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A new tournament on the international calendar. Wesley So played interesting tactics in round 1 to beat Duda. Esipenko played an incredible endgame against the German star Keymer and Levon Aronian beat Pragga.
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Rd 2 Abdusattarov vs Esipenko was a wild attacking game for White with the queen and two knights in full swing. Black sacked a queen for 3 minors but his position was too weak. Lots of juicy tactics in that game and Abdusattarov ended up winning. Pragga hung a back rank mate against Gukesh. -
Rd 3 Aronian proved the might of the two bishops (especially the dark squared one!) and beat Abdusattarov in a key game. Pragga had a scintillating attack against Keymer.Comment
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Aronian has taken the clear lead after 3 with 2.5.Comment
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Rd 4 all games drawn today although they all had interesting moments. The one I enjoyed the most was Gukesh - Keymer. It had interesting pawn and piece play.Comment
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Rd 5 Aronian is rocking the house. Another win - this one against Giri. Two rooks on the seventh are hard to defend against. Keymer - Abdusattarov Black sacked a pawn for two bishops and activity but then he went further and ended up sacking a rook for three pawns. Not enough. Keymer wins and the German fans are happy.Comment
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Rd 6 Aronian was very active and generated an attack. However So neutralised it with a timely sack of the queen. Great defending by Wesley So. Pragga made things very interesting by sacking an exchange for play with dangerous passed pawns against Giri. I thought there was something for Pragga in the position but apparently not. All games ended up drawn.Comment
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Aronian still leads after six rounds by a full point. It looks like Aronians tournament to win with three rounds to go.Comment
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https://en.chessbase.com/post/wr-che...023-endgames-1 The good endgame doctor, Karsten Mueller, weighs in.Comment
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Rd 7 Big game of the round was Aronian Nepo. Aronian misevaluated tactics in a dangerous position (after black played Ne5) where his kingside was open to attack. The position was ripe with tactics. Nepo brilliantly expoited by using a combination of king attack, discovery of the queen, removal of the guard and capture of a resulting loose piece. The other game was a nice pressure play at the end (combination of pins) by Gukesh over Esipenko. In both games the players of White got openings they were comfortable with but later missed tactics in the middlegame. Big wins with Black by Nepo and Gukesh.Comment
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After round 7 big change in standings and we are due for two exciting last rounds. Gukesh and Aronian are tied for first and Nepo and So are half a point behind.Comment
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Rd 8 The only win was Keymer over So. Vincent Keymer played a lovely combo starting with Nh4 wrecking White's kingside and trading down to an endgame two pawns up. Fantastic game.Comment
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Wesley So has been knocked out of the running for first which leaves Aronian and Gukesh tied for first with Nepo a half point back.
Final round pairing sees Gukesh and Aronian facing each other, a fitting end to the tournament.Last edited by Hans Jung; Friday, 24th February, 2023, 07:56 PM.Comment
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In Rd 9 Nepo in a forced win situation had a brilliant clutch performance and found a late king attack (76...Nf3+!) to force a three way tie for first, as Aronian and Gukesh drew their game.Comment
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Levon Aronian did it! Amazing pressure play against Nepo and especially Gukesh with seconds on his clock and he ends up winning Duesseldorf in the playoffs after surviving the last 3 rounds.
His first big win in a while.Comment
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