ODT130402

=**World Championship Candidates tournament – first half**=




 * Problem:** White to play and mate in 3.

The World Chess Candidates tournament in London is at the halfway stage at the time of writing. The event is a double round-robin between eight of the world's elite to select the next challenger to World Champion Viswanthan Anand. The scores after the first of two cycles are: 1-2 Magnus Carlsen (Norway) & Levon Aronian (Armenia) 5/7, 3-4 Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) & Peter Svidler (Russia) 3½, 5-6 Alexander Grischuk (Russia) & Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) 3, 7-8 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) & Boris Gelfand (Israel) 2½.

Pre-tournament favourite Carlsen is living up to his billing, but facing a strong challenge from an in-form Aronian. These two are pulling away from the field with three wins apiece. The only other unbeaten player is second seeded Kramnik, who has the most reason to feel frustrated. His strong play to date has yet to culminate in a win, and he is 1½ points behind with only seven rounds remaining.

Today's is Carlsen's third win from the sixth round at London. He is playing with black pieces against Svidler, who was only half a point behind before the game. media type="custom" key="25115758" Increasingly common at the top level are moves like this in the Closed Ruy Lopez. White avoids the Marshall Attack and plays for a complex but level middlegame, eschewing any attempt for a significant opening advantage. Not defending the b-pawn, but placing the rook on a file that will open soon as c2-c3 is essential to White's strategy.. A new move. White assesses that after 15.... Bxc4?! 16 dxc4 his doubled c-pawns are less important than the central squares they control and possession of the two bishops. Carlsen prefers to continue his buildup for the standard central counterthrust d6-d5. Svidler was critical of this move after the game, as it allows the immediate 17...d5 equalising. The rook defends e5 and threatens to capture on a5 if White isn't careful. Svidler now pulls back from his intended plan of 20 d4, and it seems as if White is already worse. Carlsen isn't tempted by the a-pawn (20... Nxa5? 21 c4! Rc5 22 Ba3 wins the exchange; 20... Rxa5? 21 Rxa5 Nxa5 22 Nxe5 achieves nothing). Instead he brings his pieces to the centre to take up dominating posts and pressure White's pawn on d3. White threatened 23 Ba2 pinning the rook, so the queen applies more pressure to d3. Here 23 c4!? runs into the sacrifice 23... Rxb1! 24 Rxb1 Bxd3 25 Qe1 Bxc4 26 Rxd5 Qxd5 when Black's two extra pawns and centralised pieces are ample compensation for the exchange. White just finds a way to meet the nasty threat of 23... e4. The computer likes the sacrifice 25.... Bxh3!?, but Carlsen didn't even look at it during the game. "At this point I was thinking just straightforward moves were just good enough for a huge advantage." The saving resource White saw when playing 23 Be3. Simple chess – securing the d3 outpost and making room on c5 for the bishop. Another strong centralising move, but one that involved accurate calculation. Creating two threats of mate: 34 Qf5+ g6 35 Rh8# and if 33... Qd7?? then we get the position in today's diagram with mate in three. Instead 33 Re8 was tougher, since 33... f6? 34 Qg4! fxe5? 35 Qf5+ g6 36 Qf6 wins for White. But 33... f5! retains Black's advantage. Covering the critical b1-h7 diagonal and at the same time threatening 34... Bxf2+! White has no adequate defence since 34 Bc7 Bxf2+! 35 Kxf2?? Rd2+ mates. Defending f2 leads to a different end.... Winning the pinned bishop for nothing, so White resigned.
 * 1.e4 e5**
 * 2.Nf3 Nc6**
 * 3.Bb5 a6**
 * 4.Ba4 Nf6**
 * 5.0-0 Be7**
 * 6.d3 ---**
 * 6.--- b5**
 * 7.Bb3 d6**
 * 8.a4 b4**
 * 9.Nbd2 0-0**
 * 10.a5 Be6**
 * 11.Nc4 Rb8**
 * 12.c3 bxc3**
 * 13.bxc3 h6**
 * 14.Re1 Qc8**
 * 15.Bc2!? ---**
 * 15.--- Rd8**
 * 16.Qe2 Bf8**
 * 17.Ne3 ---**
 * 17.--- d5!**
 * 18.exd5 Nxd5**
 * 19.Nxd5 Rxd5**
 * 20.h3 ---**
 * 20.--- Bf5!**
 * 21.Rd1 Qe6**
 * 22.Bb1 Qd7!**
 * 23.Be3 e4**
 * 24.Nd4 Nxd4**
 * 25.Bxd4 exd3**
 * 26.Bxd3 Bxd3**
 * 27.Rxd3 c5**
 * 28.Be5 ---**
 * 28.--- Rxd3**
 * 29.Bxb8 c4!**
 * 30.Be5 Bc5**
 * 31.Rb1 Qd5!**
 * 32.Rb8+ Kh7**
 * 33.Qh5?! ---**
 * 33.--- Qe4!**
 * 34.Rb2 Rd5!**
 * 35.Re2 Qb1+**
 * 36.Kh2 f6**


 * 0-1**


 * Solution:** 1 Rh8+! Kxh8 2 Qxh6+ Kg8 3 Qxg7#.