Carlsen Plays a Little Used Variation of the Caro-Kahn

In this variation, Carlsen plays 5....exf6 instead of the more usual 5....gxf6.  With this draw Carlsen maintains his world number one ranking.
[Event "34th European Club Cup 2018"]
[Site "Halkidiki"]
[Date "2018.10.18"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2756"]
[BlackElo "2839"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6 6. c3 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8.
Qc2 Re8+ 9. Be3 h6 10. Ne2 Na6 11. O-O Nc7 12. c4 Bg4 13. h3 Bxe2 14. Bxe2 Ne6
15. Rad1 Qc7 16. Bg4 Rad8 17. Rfe1 Bf4 18. Bxf4 Nxf4 19. Rxe8+ Rxe8 20. h4 Qa5
21. g3 f5 22. Bf3 Re1+ 23. Kh2 Rxd1 24. Qxd1 Ng6 25. a3 f4 26. Be4 fxg3+ 27.
fxg3 Nf8 28. d5 cxd5 29. Qxd5 Qxd5 30. Bxd5 b6 31. b4 Nd7 32. Kg2 Kf8 33. Kf2
Nf6 34. Bf3 Ke7 35. Ke3 Kd6 36. Kd4 Ng8 37. c5+ bxc5+ 38. bxc5+ Kc7 39. Bd5 Ne7
40. Ke5 Nxd5 41. Kxd5 h5 42. c6 a6 43. a4 a5 44. Kc5 f6 45. Kd5 g5 46. Ke6 Kxc6
47. Kxf6 gxh4 48. gxh4 Kd6 49. Kg5 Ke5 50. Kxh5 Kf5 51. Kh6 Kf6 52. h5 Kf7 53.
Kg5 Kg7 54. h6+ Kh7 55. Kh5 Kh8 56. Kg6 Kg8 57. h7+ Kh8 58. Kh6 1/2-1/2

(Photo chessbase.com)

Carlsen Dodges Ding's Bullet

Carlsen fought back to draw his game with Ding and remains the number one ranked player in the world for now.

https://en.chessbase.com/post/euro-club-cup-2018-round-6

Fifty Straight Years tt the Paris Championship (France--Not Texas)

Again, from Chessbase.

"The oldest participant, Roger Ferry, who rarely misses the Paris Championship, could often be seen as a lonely figure, finishing last, keeping his much younger opponents strenuously until late into the night. At 85, he has played a record fifty consecutive French Championships!"

Successful Women Professionally and In Chess Do Exist

From the Paris Championship as reported in Chessbase.

"Not many female players were present, but WGM Pauline Guichard was there and fought tenaciously in the FIDE Open, finishing on 6/9. A delightfully calm, friendly person, Pauline is a medical doctor by profession, but she manages to fit chess in her working schedule as much as possible, including her representing France in the female squad at the recent Olympiad, where she achieved a notable success having made the greatest number of points for her team (7/10). 2018 will definitely be Pauline’s most successful year, as for the first time in her career she was crowned French Woman Champion, at the French Championship that took place in Nimes soon after the Paris Championship."

GM Coralles vs. GM Ivanov pgn

Here is the pgn from their hard fought Round 3 game at the Westford Open. The game went just over four hours with a lovely time scramble at the end.

[Event "Westford October Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.10.07"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Corrales Jimenez, Fidel"]
[Black "Ivanov, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "ficor"]
[BlackElo "2465"]
[Classes "0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[GameID "0"]
[Remark ""]
[Source ""]
[WhiteElo "2537"]

