Chess: World No 2 Nakamura tosses checkmated king into audience

It has been a very successful chess weekend for the United States. On Friday, the US champion and world No 3, Fabiano Caruana, clinched the $150,000 first prize at the St Louis-organised Grand Chess Tour in São Paulo, Brazil, defeating France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final.

Caruana then flew to Arlington, Texas, for Saturday’s USA vs India match between the world’s top two chess nations, played under the special conditions described in last week’s column.

A capacity audience applauded in the Esports Stadium as the two teams of grandmasters, women champions, influencers and prodigies were announced. Caruana was first up against the world No 4, Arjun Erigaisi. He opened with 1 c3, built a winning advantage, and said afterwards: “I was winning, the crowd knew I was winning, so I was happy to hear all the noise.”

USA were given the white pieces in all games in anticipation of a future return all-black match in India, and won all five matches, conceding only three draws which were replayed. Two of the three halved games were between the world No 2 Hikaru Nakamura and the world champion Gukesh Dommaraju.

In their first, the time limit was 10 minutes each; in the second, five minutes, while the third game was a rare example of a bullet game, one minute for all the moves, played over the board. Bullet is an established format for internet games, with weekly tournaments and even an annual championship, but it is almost never used across the board due to the hazard of knocked-over pieces.

The Nakamura vs Gukesh game was a blurred scramble of moves, where at the end Nakamura seized his opponent’s checkmated king, stood up and hurled it into the cheering audience, who were encouraged to be noisy, and only forbidden to shout in support of moves.

Whether the projected return match India vs USA will ever take place looks doubtful. Indian audiences are more respectful of the classical origins of chess, and would be expected to want a match in line with the tradition of the famous USSR vs World encounter in Belgrade in 1970. It is also hard to see what other similar event could be realistically organised in the US with the same level of public appeal.

Meanwhile, it has also been a successful weekend for English players and England teams.

In Rabac, Croatia, GM John Nunn, 70, won the silver medal at the European over-65 championship with an unbeaten 7/9 score. Nunn had previously won gold in 2023, while this year’s winner, the Georgian GM Zurab Sturua, retained his title from 2024.

Nunn actually led by half a point at the start of yesterday’s final round, but in one of his books he had identified last-round nerves as a recurring weakness, so opted for a complex drawing line against the Najdorf Sicilian. John Pigott finished fourth with 6.5/9, while Nunn’s wife, Petra Fink-Nunn, won bronze in the women’s over-50 championship with an unbeaten 6/9.

While the European senior individuals were ending in Croatia, the European open and women’s teams started yesterday in Batumi, Georgia. England are at almost full strength in both, missing only David Howell, who is giving priority to his career as an online commentator.

In round one, England beat Sweden 2.5-1.5, while England women beat Croatia 3.5-0.5.

Germany are the top seeds in the open event, but chose to rest the Grand Swiss runner-up Matthias Blübaum and lost 1.5-2.5 to Denmark.

Gawain Maroroa Jones scored the decisive point for England in this instructive game where Black is rendered helpless by the combined attack of White’s pieces against his pinned knight.

Puzzle 2644

IM Johnathan Han vs IM Eric Lawson, Canadian Open, Quebec 2024. White to move and win.

Click here for solution