Kasparov on the Candidates

His commentary during round 12 on Nepomniachtchi, Firouzja, Caruana and more. Come for the chess, stay for the travel suggestions.

Alexander Nikitin (1935-2022)

Kasparov's early trainer passes away at the age of 87.

Alexander Nikitin’s own career as a player did not make him a legend of the game. That’s not an insult—he became an International Master, which is a genuine accomplishment that most of us would be delighted to add to our resumes. But in a world with nearly 2000 grandmasters and around twice that many IMs, “legend” status requires more.

In Nikitin’s case, his claim to fame is as a trainer; specifically, as the trainer of one Garry Kasparov, from 1973 (the year Kasparov turned 10) until 1990 (the year of Kasparov’s last world championship match with Anatoly Karpov). While Kasparov was a hard working genius who may very well have become the dominant world champion he became with any number of other trainers, it was with Nikitin that it happened, and he has received widespread acclaim for his work. (He also, subsequently, worked with other very accomplished players like Etienne Bacrot and Dmitry Jakovenko, both of whom were at one time in the world’s top ten.) Nikitin recently wrote two very good books on his years with Kasparov, which I warmly recommend to you.

There’s a good obituary of Nikitin, who died on June 5 (as did Paul Keres, back in 1975), in the New York Times. As for his own chess games, you might have a look at his page on Chessgames.com; in particular, the win over Kupreichik was entertaining. His best-known game is probably this spectacular loss to Mikhail Tal. It’s a pity, perhaps, to have one’s most famous game be a loss, but it wasn’t a game for him to be ashamed of. Tal played wonderfully. And there’s a happy ending: in their only other game, Nikitin won.

Rest in peace.

Dominguez Wins Chess9LX in St. Louis

There were no rating points to be won, but Leinier Dominguez's victory in the Chess960, er, Chess9LX event in St. Louis was nevertheless one of the greatest results of his chess career. His score of 6/9 in the round robin was good enough for clear first - by a whisker. Going into the last round, four of the ten players were tied for first, and the pairings were such that a fifth player could have leapfrogged them all to win! (One sub-scenario where that happened could have had that fifth player in clear first, with SIX players half a point behind.)

Dominguez was one of the leaders entering the last round, with 5/9. He had won four in a row earlier in the tournament, and despite losing in round 7 he was still in the mix. The other co-leaders were Sam Shankland, Wesley So, and - believe it or not - Garry Kasparov, who went 2.5/3 on day 2 (of three) and had gone 1.5/2 on the last day.

The last round pairings were as follows:

• Aronian (4) - Dominguez (5)
• Caruana (4) - Shankland (5)
• Svidler (1.5) - Mamedyarov (3.5)
• Nakamura (2.5) - So (5)
• Vachier-Lagrave (4.5) - Kasparov (5)

The funny scenario I mentioned above would happen if White won every game (or at least all the games involving 5-pointers), but it didn't happen. MVL beat Kasparov, alas (nothing against Vachier-Lagrave, but I was rooting for Kasparov as the old-timer and an underdog, especially on account of the terrible beating he suffered in the St. Louis Rapid & Blitz a few weeks ago), and Svidler won his game as well - but that was the end of White's successes on the day. Nakamura-So was a fairly quick and steady draw, and so it came down to the Aronian-Dominguez and Caruana-Shankland games to see if anyone would reach six points.

Dominguez was winning from early on - around move 20 or so - but the ever-resilient and tricky Aronian managed to keep posing little problems for a long time. Finally, deep into the ending, on move 58, he resigned, leaving only Shankland with a chance to tie for first and force a playoff. He outplayed Caruana - a bit, but not enough to win or come *that* close to victory. The best he could do was reach rook and knight vs. rook, and as Caruana had no trouble holding the ending the game finished in a draw.

Dominguez thus took clear first, with MVL, Shankland, and So half a point behind at 5.5/9. Kasparov was alone in fifth with 5 points - still an excellent result - and Caruana finished at 50% another half a point behind. Aronian was 7th with 4/9, Mamedyarov 8th with 3.5, Nakamura surprisingly came in next-to-last with 3, and Svidler brought up the caboose with 2.5 points.

Norway Chess 2021 & Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX

Only minimal coverage today, but the events deserve mention. The more serious event is Norway Chess, which continues with its odd format. At the start of each day it seems like a normal classical tournament, but there's a twist: if the game finishes in a draw the players start over, with the same colors, and play an Armageddon game with a much shorter time control. If a player wins the classical game, he wins the round 3-0. If the game goes to Armageddon, then the players get a point each for the draw while the winner of the Armageddon (that is, the winner of the game, or the player with Black in case it ends in a draw) gets an additional half a point.

