Take My Rooks

John B. Henderson • June 4, 2023

In the introduction to the thoroughly entertaining and recommended double rook sacrifice tome Take My Rooks! - co-written with coach/author Nikolay Minev - Yasser Seirawan urges readers to "lose yourself in fantasy" as playing this scenario is akin to entering "a dream world, a world of fantasy where [the player] may come out a magician.” 


I can only imagine that the legendary four-time US champion-turned-commentator had to be licking his lips during round 4 of the 11th Norway Chess Tournament in Stavanger, as he saw the reigning US champion, Fabiano Caruana, indulge in such a fantasy sacrifice against Alireza Firouzja, as he beat his nearest rival to establish a now seemingly unassailable lead at the top.

With the innovative scoring system in Stavanger, Caruana is turning in a blistering performance that is almost on a par with his 7-0 start to the 2015 Sinquefield Cup, as he demolishes the field with his an equally sensational start of three bonus-point classical wins over Magnus Carlsen, Aryan Tari and now Firouzja (his only draw being ceded to Anish Giri). 


Caruana not only leads his nearest rival, Hikaru Nakamura by a clear four points (!), on 10.5/12, but he also now sees a seismic spike in his live rating by jumping 24 points, to 2788, as the third highest-rated player in history (behind Carlsen and Garry Kasparov) jumps four places and back to World #2, and within reach of returning once again to the 2800 Club.


And as the third highest-rated player in history rises, another of the trio falters, as Carlsen’s nightmare continues on his home soil. A fifth-straight Norway Chess victory all but evaporated despite the ex-world champion winning a crazy armageddon to 17-year-old Indian rising star Gukesh D., with the Norwegian World #1 slumping precociously close to the bottom of the crosstable.

Standings:

1. F. Caruana (USA) 10.5/12; 2. H. Nakamura (USA) 6.5; 3. A. Firouzja (France) 6; 4. Gujesh D (India) 5.5; 5-7. A. Giri (Netherlands), W. So (USA) N. Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) 5; 8. M. Carlsen (Norway) 4.5; 9. S. Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) 4; 10. A. Tari (Norway) 2.


Caruana bounces back to top form | © Norway Chess

GM Alireza Firouzja - GM Fabiano Caruana

11th Norway Chess, (4)


C11: French, Steinitz,/Boleslavsky variation

1.e4 e6 The French Defence is a long-time favourite of Fabi's, going back to his junior days. As he made the progression to GM and elite-level GM, it had to be abandoned in preference for answering 1.e4 with an Open Game with 1...e5 or the Sicilian with 1...c5 - but nevertheless, he sometimes surprises opponents by dipping back to those days of yore playing the French, as in this game. 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 The Classical French Steinitz- named after the first World Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz - sees White gaining a big advantage in space, but Black has a rock-solid position with his pawn formation that can come into its own, if we get to the endgame. 4...Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 And now we come to the second part of the name-share, the Boleslavsky variation, named after the early Soviet-era player and leading theoretician, Isaac Bolesavsky, who became a mentor to David Bronstein, the first Candidates' winner and his eventual son-in-law. The idea behind 7.Be3 is to try and force an early release of the tension on d4. 7...cxd4 Two good alternatives are 7...a6 or the Hikaru Nakamura favourite of 7...b6. 8.Nxd4 Qb6

Caruana cuts to the chase by going for the pawn grab. And with being surprised in the opening, Firouzja wanders blindly into a complex position. 9.Qd2 Qxb2 10.Rb1 Qa3 11.Ncb5 Qxa2 12.Rd1 Rb8 13.Nc7+ Kd8! "Show me the compensation,” said Caruana on this move; the best king move, as it keeps the development integrity of the dark-squared bishop. 14.Ncb5 Nc5 15.Bd3 Nxd3+ 16.Qxd3 Bd7!?N Caruana’s novelty immediately sees Firouzja getting carried away with delusions of grandeur. Previously seen here has been 16...Qa5+ 17.Kf2 Nxd4 18.Bxd4 Bd7 19.Rb1 Rc8 20.Nd6 Abregel,T-Fridman, D Germany 2016 - which is probably where Firouzja gets mixed up with his coming Nd6 idea from, but there's a subtle difference now due to Caruana's TN. 17.Nd6? A "crazy move," according to Caruana, who up to this point was more than happy to draw with his nearest rival, but suddenly gets gifted the golden opportunity to extend his lead at the top. Caruana was more expecting a "peaceful settlement" with 17.O-O Qc4 18.Qxc4 dxc4 19.Nxc6+ bxc6 20.Nd6 and there's nothing in this position due to Black's crippled queenside pawns. 17...Bxd6 18.exd6 Qc4 19.Qd2 f6! Very clever from Caruana. He doesn't intend expanding in the centre with ...e5 - the exception being only if White goes for f5 etc - but rather the king-run with ...Kd8-e8-f7 to connect his rooks and build on his material advantage. 20.Nxc6+ I think by now Firouzja began to realise that he was well and truly busted, so has no other option than to go down in flames. 20...bxc6 21.Qa5+ Ke8 22.Qxa7

(see diagram) 22...Rb2!! With Firouzja unable to castle, Caruana expertly polishes off his opponent with a stunning double rook sacrifice. 23.Qa8+ Kf7 24.Qxh8 Qxc2 25.Bd2 No better is 25.Rd2 Qxc1+ 26.Ke2 Rxd2+ 27.Bxd2 Qxh1 28.Kf2 (You still pick up the d6 pawn eventually after 28.Qd8 Qxg2+ 29. Kd1 Qg1+ 30.Be1 Qd4+ etc) 28...Qd1! 29.Be3 (or 29.Be1Qd4+ 30.Kf1 Qxf4+ etc) 29...d4! winning. 25...Qe4+ 26.Kf1 Qd3+ 27.Ke1 Not so much to start rolling the passed pawns but rather to accommodate...Bb5 and more mating threats on e2. 27...c5! 28.h4 With the White king caught in the middle of the board, there's simply no defence. If 28.Rf1 Bb5 29.Kf2 (If 29.Rf2 Qe4+ quickly mates.) 29...Qd4+ 30.Kg3 Bxf1 31.h3 Qd3+ 32.Kh2 Rxd2 33.Rxf1 Qxf1 and Black soon mates. 28...Bb5 29.Kf2 Rxd2+! The second rook sac decides the game, as Caruana's queen all but whips off White's remaining pawn and king coverage. 30.Rxd2 Qxd2+ 31.Kg3 Qe3+ 32.Kh2 Qxf4+ 33.Kg1 Qd4+ 34.Kh2 Qxh4+ 35.Kg1 Qd4+ 36.Kh2 Qe5+ 37.Kg1 Qxd6 38.Rxh7 In a desperate situation, Firouzja opts for the relief of a quick death rather than 38.Qxh7 Qe5 39.Rh3 c4 40.Ra3 Bd7 41.Qc2 Qd4+ 42.Kh1 e5 and the pawns will eventually just march down the board. 38…Qf8! 0-1 The forced exchange of queens leaves White defending a hopelessly lost endgame, hence Firouzja's resignation.

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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