Grenke Chess Classic 2019

[Hans Jung]

I thought Magnus was going to massage another endgame but it didnt happen (rd 4)

[Wayne Komer]

Grenke Chess Classic 2019

April 23, 2019

Round Four

From the official site:

http://www.grenkechessclassic.com/en...en-in-the-lead


Vishy scores a second win to join Carlsen in the lead

The special on the menu for the fourth round of the GRENKE Chess Classic was the duel between Magnus Carlsen and his most recent world championship challenger, Fabiano Caruana. Living up to the expectations all comers, the matchup saw the top two players of the world fight fiercely over the board for 71 moves before finally signing peace.

Meanwhile, all of the other games of the round finished decisively: Levon Aronian beat Peter Svidler, Arkadij Naiditsch defeated Vincent Keymer, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave got the better of Georg Meier, while Viswanathan Anand hopped into the tournament lead with a win over GM Francisco Vallejo Pons.

Last year, it was in Karlsruhe that Carlsen and Caruana had played their last classical game before their World Championship match. And as fate was to have it, they were seeing each other across the board for the first time after their title clash in the very same place. And a Sveshnikov Sicilian to open the game – one of the hotly debated lines in the previous world championship match – only added to the flavour.

But did it feel any different in comparison to playing at the World Championship? "It felt like less pressure somehow," Caruana said. "We were playing the same line as in the (World Championship) match but the pressure was sort of off."

In the early stages of the game, Caruana seemed to be in the driver’s seat, but as play progressed, Carlsen’s pieces which had been kept at bay earlier, began to assert themselves. As the endgame arose, the world champion’s position looked much superior. Caruana, however, found a crafty line of defence on the 46th move.

Position after Black’s 45….Ra4



Here, the Italian American grandmaster gave up his bishop with 46.Bxg6! and forced a drawn rook and knight versus rook endgame after exchanging off the last remaining pawns soon afterwards. Carlsen being Carlsen, he tried to sneak a win out for twenty more moves before finally acquiescing to a draw.

With Carlsen’s game drawn, Vishy Anand managed to catch up in the tournament lead following his win over Francisco Vallejo Pons. As black, Vishy had essayed the Caro-Kann Defence but the game soon began to resemble a Kings Indian Defence with colours reversed.

Vishy said after the game that he wasn’t happy with his position out of the opening as Vallejo’s attack looked dangerous. But the Spaniard didn’t find some crucial niceties and let his attack subside. Meanwhile, Anand’s counter-play on the queenside had grown serious. Desperate to break in, Vallejo gave up a bishop on the kingside. Vishy had it under control though. He gave up his queen for a rook and two minor pieces and found safe shelter for his king. Soon, his material advantage decided the game.

Levon Aronian scored his first win of the event against Peter Svidler, who was leading the tournament alongside Magnus Carlsen after the third round. Aronian, who had the white pieces, avoided the turbulent waters of the Marshall Gambit with 8.a4. Svidler tried to clarify the situation on the queenside by temporarily sacrificing his ‘a’ pawn but ended up dropping his e5 pawn soon afterwards. Aronian said after the game that his opponent’s attempt to look for a creative solution led to his downfall.

“I think Peter tried to improve something but got into a passive position and then he blundered a pawn. So, I think it was just a bad day for him,” Aronian said.

Arkadij Naiditsch also scored his first win of the day in round four against the youngest player in the field, IM Vincent Keymer. The 14-year-old from Germany was off to a good start from the black side of a Closed Sicilian. While no exchanges were made well until the middle game, both sides had expanded on opposite wings. Keymer’s 19…g6 looked dangerous given Naiditsch’s advancing kingside pawns. Naiditsch went all in, giving up a full rook to rip open black’s king shelter and delivered the final blow on the 36th turn.

Maxime Vachier Lagrave’s game against Georg Meier was the longest game of the day – you heard that correctly, it wasn’t Carlsen this time. As black, Maxime deployed one of his very favourite opening, the Gruenfeld Defence, against Meier’s 1.d4 and equalized easily out of the opening. However, in doing so, several pieces had been traded and an endgame was reached by the 17th move. But while equilibrium persisted in the position, MVL refused to give up. About 49 moves into the game, he managed to net a pawn while the stone-cold computer still adorned its evaluation with zeroes. Regardless, MVL wasn’t budged. He kept pushing and won the game after 96 moves in a study-like manner.

Round 4, Apr. 23
Caruana, Fabiano – Carlsen, Magnus
B33 Sicilian, Pelikan (Lasker-Sveshnikov) variation

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Nd5 Nxd5 8.exd5 Ne7 9.c4 Ng6 10.Qa4 Bd7 11.Qb4 Bf5 12.h4 h5 13.Bg5 Qb8 14.Qa4 Bd7 15.Qc2 Bxb5 16.cxb5 Be7 17.Bd3 Nf8 18.b6 Nd7 19.bxa7 Qxa7 20.O-O Bxg5 21.hxg5 O-O 22.Bf5 Rad8 23.b4 Qd4 24.Qc7 Nb6 25.Rad1 Qf4 26.Bh3 Na4 27.g6 fxg6 28.Qc2 b5 29.Qxg6 Rf6 30.Qxh5 g6 31.Qg4 Qxg4 32.Bxg4 Rf4 33.Be6+ Kg7 34.Rc1 Rxb4 35.Rc7+ Kh6 36.g3 Nc5 37.f4 exf4 38.Rxf4 Rxf4 39.gxf4 Ra8 40.Rc6 Ne4 41.Bh3 Rxa2 42.Bg2 Ng3 43.Rxd6 Ne2+ 44.Kf1 Nxf4 45.Be4 Ra4 46.Bxg6 Nxg6 47.Rb6 Rf4+ 48.Ke1 b4 49.d6 Rd4 50.d7 Rxd7 51.Rxb4 Kg5 52.Ke2 Re7+ 53.Kd2 Kf5 54.Rb5+ Ne5 55.Rb4 Rd7+ 56.Ke2 Nd3 57.Ra4 Nf4+ 58.Ke1 Kg4 59.Ra3 Rd8 60.Rc3 Rh8 61.Ra3 Rh2 62.Kd1 Kf5 63.Re3 Nd5 64.Re8 Kf4 65.Kc1 Nc3 66.Re7 Ne4 67.Re8 Ke3 68.Re7 Rh6 69.Rc7 Kd3 70.Rd7+ Rd6 71.Rxd6+ Nxd6 1/2-1/2

Round 4, Apr. 23
Naiditsch, Arkadij – Keymer, Vincent
B23 Sicilian, Closed

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 a6 3.Nge2 d6 4.a4 Nf6 5.g3 Nc6 6.Bg2 e6 7.O-O Be7 8.f4 O-O 9.d3 Rb8 10.h3 Nd7 11.g4 h6 12.Ng3 Bh4 13.Nce2 b5 14.Kh2 b4 15.Be3 a5 16.Qd2 Ba6 17.b3 Qe7 18.Rg1 Rbc8 19.Raf1 g6 20.e5 d5 21.f5 Ncxe5 22.Bxh6 Rfe8 23.fxg6 fxg6 24.g5 Nf7 25.Qf4 Nxh6 26.Qxh4 Nf7 27.Nh5 gxh5 28.Rf6 Nxf6 29.gxf6 Qd6+ 30.Nf4 Kf8 31.Qg3 Red8 32.Re1 e5 33.Ng6+ Ke8 34.Nxe5 Qxf6 35.Ng4+ Qe7 36.Nf6+ 1-0

Round 4, Apr. 23
Aronian, Levon – Svidler, Peter
C88 Ruy Lopez, Closed, anti-Marshall

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.a4 b4 9.d4 d6 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.Nbd2 Bc5 12.a5 h6 13.h3 Qd6 14.Qe2 Be6 15.Nc4 Qe7 16.Be3 Rab8 17.Bxc5 Qxc5 18.Ncd2 Rfe8 19.Qxa6 Ra8 20.Qe2 Nxa5 21.Bxe6 fxe6 22.Ra4 Ra7 23.Qe3 Qxe3 24.Rxe3 c5 25.Nxe5 Nc6 26.Rxa7 Nxa7 27.Rd3 Nb5 28.f3 Ra8 29.Nb3 Rc8 30.Nc4 Kf8 31.Kf2 Ke7 32.Rd1 g5 33.Ra1 Nd7 34.Ke3 Nd6 35.Nxd6 Kxd6 36.Ra6+ Ke7 37.Na5 Ne5 38.g3 1-0

