By Chess Coach NM William Stewart
Original article on AAIGM Round 8 available on William’s site.
Fabiano Caruana is cruising through the AAIGM Chess Tournament (2011) that is currently being held in New Delhi, India. Caruana’s win today puts him at 6.5/8 points, dominating this strong 6-GM round robin with an average FIDE rating of 2662. Caruana’s unofficial rating is now over 2730, firmly establishing him in the top 20 world rankings.
While Yifan Hou won her first game of the tournament yesterday in round 7 versus Negi, she faced a determined Caruana today. The 18 year-old Italian played extremely accurately today to realize a small technical advantage in 46 moves against the female superstar, maintaining his lead of 1.5 points going into round 9 of 10.
- Caruana Crushes Hou in 46 Moves
Czech GM Viktor Laznicka was trying to keep pace with Caruana, however he hit a roadblock today in the form of local favorite Krishnan Sasikiran. Laznicka was hit by some great opening preparation as Sasikiran dynamically attacked with 18. …g5! 19. …d4 and 20. …Rae8! to rip apart the white position. Sasikiran accurately converted the advantage that he generated through inspired opening preparation to achieve a well-deserved win, maintaining his 2nd place position at 5 out of 7 points.
- Sasikiran Sac’s an Exchange with 20. …Rae8!
Local Indian GM Parimarjan Negi scored his second victory of the tournament today via an excellent positional grind and subsequent tactical conversion against the 17 year-old Philipine phenom Wesley So. It seemed that the position was heading towards a draw out an uneventful Petroff Defense by black, when So played a series of inaccurate moves that led to the forced weakening of his kingside defense with 22. …f6. It still looked like So might be able to pull out the draw, however Negi was able to exploit black’s lack of coordination and space with 26. Rxa7! and 27. Ba3! – threatening 28. Bd5! to rip apart black’s last line of defense. A very fine game by Negi, ended by an explosively unexpected tactic.
- Negi Slams So with 27. Ba3!
Full game .pgns are available at official site http://www.aaichess.com/
Original article on Fabiano Caruana at the AAIGM Chess Tournament available on Will’s website.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
He’s very strong.