Magnus Carlsen has recovered his winning touch following his dismal sequence of 21 draws described last week, and shared the lead near the finish of his latest test at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee. Despite his setbacks Norway’s world champion, 28, has never lost the No1 ranking he has held without a break since July 2011.

The other hero of the Wijk tournament has been India’s legend Vishy Anand, now 49 and the oldest competitor, who was joint leader with Carlsen after eight of the 13 rounds. Anand’s longevity contrasts with Russia’s ex-world champion, Vlad Kramnik, who trails the field due to taking too many risks.

Inspired by Anand, India has developed some exceptional sub-teen and teenage talents, and last week at Delhi Dommaraju Gukesh, 12, became the second youngest grandmaster in chess history.

Wijk’s closing games this weekend can be watched live and free online (12:30 pm start, 11am for Sunday’s final round). Viewers will be spoilt for choice, since Tradewise Gibraltar, arguably the world’s strongest open tournament, is also under way and includes most of the elite who are not at Wijk. Gibraltar naturally has a high-class English entry, led by the core of the national team Michael Adams, Gawain Jones, David Howell and Nigel Short.

2299

Viktor Korchnoi v Jan Timman, Zurich 1995. Korchnoi (White, to play) made a surprise move, and Timman resigned. Can you work out White’s winner, and why Black surrendered?

Click here for solution

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