Chess: Magnus Carlsen repeats success in China

Position No. 6132: White to play and win. From the game Joseph Bellinger-Yoshio Dupree, La Palma 2010.

Solution to Position No. 6131: Black wins the Queen neatly with 1…Nxg3+ 2 Kf2 Bc5! 3 Qxc5 Ne4+.

Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen won the third Pearl Spring tournament in Nanjing, China, with an undefeated score of 7-3. The double round robin was the first ever to feature three players with ratings above 2800.

A year ago, Carlsen won the second Pearl Spring tournament with a fantastic 8-2 score, probably his career peak. He did not appear quite as invincible this time, yet he clinched the first prize of 80,000 Euros (about $112,000) before the last round.

World champion Viswanathan Anand finished second with 6-4, a fine performance marred only by a fluky loss to Etienne Bacrot of France. Although Anand enhanced his world’s best rating of 2804 by four points, the new leader will be Carlsen, up nine points to 2811.

Bacrot took third prize at 5-5, followed by Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan) and Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), each 41/2-51/2, and Wang Yue (China), 3-7.

Topalov, who admitted that “I am still not playing well,” would have been the tailender if not for his last-round swindle against Wang Yue. Topalov has dropped from second in the world to fifth since September. Perhaps jokingly, he said people had warned him that his recent marriage would hurt his chess.

National news

Steven Zierk of Los Gatos was the star of the 40-player U.S. contingent at the World Youth Championships in Halkidiki, Greece. Zierk scored 9-2 in the Open Under-18 section despite being paired in his final nine games. He defeated two grandmasters, earned a first-place gold medal and the IM title, and achieved his first norm toward the GM title.

Silver medals went to Kayden Troff of Utah (in Open Under-12) and Jeffrey Xiong of Texas (in Open Under-10).

Melikset Khachiyan defeated former U.S. champion Alexander Shabalov in a playoff to claim first place in the Western States Open two weeks ago in Reno. After each scored 5-1 in the 44-player Open section of the 235-player tournament, the Glendale grandmaster won two 10-minute tiebreakers.

The U.S. Chess League, which conducts weekly Internet matches among 16 teams, has reached the playoff stage of its sixth season. The Los Angeles Vibe, which played at Chess Palace in Garden Grove, finished sixth in the eight-team Western division, missing the playoffs. See the standings at uschessleague.com.

Local news

The first Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational, a 10-player round robin, begins at 7 p.m. Friday in the California Market Center, 110 E. 9th St. in Los Angeles. Spectators are welcome. Khachiyan will give a free lecture during the final round on Nov. 21.

The club also plans tournaments of five-minute games (6:30 p.m. Nov. 13 and 20) and 15-minute games (6:30 p.m. Nov. 14). See metrochessla.com for more information.

The Westwood Fall Open, a five-round tournament of 40-minute games, will be held Nov. 14 at the L.A. Chess Club, 11514 Santa Monica Blvd. in Los Angeles. Register before 9:45 a.m.

Ankit Gupta won the best game prize in the recent Los Angeles Open for his victory over Vadim Kudryavtsev.

Games of the week

GM Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)-GM Viswanathan Anand (India), Nanjing 2010: 1 d4 Their first post-championship encounter. Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 Nc3 Be7 5 Bg5 h6 6 Bh4 0-0 7 e3 Ne4 Lasker’s defense to the Queen’s Gambit. 8 Bxe7 Qxe7 9 cxd5 In May, the decisive game of the match varied with 9 Rc1 c6 10 Bd3 Nxc3 11 Rxc3 dxc4 12 Bxc4 Nd7 13 0-0. Anand equalized with 13…b6 14 Bd3 c5 and went on to win. Nxc3 10 bxc3 exd5 11 Qb3 Also popular is 11 Bd3 c5. Rd8 12 c4 Be6!? Fashionable, as 13 Qxb7 Qa3 14 Qb3 Qa5+ gives Black adequate compensation. 13 c5 b6 14 Rc1 bxc5 Inviting 15 Rxc5 Nd7! 16 Rxc7 Rab8 17 Qc2, when 17…Qa3 18 Bd3 Rb2 recovers the pawn. 15 Qa3 Nd7 16 Bb5 Bg4! New and strong. The known 16…Rab8 17 Bxd7 Bxd7 18 0-0 Bb5 19 Rfe1 Bc4 20 Ne5 Qd6 is drawish. 17 Bxd7 Rxd7 One point is that 18 Ne5? drops a pawn to 18…cxd4 19 Qxe7 Rxe7 20 Nxg4 h5. 18 Qxc5 Qe4 19 Rg1 An admission of failure, but White cannot stand 19 Ne5 Qxg2 20 Rf1 Re8 21 Nxd7? Rxe3+. Re8 20 Qb5 Very dangerous is 20 Ne5!? Rxe5! 21 dxe5 d4 22 h3 dxe3, although the computer claims that White can hang on with 23 fxe3 Rd3 24 Kf2 Bxh3! 25 e6! Bxe6 26 Rgd1. Rdd8 Black will invade on the b-file. White’s Rook at g1 is nearly useless. 21 Qe2 Sturdiest. After 21 Rxc7 Rb8 22 Rb7 Rxb7 23 Qxb7 Qc2 24 Qb3 Rc8, White must lose at least two pawns. Rb8 22 h3 Bxf3 23 gxf3 Qf5 24 f4 Rb1 25 Rxb1 Qxb1+ 26 Qd1 Rb8 27 Ke2 Qf5! White’s King and Queen make better targets than the a-pawn. 28 Rh1 Rb2+ 29 Kf3 h5! 30 a4 Similar is 30 Kg2 Qg6+ 31 Kf3 Qe4+. Qe4+ 31 Kg3 h4+! 32 Kxh4 Rxf2 33 Qg4 Or 33 Rg1 Qxe3 34 Qg4 Rxf4. Rg2, White Resigns.

