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Levon Aronian aiming to close world ranking gap on Magnus Carlsen

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  • Levon Aronian aiming to close world ranking gap on Magnus Carlsen

    Levon Aronian aiming to close world ranking gap on Magnus Carlsen
    Leonard Barden

    guardian.co.uk,
    Friday 27 April 2012 22.55 BST


    3251: Series Helpmate in 13. The April British Chess Magazine quotes
    this puzzle, which took me 20 minutes to solve. Can you do better?
    Black plays 13 consecutive moves (White not moving at all) and at the
    end of that sequence White can mate in one. Black may check only on
    his final move. Illustration: Graphic
    At midday on Saturday the world Nos2 and 3, Levon Aronian and Vlad
    Kramnik, start the final round of their six-game match in Zurich. It
    will be broadcast free and live on the internet, with grandmaster and
    computer move-by-move running commentary, and its outcome will be
    crucial to the global rankings.

    When Aronian won the opening round with the black pieces he stoked up
    his challenge to Norway's golden boy, Magnus Carlsen, who became No1
    at 18 in 2010. Carlsen has since become a brand name in Oslo where his
    company Magnuschess reported $1.5m yearly income, mainly from G-star
    men's clothing and other endorsements. Aronian himself is a national
    hero in Armenia, whose 2010 gold medal Olympiad team flew home to
    Erevan in the presidential jet and where chess has become a compulsory
    subject in primary schools.

    At 29 Aronian is in his lifetime best form and has won two major
    events in recent months ahead of Carlsen. But Kramnik, former world
    champion, conqueror of Garry Kasparov and winner of the 2011 London
    Classic, is a tough opponent. He struck back in game three where his
    surprise use of the Scotch 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 provoked Aronian
    into a risky and eventually misfiring queen sacrifice. They were
    locked at 2.5-2.5 on Friday after two cautious draws set up Saturday's
    finale.

    The daily rating list for the 46-strong GM elite ranked 2700+ has
    growing status. Its names include England's Michael Adams, Luke
    McShane and Nigel Short, though they are all in the lower half. At its
    top Aronian is close to Carlsen and, if he can win the current match,
    he will reduce the Norwegian's lead to less than 10 points.

    The surge of public interest in daily ratings has been such as to dim
    the lustre of next month's $2.55m official world title series in
    Moscow between India's world No4, Vishy Anand, and Israel's world
    No20, Boris Gelfand. Both are aged over 40, making them veterans by GM
    standards.

    The chess public increasingly views the real struggle for supremacy as
    Aronian v Carlsen. The pair will meet head-to-head in Moscow in June
    and at major autumn events, leading up to the candidates tournament to
    be staged in London in March 2013 which will decide the next title
    challenger.

    Below, Aronian stood better from the opening after his 16...Qe6!
    novelty and sparked Kramnik's rash 26 f4? pawn push. After that White
    was a pawn down and was losing even before his time pressure blunder
    40 Rd7? Aronian's 41...Bd6! threatened mate by Bxh2+ and Rf1 as well
    as Rxg6 so won a piece.

    V Kramnik v L Aronian

    1 Nf3 d5 2 d4 Nf6 3 c4 c6 4 Nc3 e6 5 Bg5 h6 6 Bxf6 Qxf6 7 e3 Nd7 8 Bd3
    dxc4 9 Bxc4 g6 10 0-0 Bg7 11 Re1 0-0 12 e4 e5 13 d5 Rd8 14 Re3 b5 15
    dxc6 bxc4 16 Nd5 Qe6! 17 exd7 Rxd7 18 Qa4 Bb7 19 Qxc4 Bxd5 20 exd5
    Qxd5 21 Qxd5 Rxd5 22 Rae1 Re8 23 g4 Kh7! 24 g5 hxg5 25 Nxg5+ Kg8 26
    f4? Rb8! 27 fxe5 Rxb2 28 Nf3 Rxa2 29 e6 fxe6 30 Rxe6 Rf5 31 Nh4 Rf4 32
    R6e4 Rf6 33 Rg4 Kf7 34 Re1 Bh6! 35 Rc7+ Ke8 36 Re4+ Kd8 37 Rh7 Bf8 38
    Rd4+ Ke8 39 Re4+ Kb8 40 Rd7? g5! 41 Ng6 Bd6! 0-1


    3251 (by Rudolf Queck, 1947) Black plays Qc7, Kb7, Kc6, Qe5, Kd5, Ke4,
    Qf4, Kf3, Kg4, Qg5, Kh5, Kxg6 and Qxf6+, then White mates by R7xf6.

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