”That is how it is on this bitch of a planet”  

Samuel Beckett  Waiting for Godot

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gm  Giri,A

gm Adams,M

Gashimov Mem 2015.4.25  Position after 32 moves.  It is not often that we see Mickey Adams throw forward his pawns and rip into his opponent, but on this occasion the victim is none other than Giri…at first sight Black seems alright, but it is not his King that is the problem.  Do you see which piece is on the wrong square?

WHITE TO PLAY AND CRUSH!

Another big win by Carlsen, though he needed a bit of luck to stay ahead of a hot Anand. Both were the only undefeated players of the event.

Kramnik had a horrible tournament (by his standards…losing three games in a row) but he still finished in the top half.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLQTrm0h2ZQ

And congrats to Canada’s gm Eric Hansen for doing an entertaining round by round prediction on the tournament.  I enjoyed them! Keep up the good work…

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wgm  Ushenina, Anna

wgm  Lei, Tingjie

Women’s World Teams Chengdu CHN 2015.4.26  Position after Black’s 21st move (21…Ne4?).

WHITE TO PLAY AND CRUSH!

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gm  Karjakin, Sergey

gm  Sargissian, Gabriel

10th World Teams Tsaghkadzor ARM 2015.4.26 Position after 49 moves. White has an obvious positional advantage, but how to win? Black is so solid and everything is protected.  If White’s Rook tries to infiltrate along the a-file, then Black’s King will chase it away. The g-file is out of the question since after the exchange of Rooks the White King can not break in.

WHAT IS WHITE’S WINNING PLAN?

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I

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Gashimov Mem 2015.4.25 Adams, M–Giri, A: 32.Qg4+ Kh8 The Black Rook can not intervene as Black loses the Queen 33.Rxh7+! 1-0  Cute!  After 33…KxR 34.Nf6+ and Black must either part with his Queen or get mated.

Women’s World Teams Chengdu CHN 2015.4.26  Lei, Tingjie–Ushenina, Anna:  22.b4! wins material by forced 22…Qxa4 (If instead 22…Qc7 23.b5 follows) 23.Bxe4  (Good enough, but 23.Ra1! picks up the Queen for a Rook:  23.Ra1 Qb5 ( 23…Qb3 24.Rd3 ) 24.Ra5 ) 23…dxe4 24.Qxd8 Rxd8 25.Rxd8+Be8 26.Rcc8 h5 27.Rxe8+ and with a Knight and two Rooks for the Queen, the outcome is a mere formality.

10th World Teams Tsaghkadzor ARM 2015.4.26  Sargissian, Gabriel–Karjakin, Sergey: 50.Rd6! Ne8 51.Nd4!  The whole point of White’s plan is that White will get two connected passed pawns for the exchange, and an easy win.  The game concluded: 51…Nxd6 52.exd6 Kd8 (No better is 52…Kb7 53.Nxb5 and a quick b5 will created the passers.) 53.h5! (Strictly speaking, not absolutely necessary, but why give rush things and give the opponent undeserved chances?) Rg8 54.Nxc6+ Bxc6 55.Bxc6 Rg4 56.Ke3 Rg3+ 57.Kd4 Rb3 58.Ke5 Rxb4 59.Bb7 Rc4 60.c6 b4 61.Kxe6 1-0