May 2013 cover_Layout 1 19/04/2013 13:25 Page 1

available at the London Chess Centre - www.chess.co.uk/shop

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Vassily Ivanchuk100 Selected Gamesby Nikolay Kalinichenkopaperback s 320 pages s 23.45

A feast of brilliant chess with the best and most instructive games of the Ukrainian wizard. A fascinating and rewarding journey to Planet Ivanchuk.

The Grand Prix AttackFighting the Sicilian with an early f4by Evgeny Sveshnikovpaperback s 272 pages s 21.95

The Grand Prix Attack finally gets the treatment it deserves! Evgeny Sveshnikov, one of the most respected opening experts in the world, shows that attacking the Sicilian with an early f4 it is much more than just a tactical ploy.

NEW!

NEW!

From the publishers of New In Chess Magazine

Chess Chess Magazine is published monthly. Founding Editor: B.H. Wood, OBE. M.Sc Executive Editor: Malcolm Pein Editors: Richard Palliser, Byron Jacobs Associate Editor: John Saunders Subscriptions Manager: Paul Harrington Twitter: @CHESS_Magazine Twitter: @TelegraphChess - Malcolm Pein Website: www.chess.co.uk Subscription Rates: United Kingdom 1 year (12 issues) 49.95 2 year (24 issues) 89.95 3 year (36 issues) 125 Europe 1 year (12 issues) 60 2 year (24 issues) 112.50 3 year (36 issues) 165 USA & Canada 1 year (12 issues) $90 2 year (24 issues) $170 3 year (36 issues) $250 Rest of World (Airmail) 1 year (12 issues) 72 2 year (24 issues) 130 3 year (36 issues) 180 Distributed by: Post Scriptum (UK only) Unit G, OYO Business Park, Hindmans Way, Dagenham, RM9 6LN - Tel: 020 8526 7779 LMPI (North America) 8155 Larrey Street, Montreal (Quebec), H1J 2L5, Canada - Tel: 514 355-5610 Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Editors. Contributions to the magazine will be published at the Editors discretion and may be shortened if space is limited. No parts of this publication may be reproduced without the prior express permission of the publishers. All rights reserved. 2013 Chess Magazine (ISSN 0964-6221) is published by: Chess & Bridge Ltd, 44 Baker St, London, W1U 7RT Tel: 020 7388 2404 Fax: 020 7388 2407 Email: info@chess.co.uk, Website: www.chess.co.uk FRONT COVER: Cover Design: Matt Read US & Canadian Readers You can contact us via our American branch Chess4Less based in West Palm Beach, FL. Call toll-free on 1-877 89CHESS (24377). You can even order Subscriber Special Offers online via www.chess4less.com

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Contents

Editorial................................................................................................................ 4 Malcolm Pein on the latest developments 60 Seconds with... .......................................................................................... 7 Boris Gelfand on La Liga, O.Henry and a fingerfehler Carlsen's Narrow Hurrah .............................................................................. 8 All the action from an epic London Candidates The New Challenger......................................................................................25 Janis Nisii portrays the Grandmaster she's watched grow up Inside London ..................................................................................................30 Exclusive Annotations from Boris Gelfand and Vassily Ivanchuk Don't Forget the Second Teams!............................................................32 Simon Ansell reports from an exciting 4NCL weekend Bringing on Back the Good Times ..................................................................36 Peter Lalic's latest advice for the club player Chess in Guam .................................................................................................38 Chris Briscoe ventured to the tiny Pacific island for a tournament Find the Winning Moves .............................................................................42 Can you do as well as the players in the Candidates? How Good is Your Chess? ..........................................................................46 Daniel King was inspired by an encounter from Las Vegas Forthcoming Events .....................................................................................49 Where will you be playing in May? Home News.......................................................................................................50 The Easter weekend, as ever, heralded a number of congresses Overseas News ...............................................................................................52 Action from the Bundesliga and a small tribute to Robert Byrne Solutions............................................................................................................54 New Books and Software...........................................................................55 The latest reviews and arrivals at Chess & Bridge Saunders on Chess ........................................................................................58 A look at the Candidates and the World Championship cycle Photo credits: Kanwal Bhatia (pp.21, 24), Chris Briscoe (pp.38, 40, 41), Calle Erlandsson (pp.7, 16), Eteri Kublashvili (pp.14, 18), Zeljka Malobabic (p.10), Ray Morris-Hill (pp.1, 19, 33, 34, 50, 52), Janis Nisii (p.59), Alexei Yavlinsky (pp.8, 11). Download the latest index to CHESS Magazine The index for volume 77 (April 2012 - March 2013) is now available for download, free of charge, from our website. Find articles, photographs and book reviews without having to thumb through a year of magazines. All games are indexed by opening and by player. Visit the Downloads section: www.chess.co.uk/index77.doc Special thanks to Chris Ravilious for compiling the index.

