Getting to participate in the World Chess Championship is no small achievement. Each player competes in a series of smaller tournaments in a variety of international settings that are sanctioned by FIDE. Each of these tournaments has an individual winner, but the points also go into a larger crosstable pool where an overall Grand Prix champion is selected. In the 2012-2013 Grand Prix series, GM Veselin Topalov from Bulgaria and GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan finished first and thus were qualified to participate in the 2014 Candidates Tournament, which is a grand stage of competition on the way to the World Chess Championship. In the end, it was Viswanathan Anand who edged out Sergey Karjakin by 1 point to earn the bid to return to the table and challenge Magnus Carlsen for the championship title. The final crosstable from the 2014 Candidates Tournament looked like this:
Rank | Player | Rtg March 2014 |
1 (VA) |
2 (SK) |
3 (VK) |
4 (SM) |
5 (DA) |
6 (LA) |
7 (PS) |
8 (VT) |
Pts | TB’s | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H2H | Wins | SB | ||||||||||||||||||||
W | B | W | B | W | B | W | B | W | B | W | B | W | B | W | B | |||||||
1 | Viswanathan Anand | 2770 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 8½ | — | 3 | 57.25 | ||
2 | Sergey Karjakin | 2766 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 7½ | — | 3 | 51.75 | ||
3 | Vladimir Kramnik | 2787 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2½ | 3 | 49.25 | ||
4 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2757 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 7 | 2 | 3 | 48.00 | ||
5 | Dmitry Andreikin | 2709 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 7 | 1½ | 2 | 48.50 | ||
6 | Levon Aronian | 2830 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 6½ | 1½ | 3 | 45.00 | ||
7 | Peter Svidler | 2758 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6½ | ½ | 3 | 46.00 | ||
8 | Veselin Topalov | 2785 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 6 | — | 2 | 42.25 |
This year, in the final round of the FIDE Grand Prix in Khanty-Mansiysk, **American** GMs Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura emerged victorious and now share the title of co-champions of the 2014-2015 FIDE Grand Prix. What is most interesting about this win is the fact that the United States went from having no representatives in the top 5 of the previous Grand Prix to having two of the strongest players in the world win the tournament and increase the possibility of a return of the FIDE World Championship **and** the return of the title to the United States in 2016 with Caruana and Nakamura both representing the stars and stripes.
In the final round of the Grand Prix, Nakamura drew his game against GM Dmitry Jakovenko after approximately three hours into the round. The game was annotated by Peter Doggers on Chess.com:
[pgn]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “E32”]
[WhiteElo “2799”]
[BlackElo “2738”]
[Plycount “75”]
[Eventdate “2015.05.13”]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d6 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 O-O 7.Bg5 Nbd7 8.e3 b6 9.Ne2 ( 9.Nf3 Bb7 10.Nd2 c5 11.dxc5 Nxc5 12.f3 Rc8 13.b4 Ncd7 14.Qb2 h6 { Dreev,A (2673)-Socko,B (2657) Warsaw 2013 } ) 9…Ba6 10.Rd1 h6 ( 10…Rc8 11.Qc2 c5 12.Qa4 Bb7 13.Nc3 a6 14.Be2 Bxg2 15.Rg1 Bc6 16.Qc2 Kh8 { Jojua,D (2579)-Sanal,V (2460) Jerusalem 2015 } ) 11.Bxf6 Nxf6 12.Ng3 c5 13.Be2 ( 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.Be2 Rb8 15.O-O Rb6 { is probably still equal, but
Nakamura wanted to avoid such imbalances. } ) 13…Qc7 14.O-O Rac8 15.Rc1 ( { Jakovenko suggested } 15.d5 exd5 ( 15…Rce8 ) 16.Nf5 { when } 16…Qd7?! 17.Rxd5! Bb7? 18.Bg4! { actually wins for White. } ) 15…cxd4 ( 15…Rfd8 16.Rfd1 Qb8 17.Qe1 { Nakamura } ) 16.Qxd4 Rfd8 17.Qd2 Qb8 18.Rfd1 d5 19.cxd5 Rxd5 20.Qe1 Rxc1 21.Rxc1 Bxe2 22.Qxe2 ( 22.Nxe2 { Nakamura } ) 22…Qd8 23.h3 Rd3 24.Nh5 Nxh5 25.Qxh5 Rd2 26.Qe5 Rxf2 ( 26…Qh4 27.Rf1 Qf6 28.Qb8+ Kh7 29.Qxa7 Rxb2 30.a4 ) 27.Kxf2 Qd2+ 28.Kf3 Qxc1 29.Qb8+ Kh7 30.Qxa7 Qf1+ 31.Kg3 Qe1+ 32.Kh2 ( { Jakovenko’s last hope was } 32.Kf3 h5! 33.Qxb6? ( 33.h4! ) 33…h4! ) 32…Qxe3 33.Qxf7 b5 34.Qd7 Qf4+ 35.Kg1 Qc1+ 36.Kh2 Qf4+ 37.Kg1 Qc4 38.Qd1
1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
In similar fashion, Caruana drew his game shortly thereafter against Anish Giri, also from Chess.com:
[pgn]
Event “KM FIDE GP 2015”]
[Site “Khanty-Mansiysk RUS”]
[Date “2015.05.26”]
[Round “11”]
[White “Giri, A.”]
