The elite tournament at Zurich, which finished last week, has adopted a system for determining the ultimate trophy winner which seems to me virtually impenetrable. Zurich consisted of three separate events, a blitz, a rapidplay and a classical tournament, all of them involving the elite group of Nakamura, Anand, Kramnik, Aronian, Karjakin and Caruana. For the general public, victory in the classical tournament would be the chief honour. But Zurich’s complex system ignores the blitz results, includes the classical section, adds on points scored in the rapidplay, and ends with an armageddon game in the event that two leaders have tied for first place.
As it was, Aronian won the blitz and Anand won the classical, while Kramnik triumphed in the rapidplay. However, due to the vagaries of the Zurich scoring method, Nakamura, who had not won first prize in any of the three groups, somehow tied with Anand in the overall standings and then defeated Anand in the concluding fast-play armageddon encounter. As far as I am concerned, the Zurich system results in an unholy combination of injustice and obfuscation.
Anand-Nakamura: Zurich play-off 2015
(see diagram 1)
This is the concluding phase of the armageddon game which enthroned Nakamura as overall champion. 24 … e5 Black sacrifices a pawn to activate his bishop pair. 25 fxe5 Bf5 White’s pieces are in a complete tangle and he feels obliged to give the exchange. 26 Rg2 Be4+ 27 Kf4 Bxg2 28 Bxg2 Ra2 29 Bf3 Bd2 White resigns White has no safe square for his rook.
The American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, the victor of Gibraltar (see chess, 14 February), has added another win to his achievements this year. But in the classical section the former world champion outplayed him, exploiting a python-like grip reminiscent of the great Tigran Petrosian.
Anand-Nakamura: Zurich classical 2015
(see diagram 2)
31 Rb7 White penetrates on the queenside. 31 … Rxa6 32 Qxa6 g5 Black lashes out but this enables White to turn his attentions to the black king. 33 Qe2 g4 He must prevent Qf3. 34 Qa6 Qg8 35 Nb6 Rf8 36 Nd7 Qh7 37 Nxf8 Qe4+ 38 Kh2 Kxf8 39 Rb8+ Kg7 40 Qc8 Kg6 41 Qh8 Black resigns There is no defence to 42 Rg8.
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