Round 4, Apr. 23
Vallejo Pons, Francisco – Anand, Vishy
B11 Caro-Kann, Two Knights

1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.h3 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 e6 6.g3 Nf6 7.a3 Bc5 8.d3 O-O 9.Bg2 Nbd7 10.O-O b5 11.Qd1 Qb6 12.Qe2 a5 13.Kh1 d4 14.Nb1 e5 15.Nd2 Bd6 16.f4 Qc7 17.f5 Nb6 18.g4 c5 19.Nf3 c4 20.Bg5 Nfd7 21.f6 g6 22.Bh6 Rfc8 23.Ng5 Bf8 24.Bxf8 Nxf8 25.Qe1 Nbd7 26.a4 bxa4 27.Rxa4 cxd3 28.cxd3 h6 29.Nf3 Ne6 30.Qh4 Kh7 31.g5 h5 32.Raa1 Qc2 33.Rf2 Qxd3 34.Bf1 Qb3 35.Nd2 Qb4 36.Be2 Qxd2 37.Bxh5 Qxg5 38.Bxg6+ Kxg6 39.Rg2 Qxg2+ 40.Kxg2 Rh8 41.Qg3+ Kxf6 42.Rf1+ Ke7 43.Qa3+ Ndc5 44.Rc1 Kd6 45.b4 axb4 46.Qxb4 Rab8 47.Qc4 Ke7 0-1

Round 4, Apr. 23
Meier, Georg – Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
D90 Grunfeld, Three Knights variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.h3 dxc4 6.e4 c5 7.d5 O-O 8.Bxc4 b5 9.Nxb5 Nxe4 10.O-O Ba6 11.Qe2 Nd6 12.Nxd6 Qxd6 13.Re1 Bxc4 14.Qxc4 Rd8 15.Bf4 Qxd5 16.Qxd5 Rxd5 17.Rxe7 Nc6 18.Re2 Nb4 19.Rae1 h6 20.b3 Kh7 21.Re7 Rf5 22.Bg3 g5 23.Ne5 Kg8 24.Nc4 Bd4 25.R1e2 Nd5 26.Re8+ Rxe8 27.Rxe8+ Kh7 28.Ra8 Nc3 29.Rxa7 Ne2+ 30.Kh2 Bxf2 31.Bxf2 Rxf2 32.Ne5 Nf4 33.Rxf7+ Kg8 34.Rf6 Rxg2+ 35.Kh1 Re2 36.Nd7 Kg7 37.Ra6 Nxh3 38.Nxc5 Nf4 39.Ra4 Kg6 40.Ne4 Rb2 41.Ng3 Kf6 42.Ra6+ Ne6 43.Ra4 Nc5 44.Ra5 Nd3 45.Ra6+ Ke5 46.Rxh6 Rxa2 47.Rh8 Rb2 48.Rf8 g4 49.Kg1 Rxb3 50.Re8+ Kd5 51.Rd8+ Ke6 52.Re8+ Kf6 53.Rf8+ Ke7 54.Rg8 Rb1+ 55.Kg2 Nf4+ 56.Kf2 Rb2+ 57.Ke3 Nd5+ 58.Kd4 Nf6 59.Rg5 Ke6 60.Re5+ Kf7 61.Rg5 Rb4+ 62.Ke5 Nh7 63.Rf5+ Kg6 64.Rf1 Rb3 65.Ne2 Rb5+ 66.Kd4 Ng5 67.Nf4+ Kf5 68.Ng2+ Nf3+ 69.Ke3 Rb3+ 70.Kf2 Nh2 71.Ra1 g3+ 72.Kg1 Nf3+ 73.Kh1 Rb2 74.Ra5+ Ke4 75.Ra1 Nd4 76.Kg1 Rf2 77.Ra4 Ke5 78.Ra5+ Kd6 79.Ra6+ Kc5 80.Ra5+ Kb4 81.Ra1 Kb3 82.Rd1 Nf3+ 83.Kh1 Kb2 84.Rg1 Nxg1 85.Kxg1 Kc3 86.Ne3 Kd3 87.Nf1 Ke2 88.Nxg3+ Kf3 89.Nf5 Rd2 90.Nh4+ Kg3 91.Nf5+ Kg4 92.Ne3+ Kf3 93.Nf5 Rd5 94.Ne7 Rc5 0-1

Position after 85.Kxg1 Black wins in 22 moves after 85..Rf3



___________

Daniel Fridman won the Grenke Open 2019 thanks to having the best tiebreak score among eight players finishing with 7½/9. Three other German grandmasters shared the same score as did the 12-year-old Indian phenom D. Gukesh. Yuliya Shvayger was the top scoring woman

https://en.chessbase.com/post/daniel...enke-open-2019

[Hans Jung]

Vincent Keymer beat Georg Meier which makes all the lessons worthwhile.

[Wayne Komer]

Grenke Chess Classic 2019

April 24, 2019

Round Five

From the official site:

http://www.grenkechessclassic.com/en...win-in-round-5

Keymer scores his first win in round 5!

Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand retained their tournament lead at the conclusion of the fifth round of the GRENKE Chess Classic in Karlsruhe. Both of the leaders were held to draws in their games against Arkadij Naiditsch and Fabiano Caruana, respectively. Meanwhile, the games Maxime Vachier against Levon Aronian and Peter Svidler versus Francisco Vallejo Pons also ended peacefully. The big result of the day came from the all-German clash between Vincent Keymer and Georg Meier, where the 14-year-old finally scored his first point in style.

As black, Meier essayed a sharp Queen’s Gambit Accepted and the players got into an interesting duel with their kings castled on opposite wings.

Keymer got the better position out of the opening and by the time the middle game arose, he was close to winning. Meier pointed out after the game that Keymer’s 25.Qf5 was an inaccuracy and that his opponent should have tried to firmly plant a rook on the c6 square.

“I was very happy to see 25.Qf5; it was my only chance to survive. Instead, b4-b5 with the idea of Rc6 was much better,” Meier said.

But while he did manage to wriggle out of any serious danger in the middle game, fate wasn’t as kind on Meier in the endgame. He was walking on thin ice in the pawn endgame that had ensued and did not manage to find the most accurate continuation to hold the game. Keymer played perfectly in the technical phase of the endgame and sealed victory after the 81st move.

Maxime Vachier Lagrave versus Levon Aronian was the first game to finish. Once again, we saw Levon play the Anti-Marshall, but this time, he was on the black side of it. On his 13th move, the Armenian numero uno came up with the novelty, 13…d4 that looked slightly odd at first sight. But then, he clarified his idea with a knight manoeuvre from f6 to b7, to exploit the weakness of white’s a5 pawn. Vachier-Lagrave also got his knights at the right outposts to keep the pawn safe and by the 25th move, the players had repeated moves to sign peace.

Soon afterwards, Vishy Anand shook hands with Fabiano Caruana and split the point in their Berlin Defence game. As white, Anand had avoided an immediate endgame with the 5.Re1 line but the heavy pieces were traded off the board anyway. By the 20th move, all of the heavy pieces were off the board. The game went on for another twenty moves but the result was never in doubt.

After having suffered two losses in the tournament, GM Francisco Vallejo Pons decided to go for broke in the opening phase of his game against Peter Svidler. Much like in his previous game against Anand, the Spaniard was seen going for a kingside expansion in an attempt to storm the enemy king with his pawns. However, this time, he was playing black and the opening was an Italian.

Svidler complicated matters with moves like 11.d4 and 12.Nf5 giving up a pawn in the process. Vallejo returned his extra pawn soon afterwards. But, by this point, Svidler’s ‘c’ pawn, which had begun to look dangerous. Vallejo did well, in response, by inducing exchanges and maintaining the balance. One move before the time control, Svidler made a temporary rook sacrifice to reach an endgame with bishops of opposite colour and agreed to a draw shortly afterwards.

For the fourth time in five rounds, Magnus Carlsen was the last to finish his game. Playing Arkadij Naiditsch in the Four Knights variation of the English Opening, the world champion did not manage to get much out of the opening besides a funny pawn formation along the ‘d’ file.

Naiditsch managed to round up white’s d5 pawn but this hardly amounted to anything given his own doubled ‘d’ pawns. Also, white’s active rooks which soon dominated the ‘c’ file. With this, Carlsen tried to exert some pressure in the position, but the evaluation favoured either side. Once a pure rook and pawn endgame was reached, several pawns were traded off and peace was signed on the 60th move.

