Chess: Magnus Carlsen loses top ranking

Position No. 6130: White to play and win. From the game Alexey Shirov-Emanuel Berg, 39th Olympiad, Khanty-Mansiysk 2010.

Solution to Position No. 6129: Black wins the pinned Knight by 1…Nd5! 2 exd5 Bxc2 3 Qe2 Nd3 4 Rf1 Bh4 5 Rf3 Nxf4 6 Qf1 Nxd5. The tougher defense, 2 Ndc4 Rxc4 3 fxe5, still loses to 3…Bh4 4 Kh1 (or 4 Re2 Nf4 5 Rh2 Rxe5) Rd4 5 Qf3 Nb4.

Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik won the third Grand Slam Final in Bilbao, Spain. The double round robin featured four of the world’s strongest grandmasters.

The first two rounds nearly decided the tournament. Kramnik won both of his games while Magnus Carlsen of Norway lost twice. Kramnik drew his remaining four games to finish ahead of world champion Viswanathan Anand of India (who had one win and five draws), Carlsen (one win, two losses, three draws) and Alexey Shirov of Spain (two losses, four draws).

Carlsen, ranked first in the world a month ago at 2826, has unofficially fallen to second at 2802 after poor results in the Olympiad and in Bilbao. Anand has regained the top spot at 2803. Others: Levon Aronian (Armenia), 2794; Kramnik, 2791; Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), 2786; and Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), 2772.

Los Angeles Open

State champion IM Enrico Sevillano took first prize last weekend in the Los Angeles Open, scoring 41/2 -1/2 in the 44-player Open section. John Daniel Bryant, GM Melikset Khachiyan, Roman Yankovsky and this writer tied for second place at 4-1.

Michael W. Brown and Takashi Kurosaki shared expert honors with 31/2-11/2. Andrew Lu and David Cody Oldham scored 3-2, best in Class A.

Alexander Gustafsson and unrated newcomer Jiahao Lin led the 23-player Amateur (under-1800) section with 4-1 scores. Gemin Keshishian, Cijo Paul and Hovanes Salvaryan were next at 31/2-11/2. Volodia Muradyan and William Yuen Yee tied for best under-1400 with 3-2.

Panitan Satamalee and Karl Tolentino tied for first at 4-1 in the accompanying scholastic event. Hakob Seyranov led the under-1000 section with 41/2-1/2. There were 34 entrants.

Scott Radmacher scored 3-0 to win the Hex tournament of 90-minute games.

The Southern California Chess Federation ran the tournament in place of John Hillery, who died last month.

Local news

The second Bakersfield Fall Classic will be held Saturday and Sunday in the Golden State Mall, 3201 F St. in Bakersfield. Call Ken Poole at (661) 304-7468 for more information.

The sixth annual Goodwill tournament, for players of all ages, takes place Saturday in Adams Square in Glendale. Register at 10 a.m. for the four-round tournament. More information is posted at aaachessclub.com.

Tianyi He, Yusheng Xia and Fei Yue Yang scored 5-1 to tie for first place in the 67-player San Gabriel Valley Championship at the Pasadena Chess Club. Dave Matson, Armen Gary Siwajian, Aaron Simo, Tom Hogue and Alexander Hung earned class prizes.

A special “mini-game” tournament, where players compete with only one kind of chess piece, will be held Nov. 7 at Beth Knesset Bamidbar, 1611 E. Ave. J in Lancaster. The tournament is designed for beginners of all ages. For details, write to daa@mahowald.org.

Quinn and Luke Creger are forming a club in Newbury Park for scholastic players and adults. For more information, visit conejovalleychessclub.com.