{Game analysis^13 ^10 Processor: AMD A6-7310 APU with AMD Radeon R4 Graphics 
  (@2.00GHz)^13 ^10 Engine(s): Deep Rybka 2.3.2a x64^13 ^10 Analysis time:
0:10:23} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7.
Qe2 Nd5 8. c4 Nb6 9. Nd2 d6 {[%t Shrt] N} (9... Qe6 10. b3 Be7 11. Bb2 O-O 12.
O-O-O d5 13. exd6 cxd6 14. Qf3 {...1-0, Ivanchuk Vassily 2731  - Almasi Zoltan
2630 , Monaco 2001 It "Melody Amber" (active)}) (9... Bb7 10. b3 g6 11. Bb2
Bg7 12. O-O-O O-O-O 13. f4 c5 14. Nf3 {...1/2-1/2, Rublevsky Sergei 2670  -
Adams Michael 2755 , Frankfurt 2000 It})(9... a5 10. h4 a4 11. g3 Ra5 12. f4
Ba6 13. Rh2 f6 14. exf6 {...1-0, Shirov Alexei 2710  - Agdestein Simen 2620 ,
Gausdal 1992 Match}) 10. exd6 cxd6 11. b3 Bg4 12. f3 Bf5 {[%t Val] 7} 13. Bb2
f6 {[%t Shrt] N} 14. g4 {[%t Val] 5} 14... Bg6 15. h4 Qxe2+ 16. Bxe2 h5 17. g5
fxg5 {[%t Val] 9} (17... Kf7 18. Bd4 d5 19. cxd5 cxd5 20. Rc1 Bd6 21. gxf6
gxf6 22. Kf2 Rhc8 23. Ba6 {+0.04}) 18. hxg5 O-O-O 19. f4 d5 20. Rc1 Bb4 {[%t
Val] @} 21. cxd5 {[%t Val] 7} (21. c5 Nd7 22. a3 Bxd2+ 23. Kxd2 Rh7 {+0.53})
21... Be4 {[%t Val] E} (21... Rxd5 22. Rxc6+ Kd8 23. Rxg6 Rxd2 24. a3 Rxb2+
25. axb4 Re8 26. Rd6+ Kc7 {+0.20}) 22. Ba6+ Kd7 23. dxc6+ Bxc6 24. Rh3 Rhf8
{?!}{[%t Val] Q} (24... Rhe8+ {!?} 25. Be5 Re6 26. Rd3+ Ke7 27. Rxd8 Kxd8 28.
Kf2 Nd7 29. Bc3 {+0.72}) 25. Rd3+ Nd5 26. Bb5 {?!}{[%t Val] ?} (26. Be5 {!?}
26... h4 27. Kf2 Ba8 {+1.60}) 26... Bxb5 27. Rxd5+ Ke6 28. Re5+ Kf7 29. Bc3
Rc8 {[%t Val] H} (29... Ba3 30. Rd1 a6 31. Nc4 Rxd1+ 32. Kxd1 Bxc4 33. bxc4
{+0.50}) 30. Rxb5 Rxc3 {?!}{[%t Val] M} (30... Bxc3 {!?} 31. Rf5+ Ke7 32. Rxf8
Kxf8 33. Kd1 Rc7 34. Nc4 Bb4 {+0.86}) 31. Rxc3 Bxc3 32. Rf5+ Kg8 33. Rxf8+
Kxf8 34. Ke2 Kf7 35. Ne4 {?!}{[%t Val] @} (35. Nf3 {!?} 35... Bb2 36. Kd3 Ke6
37. Nh4 Kd6 38. f5 Ke7 39. Ke4 Bc1 40. Nf3 {+1.08}) 35... Bb4 36. Kf3 g6 37.
Nf2 Ke6 38. Ke4 {?!}{[%t Val] 4} (38. Ne4 {!?} 38... Kf7 39. Nf2 Ke6 40. Ne4
Kf7 41. Nf2 Ke6 42. Ne4 Kf7 43. Nf2 Ke6 {+0.51}) 38... Bd6 39. Nd3 h4 40. Nf2
Bc5 41. Kf3 Kf5 42. Ne4 Bb4 43. Nf6 h3 44. Ne4 Be1 45. Nd6+ Ke6 46. Nb5 h2
{[%t Val] 9} 47. Kg2 Bd2 {?}{[%t Val] W} (47... Kf5 {!} 48. Nxa7 Bg3 49. a4
Bxf4 50. a5 Ke6 51. Nc6 Kd6 52. Nd8 Kd7 53. a6 {+0.26}) 48. Nd4+ Kd5 49. f5
Be3 50. Nb5 gxf5 51. g6 Bh6 52. Nxa7 Ke6 53. a4 Be3 54. Nc8 Bg1 55. Nd6 Bd4
56. Nc4 {[%t Val] R} 56... Bg1 {?!}{[%t Val] X} (56... Kf6 {!?} 57. Kxh2 Kxg6
58. Kg3 Kf6 59. a5 Ke6 60. Kf4 Ba7 61. b4 Bb8+ 62. Ke3 {+1.33}) 57. b4 f4 58.
Nd2 Be3 {[%t Val] \} 59. Ne4 Bg1 60. a5 f3+ 61. Kh1 Bd4 62. Ng5+ Ke7 63. Nxf3 1-0

Westford Open FIDE Won by GM Fidel Coralles Jimenez Ahead of GM Alexander Ivanov

Alex Relyea's FIDE Rated Westford Open was held this past weekend. The FIDE Open section was won by now Boston based Cuban GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez with Russian born GM Alexander Ivanov in second place. Our own Vermont based NM David Carter finished third after drawing with GM Jimenez in the final round. Yours truly finished toward the rear of the U2000 FIDE bus managing one draw and an almost draw in the first round against eventual U2000 FIDE winner Peter Pashkov, a native of Moscow living in the US since 1991.

The Playing Hall

GM Fidel Coralles Jimenez

GM Alexander Ivanov

Vermont's Sole NM David Carter