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ContentsEditorial.................................................................................................................4Malcom Pein on the latest developments in the game

60 Seconds with... Maxime Vachier-Lagrave ......................................7The French star would like to see a stable calendar from FIDE

And Then There Was One... ..........................................................................8128 players were whittled down to just Levon Aronian in Tbilisi

How Good is Your Chess? ..........................................................................16Daniel King was impressed by Richard Rapport at the World Cup

Two Hundred Years... And Counting .....................................................20Graham Phythian on the commemoration of an important date

Magnus, Master of the Manx...................................................................22Carlsen triumphed in the Isle of Man, watched by John Saunders

How to Lose to a 9-Year-Old at Chess................................................30Steve Barrett bemoans having to play so many children

Opening Trends...............................................................................................33The Catalan Opening has shot up the chart

Never Mind the Grandmasters................................................................34Carl Portman pays tribute to CHO’D Alexander and Bletchley Park

Find the Winning Moves .............................................................................36Some tricky positions from the Chess.com Isle of Man International

Endgame Revision..........................................................................................40Can you do the pawnless mates? Cyrus Lakdawala explains if not

Studies Winners..............................................................................................42The solutions to two of Brian Stephenson’s positions

Blasts from the Past.....................................................................................43A reminisicing James Essinger presents two games from yesteryear

Home News.......................................................................................................46Danny Gormally triumphed at the English Rapidplay Championship

Forthcoming Events .....................................................................................48Where will you be playing in November?

Overseas News ...............................................................................................50Success for Georg Meier, Alexander Motylev and Shreyas Royal

Solutions............................................................................................................52

New Books and Software...........................................................................54Kanwal Bhatia and Sean Marsh have been enjoying Sakaev & Landa

Saunders on Chess ........................................................................................58John would like the rules of chess to be respected

Photo credits: Max Avdeev/FIDE (p.17), Calle Erlandsson (pp.51, 58), MariaEmelianova (pp.10-11; 13; 15, top, 46), Amruta Mokal (pp.9, 12, 14; 15,middle), Brendan O’Gorman (p.50), Lennart Ootes (p.7), Adam Raoof (p.47),Fiona Steil-Antoni (pp.22-24, 26, 28).

ChessFounding Editor: B.H. Wood, OBE. M.Sc †Executive Editor: Malcolm PeinEditors: Richard Palliser, Matt ReadAssociate Editor: John SaundersSubscriptions Manager: Paul Harrington

Twitter: @CHESS_MagazineTwitter: @TelegraphChess - Malcolm PeinWebsite: www.chess.co.uk

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03-03 Contents_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/10/2017 20:18 Page 3

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Born: 21st October 1990, Nogent-sur-Marne, France.

Place of residence: Paris.

Occupation: Chess.

Enjoyable? Yes; my job turns out to be mylifelong passion.

And home life? Living alone, but having aserious group of friends to go out with.

But sometimes good to escape to: TheAlps. I don’t go hiking seriously yet, but Imight seriously consider it in the future.

Sports played or followed: I don’t haveenough opportunities to play them, but I canwatch and bet on any! Football, tennis andbasketball are my main TV schedule.

A favourite novel? I have too manyaddictions to spend time reading these days.

Piece of music? I’m more of a playlist guy.They generally turn out to be mostly rock music.

Film or TV series? TV series, and if I had tokeep only one it would be Breaking Bad.

What’s the best thing about playing chess?I love the game, and I love the experience of

playing tournaments and meeting friends.

And the worst? When things go wrong andyou’re all on your own in a remote place. Thenyou can’t wait to be back home.

Your best move? Probably not the best, but27...Îh7 against Morozevich in Biel 2009. If onlybecause that rook stayed en prise for 24 moves.