This was the last round to be played at the Kongresszentrum in Karlsruhe. The tournament will move to Baden Baden as round 5 resumes on April 26, 2019 after tomorrow’s rest day.

Round 5, Apr. 24
Carlsen, Magnus – Naiditsch, Arkadij
A29 English, Bremen, Smyslov System

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Bb4 5.Nd5 a5 6.Bg2 O-O 7.O-O Re8 8.d3 Nxd5 9.cxd5 Nd4 10.Nxd4 exd4 11.e4 c6 12.Bf4 cxd5 13.a3 Bc5 14.b4 Bf8 15.exd5 d6 16.bxa5 Qxa5 17.Bd2 Qa6 18.Qf3 g6 19.Bb4 Bf5 20.Rad1 Re5 21.g4 Bd7 22.Qf4 h5 23.h3 hxg4 24.hxg4 Qb6 25.Bf3 Ba4 26.Rc1 Bg7 27.Kg2 Bb3 28.Rh1 Bxd5 29.Bxd5 Rxd5 30.Rh3 Qd8 31.Qf3 Rb5 32.Qg3 Qg5 33.Rc7 Rd8 34.Rh1 Qd5+ 35.Qf3 Qxf3+ 36.Kxf3 d5 37.Rhc1 Be5 38.Rc8 Rxc8 39.Rxc8+ Kg7 40.g5 f6 41.Re8 Rb6 42.Re7+ Kg8 43.Kg4 f5+ 44.Kf3 Bh2 45.Rd7 Rb5 46.Bd6 Bxd6 47.Rxd6 Rb3 48.Rxg6+ Kh7 49.Rh6+ Kg7 50.Kf4 Rxd3 51.a4 Rc3 52.Rd6 Rc5 53.Rd7+ Kg6 54.Rxb7 Rc6 55.a5 d3 56.Ke3 Rc5 57.f4 d2 58.Kxd2 Rxa5 59.Rd7 Kh5 60.Ke3 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Apr. 24
Anand, Vishy – Caruana, Fabiano
C67 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence, open variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 O-O 9.d4 Bf6 10.Re1 Re8 11.c3 Rxe1 12.Qxe1 Ne8 13.d5 c6 14.Qd1 b6 15.Bf4 Bb7 16.dxc6 dxc6 17.Nd2 c5 18.Nc4 Qxd1 19.Rxd1 Rd8 20.Rxd8 Bxd8 21.Bb8 a6 22.a4 b5 23.axb5 axb5 24.Na3 b4 25.Nc4 bxc3 26.bxc3 Bd5 27.Ba7 Bxc4 28.Bxc4 Nd6 29.Bd5 Nb5 30.Bxc5 Nxc3 31.Bc6 Ne2+ 32.Kf1 Nf4 33.Be3 Ne6 34.g3 Bf6 35.Bd5 g6 36.Ke2 Kg7 37.Bxe6 fxe6 38.Kd3 Kf7 39.Ke4 h5 40.h3 Be7 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Apr. 24
MVL – Aronian, Levon
C88 Ruy Lopez, Closed, anti-Marshall

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.a4 b4 9.a5 d6 10.d3 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Nbd2 d5 13.Nb3 d4 14.Bd2 Rb8 15.Rc1 Rb5 16.h3 Qd6 17.Bg5 Nd7 18.Bxe7 Qxe7 19.Nfd2 Nc5 20.Nc4 Nb7 21.Ra1 Nd6 22.Ncd2 Nb7 23.Nc4 Nd6 24.Ncd2 Nb7 25.Nc4 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Apr. 24
Svidler, Peter – Vallejo Pons, Francisco
C55 Two Knights Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 h6 5.O-O d6 6.c3 g5 7.Nbd2 Bg7 8.Bb3 Nh5 9.Nc4 Nf4 10.Ne3 Be6 11.d4 exd4 12.Nf5 Bxf5 13.exf5 dxc3 14.bxc3 Ne5 15.Nxe5 dxe5 16.Qf3 O-O 17.Qxb7 Ne2+ 18.Kh1 Nxc1 19.Raxc1 Qf6 20.Qxc7 Qxf5 21.Bd5 Rad8 22.c4 Rd7 23.Qc6 Rfd8 24.Rcd1 Bf8 25.g3 Kg7 26.Kg2 Qf6 27.Qxf6+ Kxf6 28.Rb1 h5 29.h3 Bc5 30.Rb5 Rc7 31.Rfb1 g4 32.hxg4 hxg4 33.Rb7 Rdc8 34.f3 Bb6 35.Rxc7 Rxc7 36.fxg4 e4 37.Rf1+ Kg7 38.Bxe4 Rxc4 39.Rxf7+ Kxf7 40.Bd5+ Kg7 41.Bxc4 Bc5 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Apr. 24
Keymer, Vincent – Meier, Georg
D24 QGA

1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 b5 6.e5 Nd5 7.Nxb5 Nb6 8.Be2 Nc6 9.O-O Be7 10.Qd2 Bb7 11.Qf4 Qd7 12.Nc3 h6 13.Rd1 g5 14.Qg3 O-O-O 15.Be3 Nb4 16.Nd2 h5 17.Nxc4 g4 18.Nxb6+ axb6 19.Bb5 Bc6 20.Bxc6 Qxc6 21.Qf4 Rdf8 22.d5 Nxd5 23.Nxd5 exd5 24.Rac1 Qb7 25.Qf5+ Kb8 26.Qd7 c5 27.Qxd5 Qxd5 28.Rxd5 Rd8 29.Rdd1 Kc7 30.Kf1 Kc6 31.Ke2 Rhe8 32.f4 f6 33.exf6 Bxf6 34.Rxd8 Rxd8 35.b3 Re8 36.Kd3 Rd8+ 37.Kc2 Re8 38.Re1 Kd5 39.a4 Re4 40.Bd2 Rxe1 41.Bxe1 Ke4 42.f5 h4 43.Bc3 Bxc3 44.Kxc3 Kxf5 45.Kc4 Kf4 46.Kb5 Ke3 47.Kxb6 Kf2 48.a5 Kxg2 49.a6 Kxh2 50.a7 g3 51.a8=Q g2 52.Qb8+ Kh3 53.Qc8+ Kh2 54.Qc7+ Kh3 55.Qd7+ Kh2 56.Qd6+ Kh3 57.Qe6+ Kh2 58.Qe5+ Kh3 59.Qe1 c4 60.b4 c3 61.Kc6 c2 62.Qc1 Kh2 63.Qxc2 Kh3 64.Qd3+ Kh2 65.Qe2 Kh3 66.Qe3+ Kh2 67.Qf2 h3 68.b5 Kh1 69.Qg3 h2 70.Qf3 Kg1 71.Qe3+ Kf1 72.Qf4+ Kg1 73.b6 h1=Q 74.b7 Qh7 75.b8=Q Kh1 76.Qf3 Qc2+ 77.Kd5 Qd2+ 78.Ke4 Qc2+ 79.Ke5 Qc5+ 80.Kf6 Qd4+ 81.Kg6 1-0

Position after 61.Kc6





Nice line after Black’s 75…Kh1 76.Qa8!! mate in 13





(76. Qa8 Qc2+ 77. Kd6 Qg6+ 78. Kd5 Qh5+ 79. Kd4 Qd1+ 80. Ke5 Qe2+ 81. Kd6 Qd3+ 82. Ke7 Qh3 83. Qf1+ Kh2 84. Qb8+ Qg3 85. Qh8+ Qh3 86. Qf4+ Kh1 87. Qxh3+ Kg1 88. Qhh2#)

Standings after Round Five

1-2 Carlsen, Anand 3.5
3-6 Svidler, Caruana, MVL, Aronian 3
7 Naiditsch 2.5
8 Vallejo Pons 1.5
9-10 Keymer, Meier 1

Rest day tomorrow

[Hans Jung]

Nice save Vincent Keymer vs Levon Aronian

[Wayne Komer]

Grenke Chess Classic 2019

April 26, 2019

Round Six

From the official site:

http://www.grenkechessclassic.com/en...ll-point-ahead


Round 6: Carlsen races a full point ahead!

The sixth round of the GRENKE Chess Classic saw a drastic change at the top of the leaderboard. Magnus Carlsen took sole lead in the tournament after beating local GM Georg Meier. After this win, Magnus is a full point ahead of the field as his co-leader, GM Vishy Anand suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of GM Arkadij Naiditsch. In another important result of the day, 14-year-old Vincent Keymer bridged a rating gap of 247 points to hold world number 10, GM Levon Aronian to a draw.

