Simply final week, Magnus Carlsen discovered himself in an uncommon state of affairs: on the Superbet Fast and Blitz Poland occasion, the world no 1 was the oldest participant within the 10-man area. This included three Indian prodigies — World Chess Championship challenger D Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi — all of whom the previous world champion defeated in a 10-game profitable streak in blitz time controls that propelled him to the title.
Now, on Saturday and Sunday, at a singular chess event in Morocco’s Casablanca, Carlsen takes on one other Indian, Viswanathan Anand — the person who he beat in 2013 to develop into world champion for the primary time.
The previous world champions are within the Moroccan metropolis for an exhibition chess event the place a singular format — known as the Casablanca Chess Variant — can be showcased. Becoming a member of the duo can be Hikaru Nakamura and Amin Bassem, Africa’s strongest Grandmaster.
The Casablanca Chess Variant format has been conceptualised by the organisers of the occasion (Casablanca Inventory Trade, Casa Occasions and Animation, and the Royal Moroccan Chess Federation) and it’ll have gamers having a very new sort of beginning place.
What’s the Casablanca Chess Variant?
What makes the Casablanca Chess Variant totally different is that the beginning positions for every sport can be chosen by the organisers from the mid-way level of a historic sport.
Simply as an illustrative instance, a sport from the 1995 World Championship match between Garry Kasparov and Anand may very well be picked from any mid-way level, the place each gamers had an equal likelihood to win the competition. The 2 gamers on the board will then must attempt to beat their opponent from that time on, both counting on their reminiscence to recollect how that historic sport performed out, or on their instincts to forge their approach to victory.
On the occasion, the 4 gamers will play in a double spherical robin — which means Anand will face Carlsen as soon as every on Saturday and Sunday. Every participant will meet the opposite three gamers twice, so every participant will play six video games. They’ll play three video games on Might 18 and three video games on Might 19, organisers advised The Indian Categorical in an electronic mail.
The previous world champions are within the Moroccan metropolis for an exhibition chess event the place a singular format — known as the Casablanca Chess Variant — can be showcased. (Reuters)
How the thought of the Casablanca Chess Variant happened
The Casablanca Chess Variant was impressed with slightly assist from the Netflix present The Queen’s Gambit, a well-known YouTuber known as Agadmator and former world champion Garry Kasparov.
Girl Grandmaster Anna Burtasova, who’s a press officer for the occasion, knowledgeable The Indian Categorical: “The thought belongs to Tarik Senhaji, Chief Government Officer of the Casablanca Inventory Trade, and Grandmaster Hicham Hamdouchi. That is the story Tarik advised me: ‘I used to be watching the Queen’s Gambit and the evaluation of the video games from this collection by well-known YouTuber Agadmator. After seeing the evaluation, I assumed that the beginning positions had been so fantastic, equal however on a knife’s edge, with many variations resulting in problems and nice attacking play. The variation on the Ivanchuk sport specifically made an impression on me. I known as Hicham and he advised me that it was Garry Kasparov who picked them for the collection. I then advised him we’ve to make it into an actual competitors! And that is how the thought of the Casablanca Chess Variant was born.”
How is Casablanca Chess Variant totally different from the Freestyle G.O.A.T. occasion?
Earlier this yr, there was one other distinctive occasion with a novel format that was held with among the greatest gamers on this planet. That occasion, known as the Freestyle G.O.A.T. occasion, was backed by Carlsen.
The essential thought behind each the Casablanca Chess Variant and the Freestyle G.O.A.T. occasion is similar: to get gamers out of the textbook and to play creatively from a place that they haven’t memorised beforehand as occurs in regular chess video games.
“On this digital age, some video games unfold seamlessly, their strikes orchestrated upfront, leaving little room for creativity on the board. To encourage the spirit of impartial thought and strategic creativity, the Casablanca Inventory Trade introduces the groundbreaking Casablanca Chess Variant,” the Casablanca Chess organisers introduced.