A.Morozevich-M.Vachier LagraveBiel 2009

27...Îh7!! 28 Îe1 Íxc6 29 Ëxc6 Íd430 Êd2 Ëxb2 31 Ëc4+ Êh8 32 Êd3 a533 Ëc8 Ëa3+ 34 Êe4 b3 35 cxb3 a4 36 Îb1 Ëb4 37 Ëc4 Ëb7+ 38 Ëd5 Ëb439 Ëc4 Ëd2 40 Íg4 a3 41 Ëf7 Ëc2+42 Êd5 Ëc5+ 43 Êe4 a2 44 Îc1 a1Ë45 Îxc5 Íxc5 46 Ëd5 Ëe1+ 47 Êd3Ëd1+ 48 Êc4 Ëxd5+ 49 Êxd5 Ía3 50 Íf5 Êg8 51 Êxe5 Îh8 52 Êd5 Ìh753 gxh7+ Êf7 54 Íg6+ Êf6 55 f4 Íc156 f5 Íd2 57 Êd6 Íe1 58 Êd7 Íb4 59 Êc7 Êe5 60 Êd7 Ía3 61 Êc6 Êd462 Êc7 Êc3 63 Êd7 Êb4 64 Êd6Êxb3+ 65 Êd5 Íb2 66 Êd6 Íf6 67 Êc5 Êc3 68 Êd6 Êd4 69 Êc6 Îd870 Êb6 Êd5 71 Êc7 Êc5 72 Íf7 g5 73 fxg6 Îd6 74 Íe8 Íe5 75 Êb7 Îb6+76 Êc8 Êd6 0-1

But less memorable than your worst move?Those moves are the ones which you can’texplain the rational behind them to yourcoach without feeling a sense of shame.They’re more frequent than you’d think...

Favourite game of all time? Ivanchuk-Yusupov from the 1991 Candidates would beone of many plausible picks.

V.Ivanchuk-A.Yusupov9th matchgame (rapid), Brussels 1991

King’s Indian Defence

1 c4 e5 2 g3 d6 3 Íg2 g6 4 d4 Ìd7 5Ìc3 Íg7 6 Ìf3 Ìgf6 7 0-0 0-0 8 Ëc2Îe8 9 Îd1 c6 10 b3 Ëe7 11 Ía3 e4 12Ìg5 e3 13 f4 Ìf8 14 b4 Íf5 15 Ëb3h6 16 Ìf3 Ìg4 17 b5 g5 18 bxc6 bxc619 Ìe5 gxf4 20 Ìxc6 Ëg5 21 Íxd6Ìg6 22 Ìd5 Ëh5 23 h4 Ìxh4!? 24gxh4 Ëxh4 25 Ìde7+ Êh8 26 Ìxf5Ëh2+ 27 Êf1 Îe6 28 Ëb7?

28...Îg6!! 29 Ëxa8+ Êh7 30 Ëg8+Êxg8 31 Ìce7+ Êh7 32 Ìxg6 fxg6 33Ìxg7 Ìf2 34 Íxf4 Ëxf4 35 Ìe6 Ëh236 Îdb1 Ìh3 37 Îb7+ Êg8 38 Îb8+Ëxb8 39 Íxh3 Ëg3 0-1

The best three chess books: Endgame Strategyby Mikhail Shereshevsky, David Bronstein’sThe Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Chess Endings:Essential Knowledge by Yuri Averbakh.

Is FIDE doing a good job? The situation isnot as unstable as one would think at first,but FIDE should really work on getting astable calendar for events in advance.

Any advice for them? To stop trying tochange things that already work properly andinstead fix what doesn’t work.

Can chess make one happy? I don’t think itshould on its own, but I personally wouldn’tbe able to switch to a no-chess diet.

A tip please for the club player: Fear (ofcomplications, of an opponent, etc) is yourbiggest obstacle to improvement.

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25-25 ChessBase Advert_Layout 1 16/10/2017 20:04 Page 1