So: In round 1 Richard Rapport defeated Aryan Tari in the slow game, winning the round 3-0, while Alireza Firouzja and Magnus Carlsen drew both their classical and Armageddon games. Carlsen had Black (and was extremely fortunate to save the Armageddon game) and won that contest 1.5-1. The third game, between Ian Nepomniachtchi (due for White) and Sergey Karjakin was postponed until this weekend.

In round 2, all three classical games - Carlsen-Tari, Nepo-Firouzja, and Karjakin-Rapport were drawn. Rapport held the Armageddon game with Black, but White - Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi - won the other two games. (No luck in Carlsen's success in this round - he pounded Tari in the quick game.)

After two rounds, then, Rapport leads with 4.5 points, Carlsen is second with 3, Firouzja is in third with 2, and Tari has 1 point. Nepomniachtchi and Karjakin have only played one round, and have 1.5 and 1 point, respectively.

On to the Chess960 in St. Louis, or as they are weirdly labeling it, Chess 9LX. (Maybe they intend to use this brand name for a car at some point?) Fabiano Caruana is the leader after the three rounds of day 1, with wins over Leinier Dominguez and Peter Svidler (with more than a little luck) after a first round draw with Levon Aronian. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and Sam Shankland are tied for second, half a point back. Garry Kasparov is participating and played well the first two rounds, starting with a solid draw with Dominguez and dominating against Wesley So before letting the latter slip out at the very end. In round 3 he was soundly beaten by Mamedyarov; hopefully he'll have more games like the first two than like the third.

The Chess960 runs through the 10th, while Norway Chess lasts much longer, until the 18th. The chess never even pauses, it seems; in fact, Carlsen's next event...starts on the 17th, one day before Norway Chess ends. Fortunately it's a team event, the European Club Cup, so his mates can hold the fort for a few days before he shows up. And then what we're all eagerly awaiting: the world championship match between Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi, starting November 24. I plan to do subscriber videos for the event, if there is an interest in my doing so. Stay tuned.

Yury Dokhoian, 1964-2021

The sad news is a couple of weeks old, and some of you may have heard about it during the recent rapid & blitz event in Zagreb, Croatia. Grandmaster Yury Dokhoian, for many years Garry Kasparov's primary second and later the trainer of Sergey Karjakin, passed away July 1 at the relatively young age of 56 due to COVID-19.

He was a strong GM in his youth, though not of the super-elite level, but found his niche when he started working with Kasparov. He was strong enough to be helpful, and had must have had great strength as a person to be able to push against a personality as powerful of Kasparov's. While Kasparov hasn't been an active professional since 2005, it must nevertheless be a great loss to him, and likewise to the other members of the chess community who knew and worked with Dokhoian. (For Kasparov it is a second blow in the 6-7 months; his beloved mother died last year on Christmas day.)

All of the tributes I've seen have focused on his work as a trainer, and understandably so. Still, it's worth having a peek at some of his successes when he was an active player - have a look at these games with Epishin and Shabalov, for starters.

My condolences to Dokhoian's friends, colleagues, and loved ones. Rest in peace.

MVL Wins Croatian Grand Chess Tour Event; Kasparov Bombs

You may remember the recent Grand Chess Tour event in Paris, where Etienne Bacrot and Vladimir Kramnik split the rapid & blitz duties. Bacrot, a ratings underdog and no longer a member of the elite, scored surprisingly well in the rapid, but Kramnik had a very poor result in the blitz. Apparently Garry Kasparov was concerned about that, but as it turned out he wasn't concerned enough. Ivan Saric did a great job in the rapid, leaving Kasparov only a point out of first going into the blitz, but Kasparov's performance was absolutely disastrous.

How bad? Well, his TPR on the first day was lower than *my* rating. He lost in round one to to Jorden Van Foreest and drew with Alexander Grischuk in round 2, and then he lost the next seven games. Seven. Speaking of seven, he lost to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in seven moves*. This was not a mouse slip, either; this was in an in-person event. He also lost to Ian Nepomniachtchi (with White) in 18 moves, and lost several games in 25 moves or so. To put it bluntly, he stunk. Day 2 was a little better - he beat Van Foreest in the rematch, doubling his day 1 score. He also drew with Nepo in the final round, but other than that he managed only one more draw, finishing day 2 with 2/9 and the two days with 2.5/18.