For Carlsen, it seems to have become a habit to play marathon games. This time again, his was the last game to conclude after five-and-a-half hours. Meier’s non-committal 1.Nf3 was met by an ambitious pawn plunge, 6…b5, by the world champion. He continued energetically lifting his rook and setting up a queen and bishop battery along the h1-a8 diagonal over the subsequent moves.

On his 25th turn, Carlsen found an enterprising pawn sacrifice and got his central passed pawns rolling. Within a few moves, he was clearly winning. After the game, Carlsen pointed out that Meier’s 31.e3 was “pretty suicidal”. However, Carlsen also mentioned that his own play wasn’t the most accurate. Nonetheless, he managed to force resignation by move 58 and get a full point ahead of the field.

Tournament’s co-leader, GM Vishy Anand suffered a major loss in the meanwhile and slipped down from the top spot. Playing black in a Four Knights Defence against GM Arkadij Naiditsch, Anand sacrificed a pawn early in the game and sought to generate play against the white king. With the white king’s position compromised as a consequence of the opening, Anand’s compensation seemed sufficient.

However, as the game progressed, white’s play turned out to be a lot easier in comparison to black’s. While Anand’s attack led nowhere, Naiditsch had made the most of the open ‘g’ file – which was at one point considered a positional weakness – and activated all of his pieces and won a second pawn. With his pieces entangled and his position on the brink of collapse, the Indian ace had to throw in the towel on the 30th move.

Francisco Vallejo Pons and Fabiano Caruana had a very short day at the office in round 6. Within an hour and fifteen minutes the game had concluded in a draw in another Four Knights Defence game. In the words of the Spanish number one, “I prepared more than I played!”

Vallejo decided to test his American opponent’s memory in a sharp but forcefully drawn variation. After the game, Vallejo said his intent was clear: if Fabiano remembered all the niceties of the line, the worst that could happen was a draw; if not, he would score his first full point.

Following his win over Georg Meier in the previous round, Vincent Keymer had another happy result in the sixth round. This time, he managed to hold ground against the strongest Armenian player, Levon Aronian.

After one of his previous games in GRENKE, Aronian was quoted saying chess should be slow and beautiful. Perhaps, today he was looking to play one such masterpiece. He had chosen to exchange queens very early in a Sicilian Scheveningen with the white pieces and had avoided a theoretical discussion. As a result, an insipid endgame was reached where the Armenian superstar had a microscopic edge.


Position after 19.c3



Worth noting was the way Keymer found his way through some ensuing complications. With his 19.c3, Aronian planned to trap the rook on d1 with Nb2. Keymer confidently responded 19…Rc8, having foreseen that after 20.Nb2, he had the defensive resource 20…Nxc3. And after 21.Rc2 Bf6 22.Nxd1, Black can repeat the position with 22…Nxd1 23.Rb1 Nc3.

Aronian avoided this line with 20.Re4 but soon the position liquidated into a rook and knight endgame where it was the German lad who had the active pieces and it was his super-Grandmaster opponent who had to fight for a draw. The highly exciting battle went on for 52 moves before peace was signed.

Peter Svidler essayed a rather innocuous variation of the Symmetrical English wherein a queen exchange was offered just six moves into the game. After the game, though, Svidler clarified that he was “banking on Maxime to play 6…Qc7”.

And indeed, the Frenchman did not shy away from a fight. An important moment came on the 18th move, when Svidler castled on the kingside, where it looked like ‘MVL’ had a ready attack. The computers evaluated the position to be better for black but following some exchanges, equality was restored. All the rooks were off the board by the 24th move and players agreed to a draw soon afterwards.

Round 6, Apr. 26
Aronian, Levon – Keymer, Vincent
B23 Sicilian, Closed

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 a6 3.Nge2 d6 4.g3 Nf6 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.O-O e6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bd7 9.Re1 Be7 10.Nxc6 Bxc6 11.e5 dxe5 12.Bxc6+ bxc6 13.Rxe5 O-O 14.Qxd8 Rfxd8 15.Re2 c5 16.Na4 Rd1+ 17.Kg2 Rad8 18.b3 Nd5 19.c3 Rc8 20.Re4 Nf6 21.Re2 Nd5 22.Rd2 Rxd2 23.Bxd2 c4 24.Nb2 Bf6 25.Nxc4 Bxc3 26.Rd1 Bxd2 27.Rxd2 g5 28.Kf3 Kg7 29.Ne3 Rc3 30.Rc2 f5 31.Rxc3 Nxc3 32.a4 g4+ 33.Kg2 Kf6 34.Nc2 Ne4 35.b4 Nc3 36.b5 axb5 37.a5 Nd5 38.a6 Nc7 39.a7 Ke5 40.Kf1 Kd5 41.Nb4+ Kc4 42.Nc6 Kd3 43.Ke1 Na8 44.Nd8 e5 45.Nc6 Ke4 46.Kd2 Kd5 47.Nb4+ Kc4 48.Nc6 Kd5 49.Nb4+ Ke4 50.Nc6 f4 51.Kc3 Kd5 52.Nb4+ Ke4 1/2-1/2

Round 6, Apr. 26
Naiditsch, Arkadij – Anand, Vishy
C48 Four Knights, Rubinstein Counter-Gambit

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.Ba4 c6 6.Nxe5 d6 7.Nf3 Bg4 8.d3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.O-O Be7 11.Re1 Nc7 12.Bg5 Nxf3+ 13.gxf3 Be6 14.Bxe7 Qxe7 15.Bb3 O-O-O 16.Qd2 Qf6 17.Qe3 Kb8 18.f4 Bf5 19.Qg3 Ne6 20.Bxe6 fxe6 21.Re5 h5 22.Kh1 h4 23.Qe3 Rhf8 24.Rg1 Rf7 25.a3 h3 26.Rg5 Rdf8 27.Ne2 c5 28.Ng3 Bh7 29.Nh5 Qd8 30.Nxg7 1-0

Round 6, Apr. 26
Meier, Georg – Carlsen, Magnus
A49 King’s Indian, Fianchetto

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.O-O O-O 5.d4 d6 6.b3 b5 7.Bb2 Bb7 8.Nbd2 Nbd7 9.c4 bxc4 10.Nxc4 a5 11.Rc1 c5 12.dxc5 Nxc5 13.Bd4 Ncd7 14.a4 Ra6 15.Na3 Qa8 16.Nb5 Rc6 17.Rxc6 Bxc6 18.Ne1 Bxg2 19.Nxg2 Rc8 20.Na7 Rd8 21.Qc2 e5 22.Be3 d5 23.Nc6 Re8 24.Bd2 Ne4 25.Nxa5 Rc8 26.Qa2 Ndf6 27.Be1 Nc3 28.Bxc3 Rxc3 29.b4 Bf8 30.Qb2 d4 31.e3 Ne4 32.exd4 exd4 33.Nb3 d3 34.Rc1 Rxc1+ 35.Qxc1 Qxa4 36.Qc4 Nc5 37.Nd2 Qa1+ 38.Nf1 d2 39.Ne3 Ne6 40.Qb3 Qe1 41.Kg2 Bxb4 42.Qb2 h5 43.h4 Ba5 44.Qb8+ Nf8 45.Qa8 Bc3 46.Qc6 Qc1 47.Qd5 Ne6 48.Qc4 Ba5 49.Qd5 Bb4 50.Qb5 Qc3 51.Qd5 Qc1 52.Qb5 Bc3 53.Qa4 Bd4 54.Nd1 Kg7 55.Kf3 Bf6 56.Ke2 Nd4+ 57.Kd3 Qb1+ 58.Kxd2 Qe4 0-1

Round 6, Apr. 26
Svidler, Peter – MVL
A34 English, symmetrical, Three Knights System

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Qc7 7.e4 e6 8.Be3 Bd7 9.Nd2 Bc6 10.Qg4 Nd7 11.Qg3 O-O-O 12.Bf4 e5 13.Bg5 f6 14.Be3 g6 15.Qh3 Kb8 16.Be2 Nb6 17.b3 h5 18.O-O Bh6 19.Bxh6 Rxh6 20.Qe3 Rh7 21.Rfd1 Rhd7 22.Nf1 Rxd1 23.Rxd1 Rxd1 24.Bxd1 Nc8 25.f3 Qd6 26.Be2 Ne7 27.Qh6 f5 28.Ne3 fxe4 29.Nc4 Qf6 30.fxe4 Kc7 31.g3 Ng8 32.Qh7+ Ne7 33.Qh6 Ng8 34.Qh7+ Ne7 35.Qh6 1/2-1/2

