THE RISK OF BLACK PIECES

Azerbaijani grandmaster Teymur Racabov has drawn a line under his performance at the super-tournament in Morelia-Linares. To be honest, our chess player did not really do well at the tournament and gained only 50 per cent of the possible points. This means that Teymur's ranking will not rise significantly.

Racabov's fifth place clearly does not correspond to his potential and ambitions, so he can hardly put this tournament in his account. Two victories, two losses and 10 draws - this was the result of Teymur's performance, although it could have been better. The grandmaster himself observed that he fought in every game and demonstrated some interesting play, but often he was simply unlucky. "There was no luck at all. I lost to Aleksey Shirov, because I just got the opening wrong. I offered Peter Leko a draw in a position where I had a great advantage. I think that with Levon Aronyan, I had a better position and could have developed it. But excuse me for tautology, if you are lucky, you are lucky. For example, when Magnus Carlsen beats Vasiliy Ivanchuk, they say in these cases: 'He is first-time lucky.' I didn't have enough of this luck. But why complain?! Luck also originates from other factors," Teymur stressed.

It is notable that Racabov gained one of his few victories over Magnus Carlsen who, despite his youth, was named one of the tournament favourites. Teymur also paid the northerner quite a few compliments, saying that Magnus is a well-established chess player who gets brilliant results. Perhaps it was his defeat by Teymur which put paid to Magnus's chances of winning the main prize. The grandmasters have started meeting up more often at various major tournaments and their rivalry will certainly continue for a long time, in view of their age.

As for Viswanathan Anand, he had no match at the super-tournament and won easily and naturally. His victory made him even more confident ahead of the championship match with Vladimir Kramnik. "Anand's play appeals to me very much. He doesn't overstrain himself, plays easily and beats everyone. In a word, he is the chess player of everyone's dreams. At tournaments where bigger prizes are at stake, Vishi plays even better," said Teymur.

Discussing Teymur's play at Morelia-Linares, a number of specialists agree that our chess player is playing options regarded as risky for the black pieces. Developing this subject, international master Vladimir Barskiy thinks that this takes up loads of time and effort during Racabov's training, which affects his drive when he plays with the white pieces. At the same time, the specialist said that our grandmaster is going his own way. His opinion was also supported by a correspondent of the website chesspro.ru, Mikhail Khomich, who said that Teymur has great potential and should forget this super-tournament as soon as possible.

"I would like to point out that Tima is not afraid to defend extremely contradictory opening options - the anti-Moscow gambit and the Yanish gambit. And he does this really well. Moreover, this young man is already regarded as an expert in the complicated old Indian defence," Khomich said. Teymur himself observes that he is working hard and regularly. "I try to adjust my training, depending on results. But I wouldn't say that I avoid critical play. I always look for critical positions," the grandmaster says. Racabov will be able to prove the correctness of his strategy at the forthcoming Russian group championship in Dagomys, the first stage of FIDE Grand Prix in Baku and the M-Tel Masters tournament in Sofia.

FIDE has already identified the participants in all stages of the Grand Prix, including the Baku tournament. Despite the absence of a number of prominent chess players, including Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, who are concentrating on preparations for their world championship match, as well as Veselin Topalov, who is preparing for a fixture with Gata Kamskiy, the level of competition will be quite high. This is due, first of all, to the participation of a number of young chess players who represent the future of chess.

The main point of interest, apart from the play of the host team of course, is the arrival in Baku of Magnus Carlsen, who has begun a rapid storming of the chess Olympus. Having made it into the semi-finals at the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk last year, this year the Norwegian child prodigy continued his progress, winning the super-tournament in Wijk aan Zee and playing well at Morelia-Linares. So it will be interesting to watch the Scandinavian play and shaking the established favourites.

Bulgarian Ivan Cheparinov also merits attention. He beat Sahriyar Mammadov in the 1/16 finals of the World Cup. A great future is forecast for this chess player, especially as his coach and manager is Silvio Danailov, who nurtured Veselin Topalov. If we take into account the fact that Ivan is a second for his more titled countryman and, at the same time, a think tank for his team, we can say that he will try to do well in Baku.