Teenagers Dominate the Week in a String of Strong Finishes

Some of the world’s most talented teenagers made their mark last week in tournaments around the world.

One of them, Parimarjan Negi of India, 16, won the Politiken Cup in Denmark last Sunday in a field that included two of the world’s top 50 players. Negi is also the second-youngest grandmaster in history.
On Wednesday, Wesley So, No. 92 in the world and the highest-ranked player in the Philippines, placed second at the Asian Zonal Chess Championship. That finish qualified So, 15, for the World Cup, part of the cycle to select the world champion.
A day later, Anish Giri, a Dutch grandmaster, tied for second at the Dutch Open. Giri, also 15, had led the event with a perfect score before stumbling in Rounds 6, 7 and 8 by yielding two draws and suffering a loss.
At the Biel International Chess Festival, which also ended on Thursday, the main event featured two of the top 10 players in the world. It also included Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, 18 (No. 29 in the world), and Fabiano Caruana of Italy (No. 59), who turned 17 on the tournament’s last day.
In a significant upset, Vachier-Lagrave won the event, partly because of a victory over Caruana in Round 7.
Caruana adopted the Berlin Defense, which Vladimir Kramnik used to defeat Garry Kasparov in the 2000 World Chess Championship. In the Berlin, Black cedes the right to castle and allows White a mobile kingside pawn majority, but Black has the bishop pair and no weaknesses. It is a stodgy defense that offers Black almost no prospects for victory, but it is hard to crack.
The game followed a main path until Caruana played 10 ... h5, which is less popular and more of a commitment than 10 ... h6 or 10 ... Be7. Vachier-Lagrave’s response, 11 Bf4, was rare, but logical, as it completed White’s development and gave his e pawn more protection.
Caruana should have traded a pair of pieces and blockaded White’s e pawn by playing 15 ... Nd4 16 Nd4 Be6. He might have tried 17 ... fe6, though after 18 Nc1 Kf7 19 Nd3, White has ample compensation for his pawn deficit.
Instead of 24 ... Nf5, which was a mistake, he should have tried 24 ... a5, but after 25 a4 b6 26 b3, White would have had an edge.
The final error was 36 ... Rh4; he had to play 36 ... Kf8, though he is still losing after 37 Ne6 Kg8 38 Be7 Re7 39 Re7 Ne7 40 Nc7.
Caruana resigned, as after 38 ... Rg4 39 Ba3 Ne7 40 R

Eagle Nebula [~2000]

Star forming pillars in the Eagle Nebula, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope’s FPC2. These eerie, dark pillar-like structures are actually columns of cool interstellar hydrogen gas and dust that are also incubators for new stars. The pillars protrude from the interior wall of a dark molecular cloud like stalagmites from the floor of a cavern

2Pac before the shooting [1996]

The famous photograph of Shakur and Suge Knight just moments before the shooting.

Reichstag flag [1945]

Soviet Union soldiers Raqymzhan Qoshqarbaev and Georgij Bulatov raising the flag on the roof of Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany in May, 1945.

Victor Korchnoi outshines Anatoly Karpov despite age gap

Viktor Korchnoi has set another longevity landmark by winning last month's Swiss championship in Grachen at age 78. He scored 7/9, edged out two rivals on tiebreak, and is probably the oldest ever to win a national title.

At the same time Anatoly Karpov, to whom Korchnoi lost two bitter world championship matches, created a negative record of his own by finishing last without winning a game at the San Sebastian, Spain tournament won by US champion Hikaru Nakamura. Karpov is 57, a mere stripling beside his rival, and little more than a decade ago he was close to his peak. Though almost all grandmasters pass their peak after age 45, the pace of decline varies greatly.

The Grachen event was open, and Korchnoi was not its only hero. English GM Simon Williams, 29, who was ineligible for the Swiss crown, took first prize with 7.5/9 and beat the legend in fine attacking style. Williams is currently competing in the British championship at Torquay. In the game below his 10..c6 was more dynamic than the previous Nh5 or b6, and when Korchnoi wrongly tried a central melee by 16 f4 Black's active pieces took over. White could not play 25 Nh6 because of Qxe3+! and at the end 28...Qf1! forced decisive material gain.