Standings after Round Six

1 Carlsen 4.5
2-7 Anand, Svidler, Naiditsch, Caruana, MVL, Aronian 3.5
8 Vallejo Pons 2
9 Keymer 1.5
10 Meier 1

___________

News of the changes to the World Championship Match format came through while Peter and Jan were on the air. They were in favor of 14 games instead of 12, less breaks and especially of no increments before move 61.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt8yZZdz5xI

[Wayne Komer]

Grenke Chess Classic 2019

April 27, 2019

Round Seven

From the official site:

http://www.grenkechessclassic.com/en...ards-the-title

Round 7: Carlsen takes another stride towards the title

Exciting games abound the antepenultimate round of the GRENKE Chess Classic as full-blooded battles were witnessed on every board. A welcome change this time was that Magnus Carlsen got to take a break from his long battles and was, in fact, the first one to finish his game in the seventh round. With this, he retained his one point lead while the list of his pursuers dropped from six to one. After the dust of the battles had settled, Caruana was the only one to keep the one point distance with his win over Arkadij Naiditsch.

Levon Aronian had a very tough day at the office against the reigning world champion, Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen, who was playing with the white pieces in the game, had reached a pleasant position out of a Queen’s Gambit Ragozin. After the game, he himself pointed out that while the position remained objectively equal, it was tough to play as black as he struggled to find a plan. Trying to find the best way to address the position, Aronian had gone down to a minute on his clock while just around 25 moves were played in the game.

“It’s very, very strange. You make all these natural moves but then you are somehow stuck. I am sure that objectively the position is still okay for black but my play is so simple. I know what my moves are going to be and it’s much more difficult for him. You see everywhere some little problems,” Carlsen explained.

In the eyes of the silicon monsters, a key moment came on the 26th move when Aronian finally decided to try and generate some play with 26…f5. In a few moves following this, Carlsen had established one of his rooks on the seventh rank and was in a dominating position. It didn’t take long after this for him to convert.


While Carlsen and Aronian played the shortest game in terms of time, Caruana and Naiditsch played the shortest game of the day in terms of the number of moves. Both players were sharing the second spot, a point behind Magnus, going into the round. However, in only 33 moves, the former world championship challenger had managed to clinch the full point.

The game had opened with a sharp Open Catalan where Naiditsch had found himself in severe time trouble getting out of the opening phase. Caruana’s provocative 9.b3 had won him a pawn while the position remained complicated. By the 19th move, Naiditsch found his minor pieces tripping on each other’s toes while the white queen wreaked havoc attacking all of them at the same time. Naiditsch was forced to give up the bishop pair at this point and it turned out to be the beginning of the end. Caruana won a couple of more pawns and soon his position was overwhelming.

Viswanathan Anand was playing Georg Meier with the white pieces. Interestingly, while Anand is a heavy favourite on paper, he hadn’t won a single one of their previous three classical encounters, which were all played in GRENKE.

In their last two clashes, Meier had discussed the Rubinstein French with the former five-time world champion with the black pieces. This time was no exception. Anand went for the same line he had essayed against the German grandmaster back in 2013 edition of the tournament. Players castled on opposite wings and an exciting duel seemed to be on the cards.

About thirty moves into the game, Anand was walking on thin ice. Having gobbled a pawn on b4, he had let Meier unleash his rooks along the ‘b’ file while his ‘e’ pawn march down the centre of the board. Anand did manage to catch the ‘e’ pawn with his counterplay against Meier’s f7 point but Meier’s rooks had breached into the white camp in the interim. Following an exchange of queens, the position looked like it had stabilized but a blunder by the Indian number one on the 36th turn ended the game on the spot.

Vincent Keymer, who has been on a roll since the last two rounds scoring 1½ points in his last two games, played audaciously in the opening against eight-time Russian Champion, Peter Svidler. In a Queen’s Indian Defence game, the fourteen-year-old offered a pawn after 11 moves, establishing his knight on e4.

Talking about Vincent’s play in the opening, GM Peter Leko, the prodigy’s current trainer said, “Vincent has gained a lot of confidence after his last two games. He does not mind going into complicated lines against these top players.”

Svidler correctly declined the offered pawn sacrifice but was unable to create much play of his own either. Twenty-six moves into the game, a queen and rook endgame was reached wherein Keymer had little problems holding ground.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave versus Francisco Vallejo Pons was the longest game of the day. As black, Vallejo had essayed a French Defence – quite befittingly, if you will – against the top French Grandmaster. ‘MVL’ chose the advance variation of the opening, which he had already been seen deploying at the London Chess Classic, last year.

Vallejo’s choice of closing the position with 6…c4 eventually led to a closed game full of maneuvres. In fact, even for the first exchange to occur, it took a good twenty-five moves and believe it or not, that was the only exchange of the game. Players went on with the struggle until the 43rd move but neither side was ever in any danger and eventually, peace was signed.

Round 7, Apr. 27
MVL – Vallejo Pons, Francisco
C02 French, Advance, Milner-Barry Gambit

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 c4 7.Nbd2 Na5 8.g3 Bd7 9.h4 Ne7 10.Bh3 h6 11.O-O O-O-O 12.h5 Kb8 13.Nh4 Rg8 14.Ng2 Qc7 15.Re1 Nc8 16.Rb1 Nb6 17.Nf1 Be7 18.Be3 Rdf8 19.Qe2 Qc8 20.Nh2 Na8 21.g4 Nc7 22.f4 Nc6 23.Rf1 Re8 24.Nf3 g6 25.hxg6 fxg6 26.Rf2 Rh8 27.Qc2 h5 28.g5 Reg8 29.Ngh4 Qe8 30.Nd2 Na5 31.Re1 Ba4 32.Qb1 Bd8 33.Bg2 Rg7 34.Bf3 Na8 35.Rh2 Nb6 36.Kf2 Nc8 37.Nf1 Ne7 38.Ng3 a6 39.Reh1 Kc8 40.Kg1 Qf7 41.Rh3 Kc7 42.R1h2 Qe8 43.Ng2 Rf8 44.Nh4 Rh8 45.f5 exf5 46.Ne2 Kb8 47.Nf4 Qc6 48.Nhg2 Bc7 49.Bf2 Nb3 50.Qe1 Qd7 51.Ne3 Bc6 52.Bg3 Rd8 53.Qf1 b5 54.Re2 Bb7 55.Qg2 Qc6 56.Re1 Rgg8 57.Rh2 1/2-1/2

Comment on the game by David Robertson on the English Chess Forum:

MVL - Vallejo Pons. I'm looking at this game at move 43 currently. And I'm thinking, if Carlsen were sitting either side, we'd be in the process of witnessing the world's first 1000-move game

Round 7, Apr. 27
Keymer, Vincent – Svidler, Peter
E16 Queen’s Indian, Capablanca variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Nbd2 Bb7 6.Bg2 O-O 7.O-O d5 8.Ne5 Qc8 9.cxd5 Bxd5 10.f3 Rd8 11.Ne4 Nbd7 12.Nxf6+ Nxf6 13.e4 Bb7 14.Be3 Nd7 15.Qb3 Be7 16.Nxd7 Qxd7 17.Rac1 c5 18.dxc5 Bxc5 19.Bxc5 bxc5 20.Rfd1 Qc7 21.Qb5 a6 22.Qb3 h6 23.Bf1 a5 24.a3 Rxd1 25.Rxd1 Ba6 26.Bxa6 Rxa6 27.Qb5 Rc6 28.Rd2 c4 29.Kg2 Kh7 30.Rc2 Rc5 31.Qe8 Qb7 32.Rd2 c3 33.bxc3 Rxc3 34.a4 Rc8 35.Qb5 Qxb5 36.axb5 Rb8 37.Rb2 g5 38.b6 Kg7 39.h4 gxh4 40.gxh4 a4 41.Ra2 Rxb6 42.Rxa4 1/2-1/2

