New York Times (May 8,2012)
Chess
Early Success Is No Guarantee of a Career Among the Elite
By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN
Published: May 5, 2012
Vaibhav Suri became India’s newest grandmaster last Sunday when he won
the Luc Open in Lille, France. At 15 years, 2 months and 21 days old,
he is the 27th youngest grandmaster in history.
Position after 16 … Bf5; click to replay
Some players who have become a grandmaster at such a young age have
gone on to join the elite, but others have floundered. And some
relatively late bloomers have risen to the top.
Sergey Karjakin, 22, who was born in Ukraine, holds the record as the
youngest grandmaster (12 years, 7 months) and is among the successful
prodigies: he is now No. 6 in the world. The top-ranked player, Magnus
Carlsen, 21, of Norway, became a grandmaster four months after his 13th
birthday.
But the Chinese player Bu Xiangzhi, 26, who was also a 13-year-old
grandmaster, peaked at No. 22 in 2008 and has fallen to No. 98. Wesley
So — who earned the title four years ago, when he was 14 — is the
Philippines’ top player, but his rating has stagnated and he has fallen
to No. 104.
On the other hand, Levon Aronian, 29, of Armenia became a grandmaster
at 17 but did not break into the top 100 until three years later. He is
now No. 2. The world champion, Viswanathan Anand, 42, who inspired a
generation of Indian players, was 18 when he became a grandmaster.
(Anand begins his defense of the title on Friday against Boris Gelfand
of Israel. Articles about the match will be at
nytimes.com/pages/crosswords.)
Suri has a classical style of play, but he is also opportunistic. A
good example of his ability was his win over Artashes Minasian of
Armenia in the Aeroflot Open in February.
Minasian, 45, may have tried to surprise Suri by playing the Pirc
Defense. But Suri seized territory and limited Minasian’s chances to
counterattack. Minasian’s 12 ... b6 was a mistake. It would have been
better to play 12 ... Bh6, followed by 13 ... f6.
Suri missed a great opportunity on the 17th move. Instead of 17 Nh3, he
should have played 17 g4. Then after 17 ... Qd7 18 gf5 fg5 19 Rg1 Kh8
20 0-0-0, he would have had a dangerous attack. Still, his position
remained far superior.
Though Minasian won two rooks for his queen after 31 ... bc3, he could
not coordinate his pieces, while Suri’s queen and knight were dangerous
together.
Later, Minasian should have played 37 ... Rc3, when he would have had a
counterattack. His last blunder was 40 ... Ra3; 40 ... Rc2 would have
been his best chance to survive.
Minasian resigned, as he was not able to play 44 ... Bd7 to protect his
rook: 45 Qh8 would have been checkmate
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