CBM 220: Gukesh on the way to Olympus

by Nagesh Havanur
8/31/2024 – ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. Our columnist, Nagesh Havanur takes a look at our recent issue, CBM 220. 512 games, 38 annotated from the Candidates’ and 7th Sharjah Masters, 11 opening surveys, 3 opening videos, 6 demo. lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Gukesh, Firouzja, Giri and Praggnanandhaa among others. The icing on the cake is a special feature on Gukesh with 24 annotated games. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Young talents

Even as I write these lines, the 11th Sinquefield Cup Tournament has drawn to a close with Alireza Firouzja winning the title. Meanwhile chess fans also waited to see the performance of the reigning World Champion, Ding Liren, and the Challenger, Dommaraju Gukesh. Sadly, Ding Liren ended up in the second half of the score table. Apparently, he is still undergoing a crisis in his play. Hopefully, he will recover his ability and strength soon. Gukesh remained undefeated, but was bogged down by draws.

Interestingly Ding Liren and Gukesh met in the very first round and the brief encounter was sharp, finishing with honours even. It appears that both the world champion and the challenger were testing their form weeks before the Match for the title.

How good is Gukesh? The answer may be found in the games of the Candidates Tournament in this issue. He finished with 9/14, only half a point ahead of Nakamura, Nepomniachtchi and Caruana who all finished with 8½/14.

Caruana would have drawn level with Gukesh if he had won the last-round game with Nepomniachtchi. However, he missed a win or two and the game was only a draw. This marathon encounter (109 moves!) is annotated by Anish Giri. Nakamura was also responsible for pushing back Caruana by beating him in the 8th round. But then he spoilt his own chances by losing to Vidit Gujrathi twice in this event. Both these games are annotated by Vidit, who otherwise had a miserable tournament.

One player who did present a challenge to Gukesh was Alireza Firouzja. He was the only player to beat the Indian grandmaster and annotates this important game.

It is to the credit of Gukesh that he kept his resolve to win the tournament in spite of this terrible loss. When they met again in the penultimate round, Gukesh managed to beat him.

Dommaraju Gukesh, Alireza Firouzja

Dommaraju Gukesh and Alireza Firouzja | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

This was a critical encounter and I have given it here with my own commentary:

This issue also includes games from the Women's Candidates Tournament. I would have liked to see greater coverage of this event with annotated games. For now, let us see a game by the winner Tan Zhongyi:

A dramatic game in which Tan Zhongyi took some terrible risks to win. Her opponent, Anna Muzychuk, also should be commended for putting up a courageous fight.

A young star from Iran

This issue also has games from the 7th Sharjah Masters in this issue. 17-year-old Bardiya Daneshvar took first place on tiebreaks from experienced players Volodar Murzin, Sam Shankland and Shamsiddin Vokhidov, who all scored 6½/9 points. It was a strong field with 88 players and included Arjun Erigaisi, Teimour Radjabov, Andrey Esipenko and Vladimir Fedoseev, among others.

I was fascinated to see the following encounter:

Black's play has a touch of jujutsu. First, it appeared that White was attacking, and then he was put down with a series of quiet blows.

A Gukesh Special

This issue has a special feature on Gukesh with a selection of 24 annotated games. The opponents include Abdusattorov, Esipenko, Keymer, Maghsoodloo, Predke, Van Foreest and Volotkin, among others.

I would have liked to see a game or two with Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen.

Dommaraju Gukesh

Opening videos

The Candidates Tournament held in April this year was remarkable for its contribution to opening theory. Round after round theoretical novelties appeared on the board testing the mettle of both players. The opening videos in this issue offer brief lectures on three of these experiments.

In the first video, Rustam Kasimdzhanov deals with a line with Black in the Sicilian Rossolimo Variation:1.e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 (B30).

The line was played thrice by Caruana against Firouzja, Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi in the Candidates Tournament this year. He drew with Firouzja with relative ease and was lucky with Vidit and beat Pragg in a long ending.

In the second video, Luis Engel gives an introduction to a rare variation in the Sicilian Defence: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5!? (B56)

It was employed by Nakamura, who obtained a draw with it in his game against Caruana in the Candidates 2024.

In the third video, Mihail Marin has a discussion of an old countergambit line in the Ruy Lopez, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 f5!? (C70)

In the English-speaking world, it is known as Schliemann Defence Deferred, named after Adolf Schliemann (1817-1872). In Russia, it is called Delayed Jaenisch Gambit after Carl Jaenisch (1813-1872). This particular line was employed by Praggnanandhaa against Vidit Gujrathi with success in the recent Candidates Tournament. Pragg has also annotated the game in this issue. Readers would do well to study both his analysis of the game and Marin's commentary on the line.

Opening Surveys

There are as many as 11 opening surveys ranging from the Ruy Lopez to the Reti in this issue. Among them I would single out Romain Edouard's survey on the Elephant Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5!? (C40). If we go by his analysis, the outlook is not favourable for Black. Maybe, a correspondence game might find a small improvement in a sideline in the years to come.

Besides opening surveys, this issue has standard features on tactics, strategy and the endgame.

Endgame Play

In the regular column "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge", Karsten Müller offers a demo. lecture on knight and a pawn versus pawns. Knight endings are not easy. However, Dr. Müller has a way of explaining that puts the learner on the comfort level.

There is another demo lecture on the endgame, and it's on the "Fortress" theme by Dorian Rogozenco. Useful advice for the tournament player.

This section also offers a column dubbed "Readers write", in which we find contributions by well-known experts like Charles Sullivan and Zoran Petronijevic, besides newcomers, Herbert Bastian and Wolfram Schön, among others.

Summing up

The main database of the issue has 512 games, of which 38 are deeply annotated. There is much else in this DVD that deserves to be explored. Apart from the players I have already mentioned, the commentators include Petra Papp, Krisztian Szabo and Tanmay Srinath among others. It may be noted that there are more annotated games in the opening and training sections of this issue. Well, practice makes perfect.

Notes

1) Jonathan Speelman's writings offer an insight into the Candidates 2024:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/speelman-agony-214

https://en.chessbase.com/post/speelman-agony-215

2) Among others, I have found the commentary on the Candidates 2024 helpful in the following magazines: New in Chess Magazine # 3/2024, 64-Шахматное обозрение, 06/2024 and British Chess Magazine, June 2024

3) Tan Zhongyi has annotated her game Anna Muzychuk in New in Chess Magazine, #3/2024

4) Here is a final view of the Women's Candidates Tournament:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/candidates-tournament-2024-women-14

5) More on Bardia Daneshvar's victory at the Sharjah Masters 2024:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/sharjah-masters-2024-9

This is followed by an interview with the winner:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahtr5uHxYIE

2024 Candidates Tournament with analyses by Gukesh, Pragg, Vidit, Firouzja and Giri. Kasimdzhanov, Engel and Marin show opening trends from Toronto in the video. 10 repertoire articles from English to Queen's Indian and much more!

Links

Prof. Nagesh Havanur (otherwise known as "chessbibliophile") is a senior academic and research scholar. He taught English in Mumbai for three decades and has now settled in Bangalore, India. His interests include chess history, biography and opening theory. He has been writing on the Royal Game for more than three decades. His articles and reviews have appeared on several web sites and magazines.