The YourNextMove Grand Chess Tour event has ended with a convincing win by world champion Magnus Carlsen. Though he came out of the rapid tournament of this hybrid event in third place, he more than made that up in the blitz, with a first-place finish and 14.5/18 score, losing only one of the mini matches and winning all the rest. In second, 4.5 points behind, was Anish Giri of the Netherlands. Third place in the blitz was taken by the Frenchman Maxime Vachier Lagrave. American Wesley So finished a poor eighth place with only 8.5 points. Even with his collapse in the blitz, So finished a clear second overall, which must be his best rapid/blitz result ever.
The field had much promise but at the end was rather disappointing. It clearly missed the blitz/rapid specialists Alexander Grischuk and Hikaru Nakamura from Paris. We hoped that Ivanchuk (9th), Anand (8th), and Jobava (10th and last) would provide new excitement, but we were wrong as they all struggled. Jobava did manage to win a game in the blitz but only one, his only victory in both events.
With this win, Carlsen would seem to have a lock on the overall Grand Chess Tour bonus of $100,000. The next event is the Sinquefeld Cup in Saint Louis, followed immediately by the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz event. Carlsen is playing in the cup, but it’s not clear if he is staying on to play in the Rapid/Blitz event.
The World Open has ended with Armenian Tigran Petrosian in clear first, with 7.5/9, and earning $20,500. The highest-scoring Massachusetts player was Sam Sevian with 5.5/9 — no losses but just too many draws. There were 1,324 players in this annual Fourth of July event.
Which much sadness, I have to report the death of a well-known member of the local chess community, Larry Eldridge of Newton, due to congestive heart failure at age 84. Eldridge was a friend and a student of this writer for many years., and he truly loved the game. He played for many years at MetroWest CC in Natick. In his professional life, he was a sports reporter; his last job before retirement was as sports editor of the Christian Science Monitor. He was an active chess teacher and coach in his retirement.
Coming events: July 14, Waltham Aronin G/25 d5 Quad (dual), Waltham CC, www.WalthamChessclub.org/Schedule.html; July 15, Boylston Grand Prix #3, www.BoylstonChess.org
Recent results: Wachusett CC’s Championship. 1st: Ray 6.5-0.5, 2nd: Brett Kildahl 6-1, 3rd: Roger Cappallo, 5.-2;
Answer to today’s problem: 1…Qg6+! 2.Qxg6 (Forced) Be6 mate
Chris Chase can be reached at BostonGlobeChessNotes@gmail.com.
