The innovative Casablanca variant, in which today’s best players tested their skills in historic matches from the past, produced surprising results on its debut in Morocco last weekend. The event had four competitors, each representing a continent: world number 1 Magnus Carlsen (Europe), former world champion Vishy Anand (Asia), world number 3 Hikaru Nakamura (America), and the top grandmaster of Egypt, Bassim Amin (Africa).
Four positions were chosen by experts, two by the public. Well-versed in chess history, Carlsen correctly identified the 1889 Wilhelm Steinitz vs. Mikhail Chigorin match, the only world title series featuring the lively Evans Gambit, as well as the Gary Kasparov vs. Anatoly Karpov matches from their 1985 and 1987 matches. That knowledge helped Carlsen to defeat Anand in the thumbnail below.
Carlsen gave his own interpretation of two classics by Kasparov, who, together with Bobby Fischer, is the Norwegian’s rival as number 1 of all time. In the 1985 Kasparov vs. Karpov match, Carlsen captured a bishop on e7 with his king, instead of Kasparov’s automatic play. Qxe7.
A strategic concept developed in grandmaster chess this century is that more positions than before are considered safe to allow the king to be in the center, with options for very late castling or even no castling at all.
The 1987 position was that of the 24th and final World Championship match in Seville, where Kasparov, after a blunder in defeat in game 23, had to win by request in game 24. He later described it as his “chess Everest”, and approximated it by deliberately trying to copy Karpov’s own strategic style. Here’s that game, with Kasparov’s commentary.
Carlsen ‘climbed Everest’ via his individual route, constantly switching play between the flanks and the centre. The game is impressive, but it was against tail man Amin, who missed a draw opportunity when 41 Rf1+? (41 Rf2+!) could have been answered with 42…Rh8!.
Carlsen defeated every opponent 1.5-0.5 to win the event 4.5/6, ahead of Nakamura 3.5, Anand 3 and Amin 1. The 33-year-old has been in good form in recent months and this was his eighth victory in his last nine major tournaments.
On Monday, Carlsen will play in Stavanger for his first classic event in six months. The No. 1’s rivals in the six-way double-rounder include Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja and especially Ding Liren, as China’s reigning world champion makes another attempt to revive his career after poor or indifferent results reportedly caused by the long Covid-19 crisis.
The first selected position from Chigorin v Steinitz was a disaster for Anand, who trapped his queen and was effectively lost in 10 moves.
Magnus Carlsen vs. Vishy Anand, Casablanca 2024 (Evans Gambit)
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 b4 Bxb4 5 c3 Ba5 6 0-0 Qf6 7 d4 Nge7 8 Bg5 Qd6 9 Qb3 0-0 10 Rd1 Bb6
11Na3! Carlsen’s choice, and already more tests than the 11 dxe5 of Tchigorin v Steinitz, Havana 1889.
11…Na5 12 Qa4 Nec6 13 dxe5 Qc5?? Anand reacts badly to the new position. Instead Steinitz’s plan of 13…Qg6! 14 Bf4 Nxc4 is equal.
14 Rd5! Trap the queen.
14…Qxf2+ 15 Kh1 Qb2 16 Rb1 A well-known scenario in which the black queen, deep in the white camp, cannot escape. If now 16…Qf2 17 Rf1 Qb2 18 Rb5!
16…Qxa3 17 Qxa3 Nxc4 18 Qa4 Ne3 19 Rxb6 Nxd5 20 Rxc6! 1-0 After 20…dxc6 21 exd5 cxd5 22 Be7! White is a knight and all Black’s remaining pieces are passive.
Anand’s disaster had echoes of a quarter of a century ago, when he lost a game in six moves in the early years of the Indian star’s career.
In the final position of Zapata v Anand 6…d5 loses the black knight to 7 d3, while 6…Qe7? loses to 7 Nd5 Qe6? 8 Nxc7+ split king and queen. The explanation for this fiasco was that Anand had seen a 20-move draw, starting with the five moves to 5…Bf5 published in Chess Informant, which failed to mention that the halved outcome had been pre-arranged.
Chess and Casablanca already have a connection through the chess scenes in Humphrey Bogart’s 1943 film of the same name. Bogart had a lifelong interest in chess, and according to this link he was a park hustler before his acting career took off. He was master of ceremonies at the 1945 Hollywood tournament, a glittering event where movie stars mingled with top grandmasters such as Samuel Reshevsky and Reuben Fine.
The $52,000 Sharjah Open, which ended on Wednesday, was the strongest open of the year so far, with almost all competitors scoring above 2500. Shreyas Royal, 15, who bid on his third and final GM norm, was placed 88th out of 88. met GMs in every round, reaching 3.5/6 through excellent play before fading in the final three rounds. His total of 4/9 had a tournament performance rating of 2593, just short of the 2600 needed.
Royal’s search for the elusive third standard continues. Next week he travels to Przeworsk, Poland, for another attempt, this time in a 10-player round robin.
Related: Chess: England seniors score triple European gold and win world titles
The results from Sharjah were a striking example of how the international tournament scene is increasingly reserved for young talents. Of the 35 players with plus scores (5/9 or better), only two were over 30: Sam Shankland, the 2018 US champion, who finished third, and the UAE’s top player Salem Saleh, who scored in style in the this week’s puzzle.
Shankland won a key match in round seven against Hans Niemann, who was then co-leader. The decisive action took place in a pawn endgame, with Niemann’s 32 h4?? was a losing blunder instead of 32 Kh4! draw, and was subsequently defeated in round eight as well.
Sharjah’s surprise winner after the tiebreak was Bardiya Daneshvar. He is 17 years old and is Iran’s number 4, but was the 50th seed and is little known internationally. Russian Volodar Murzin, also 17, finished second. Murzin is already well known and this was his best result yet, including a victory in the penultimate round that was captured on video.
Murzin far outperformed established Russian stars Vladislav Artemiev and Andrey Esipenko in Sharjah. Another new potential heir to the departed Soviet chess empire is 13-year-old Ivan Zamlyanskii, who became Russia’s youngest-ever grandmaster by achieving his fourth (!) GM norm in Sharjah with two rounds to spare.
3921: The game ended on 1…Qxh5+! 2 Qxh5 Ra1+ 3 Bc1 Rxc1+! and White resigned despite 4 Kxc1 Bf4+ 5 Kd1 c2+ 6 Ke1 c1=Q+ 7 Qd1 Qe3+ 8 Qe2 Qxe2 mate. 1…Ra1+ can also be played first.