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Grandmaster Boris Gelfand Born: 24th June 1968, Minsk.

Place of residence: Rishon Le Zion.

Occupation: Chess player.

Enjoyable? Yes; highly enjoyable!

And home life? Great! Married with two children.

But sometimes good to escape to: Some remote place in the Alps.

Sports played or followed: I play table-tennis regularly and follow mainly football, but also tennis and basketball.

A favourite novel? Too many to choose from! From those who wrote in English, I especially like George Orwell, Somerset Maugham, O.Henry and Mark Twain.

Piece of music? Any classical, good rock or good jazz.

Film or TV series? The Champions League and Barcelonas matches in La Liga are my favorite television watching.

And any political leanings? Common sense, but unfortunately for the abso-lute majority of politicians, ratings and popularity are much more important.

Whats the best thing about playing chess? There is a lot of room for creativity and everyone has his own style and views.

And the worst? Losing a game can be painful.

Your best move? Maybe 11...a6 against Sergey Karjakin in the semi-final of the 2009 World Cup or 18 h4 against Grischuk in the decisive game of the 2011 Candidates matches.

But less memorable than your worst move? I touched a queen instead of knight after a brilliantly played game against Alekseev in 2008. Fortunately, a queen move was still sufficient for victory.

And a highly memorable opponent? Ive played many great players, but unfortunately failed to meet Mikhail Tal or Vassily Smyslov over the board.

Favourite game of all time? There are just too many to choose from.

The best three chess books: Keress book on the 1948 World Champion-ship tournament, Polugaevskys Grandmaster Preparation and Razuvaevs work on Rubinstein are my favorites.

Is FIDE doing a good job? Definitely much better than ten years ago, but much room for improvement remains.

Or the Israeli Federation? They are also improving slowly and, I hope, surely.

Any advice for either? Take reasonable decisions, re-spect chess players and chess traditions, and please dont make changes just to initiate any activity.

Can chess make one happy? Definitely.

A tip please for the club player: Enjoy playing chess, enjoy studying chess and dont spend too much time with chess engines.

S.Karjakin-B.Gelfand World Cup 2009

11...a6 12 h5 b4 13 a3 g6 14 f4 b6 15 f3 e6 16 xe6 fxe6 17 e4 d6 18 xd6 cxd6 19 xd4 g5 20 g3 f5 21 g4 h5 22 e4 d5 23 h2 f3 24 ee1 hxg4 25 e3 gxh3 26 xf3 xf3 27 g1 xf2+ 28 xh3 xg1 29 xg1 xc2 30 b5 f3+ 31 g4 xd3 32 d6 e3+ 33 f4 c4 0-1

60 Secondswith...

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Bringing on Back the Good Times

by Peter Lalic

Computers in the 21st century have changed chess beyond our wildest dreams. Nowadays, with just the click of a button, we can access millions of databased games, engine analysis rated over 3300 Elo, and the finite solution of every single endgame with six pieces or fewer not to mention some tablebases already reaching seven or eight, and perhaps in the future all 32 pieces! On the other hand, if the Terminator franchise has taught us anything, its to be freakin fearful of technology (and Schwarzenegger; but hes not a regular on the English tour-nament circuit). Furthermore, I felt this arti-cle to be especially relevant in view of the recent cheating scandals, the most blatant of which being that of Borislav Ivanov.

Alas, there are many more problems, which I have personally observed in the play of my students, my peers, and myself. Al-though our knowledge has improved expo-nentially, our hobby has become so scientific that we are virtually being reduced to ro-bots. For example, as opening theory is con-stantly narrowed and lengthened, we seek co