World No.1 Magnus Carlsen split the point in the opening round but has since won three straight games. PICTURE: Jayaram


Soft desert sand has a way of preventing runaway trains, and chess players are not immune to the laws of physics.
In round four of the 2015 Qatar Masters, GM Li Chao drew GM Anish Giri, ending the Dutchman’s 12-game drawless streak in his two Doha appearances. The two leaders thus allowed a host of others in the second traincar to reconnect with the engine.
Among those playing conductor again on 3.5/4? World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen, who will be back on board one after slipping all the way to board 23 a short time ago.
After splitting the point with a sub-2500 player in the opening round, Carlsen won his third straight Wednesday to get back atop the leaderboard. In his words, he’s played “two wonderful Sicilians” to get there.
Down several pawns but with all the initiative in his first-ever meeting with GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, the champ played a correct exchange sacrifice and annihilated the defenses of his teenage opponent.
Carlsen now has 3.5 points from four matches, the same as Giri, Chao, So Wesley and Maxim Matlakov.
Carlsen has now played a younger opponent in three of his four games, something he doesn’t usually get to do “on tour” with the other world elites. Duda was nearly world junior champion earlier this year. But for some weaker tiebreaks and last-round misfortune, he would have earned that title.
“When you look at the list of players, and trying to find people that you want to play against, there aren’t that many,” Carlsen said. “The ones I want to play are Anish, Vlady, people I know. The ones that it’s embarrassing to...(he trailed off).
“It’s not easy. There’s so many underrated players and also gifted tactically. They play without fear, they play without prejudice. That’s always difficult to face.”
Duda’s loss won’t stop the relentless onslaught of the Polish players in Doha. Having already sent three players to the top two boards in the opening rounds, they’re sending a fourth player soon, their leader! GM Radoslaw (Radek) Wojtaszek won with a brutal attack to get to 3.0/4.
Besides Carlsen, several other players on the premier boards joined Li Chao and Giri on 3.5/4. GM Wesley So won by a narrow margin in the ending, while GM Maxim Matlakov slowed the run of the early women’s prize leader, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Former world champion GM Vladimir Kramnik is not among the list of leaders, at least not yet. Having not played an open tournament in more than 20 years before the first iteration in Qatar, he said the opponents here give him pause.
“As a top player you look forward to playing players 27(hundred) plus,” he said. “You know how to play against them.”
Kramnik added that his style changes against this kind of competition, though not necessarily for the better. “I should play more normal chess but somehow I want to win too much,” he explained, adding that there are too many rating points at stake.
On Wednesday, he played one of those pesky 2600s, the young American GM Daniel Naroditsky, whose game went awry under the Russian’s pressure on both sides of the board.
“Everyone’s playing 1...d5, 2...g6 against me!” Kramnik said. “My opponent, Daniel, he never, ever played it!”
Although still trailing the leaders by a half point, Kramnik said he’s comfortable with his lot in the tournament.
“I felt a little rusty at the beginning...So far the same as last year,” he said, referencing his two draw, two win start in 2014. That recovery culminated eventually in six straight wins. “I would like it to continue the same!” (qatarmastersopen.com)