29-29 Quality Advert_Layout 1 16/10/2017 20:03 Page 1

November 2017

Gone are the days of old men smokingpipes, playing chess in silence in draughtychurch halls. There has been an influx ofyouth, especially since the rise of extremelystrong computers that allow youngsters tolearn and advance in the game much fasterthan previously. This is especially the case inthe U.S., where there is a seemingly endlessstream of young talent coming through, mostof them wildly underrated and poisonous foryour ELO standing. Talented young chess players are not anew phenomenon, of course. There havebeen prodigies before. Think of Paul Morphy,already one of the best players in NewOrleans by the age of nine; SammyReshevsky giving high-profile simultaneousdisplays aged six; and Capablanca beating hisfather in skittles games at the age of four. What has changed is an explosion in youthand school chess that has multiplied thenumber of precocious young players on thescene. I didn’t even start playing chesscompetitively until I was 13 years old. Thesedays, if you’re not on the path to becoming anIM by then, you’re as good as past it. Chess is hard and stressful at the best oftimes. I was struck by Simon Williams’ andLawrence Trent’s discussion on a recent episodeof the Full English Breakfast podcast about howdifficult it is to win any game these days, nomatter who you are playing. They werebemoaning their respective performances atthe British Championship in Llandudno andnoting how even lowly-rated players nowadaysfight so hard and are capable of great chess.The days of cruising through the first fewrounds of an open Swiss are long gone – youhave to be on your mettle from the start. But in addition to this it’s now quitepossible to play a weekend tournament andnot get to face off with an adult in any of thefive or six rounds. There is little doubt chess isnow a young person’s game, and this oldtimer has observed that good manners andattention to chess etiquette are not top ofthe new generation’s agenda. Most regular tournament players haveexperienced it. You turn up for the round to beconfronted by a small human who is barely big

enough to lean over the board to shake hands,who frankly doesn’t know how to shake handsproperly anyway. They display the brashnessand confidence of youth and hundreds ofhours playing online, bolstered by regularsessions with their IM or GM coaches. Theyrarely bother centring the pieces on thesquares at the start of the game and they tosstheir moves out casually and with bravado. I’m not sure if they are taught to play theirgames to the bitter end by their coaches, buttheir refusal to resign in totally lost positionsis very irritating. I once played next to aformer Russian GM now residing inConnecticut who was forced to checkmatehis young opponent when two rooks and aknight up. He was not impressed and told theboy gruffly afterwards in no uncertain terms:“Why you not resign? I am Grand Master.” The little mites also have an inappropriatetendency to offer multiple draws in the samegame, when it is not their place to do so in thefirst place and is in fact against the laws ofthe game, as Nigel Short noted in his New inChess column after drawing with an 11-year-old Indian player in the Abu DhabiMasters this summer. They also like to stare

you down during the game, presumablythinking you are going to be intimidated. Andthey never blow their noses, preferringinstead to sniff constantly – and annoyingly. Then there are their entourages of parentsand siblings, who cluster in every available freespace in the chess venues as they pass theinterminable hours during and between games,causing you to trip over them when you headto the bathroom. And those parents so wanttheir kids to do well. You can feel their vicariousambition on behalf of their offspring as theysurvey their games and stock them up withdrinks and snacks designed not to send theirhyperactivity through the roof. I’m being a grumpy old git of course. Whatis most annoying is that many of them arereally good at the game I have spent decadestrying unsuccessfully to master, despite beingso young. They will outplay you if you givethem the merest sniff of a chance, especiallyin sharp positions. Even the tried and trustedtechnique of taking them into endgames toneutralise their computer-like tactical abilitiesisn’t a sure-fire winner, because they nevergive up and are always looking for resources– another benefit of their coaching.

Grumpy old git Steve Barrett bemoans the increasingly common experience of playinghighly talented precocious youngsters at chess tournaments – and what to say to your

friends when you lose to someone barely tall enough to see over the board

How to Lose to a 9-year-old at Chess

30

Steve Barrett (far right) congratulates Gawain Jones at last year’s Millionaire Chess.

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36 November 2017

Find the Winning MovesTest your tactical ability with these positions grouped in rough order of difficulty.

The games come from various recent events, not least the Chess.com International

in Douglas. Don’t forget that whilst sometimes the key move will force mate

or the win of material, other times it will just win a pawn.

Solutions on page 52.

(1) M.Carlsen-B.BirkissonDouglas 2017White to Play

(2) A.Zatonskih-E.SutovskyDouglas 2017Black to Play

(3) F.Caruana-P.VishnuDouglas 2017White to Play

(4) G.Vucinic-I.MarinkovicSerbian Team Championship 2017

Black to Play and Draw

(5) Ge.Moore-R.MitraDoncaster 2017

White to Play

(6) C.Higgie-H.ParryHolywell 2017

Black to Play

Warm-up Puzzles

36-38 FTWM_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/10/2017 19:57 Page 36

39-39 Everyman Advert_Layout 1 16/10/2017 19:56 Page 1

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