V Korchnoi v S Williams

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Nf3 0-0 6 h3 e5 7 d5 a5 8 Bg5 h6 9 Be3 Na6 10 Bd3 c6!? 11 Qd2 Kh7 12 0-0 cxd5 13 cxd5 Nd7 14 Nh2 Ndc5 15 Bc2 f5 16 f4 exf4 17 Rxf4 fxe4 18 Raf1 Rxf4 19 Rxf4 Nb4 20 Bxe4 Nxe4 21 Nxe4 Bf5 22 Nc3 Qe7 23 Rf3 Re8 24 Ng4 h5 25 Nf2 Nc2 26 Bf4 Bd4 27 Kh2 Qe1 28 g4 Qf1! 29 gxf5 Ne1 0-1

Williams continued his fine run in the opening rounds of this week's British championship at Torquay. Black erred at moves 12 (dxe5 13 Ne4 Qf4) and 13 (Qd8) missing 15 Qf5! At the end 22...a5 23 d7+ Kd8 24 Qg6! would be crushing.

S Williams v J Rudd

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 e6 4 Nf3 b5 5 Bg5 exd5 6 cxd5 h6 7 Bxf6 Qxf6 8 Qc2 d6 9 e4 a6 10 a4 b4 11 Nbd2 Bg4 12 e5 Qe7? 13 Ne4 Bxf3? 14 Nxd6+ Kd8 15 Qf5! Bg4 16 Nxf7+ Ke8 17 Qxg4 Kxf7 18 Qf5+ Ke8 19 d6 Qb7 20 Be2 Nc6 21 Bf3 Ra7 22 O-O-O 1-0

3098 1 Bd5+! Kxd5 2 exd7 g2 3 d8N! g1Q 4 c4 mate.

De Gaulle [1942]

WWII French General Charles De Gaulle

A WWII photo portrait of General Charles de Gaulle of the Free French Forces and first president of the Fifth Republic serving from 1958 to 1969

Portrait of Winston Churchill [1941]

This photograph was taken by Yousuf Karsh, a Canadian photographer, when Winston Churchill came to Ottawa. The portrait of Churchill brought Karsh international fame. It is claimed to be the most reproduced photographic portrait in history. It also appeared on the cover of Life magazine.

Ronan Bennett and Daniel King on chess: the Scandinavian defence, part 1

1.e4 d5 2.e5 c5 3.Nf3 Bg4

Over the next few weeks we're going to take a look at the Scandinavian defence. Doubtless many of you react the way we do when our opponent replies to 1 e4 with 1...d5 – a deep intake of breath, wearily expelled just audibly enough to let Black know that he has already ruined the game for both of us. But the Scandinavian has hidden depths, not least the rock-solid pawn structure. Let's start with the basic position in the diagram. How would you deal with 2 e5 or 2 Nc3?
RB I like playing the French, so after 2 e5 I'd probably try to steer the opening into the Advance variation with 2...e6, and hope that I'm not going to be move-ordered. After 2 Nc3 I am tempted to push the pawn – 2...d4. Where does the white knight go – 3 Nce2...? Black looks OK. The obvious move now is 3...e5, grabbing space, supporting the d-pawn and setting up a central pawn chain.
DK How Black deals with 2 Nc3 is largely a matter of taste. Pushing is OK as White loses some time, but personally I don't feel comfortable with Black's position. After 2...d4 3 Nce2 e5 White will play Ng3, Bc4, Nf3, d3 (in roughly that order) and get a decent attacking position on the kingside. If I were playing Black I would prefer 2...dxe4 3 Nxe4 Nd7, followed by ... Nf6 and simple development. Black has broken down White's pawn centre, and that is already some achievement.
Against 2 e5, Ronan's preference of 2...e6 could lead to a French defence after 3 d4 c5, which is wholly acceptable. But Black can play more ambitiously. 2…c5 is a strong move, starting the process of surrounding the e-pawn. Black is still aiming for a French-type position, but with the vast improvement that he can bring his queen's bishop outside the pawn chain. So 3 Nf3 can be met by 3…Bg4 – adding pressure to the e-pawn, and only then … e6.
To sum up, 2 Nc3 and 2 e5 present Black with no difficulties. If White wants to gain an advantage against the Scandinavian, 2 exd5 is the only move – and it's the one we'll be considering next week.
chess@guardian.co.uk