Round 7, Apr. 27
Carlsen, Magnus – Aronian, Levon
D24 QGA

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5 c5 7.Bxc4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Qa5 10.Bd2 O-O 11.Qe2 e5 12.Nb3 Qc7 13.O-O Bg4 14.f3 Rc8 15.Bd5 Nxd5 16.exd5 Bh5 17.c4 Nd7 18.Rfc1 b6 19.a4 a5 20.Qf2 Qd6 21.Be3 Bg6 22.Qd2 f6 23.Qb2 Rc7 24.Nd2 Nc5 25.Qa3 Rd8 26.Rc3 f5 27.Re1 e4 28.fxe4 fxe4 29.Bxc5 Rxc5 30.Nxe4 Qe5 31.Rce3 Rcc8 32.h3 Qc7 33.Nd2 Re8 34.Re7 Rxe7 35.Rxe7 Qd8 36.Qe3 Rc7 37.Re6 Rc5 38.Qb3 1-0

Round 7, Apr. 27
Anand, Vishy – Meier, Georg
C10 French, Rubinstein variation

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.Be3 Bd6 8.Bd3 O-O 9.Qe2 b6 10.O-O-O Bb7 11.Kb1 c5 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bh4 Rc8 14.Rhe1 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 c4 16.Be4 g5 17.Bg3 Bxg3 18.fxg3 Kg7 19.c3 b5 20.g4 Qd6 21.Rf1 Nxe4 22.Qxe4 Qxh2 23.d5 Qd6 24.Qd4+ e5 25.Qxa7 Rc5 26.Qb7 e4 27.Rf5 e3 28.Kc1 b4 29.Qxb4 Rb8 30.Qa4 Rcb5 31.Qa7 R8b7 32.Qxe3 Rxb2 33.Qe5+ Qxe5 34.Rxe5 Rxg2 35.Rd4 Rg1+ 36.Kc2 Rgb1 0-1

Round 7, Apr. 27
Caruana, Fabiano – Naiditsch, Arkadij
E01 Catalan, Closed

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Bb4+ 5.Nd2 O-O 6.Nf3 dxc4 7.O-O b5 8.a4 c6 9.b3 c3 10.Nb1 Bb7 11.Qc2 c5 12.Nxc3 cxd4 13.Nxb5 Nc6 14.Qc4 Qe7 15.Nbxd4 Na5 16.Qb5 Rfd8 17.Bf4 Bc3 18.Rac1 a6 19.Qe5 Bxf3 20.Bxf3 Bxd4 21.Qxa5 Nd5 22.Bc7 Rd7 23.e3 Qf6 24.Bxd5 Rxd5 25.Qb4 Bb2 26.Rc2 h5 27.Qb7 Rf8 28.Qxa6 h4 29.Qc4 h3 30.Qg4 Rd3 31.b4 Rb3 32.Qxh3 Ra8 33.b5 1-0

Standings after Round Seven

1 Carlsen 5.5
2 Caruana 4.5
3-4 Svidler, MVL 4
5-8 Anand, Naiditsch, Aronian 3.5
8 FVP 2.5
9-10 Meier, Keymer 2

[Wayne Komer]

Grenke Chess Classic 2019

April 28, 2019

Round Eight

From the official site:

http://www.grenkechessclassic.com/en...l-in-the-chase


Rd. 8 - Carlsen still in the lead, Caruana still in the chase

Magnus Carlsen is well on his way towards repeating his glorious run in Shamkir, here at the GRENKE Chess Classic. In round 8, he scored his third straight win of the tournament over Peter Svidler. This meant that if Fabiano Caruana, the only player to have remained in contention for the title, was in a must-win situation to keep his chances of winning the tournament alive. Playing GM Georg Meier, Caruana did manage to pull out a win but catching the world champion still remains a bleak hope. If Carlsen, who is a full point ahead, wins or even draws tomorrow, he will run away with the title.

For the unstoppable Magnus Carlsen, round 8 was no different than the rest. His opponent, Peter Svidler was one of the very few players to hold a positive score against the world champion until this round. In the eighteen games they had played thus far, fifteen had been drawn while Peter had scored two victories in comparison to Carlsen’s one.

Keeping in mind Carlsen’s bent for the Sicilian Sveshnikov lately, Svidler decided to drift away from the main lines of the opening with the white pieces. Carlsen still seemed to be well acquainted with the position. With his 12…Kh8 and 13…f5, he tried to generate play along the kingside.

Position after 20.Qg5




Svidler said he thought his 20.Qg5 was “an imaginative idea” but he had missed Carlsen’s immediate 20…Qf8, which discouraged Svidler from taking on d5 with the bishop as 21…Rf5 would have lost black a piece. Following this, Carlsen said his game was rather easy. He quickly planted his knight to e3 and stormed his pawns to deliver a decisive attack. Towards the end, Svidler, very sportively allowed the world champion to checkmate his king with two pawns.

Like his archrival Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana has also been dabbling into the Sveshnikov Sicilian of late. Therefore, it wasn’t quite a surprise to see Georg Meier choose the 3.Bb5 setup. Meier also went on to uncork a novelty on his 11th move but Caruana had his own surprise in stock as he sacrificed a pawn very soon afterwards.

A sharp battle ensued very soon. Caruana expanded on the kingside with f5-f4. After the game, he said, “There is a lot of risk for both sides,” after black’s fifteenth move. Another important moment arose about ten moves later when, after Caruana’s 25…Rd8, computers began screaming a win for white, spurting out complex variations beginning with 26.Rxg6.

A critical error from Meier came on the 33rd move when he went 33.h5 allowed Black to close the kingside with 33…g5. Soon after the first time control, Meier’s position looked seriously worse and a blunder on the 44th move lost him a decisive amount of material.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was very impressed by his young opponent, IM Vincent Keymer after their eighth round game. After the game, the Frenchman was quoted as saying that Vincent played very well.

As white, ‘MVL’ had chosen the rather offbeat path of the Alapin variation to counter Keymer’s Sicilian. However, neither player was in home prep for too long in the game. After Vincent’s queen had penetrated into the d3 square, Maxime lifted his rook and swung it all around the board, not only driving her majesty off but also generating threats on the kingside.

During the game, Keymer’s coach, GM Peter Leko seemed unsure of his protégé’s choice of 22…f5 as he thought it could create long term weaknesses. But Maxime explained after the game, that while Leko was right in his fears, the move was necessary to parry short term problems. For a long time, Vincent had managed to successfully hold ground but soon, time trouble loomed in. In a very complex endgame, Keymer erred on his 37th move and let white’s heavy pieces come flooding into his position. Maxime was quick to win a couple of pawns and force resignation after this.

Viswanathan Anand and Levon Aronian had both lost their games in round 7. In their eighth-round matchup, neither side took inordinate risks. Anand answered Aronian’s 1.e4 with a Berlin and while Aronian did sidestep the mainline endgame, his pawn sacrifice, 13.f4 led the game straight into placid waters.

Much of the play revolved around white recovering the pawn after this. And once Aronian had accomplished it, Anand struck in the centre and induced an exchange of queens. More pieces were swapped off very soon and the players decided to sign peace in an endgame with bishops of opposite colour.

The game of Francisco Vallejo Pons was once again the longest game of the day. This time, the Spanish number one tried for a full six hours, twenty minutes and eighty-seven moves before agreeing to split the point with Arkadij Naiditsch.

The two discussed a Queen’s Gambit in which Vallejo had reached a slightly better position by establishing a knight on e5. However, the position was rendered equal once the Spanish number one decided to trade this knight. By the 25th moves, queens were traded and while the position still looked pretty equal, Vallejo managed to create some chances for himself by advancing his ‘d’ pawn. Naiditsch did manage to check this pawn’s advance but had to shed a pawn for it. Another pawn soon fell off in the rook and knight versus rook and bishop endgame.

Despite being two pawns up, the endgame was a tough one to convert for white given black’s active pieces and his own split pawns. After a hard-fought game, Naiditsch managed to save a half point giving up his extra piece for the last white pawn.

Going into the final round, Fabiano Caruana still holds a mathematical chance to catch up with the tournament leader, Magnus Carlsen. However, this can only happen if Maxime Vachier Lagrave manages to bring down the world champ with the black pieces while Caruana also wins his game with white against Levon Aronian.

