The champ isn’t resting on his laurels.
Unlike some of his illustrious predecessors, world titleholder Magnus Carlsen isn’t afraid to mix it up with his rivals, maintaining an active tournament schedule — and risking the occasional embarrassing loss — since he first won the crown in November 2013. He doesn’t win every event he enters, but the constant play has kept his game sharp and given him some notable tournament triumphs to burnish his reputation.
The 25-year-old Norwegian may be on the verge of another big win, holding a half-point lead over leading rival GM Fabiano Caruana of the U.S. entering the home stretch of the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament, which winds up Sunday at the fabled Dutch chess mecca at Wijk aan Zee.
It was a bit of risk-taking that helped jump-start Carlsen’s tournament at Tata, as he walked a tactical tightrope against Dutch star Loek van Wely to win a vital point in Round 5. A speculative piece sac by the champ nearly backfired, but White, in severe time trouble, was unable to find his way through the combinational minefield and Black’s daring carried the day.
Both sides have chances in this relatively rare Grunfeld line, though Van Wely may have missed a shot with 17. Nb5! (instead of the game’s 17. Qd1), when the tricky 17…Nd7 18. Bc7 Rf8 19. Nd6 Qg5 20. Nxb7 Bxg2 21. Rg1 Qd5 22. Qxd5 Bxd5 23. Nd6 leaves White with a nice edge. With his opponent hard-pressed to meet the 40-move time control, Carlsen gives up a piece for the attack in a very doubled-edged position. “I thought that even if I missed something, then I will have at least a couple of pawns and the initiative in his time trouble,” he said later.
Thus: 23. f3 Qg5!? 24. fxg4 Rxd4 (exploiting the pin on the e-pawn) 25. Ke1 Qe5 26. Ne2 Rxg4 27. e4 Rxg2 (Black has three pawns for the piece, but his own king is vulnerable as well). Had he the time, White may have found the winning 29. Qh4+! g5 (Qg5 30. e5+ Kg7 [Kxe5 31. Qd4 mate] 31. Qh7+ Kf8 32. Qh8+ Ke7 33. Qxc8) 30. Qh3 (trapping the rook) Rxe2+ 31. Bxe2, and Black’s pawns probably aren’t enough to compensate for the lost rook.
Instead, the game goes on after 29. Rc3? Rd8 30. Qh3 Qg5, and White’s zeitnot proves fatal after 34. Nf4?! (Nd4! was stronger) Qh4 35. Be2 Rg1+ 36. Bf1 Kg8 37. Ne2?? Rxf1+! (a crushing idea that wins at once) 38. Kxf1 Rd1+ 39. Kg2 Bxe4, and the queen is pinned and lost. Van Wely resigned.
Czech GM David Navara has been one of the world’s top 25 players for more than two years, but never quite managed to crack the super-elite ranks. But his performance at Wijk so far may signal the 30-year-old Navara may be ready to take it to the next level. His rook sacrifice against Azeri GM Shakhryar Mamedyarov — which just barely fell short of a win — may have been the move of the tournament, and Navara dealt Caruana a major setback with a brilliantly played ending starring two rook-pawn thrusts in Sunday’s Round 8.
We pick up the action from today’s diagram, after 48…Rh6-g6 — Black is on the defensive but it’s not clear how White breaks through. Navara does the trick with 49. Ra7 Rxg3? (losing to a brilliant idea; 49…Kd8 allows Black to keep fighting) 50. a5!! bxa5 51. c5 Kd8 52. h5! (the point is that now the Black rook can’t get back to defend via the g6-square) f4 53. Kd6 Bc8 54. c6 Rg5 (Rd3 55. Rxg7 wins; but not 55. c7+?? Ke8 56. Ra8 Rxd5+! 57. Kxd5 Kd7 and Black holds) 55. Bf7!, and the threat of 56. c7 mate is decisive; Caruana resigned.
Young U.S. GM Sam Sevian is doing a credible job in the second-tier Tata Challengers Tournament, with an even 4-4 score with five rounds to go. All but two of the 15-year-old Sevian’s eight games have been decisive so far. The winner of the Challengers event is traditionally given a slot at the main event the following year.
Van Wely-Carlsen, Tata Steel Masters Tournament, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, January 2016
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Rc1 Be6 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Nxd5 Bxd5 9. Bxc7 Qd7 10. Bg3 Bxa2 11. Ne2 Bd5 12. Nc3 Bc6 13. h4 Rd8 14. Qb3 Qf5 15. h5 e6 16. hxg6 hxg6 17. Qd1 Nd7 18. Bd3 Qa5 19. Kf1 Nf6 20. Be5 Rac8 21. Qd2 Ng4 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. f3 Qg5 24. fxg4 Rxd4 25. Ke1 Qe5 26. Ne2 Rxg4 27. e4 Rxg2 28. Qh6+ Kf6 29. Rc3 Rd8 30. Qh3 Qg5 31. Rf1+ Kg7 32. Qf3 Rd7 33. Rf2 Rg4 34. Nf4 Qh4 35. Be2 Rg1+ 36. Bf1 Kg8 37. Ne2 Rxf1+ 38. Kxf1 Rd1+ 39. Kg2 Bxe4 White resigns.
• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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