Two of England’s brightest prospects received a golden opportunity to play at the WR Chess Masters Cup, an elite knockout tournament held at the Langham Hotel in London last week. WR is Wadim Rosenstein, a keen chess player and CEO of the German WR logistics group, which last year partnered with Fide to organise the World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships in Düsseldorf.
Shreyas Royal recently broke the record to become the UK’s youngest grandmaster at the age of 15 years and seven months. In the first round of the knockout, he faced former world champion Viswanathan Anand. With two extra pawns in the diagram below, one would expect Anand to comfortably notch up the win. But his next move 44 Rc7, aiming to capture on g7 and deliver mate, was based upon flawed reasoning.
Viswanathan Anand-Shreyas Royal
WR Chess Masters Cup, October 2024
44 Rc7! Rxh3 45 b4? This throws away the win. I am convinced that Anand intended to play the winning move 45 Rg6, intending a thematic double-rook checkmate after 45…Rbxb3 46 Rbxg7+ Kh8 47 Rg8+ Kh7 48 R6g7 mate. But then he would have spotted a fiendish defensive idea: 45…Kh8!, intending 46 Rbxg7 Rh5+! 47 gxh5 Rg2+. Black’s idea is to jettison the second rook, thereby achieving a draw by stalemate or perpetual check. For example, after 48 Kh4 Rg4+, Black gives check up and down the g-file. There is one way to defuse this idea, with a tightrope walk along the sixth rank: in the variation above, instead of 48 Kh4, 48 Kf6! wins. If 48…Rxg6+ 49 Rxg6 lifts the stalemate, or if 48…Rf2+ 49 Ke6 Re2+ 50 Kd6 Rd2+ 51 Kc6 Rc2+ 52 Kb6 (using the b-pawn as a shield) Rc6+ 53 Rxc6! with a trivial win after 53…Kxg7. Rd3 46 Rh6+ 46 Rbb7 is no better: 46…Rd5+ 47 Kh4 Kh8 48 Rxg7 Rxb4 and the single extra pawn is not enough to win.
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