Round 8, Apr. 28
Vallejo Pons, Francisco – Naiditsch, Arkadij
D30 QGD

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.e3 h6 6.Bf4 dxc4 7.Bxc4 Bd6 8.Bxd6 cxd6 9.Nc3 d5 10.Bd3 b6 11.Ne5 Bb7 12.f4 O-O 13.O-O Ne4 14.Bxe4 dxe4 15.Qa4 Nf6 16.f5 Qe7 17.h3 a5 18.Ng4 Nxg4 19.hxg4 Qg5 20.Rf4 exf5 21.Qd7 Bc8 22.Qc6 Rb8 23.gxf5 Bxf5 24.Nxe4 Qg6 25.Qxg6 Bxg6 26.Nd6 Rfd8 27.Nb5 Rbc8 28.Rd1 f6 29.a3 Rc2 30.Rf2 Rc4 31.Rfd2 Be8 32.Nc3 b5 33.Kf2 f5 34.d5 Kf7 35.Rd4 Rdc8 36.e4 Kf6 37.Rxc4 bxc4 38.Ke3 Ke5 39.exf5 Rb8 40.Rd2 h5 41.g3 Bd7 42.d6 Kxf5 43.Rd5+ Ke6 44.Kd4 Bc6 45.Rxh5 Rxb2 46.Rxa5 Kxd6 47.Rg5 Bg2 48.Rg6+ Ke7 49.Rxg7+ Kf6 50.Rg4 Bh3 51.Rf4+ Ke7 52.Kxc4 Be6+ 53.Kd3 Rg2 54.Ne2 Rh2 55.Ke3 Rh1 56.Ra4 Re1 57.Kf2 Ra1 58.Ra5 Kf6 59.Nc3 Bf5 60.Nd5+ Kf7 61.Ke3 Bc2 62.g4 Ke6 63.Nf4+ Kd6 64.Ne2 Rd1 65.g5 Rd3+ 66.Kf2 Rd2 67.Ke3 Rd3+ 68.Kf2 Rd2 69.g6 Ke7 70.Ra7+ Kf8 71.Ke3 Rd3+ 72.Kf4 Bd1 73.Ng1 Rd6 74.Kg5 Rd5+ 75.Kf4 Rd6 76.Rf7+ Kg8 77.Kg5 Ra6 78.Kh6 Bc2 79.Rg7+ Kf8 80.Nf3 Rxa3 81.Ng5 Ra6 82.Nh7+ Ke8 83.Rg8+ Ke7 84.Rg7+ Ke8 85.Kg5 Rxg6+ 86.Rxg6 Bxg6 87.Kxg6 1/2-1/2

Round 8, Apr. 28
Meier, Georg – Caruana, Fabiano
B31 Sicilian, Nimzowitsch-Rossolimo Attack

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bg7 6.h3 Nf6 7.Nc3 Nd7 8.Be3 e5 9.Qd2 h6 10.a3 b6 11.b4 Nf8 12.bxc5 Ne6 13.cxb6 axb6 14.Qc1 f5 15.a4 f4 16.Bd2 O-O 17.Qb2 Nd4 18.Ne2 Nxf3+ 19.gxf3 Be6 20.Rb1 Ra6 21.Bc3 Qc7 22.Rg1 Kh7 23.h4 Rb8 24.Ra1 c5 25.Kd2 Rd8 26.Rgd1 Bh3 27.Qb5 Rda8 28.Rg1 Qd6 29.Qb2 R8a7 30.Rab1 Qf6 31.a5 Bd7 32.axb6 Rb7 33.h5 g5 34.Ra1 Raxb6 35.Qa3 Qd6 36.Nc1 Be6 37.Rh1 Bf7 38.Ke2 Qd7 39.Qa4 Rc6 40.Qa5 c4 41.Ra3 Rbc7 42.Kd2 Rc5 43.Qa8 Rc8 44.Ra7 Qb5 45.Qxc8 Rxc8 46.Rxf7 Kg8 47.Rxg7+ Kxg7 48.d4 exd4 49.Bxd4+ Kf7 50.Rd1 c3+ 51.Ke1 Qb2 0-1

Round 8, Apr. 28
Svidler, Peter – Carlsen, Magnus
B30 Sicilian Defence

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Bc4 Be7 5.d3 d6 6.Nd2 Nf6 7.Nf1 Nd7 8.Nd5 Nb6 9.Nxb6 axb6 10.c3 O-O 11.Ne3 Bg5 12.O-O Kh8 13.a3 f5 14.Nxf5 Bxc1 15.Rxc1 Bxf5 16.exf5 d5 17.Ba2 Rxf5 18.Qg4 Rf6 19.f4 exf4 20.Qg5 Qf8 21.Qxd5 Rd8 22.Qf3 Ne5 23.Qe4 Ng4 24.Rce1 Ne3 25.Rf2 Re8 26.Qxb7 g5 27.Rfe2 g4 28.Rf2 Qh6 29.Qc7 Ref8 30.h3 gxh3 31.g3 fxg3 32.Rxf6 h2+ 33.Kh1 g2# 0-1

Round 8, Apr. 28
MVL – Keymer, Vincent
B22 Sicilian, Alapin

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 d5 7.exd6 Qxd6 8.O-O Be6 9.Na3 Bxb3 10.axb3 Qd3 11.Re1 e6 12.Re3 Qd7 13.Nc4 Nxc4 14.bxc4 Be7 15.d4 cxd4 16.cxd4 O-O 17.Rd3 b5 18.cxb5 Nb4 19.Ne5 Qxb5 20.Rh3 Nd5 21.Rb3 Qe8 22.Rg3 f5 23.Qe2 Bf6 24.Rga3 Qe7 25.Nf3 Rfb8 26.Ra6 Rb6 27.Rxb6 Nxb6 28.Bf4 Rc8 29.g3 Qd7 30.Bg5 Rc7 31.Re1 Kf7 32.h4 Rc6 33.h5 h6 34.Bxf6 gxf6 35.Nh4 Nd5 36.g4 Ne7 37.Qe3 Rc8 38.gxf5 Rg8+ 39.Kh2 Nxf5 40.Nxf5 exf5 41.Qb3+ Kf8 42.Qb4+ Kf7 43.Qc4+ Kf8 44.Qc5+ Kf7 45.Ra1 Ra8 46.Ra6 Qe8 47.Qxf5 Qb8+ 48.Kh3 Qc8 49.Rxf6+ 1-0

Round 8, Apr. 28
Aronian, Levon – Anand, Vishy
C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Qe2 Qe7 7.h3 Bd6 8.Nbd2 Nd7 9.O-O O-O 10.Nc4 Re8 11.Re1 c5 12.Nh2 Nf8 13.f4 exf4 14.Qf2 Ng6 15.Rf1 Be6 16.Nxd6 cxd6 17.Bxf4 d5 18.exd5 Bxd5 19.Bd2 b6 20.Ng4 Qe2 21.Ne3 Qxf2+ 22.Kxf2 Be6 23.Bc3 Ne7 24.Rfe1 Nd5 25.Nxd5 Bxd5 26.b3 f6 27.Rxe8+ Rxe8 28.Re1 Kf7 29.Rxe8 Kxe8 30.Bd2 Kd7 31.Bc3 Ke8 32.Bd2 Kd7 33.Bc3 1/2-1/2

Standings after Round Eight

1 Carlsen 6.5
2 Caruana 5.5
3 MVL 5
4-7 Anand Svidler,, Naiditsch, Aronian 4
8 Vallejo Pons 3
9-10 Meier, Keymer 2

[Hans Jung]

I was impressed by Magnus' domination and as a fan I enjoyed the end to Svidler-Carlsen.

[Hans Jung]

I enjoyed the knight play in Naiditsch - Meier but maybe Georg Meier needs to work on prioritizing knight play.

[Hans Jung]

The end to the Vallejo Pons game was a real treat (rd9)

[Wayne Komer]

Grenke Chess Classic 2019

April 29, 2019

Round Nine

From the official site:

http://www.grenkechessclassic.com/en...-chess-classic


Magnus Carlsen wins the GRENKE Chess Classic!

A little more than an hour after the final round of the GRENKE Chess Classic had begun, it had become clear that the tournament leader, Magnus Carlsen had won his third super tournament of the year. Going into the final round, the world champion was leading by a full point and after Fabiano Caruana, the only player to have any chance at the title, drew his game, it did not matter how Carlsen would fare in the finale. Nonetheless, like a true champion, Magnus fought until the end against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and won the game as well as the title with a staggering 7½/9, one-and-a-half points ahead of his nearest rival.

Yesterday, Fabiano Caruana had said after his game that he wasn’t expecting any disaster to happen to Carlsen. The former world championship challenger’s only chance at the title at GRENKE depended on Carlsen’s loss with white against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. At the same time, he himself would have to bring down Levon Aronian in the final round. In light of all of these conditions, Caruana’s pessimism was understandable.

