The first two legs of this year’s Grand Chess Tour have now been staged in Paris and Leuven. There will be follow-ups later this year in St Louis and London. The format of Paris and Leuven consisted of a rapidplay and blitz tournament at each venue. After the conclusion of these events the leading overall standings in the Tour are Carlsen 23, Nakamura and So 17.
Carlsen-Anand: GCT Rapid Leuven 2016 (see diagram 1)
Carlsen now shows excellent judgment by heading for an endgame which, at first sight, appears to give Black no problems. 21 dxe5 dxe5 22 Qxe7 Rxe7 One would expect that the extra queenside pawn would be more relevant than White’s doubled e-pawns. However, more important is that the white forces are very active and the e-pawns control important squares. 23 Rd6 Nh8 24 Nd2 Nf7 25 Rd3 Ng5 26 Rf5 h6 27 h4 Nh7 28 Nb3 Nf6 29 Nc5 Rff7 30 h5 Carlsen excels in these positions.
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