NICK BARNETT CHESS

NORWAY CHESS ended on September 17th but at the time of writing GM Richard Rapport was 3.5 points ahead of GM Magnus Carlsen, who beat his compatriot GM Aryan Tari. GM Ian Nepomniachtchi dropped to third place after losing to GM Alireza Firouzja. You can check the results on www. norwaychess.no

***

THE 2021 FIDE ONLINE Olympiad has resulted in a battle between the United States of America and Russia. Russia was the first team to advance to the final by defeating China in two close six-board matches while USA defeated last year’s co-winner India in the tiebreaks, after the two regular matches ended in a win apiece. You can follow on https:// onlineolympiad.fide.com

***

DID YOU NOTE the shock and horror a few weeks ago when GM Garry Kasparov in the blitz section of the Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb, managed to score only 0.5/9 on the first day and 2.0/9 on the second day? Commentators blamed poor clock management and outdated openings but the 58-year-old made a comeback at the annual $150,000 Champions Showdown in St Louis. It used the Chess9XL format (also known as Fischer Random or Chess 960) where the back rank piece array is chosen randomly at the start of the game and it allowed him to shine with slower time limits and the absence of book theory.

GM Leinier Domínguez the Cuban-born American chess player clinched the tournament.

But Kasparov was clearly relieved, quipping: ‘My chess death is exaggerated’, undoubtedly happy that this news would go on boosting his website Kasparovchess.com.

***

A REMINDER ABOUT Ben Johnson’s podcasts.

The most recent is an interview with GM Anna Muzychuk who after a lull during the Covidquarantine, has been actively competing again.

She came in 4th in the FIDE World cup which earned her a spot in the 2022 Women’s Candidates Tournament where she will meet GM Ju Wenjun for the Women’s World Championship title. It is an interesting and wide-ranging interview which can be found (amongst many others) at www. perpetualchesspod.com

***

QUITE COINCIDENTALLY, reading Leo Tolstoy’s

War and Peace, I was delighted to come across a new tournament called The Tolstoy Cup, a 10-player rapid tournament which took place on 11-12 September 2021 in the Yasnaya Polyana Estate that belonged to the Russian writer. All sorts of cultural events were arranged in conjunction with the tournament. It was won by GM Anish Giri.

***