In the game, Caruana went for a well-known line of the Marshall Gambit and the players followed one of Aronian’s earlier games against Radjabov well into the endgame. Needless to say, the game had remained balanced all the way through. A draw was agreed three moves after the first time control was reached.

The world champion, in the meanwhile, was involved in a rather exciting battle against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The French number one, following an over-the-board inspiration, had given up a pawn in a Symmetrical English. Carlsen said after the game that he was too tired to go through all of the variations but he saw no reason not to accept the offered pawn. And once again, the world champion’s judgement was spot on.

Carlsen was quick to liquidate the position after this. By the 35th move, only queens remained on the board with Carlsen having the (extra) outside passed pawn. MVL halfheartedly tried to get something going with his ‘f’ pawn but only ended up worsening an already lost position.

Vincent Keymer had been using his time well in the first eight rounds of this tournament. But as his coach, GM Peter Leko pointed out, his play looked a bit fast in the final round. In a Modern Benoni, Keymer had reached a commanding position out of the opening with the white pieces.

Vallejo’s 14…h5 had severely compromised his king’s safety and very soon, it looked like Keymer was en route to his second win of the tournament. But Keymer, perhaps underestimating the attacking potential in his opponent’s position, allowed black’s ‘f’ pawn to advance. With this, ‘Paco’ gained a serious initiative against the white king. Keymer managed to exchange queens and limp on but the sequence had left him lagging in the material count. Vallejo did not have any problems converting the game after this.

Another extremely exciting game from the round was the one between Arkadij Naiditsch and Georg Meier. The two had discussed an English Opening in which Naiditsch was on the front foot very early in the game. Planting his knights on b5 and e6, the grandmaster from Azerbaijan won the exchange on the 22nd move but the complications only grew as the game progressed. After a four hour long battle, it was Naiditsch who had managed to come out on top and win the game on the 40th move.

Viswanathan Anand tested Peter Svidler in a sharp line of the Ruy Lopez with the white pieces. Doubling rook and queen on the queen-rook’s file, Anand had caught a black knight in a terrible-looking pin on a7. In order to retain the pin, he even gave his own knight on the 22nd move. But Svidler returned the piece in time and the game fizzled out into an equal heavy piece endgame. A three-fold repetition followed soon afterwards.

Round 9, Apr. 29
Naiditsch, Arkadij – Meier, Georg
A10 English Opening

1.c4 b6 2.Nc3 Bb7 3.e4 e5 4.Nge2 Nc6 5.g3 Bc5 6.Bg2 h5 7.h3 d6 8.d3 Qd7 9.h4 f5 10.exf5 Qxf5 11.O-O Nf6 12.d4 exd4 13.Nb5 Qc8 14.Nf4 Ne5 15.Ne6 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 c6 17.Nbc7+ Kd7 18.Re1 Bb4 19.f4 Neg4 20.Re2 Qb7 21.Nxa8 c5+ 22.Kg1 Rxa8 23.Qd3 b5 24.a3 Ba5 25.b4 bxc4 26.Qf5 Qd5 27.Nxd4+ Qxf5 28.Nxf5 cxb4 29.Re7+ Kd8 30.Rxg7 b3 31.Nxd6 Bb6+ 32.Kg2 c3 33.Rb1 b2 34.Bxb2 cxb2 35.Rxb2 Rb8 36.Rf7 Nd7 37.Ne4 Ne3+ 38.Kh3 Rc8 39.Rd2 Rc7 40.Nf6 1-0

Round 9, Apr. 29
Caruana, Fabiano – Aronian, Levon
C89 Ruy Lopez, Marshall Counter-Attack

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d3 Bd6 13.Re1 Bf5 14.Qf3 Qh4 15.g3 Qh3 16.Nd2 Rae8 17.Ne4 Bg4 18.Qg2 Qxg2+ 19.Kxg2 f5 20.h3 Bh5 21.Bf4 Bxf4 22.gxf4 fxe4 23.dxe4 Bf3+ 24.Kxf3 Rxf4+ 25.Kg3 Rfxe4 26.Rxe4 Rxe4 27.f3 Re5 28.c4 bxc4 29.Bxc4 a5 30.Rc1 Rg5+ 31.Kf2 Kf8 32.Bd3 Ne7 33.Rc4 Rh5 34.h4 Ke8 35.b4 axb4 36.Rxb4 Kd7 37.a4 g6 38.Kg3 Ra5 39.Rd4+ Ke6 40.Kg4 Nd5 41.Kg3 Ne7 42.Kg4 Nd5 43.Kg3 Ne7 1/2-1/2

Round 9, Apr. 29
Carlsen, Magnus – MVL
A37 English, symmetrical variation

1.c4 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.O-O Bf5 7.h3 Nf6 8.d3 O-O 9.Be3 a6 10.Qd2 b5 11.cxb5 axb5 12.Nxb5 Qa5 13.Nc3 Rab8 14.Rfc1 Rfc8 15.b3 e5 16.Bh6 Nd4 17.Bxg7 Nxf3+ 18.exf3 Kxg7 19.f4 Qa6 20.fxe5 dxe5 21.Na4 Nd7 22.Rc3 Rb4 23.g4 Be6 24.Nxc5 Nxc5 25.Rxc5 Rxb3 26.Rxc8 Bxc8 27.Rc1 Rxd3 28.Qe2 Be6 29.Qxe5+ Kg8 30.Rb1 Rd8 31.Rb8 Rxb8 32.Qxb8+ Kg7 33.Bd5 Bxd5 34.Qe5+ f6 35.Qxd5 h5 36.gxh5 gxh5 37.Qd7+ Kg6 38.a4 Qe2 39.Qd5 f5 40.a5 f4 41.Kg2 Kh6 42.Qf5 Qc4 43.Kf3 1-0

MVL sacs a pawn with 10….b5




Round 9, Apr. 29
Keymer, Vincent – Vallejo Pons, Francisco
A70 Benoni, Classical

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 exd5 6.cxd5 g6 7.h3 Bg7 8.e4 O-O 9.Bd3 a6 10.a4 Nh5 11.g4 Nf6 12.Bf4 Ne8 13.Qd2 Nd7 14.O-O h5 15.gxh5 Ne5 16.Nxe5 dxe5 17.Bg5 f6 18.Be3 c4 19.Bxc4 Nd6 20.Qe2 f5 21.f4 Qh4 22.Bc5 Qg3+ 23.Kh1 Qxh3+ 24.Qh2 Qxh2+ 25.Kxh2 Nxc4 26.Bxf8 Kxf8 27.hxg6 exf4 28.exf5 Bxf5 29.Rae1 Re8 30.Rxe8+ Kxe8 31.Re1+ Be5 32.Nd1 Bxg6 33.Kg2 Bc2 34.Kf3 Kd7 35.Nf2 Kd6 36.Rc1 Ne3 0-1

Round 9, Apr. 29
Anand, Vishy – Svidler, Peter
C84 Ruy Lopez

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a3 O-O 9.Nc3 Na5 10.Ba2 Be6 11.b4 Bxa2 12.Rxa2 Nc6 13.Bg5 Ng4 14.Bd2 Nf6 15.Re1 Qd7 16.Nd5 Nxd5 17.exd5 Na7 18.a4 c6 19.axb5 axb5 20.Qa1 cxd5 21.Be3 d4 22.Nxd4 exd4 23.Bxd4 Bf6 24.Bxf6 gxf6 25.Re3 Rfe8 26.Rg3+ Kf8 27.h3 Re6 28.c4 bxc4 29.dxc4 Qc7 30.Kh2 Qxc4 31.Rxa7 Rxa7 32.Qxa7 Qxb4 33.Qa8+ Re8 34.Qf3 Re6 35.Qa8+ Re8 36.Qf3 Re6 37.Qa8+ Re8 1/2-1/2

Final Standings

1 Carlsen 7.5
2 Caruana 6
3-4 Naiditsch, MVL 5
5-7 Anand, Svidler, Aronian 4.5
8 Vallejo Pons 4
9-10 Meier, Keymer 2

Magnus said that his next tournament will be the Cote d’Ivoire Rapid & Blitz, May 6-13 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

Participants will compete over 9 rounds of rapid chess and 18 rounds of blitz chess for a total prize fund of $150,000.

The role call is Carlsen, Nakamura, MVL, Ding, So, Nepomniachtchi, Karjakin, Wei Yi, Topalov and Bassem Amin.