A fortnight ago, I wrote about Magnus Carlsen’s narrow escape against the German teenager Vincent Keymer at the Fide World Cup in Baku. That brush with mortality seemed to galvanise the world no. 1, who coasted to the final with convincing victories in his next three matches, against Ivanchuk, Gukesh and Abasov. His next opponent was another exceptional talent, 18-year-old Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa from India, and Carlsen’s triumph in the tiebreak secured victory in perhaps the only major event which he had never managed to win before.
Nevertheless, Praggnanandhaa had perhaps even more reason to be satisfied with his own performance. His achievement became front-page news in India and drew praise from Narendra Modi. His silver medal also secured a spot in the Candidates tournament in Toronto in April 2024, whose winner will earn the right to challenge Ding Liren for the world title. Another spot was awarded to the third-place finisher Fabiano Caruana. Carlsen’s announcement that he will almost certainly forgo his spot means that Nijat Abasov, the Azeri grandmaster who finished in fourth place, will likely be joining them in Toronto.
A sparkling win from an early round of the event:
M. Lagarde-R. Praggnanandhaa
Fide World Cup, Baku 2023
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nge7 4 Nc3 The Cozio defence (3…Nge7) against the Ruy Lopez contains a splendid trap in case of 4 O-O Ng6 5 d4 exd4 6 Nxd4 Bc5 7 Be3 Bxd4 8 Bxd4 Nxd4 9 Qxd4 Qg5. White’s best response is 10 e5, but what could be more natural than 10 Nc3, defending the loose bishop on b5? In fact, Black wins on the spot with 10…Nh4 11 g3 Nf3+, a sequence which has tripped up hundreds of players in online play. Ng6 5 d4 Nxd4 6 Nxd4 exd4 7 Qxd4 c6 8 Be2 Qb6 9 Qd3 Be7 10 f4 An ambitious approach from the inventive French grandmaster.
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