In previous years he had been able to achieve results that weren't embarrassing, if not to his old standard, but cramming for the event, but it's clear that those days are gone. Every year he gets a year older, his preparation falls another year behind, and he's another year rustier. And an even bigger problem, I think, is that due to COVID and the rise of streaming the world's top players have all become blitz specialists - it's not just Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen any more. I don't think Kasparov will dare try such events any longer unless he's willing to put in significantly more time in training beforehand. At least I hope not - both for his sake and for future generations who might think that Kasparov was some mediocrity who was only great because of when he played. That would be a foolish conclusion, but it's one people will draw if he keeps playing in events like this and has his head handed to him.

As for the real event, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave did a fine job, tying for second in the rapid, winning the blitz, and taking first overall. Nepomniachtchi won the rapid and still led the overall event after the first day of the blitz, but a poor showing on day two of the blitz dropped him into a tie for fourth overall. MVL scored 23 out of a possible 36 (18 points for the blitz on traditional 1-.5-0 scoring; and 18 points for the rapid games, which counted double). Viswanathan Anand did a nice job of representing the over-50 demographic, coming in clear second with 21 points, half a point ahead of Anish Giri. Nepo and Jan-Krzysztof Duda scored 20 points apiece, Mamedyarov scored 19, and Grischuk 18.

From there the scores dropped off: Anton Korobov finished with 15.5, Saric/Kasparov with 12.5, and Van Foreest was "informed" that Wijk may have been a one-off, finishing last with 10.5.

Tournament site here, TWIC page here.

*Mamedyarov-Kasparov went like this: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 e5 4.Nf3 exd4 5.Bxc4 Nf6?/?? 6.Qb3 Qe7 7.0-0 1-0

Kasparov and Anand to Play the Croatia Grand Prix

This rapid & blitz event, part of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour, takes place in Zagreb, Croatia from July 6-11. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alexander Grischuk, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and Anish Giri are participating as full tour players; Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Ivan Saric, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Anton Korobov, and Jorden Van Foreest are participating as wildcards. Nine of the eleven players are participating in both events; unfortunately, Kasparov is only playing in the blitz, leaving Saric to take his place in the rapid.

Based on his performances in recent years, Kasparov is unlikely to do very well unless he will have spent more time preparing than usual. He's sure to have plenty of extremely interesting opening ideas and to play dynamically, but his pattern is to play too slowly and throw away his hard work and success in the first part of the game once he falls (far) behind his opponent on the clock and runs short of time. By the end of his events, he's typically in good form and has learned to manage the competitive situation, but it's a day or two too late. So I hope for the sake of the good chess he can produce, and for youngsters who think that he is some fossil from the past who cannot compete with today's players, that he puts in the kind of prep that's necessary to succeed.

It would be nice to see Anand play well, too, but my prediction is that it (the overall event) will be a three horse race between Nepo, MVL, and Giri. My prediction: Nepo.

Kasparov on the Carlsen-Nepomniachtchi Match

Garry Kasparov weighs in on the coming match between Magnus Carlsen and his challenger, Ian Nepomniachtchi. It looks like what I would call the conventional wisdom, but as there's a difference between someone like me offering it and hearing it from (maybe) the GOAT, it's worth hearing it from the horse's mouth (to [deliberately] mix the zoological metaphors).

Carlsen Ranks the World Champions

Not all of them, but I spotted short videos on Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, and Anand; also on Judit Polgar (technically not a women's world champion, but the female player for a very long time) and Hou Yifan on the distaff side. And also, on himself!

Chess and Politics: Armenia and Azerbaijan

Here's an interesting but somewhat rambling article that seems to at least mention practically everything in contemporary chess: the Queen's Gambit, women in chess, Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, online chess, how much the top chess streamers are making, that Kasparov, Levon Aronian, and Teimour Radjabov* all had Jewish fathers, etc. The focus, though, is on the tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and some of the ways this has played out in the lives of Kasparov, Aronian, and to a lesser degree Radajbov. It's a sad state of affairs, but worth your time, especially if you're unfamiliar with the always simmering tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

* A minor note: the piece refers to Teimour Radjabov as once the youngest player to earn the grandmaster title. This is not true, though some made the claim at the time, too: the record-holder when Radjabov earned the title was Bu Xiangzhi, who was born in 1985 and became a grandmaster aged 13 years, 10 months and 13 days. Radjabov, born in 1987, earned the title at the age of 14 years and 14 days. (See here and here.)