Games of the week

Ankit Gupta-Vadim Kudryavtsev, Los Angeles Open, Los Angeles 2010: 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 cxd5 4 c4 The Panov-Botvinnik Attack. Nf6 5 Nc3 e6 6 Nf3 Be7 7 cxd5 Nxd5 8 Bd3 0-0 9 0-0 Nc6 10 Re1 Bf6 More popular than the older 10…Nf6. 11 Be4 Nce7 12 Qd3 h6 13 Ne5 Nxc3 14 Qxc3 a5 White has the edge because Black cannot easily complete development. Karpov tried the similar 14…Nf5 15 Be3 a5. 15 Be3 a4 16 Rad1 Ra5 17 Qc4 Nd5 18 Bd2 Ra8 19 Rc1 a3 20 bxa3 Rxa3 21 Qc2 Threatening 22 Bxd5 and 23 Bb4. Be7? Necessary is 21…Ra8. 22 Bh7+! Kh8 23 Bg6!, Black Resigns. A bit premature, but after 23…Kg8 24 Nxf7! Rxf7, either 25 Bxf7+ or 25 Qxc8 Qxc8 26 Rxc8+ Rf8 27 Rc2 should win for White.

GM Magnus Carlsen (Norway)-GM Viswanathan Anand (India), Grand Slam Final, Bilbao 2010: 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6 4 d3 A quiet variation of the Ruy Lopez which avoids the well-regarded Berlin Defense, 4 0-0 Nxe4 5 d4 Nd6. d6 5 0-0 Be7 6 c3 0-0 7 Nbd2 Bd7 8 Re1 Re8 9 Nf1 Bf8 10 Ba4 h6 11 Ng3 Ne7 12 Bb3 Carlsen claimed an edge from the opening, but Black has little to fear. Ng6 13 d4 c5 14 h3 Qc7 15 a4 a6 16 a5 cxd4 17 cxd4 exd4 18 Nxd4 d5!? This pawn sacrifice should equalize. 19 exd5 Rxe1+ 20 Qxe1 Re8 21 Qc3 After 21 Qd1 Nf4 22 Nde2 Nxe2+ 23 Nxe2 Qe5, White gets nothing from 24 Be3 Qxb2, and the natural 24 Nc3? fares badly after 24…Nh5, intending 25…Bd6. Qxc3 22 bxc3 Re1+ 23 Kh2 Bd6 24 Nc2 If 24 Bb2, Black recovers the pawn by 24…Rxa1 25 Bxa1 Ne4. Rf1 25 Be3 Rxa1 26 Nxa1 Be5 27 Bd4! Bxd4 28 cxd4 Ne7 Welcoming 29 d6 Nc8. 29 Nc2 Nfxd5 30 Ne4 b6! Black wants a passed a-pawn. White must react imaginatively to maintain the balance. 31 Ne3! Nxe3 32 axb6! Not 32 fxe3? bxa5 33 Nc5 Bb5, as Black’s passers are more dangerous than the d-pawn. A plausible finish is 34 d5 Nc8 35 e4 Nb6 36 e5 a4 37 Ba2 a3 38 d6 Nd7 39 Nxd7 Bxd7 40 Kg3 Kf8 41 Kf4 Be6. N3f5 33 Nc5? White can force a draw by the intricate variation 33 d5 Bc8 34 g4 Nd4 35 Nd6! Bb7! 36 Nxb7 Nc8 37 Bc4 Nxb6 38 Bxa6 Nxd5. Nxd4 34 b7 Best, as 34 Nxd7? Nxb3 35 b7 Nc6 36 b8Q+ Nxb8 37 Nxb8 will lose to 37…a5 38 Nc6 a4. Nec6 35 Ba4 Be8 36 Nxa6 Kf8 37 Kg3 Ke7 38 Kf4? It’s unlikely that Black can force a win after 38 Bd1 Kd6 39 Bh5 g6 40 Bg4 h5 41 Bd1. Ne6+! 39 Ke3 Avoiding 39 Ke4?! because Black wins with 39…Nb8! 40 Nxb8 Bxa4 41 Na6 Bc6+. Ned8 40 Bxc6 No better is 40 b8Q Nxb8 41 Bxe8 Nxa6. Nxc6 41 h4 White’s joy is short-lived after 41 b8Q Nxb8 42 Nxb8, as 42…Bb5 43 Kd4 Kd6 traps and soon wins the Knight. Kd6 42 g4 Bd7 43 g5 hxg5 44 hxg5 g6 45 f4 Be6, White Resigns. Black refutes 46 Kd3 Bd5 47 Ke3 by 47…Nb8! 48 Nxb8 Bxb7 49 Kd4 Bc8 50 Ke4 Kc7.