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
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