[Black “Caruana, F.”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “A35”]
[WhiteElo “2776”]
[BlackElo “2803”]
[Plycount “74”]
[Eventdate “2015.05.13”]
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.e3 e6 5.d4 d5 6.a3 a6 7.dxc5 ( { White has
no other serious waiting moves. If } 7.Be2 dxc4 8.Bxc4 b5 9.Ba2 Bb7 { and we
have the game with colors reversed! } ) 7…Bxc5 8.b4 Ba7 9.Bb2 O-O 10.Qc2 Qe7 11.Rd1 Rd8 12.Be2 dxc4 13.Rxd8+ Nxd8 14.Ne4 Nxe4 15.Qxe4 c3 16.Bxc3 Bd7 17.O-O Rc8 18.Bb2 ( 18.Rc1 Ba4 19.h4 Bb8 20.Qb1 f5 21.g3 Nf7 22.Ba1 Rxc1+ 23.Qxc1 Bc6 24.Qc3 Nd6 25.Qc5 Bd5 { Wang,H (2752)-Gelfand,B (2773)
Beijing 2013 } ) 18…Bc6 ( 18…Ba4 19.Bd3 f5 20.Qf4 Bb8 21.Qd4 ( 21.Be5 ) 21…Nc6 22.Qc3 ) ( 18…Bb8 19.Rd1 Bc6 20.Qb1 Ba4 21.Rd2 ) 19.Qb1 ( 19.Qg4 f5 20.Qg3 Bb8 21.Ne5 ( 21.Be5 ) 21…Bd5 22.Bd3 Nc6 ) 19…Ba4 20.Bd3 h6 { “The problem is I’m a little bit out of ideas.” (Giri) } 21.Qa1 Qf8 ( { Caruana
checked this position and remembered that } 21…f6 { was a computer suggestion. } 22.Qb1 Bb8 23.g3!? { Caruana } ( 23.Nh4 Qc7 24.Bh7+ Kh8 ) ) 22.g4!? { “I
thought that I don’t risk to lose this game today since Fabiano is probably
extremely happy with a draw so I thought I might as well see if he maybe he
will have a heart attack after g4.” – Giri } ( 22.Ne5 Nc6 ) ( 22.h3 Nc6 ) 22…Bb8 23.g5 hxg5 24.Nxg5 f6 ( 24…Qd6!? 25.Bh7+ Kf8 26.Bxg7+ Ke8 27.f4 Ba7 { Giri } ) ( 24…Bxh2+ 25.Kg2! ( 25.Kxh2 Qd6+ { looked bad to the players but
the computer likes White after } 26.Be5 Qxd3 27.Bxg7 Rc2 28.Bh8 ) ( 25.Kh1 f6 26.Bh7+ Kh8 27.Kxh2 fxg5 28.Be4 Bb5 29.Qd1 Qf7 { and after getting lost in
the variations, Giri said about g2-g4: “Jobava has to do it; I’m not the right
person to do these moves.” } ) 25…Bc6+ 26.Kxh2! ( 26.f3? Qd6 ) 26…Qd6+ 27.Be5 Qxd3 28.Bxg7 ) 25.Ne4 Nf7 26.Qb1 Qe7 { Caruana’s response to g2-g4
has been excellent. } ( 26…f5 27.Nc5 Qd6 28.f4 Bc6 29.Qe1 { is better for
White. } ) 27.Rc1 Bc6 28.b5 axb5 29.Bxb5 f5 30.Ng3 Ng5 31.Bxc6 bxc6 32.Rd1 ( 32.f4 Nf3+ 33.Kg2 Nh4+ 34.Kf2 Ba7 ) 32…c5 33.Ba1 Be5 { Again super-solid
but by now Black could have played for a win: } ( 33…c4 { or } ) ( 33…Bxg3 34.hxg3 c4 35.Qb4 Qc7 ) 34.Bxe5 Nf3+ 35.Kg2 Nxe5 36.Qb5 Qc7 ( 36…Qa7 37.Rd6 Kf7!? ) 37.Qa6 Qc6+
1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
At this point, the United States has gone from having no representatives in the top 5 players of the last Grand Prix to having two that have claimed the top tournament spots. Caruana and Nakamuar will now go on to compete the FIDE Candidates Tournament to see who will challenge Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship. It will be interesting to see how that plays out and hopefully one of them can take the top spot and bring a renewed sense of youth and energy to the world’s most elite chess competition.