f6 and it is difficult for either side to make any progress with a lack of pawn breaks. 17...a4 18.e4 Nd7 Black just stands slightly better due to White's backward d-pawn. 19.Qe3 Bb3 20.f4 Caruana continues to push the envelope, as most here would probably have resolved the problem with the backward d-pawn with 20.d4 exd4 21.Qxd4 Ne5 22.Qxd8 Rfxd8 23.Bc3 Nc4 24.Rfe1 and following up with Rac1, Bf1 and Kf2 and equality. 20...Qb6 This looked like the key moment in the game where Aronian let his position drift a little to give Caruana hopes of winning. Better looked like the big clamp on the backward d-pawn with 20...c5!? 21.fxe5 (Worse was 21.Bc3?! Qe7 22.Bh3 Rfd8 23.Bxd7 Rxd7! 24.Bxe5 Rad8 25.Rac1 f6 26.Bc3 Rxd3 and Black is in command with the domination of the d-file and also ready to expand his queenside pawn majority with ...b5.) 21...Nxe5 22.Bc3 (Not 22.Qxc5? Nxd3 23.Qe3 Nxb2 and Black has a winning position.) 22...Qe7 23.d4 cxd4 24.Qxd4 Rfe8 and with ...Rad8 coming, Black has the better position with the centralised rooks. 21.Qxb6 Nxb6 22.Rac1 Rfd8 23.Rf3 Suddenly with the bishop-pair, Caruana's gamble looks to be paying off for him as his position begins to spring to life. 23...Nd7 24.Bh3! Be6 That's quite a concession that Aronian has to make, as within a few moves his position starts to deteriorate. 25.Bxe6 fxe6 26.Kf2 c5 It's too late now to clamp down on the backward d-pawn, as White's pieces are all now active. 27.Ke2 b6 28.Bc3 Rac8 29.Rff1 Caruana could grab a pawn with 29.Bxe5 Nxe5 30.fxe5 but after 30...Rd4! the fear would have been he would have been tied down to defending the backward d-pawn and not enough to convert the win. 29...Rf8 30.Ke3 Rc7? Aronian seems to have lost the plot and ultimately the game! After 30...exf4+ 31.gxf4 Nf6 32.Rg1 Kf7! White stands better but there's not much to bite on for looking to convert for a win. 31.fxe5 Rxf1 32.Rxf1 Nb8 33.d4! Perhaps it was just as simple as Aronian missing this possibility that opens the endgame up to Caruana's advantage? 33...cxd4+ 34.Bxd4 Rc2 If 34...Nc6 35.Rc1! b5 36.Rc5 Kf7 37.Bc3 and the b-pawn falls, and with it the game. 35.Rd1 Nc6 [see diagram] 36.Bc3!  The h-pawn is meaningless, as White's rook comes to d6 and is set to hoover up Black's weak pawns on e6, b6 and a4. 36...Rxh2 37.Rd6 Na5 38.Kf3 Stronger and more accurate was 38.Rd4! and the a- and b-pawns will quickly fall. 38...Kf7 No better was 38...Nc4 39.Rxe6 Rc2 40.Re7! Nxb2 41.Bd4 Kf8 42.Rb7 Nd3 43.e6 and Black has to worry about mating threats and the possibility of the e-pawn queening. 39.Rxb6 Nc4 40.Rb7+ Ke8 Either way, Aronian is a dead man walking now. If 40...Kf8 41.Rb4 Nd2+ 42.Ke3 Nf1+ 43.Kd3 Nxg3 44.Rxa4 Ne2 45.Bb4+ Ke8 46.Ra8+ Kd7 47.Ra7+ Kc6 48.Kc4! Rh4 49.Ra6+ Kd7 50.Rd6+ Kc7 51.Rxe6 and White will quickly clear up after 51...Rxe4+ 52.Kd5! Rd4+ 53.Kc5 Rd1 54.Re7+ etc. 41.Rxg7 Nxb2 42.Bb4 Kd8 43.Re7 When the e6-pawn falls, Aronian's resignation will not be far behind it. 43...Nc4 44.Rxe6 h5 45.Bd6 h4 46.Rg6 Rh3 There's no hope, as even the best continuation with 46...hxg3 47.Rg8+ Kd7 48.Rg7+ Ke8 49.Kxg3 Re2 50.Re7+ Kd8 51.Kf4! Rf2+ 52.Kg4 Rd2 53.Kf5! Nxd6+ 54.exd6 Rxd6 55.Ra7 and the ending of R+2 v R wins relatively comfortably. 47.Rg8+ Kd7 48.Rg7+ Ke8 49.Rc7 Rxg3+ 50.Kf4 Nxd6 51.exd6 Rxa3 52.Kf5! Aronian may have established material equality, but now there's no stopping White's mating threats with K, R with d- and e-pawns snaring the Black king. 52...Rg3 53.e5 1-0

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.

My Indian Summer

By 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.

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.
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