Chess: Magnus Carlsen hangs on to No 1 ranking while Ding Liren nears record
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Magnus Carlsen’s world No 1 ranking barely survived at the European Club Cup, which ended on Thursday, while in contrast Ding Liren’s unbeaten run continued as China’s world No 4 neared historic records.
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Carlsen had hoped to produce a controlled and relaxed final warm-up before his world title defence next month but his actual performance was error-prone and lacked conviction. The Norwegian cautiously halved against the world No 3, Shak Mamedyarov, then tried for a full point against the low-rated Alexander Donchenko but miscalculated and had to settle for perpetual check.
His game against Ding was heading for a quiet handshake until Carlsen suddenly blundered an endgame pawn. Thereafter it became a comedy of mutual errors until the champion escaped with a repetition of moves.
It added up to unimpressive form, which contrasted with Fabiano Caruana’s commanding play on top board for the US at the Batumi Olympiad, and is reflected in changes in the betting market for their €1m, 12-game world title series which starts in London on 9 November.
Carlsen has slipped from a strong 1-3 favourite to around 1-2, with Caruana shortening to around 7-4. The challenger remains the outsider due to Carlsen’s three previous title wins and his perceived advantage if the match is tied 6-6 and decided by a speed play-off.
Meanwhile Ding continues his inexorable unbeaten sequence which now totals 94 games, just one shy of the legendary Mikhail Tal’s mark achieved in 1973-74. It looks strange for the risk-on attacking genius to hold such a record but Tal’s style matured in his later years.
There are other claimants. On the criteria of years without defeat, José Raúl Capablanca’s 63 games unbeaten from 1916 to 1924 stands alone. The period coincided with a world war, but also included his world title victory over Emanuel Lasker and his dominating performance at London 1922. More recently Bogdan Lalic, the Croatian GM resident in Surrey, and Sergei Tiviakov, the 2008 European champion, both claim runs of 110 games. Tiviakov wrote that after passing the 100-game mark “it became difficult for me to sleep, since I started to believe in my invincibility”.
Despite Carlsen’s moderate form, his fifth-seeded Valerenga Oslo team led the Eurocup with one round to go but their final round loss to St Petersburg gave the Russian team the title.
As expected, the five English clubs fought hard and finished in the middle or the lower half of the table. Wood Green did best, aided by a fine individual top board performance by Jon Speelman, who at age 62 scored an unbeaten 4.5/6.
Ding Liren’s win over Peter Svidler was in the context of a dreadful run by the eight-time Russian champion, who lost his first four games at the Eurocup. It was probably a career-worst sequence, and explains Black’s punch-drunk opening. Ding’s anti-Grunfeld 3 f3 has scored well after d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 e4 Nb6 6 Nc3 Bg7 7 Be3, but 3…Nc6?! is a poor answer as Black gets an inferior version of the King’s Indian Four Pawns Attack without the usual counterplay against White’s pawn phalanx, which soon led to the thematic 14 e5!
Svidler made it worse by avoiding the 17…Qxd4 endgame, so that Ding’s d5/e5 duo dominated the board leading to 27 Qe4! and a better version of the queen trade. Ding could have won faster by 32 Bxf6! Bxf6 33 Nxf6+ Kg7 34 g5 h6 35 gxh6+ Kxh6 36 d6 and the d pawn queens. As played, Svidler’s knight was trapped at a2 and he resigned due to the coming 42 Ra3.
Ding Liren v Peter Svidler, Eurocup 2018
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 f3 Nc6?! 4 d5 Ne5 5 e4 d6 6 Nc3 c6 7 f4 Ned7 8 Nh3! Nc5 9 Nf2 Bg7 10 Be2 0-0 11 Be3 cxd5 12 cxd5 Qa5 13 0-0 Bd7 14 e5! Ne8 15 Qd4 Na4 16 Nxa4 Qxa4 17 Rac1 Qa5 18 Ne4 Bb5 19 Bxb5 Qxb5 20 b3 dxe5 21 fxe5 Nd6 22 Bf4 Rac8 23 Nc3 Qa5 24 Qd3 Nf5 25 g4 Qb6+ 26 Kh1 Qd4 27 Qe4! Qxe4+ 28 Nxe4 Nd4 29 Rcd1 Ne2 30 Bg5 f6 31 exf6 exf6 32 Nxf6+?! Bxf6 33 Bxf6 Nc3 34 Rd4 Rcd8 35 Bxd8 Rxf1+ 36 Kg2 Rf7 37 d6 Rd7 38 Bg5 Nxa2 39 Bd2! b5 40 b4 Kf7 41 Rd3 1-0
Puzzle solution
3589 1 Bh2 Bxh2 2 g3 Bxg3 3 Rf4 Bxf4 4 d6 Bxd6 5 Qh2! Bxh2 6 Re5 Bxe5 7 Nb5 Bf4 8 f6 Bxc7+! 9 Nxc7, stalemate draw.
Contenders and former world champions head to Isle of Man
The Chess.com Isle of Man International, one of the strongest opens, starts on Saturday and continues until Sunday 28 October. Free and live online viewing begins at 2.30pm daily.
Six of the global top 10 are competing, among them the former world champions Vlad Kramnik and Vishy Anand and current contenders Wesley So and Levon Aronian. England’s Olympiad team of Michael Adams, David Howell and Gawain Jones will have Nigel Short returning to action after being appointed a Fide vice-president. Prodigies from India and the US will be in search of grandmaster scalps. First prize is £50,000, with £7,000 for the leading woman.
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Chess: Magnus Carlsen hangs on to No 1 ranking while Ding Liren nears record▶https://is.gd/F3NNvc
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