GM Sergey Kudrin-Robby Adamson, Far West Open, Reno 2010: 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Bf5 The reliable main line of the Caro-Kann Defense. 5 Ng3 Bg6 6 h4 h6 7 Nf3 Nd7 8 h5 Bh7 9 Bd3 Bxd3 10 Qxd3 e6 11 Bd2 Ngf6 12 0-0-0 Be7 Some prefer 12…Bd6. The older 12…Qc7 13 Ne4 0-0-0 14 g3 favors White slightly. 13 Qe2 0-0 14 Nf1 Recently popular, although 14 Ne5 and 14 Kb1 appear more logical. c5 15 g4 cxd4 16 g5 Nd5! A novelty that should send 14 Nf1 into retirement. Black has fared poorly after 16…hxg5 17 Bxg5. 17 gxh6 Qb6 18 hxg7?? Kudrin can be excused for missing Black’s unexpectedly quick counterattack. Apparently White must settle for 18 Rg1 Ba3! 19 Rxg7+ Kh8 20 bxa3 Nc3 21 Bxc3 dxc3 22 Rh7+! Kg8! (avoiding 22…Kxh7? 23 Qe4+ Kxh6 24 Rxd7) 24 Rg7+ Kh8 25 Rh7+, drawing. Ba3!! 19 gxf8Q+ Rxf8 20 Rg1+ Kh8 Black anticipates 21 bxa3? Nc3 22 Bxc3 dxc3. 21 Bb4 Qxb4 Now 22 bxa3 Qxa3+ 23 Kd2 loses the Queen to 23…Qb4+ 24 Kc1 Nc3, threatening 25…Nxa2 mate. 22 c4 Nc3 23 Qd2 Nxa2+ 24 Kb1 The attempt to flee, by 24 Kc2 Qxb2+ 25 Kd3 Nc5+ 26 Ke2, is foiled by 26…d3+ 27 Ke3 Qb3 28 Ra1 Qxc4. Nc3+ 25 Kc1 Qxb2+ 26 Qxb2 Bxb2+ 27 Kxb2 Nxd1+ 28 Kc2 Nxf2 29 Nxd4 Rg8 30 Rxg8+ Kxg8 A winning endgame. 31 Ne3 a6 32 Nb3 b6 33 Nd4 Ne4 34 Nf3 Kg7 35 Ng4 f5 36 Ne3 If 36 Nge5, Black clinches victory by 36…Nxe5 37 Nxe5 Nc5! 38 Kd2 Kh6. Kf6 Even easier is 36…Kh6 37 Ng2 e5 38 Ne3 Ng3, and the h-pawn goes. 37 h6 Nf8 38 Nd4 Nd6 39 Kd3 Nf7 40 Nb3 Nxh6 41 c5 Nd7 42 cxb6 Nxb6 43 Nc2 Nd5 44 Ncd4 Nc7 45 Nc5 Ng4 Not 45…e5? 46 Nd7+. 46 Ndxe6?! Trying to eliminate all of Black’s pawns. Nxe6 47 Nxa6 Ne5+! 48 Ke3 Nc6 Cleverly trapping White’s Knight. 49 Kf3 Ke7 50 Ke3 Kd7 51 Kf3 Kc8 52 Ke3 Kb7 53 Nc5+ Nxc5 54 Kf4 Ne7, White Resigns.