Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan won the open division of the Candidates Tournament in historic fashion and will play India’s Gukesh Dommaraj for the World Chess Championship later this year.
It will be the youngest championship match in history by more than a decade, with both players 20 years old. Computers and the internet have accelerated the development of talented players such that eight of the world’s top 20 players are in their 20s, most of them in their early 20s.
In the women’s division, it was a toss-up until the final round, with Vaishali Rameshbabu of India winning a tactical melee against Ukraine’s Kateryna Lagno. She will play Ju Wenjun of China later this year for the women’s title as well. Sindarov received $200,000 for his victory; Rameshbabu, $77,000. It is perhaps worth noting that Wenjun’s world ranking is 179 and Rameshbabu’s 411. Sindarov’s meteoric rise places him at No. 5.
This week’s position is from the Candidates game between Anish Giri of the Netherlands and Fabiano Caruana of the United States, who was the favorite going into the tournament. Giri placed second and Caruana third. Giri’s win in this game knocked Caruana out of contention for first place and gave Giri a small chance of catching Sindarov at the time.
Here, Giri is black; Caruana, white. Giri shows that mating attacks can lurk inside pawn chains. With this hint, please try to find black’s best move.
White’s f5 pawn threatens black’s bishop. The bishop can escape, but white would have a discovered check by the queen with pawn to f6, with the f6 pawn threatening black’s queen. Defending against the discovered check with pawn to e4 fires back at the white queen, and things are messy for both sides.
Black’s best move is to abandon the bishop and move the king to h6. White’s pawn then captures the bishop, as played, and black rejoins with pawn to e4, simultaneously threatening the white queen and queen to g5, checkmate (see next diagram).
White’s best reply to king to h6 is not to take the bishop but to retreat to f3 because of the threat of bishop to h5, checkmate. After the white king retreats, black’s e5 pawn marches to e4, checking white with an unsupported fork on the white queen and king.
White’s queen wins the pawn, and black checks from h5 with its bishop. This forces the white king to move away from its defense of the queen, and black’s queen snatches white’s queen for a pawn (see next diagram).
It is undisputed that Norway’s Magnus Carlsen is the best player in the world and has been ranked No. 1 for the past 12 years. He and China’s Hou Yifan, who has been ranked as high as No. 55 in the world and is a former women’s world champion, opted out of defending their titles. Both players say they have proven themselves, and Yifan is semiretired.
Judit Polgar was ranked No. 8 in the world but retired to raise a family and is still an active commentator during major chess events. Polgar is the only woman to have defeated active and former world champions in major events.
Reach Eric Morrow at ericmorrowlaw@gmail.com or (505) 327-7121.
