Magnus Carlsen, 17-year-old grandmaster, still pursues historic rating

Aug. 3, 2008

Position No. 6014: Black to play and win. From the game Jaan Ehlvest-Elliott Liu, New York 2008.

Solution to Position No. 6013: White wins with 1 Nxe6! Bxe6 (both 1 . . . fxe6 2 Qg6+ and 1 . . . Qg8 2 Rxd5! lead to mate) 2 Qa4+ b5 3 Rxd8+ Kxd8 4 Qa5 (threatening 5 Re7+) Qb4 5 Qb6.

Magnus Carlsen's pursuit of a 2800 rating, a figure reached by only four players in history, will take a bit longer. The 17-year-old Norwegian phenom needed to score 7 1/2 -2 1/2 in a grandmaster tournament in Biel, Switzerland, but an upset dropped him to 5-3 with two games remaining.

Carlsen went from promising youngster to elite grandmaster when his rating passed 2700 on the July 2007 rating list, That's impressive, but performances over 2800 in his last five tournaments (dating to the World Cup in November) suggest he has made an even more difficult leap. Carlsen is poised to surpass world champion Viswanathan Anand, currently first at 2798. If so, he will become the eighth player to lead the world rankings since the rating system was introduced in 1970.

The second tournament in the World Chess Federation's new Grand Prix series is underway in Sochi, Russia. For the latest results, see sochi2008.fide.com.

Local news

Grandmaster Melikset Khachiyan scored 4 1/2 - 1/2 to win the Westwood Summer Open last Sunday at the Los Angeles Chess Club. Khachiyan defeated the brothers Jouaquin and Joel Banawa and clinched first place by drawing IM Andranik Matikozyan in the final round. Matikozyan and Joel Banawa shared second place at 4-1.

Naollin Olguin led the Reserve (under-1800) section with 4 1/2 - 1/2 . Jeffrey Ding and Wendell Salveron were next at 4-1.

Organizer John Hillery described the turnout of 41 players as good. He plans another tournament of 40-minute games at the L.A. Chess Club on Oct. 12.

The Diversity Summer Scholastics in Arcadia last Sunday attracted 48 players. Gerard Boberg led the Open section and qualified for the club's 2008 championship. Christopher Lopez finished second. Albert Lu and Paolo da Silva led other sections. For more about the club, see diversityeducationalcenter.com.

The San Diego County Championship takes place next weekend at the San Diego Chess Club, 2225 6th Ave. in San Diego. Entrants in the three-section tournament will play three games Saturday and two Sunday. For more information, write to Chuck Ensey at chucnglo@aol.com.