World Chess Championship 2010 (Postponement)
Volcano may delay World Title Match
IM Malcolm Pein - Tuesday 20th April 2010
The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano may cause the postponement of the World Chess Championship in Sofia.
The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano may cause the postponement of the World Chess Championship in Sofia which is scheduled to begin with game one this Friday. The official opening ceremony is planned for Wednesday but Vishy Anand is stuck in Frankfurt where he stopped en route to Sofia from Madrid on the evening of April 15th. The next morning the airport was closed and Anand's wife Aruna, who acts as his manager, has been unable to organise transportation for the defending champion since then. This is contrary to some reports in the Indian press which stated that the champion had arrived in Sofia.
An overland journey exceeding eight hundred miles and lasting two ro three days would obiously place Anand at a big disadvantage and the extra tension and disruption to his preparation must also be damaging. Anand was doubtless expecting to hook up with his analytical team for a week in Sofia before moving the first pawn forward. Meanwhile Topalov has the luxury of playing in his home city but that is because his manager, with the backing of the Bulgarian government, raised funds to stage the contest.
The All India Chess Federation has written to FIDE asking for a three day postponement but there has been no response from the governing body. The Bulgarians are unlikely to look kindly on the request. They initially thought Anand had arrived but this was another member of his delegation who checked into the team residence early. The best of 12 game contests has a prize fund of two million Euros. If the match ends 6-6 then there will be speed chess tie-breaks.
Two miniatures from the recently concluded German Championships.
C Vogel (2263) - A Raykhman (2352)
81st German Championship Bad Liebenzell
King's Indian
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.b3 Bg7 4.Bb2 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.d4 c5 7.dxc5 Qa5+ 8.Qd2 Qxc5 9.0-0 d5 10.c4?! dxc4 11.Rc1? Ne4 12.Bd4 Nxd2 13.Bxc5 Nxf3+ 0-1
D Baramidze - C Natsidis
81st German Ch Bad Liebenzell
Caro Kann
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.Bc4 e6 7.N1e2 Nf6 8.h4 h6 9.Nf4 Bh7 10.0-0 Bd6 11.Nfh5 0-0 12.Re1 Nxh5 13.Nxh5 Qxh4 14.g3 Qd8 15.Qg4 Bg6 16.Bxh6! gxh6 17.Rxe6! Kh8 18.Rf6+- Qe7 19.Bxf7! Rxf7 20.Qxg6 Rxf6 21.Nxf6 1-0
Natsidis Black cannot defend g8 and h7 while also preventing Qe8+. Queen and knight are often a deadly attacking combination.
