GRENKE CHESS CLASSIC 2018 ROUND 1

Just four days ago Caruana won the Candidates Tournament in Berlin to become the player to challenge for the crown of Magnus Carlsen in November. This will be the first match between “Western” players (not including Anand) since Lasker / Capablanca in 1921.

Quite ironic that Caruana drew White vs Carlsen in the first round of the Grenke Classic. You can be sure that the fans and media will be reading a lot more into the psychology of this game than the players. Expect the game to game all about probing the opponent for ideas while not giving away anything that will be of use in November. To quote Gary Veynerchuk, today will be all about planting jabs – leaving the right hooks for November in London.

When Fischer was a child he studied the games of Capablanca – a genius at Rook endgames. When looking at how the Caruana vs Carlsen game ended, it is clear that Capablanca’s games hold lessons for the youth of today as well.

Quote of the round: Leko: "Chess is the toughest! The only problem is that people don't understand it. Those who are involved do, but the general public cannot understand how much effort is behind preparation and decision making."

Caruana vs Carlsen ½-½

Kings Indian: If nothing else, the game gave Caruana essential match practice in the skill of defending the kinds of unpleasant positions that Carlsen conjures up at the board. There is a saying in chess that all Rook and Pawn endgames are drawn, except the ones that aren’t. Indeed, even Magnus said after the game: “Rook endings are difficult.” This was the ninth draw in the last ten games between Carlsen and Caruana.

Anand vs Hou ½-½

English Opening: Hou Yifan met Vishy’s g4 with a pawn sacrifice. The position was looking good for Black. White had a centrally trapped King and needed to sacrifice the exchange. Anand then had a 4 vs 2 Queen-side pawn majority and the Bishop pair that needed vigilance.

Meier vs Aronian ½-½

Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense: I am sure that on some level Aronian must have emerged from Berlin mentally or emotionally shattered. This game with Black against Georg Meyer may have been a sort of therapy. A stepping stone on the path to recovery.

Naiditsch vs Vachier-Lagrave ½-½

Torre, London and Colle Systems: With the strong 14.Nxd5! Naiditsch set up the possibility to beat MVL in a second consecutive Grenke Classic.

Bluebaum vs Vitiugov 0-1

Slav Defense: The commentary team got super excited after White played 24.Qa7. Everyone was wondering whether Vitiugov would find the not so obvious computer tactic of 24…Ne4+ that wins material in all lines. We had the agonizing wait of 21min 39sec of calculations before Nikita played the winning move.

Here are the games from the Grenke Classic Round 1:

Bluebaum,Matthias (2616) - Vitiugov,Nikita (2735)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe (1), 31.03.2018

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Bd2 D12: Slav Defence: 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 e3 Bf5 

7...Nbd7 8.Nxg6 hxg6 9.c5 [9.Qb3 Rb8 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.Bd3 a6 12.e4 dxe4 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.Bxe4 Rh4 15.f4 Bd6 ½–½ (32) Krasenkow,M (2651)-Sasikiran,K (2677) Germany 2017] 

9...e5 10.b4 Be7 11.b5 

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11...0–0N [11...exd4 12.exd4 Nf8 13.bxc6 bxc6 14.Qa4 Qd7 ½–½ (45) Baumgartner,U (2381)-Mauro,L (2325) ICCF email 2016] 

12.Qa4 [12.bxc6= keeps the balance. 12...bxc6 13.Be2] 

12...Re8 [12...exd4µ 13.exd4 Re8] 

13.bxc6 bxc6 14.Be2 exd4 15.exd4 Nxc5 16.dxc5 d4 

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17.0–0 [Don't play 17.Qxc6 dxc3 18.Bxc3 Rc8µ] 

17...dxc3 18.Bxc3 Bxc5 19.Bf3 Rc8 20.Bxc6 Re2 21.Bf3 

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21...Rxf2! 22.Rxf2 Bxf2+ 23.Kxf2 Rxc3 24.Qxa7 

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24...Ne4+! 25.Kg1? 

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[25.Bxe4 Qh4+ 26.Kg1 Qxe4 27.Rd1] 

25...Ra3–+ 0–1

Meier,Georg (2636) - Aronian,Levon (2767)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe (1), 31.03.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 0–0 9.Nc3 C67: Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defence: 4 0–0 Nxe4 

9...Ne8 10.Nd5 Bd6 11.Re2 c6 12.Ne3 Be7 13.Nf5 Bf6 14.Qe1 d5 15.Ne7+ Kh8 16.Nxc8 Rxc8 

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17.d3N Nd6 18.Qb4 a5 19.Qg4 b5 20.c3 d4 21.cxd4 b4 22.d5 cxd5 23.Bf4 g6 24.Be5 Bxe5 25.Rxe5 Qf6 26.Qd4 Rc2 27.Rb1 

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27...Rfc8 [27...Nb5!? 28.Qe3™ d4=] 

28.Rxd5 Qxd4 29.Rxd4 Nf5 30.Rc4 R8xc4 31.dxc4 Nd4 32.Rd1 Ne6 33.Rd5 a4 34.Ra5 Rxb2 35.Rxa4 Kg7 36.Ra5 Kf6 37.h4 Nd4 38.c5 Rc2 39.Ra6+ Ke5 40.Rb6 Rxa2 41.Rxb4 Ra1 42.g3= ½–½

Naiditsch,Arkadij (2701) - Vachier Lagrave,Maxime (2789)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe (1), 31.03.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.c3 h6 5.Bh4 d6 6.Nbd2 g5 7.Bg3 Nh5 8.e4 e6 9.Nc4 [A48: 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6: Torre, London and Colle Systems [9.Bd3 Qe7 10.Nc4 Nd7 11.Qe2 b6 12.Nfd2 Nxg3 13.hxg3 Bb7 14.Ne3 a6 15.f4 c5 16.d5 b5 17.a4 1–0 (34) Berkes,F (2653)-Kozul,Z (2604) Hungary 2018] 

9...f5 10.Nfd2 Nxg3 11.hxg3 0–0 

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[11...fxe4= keeps the balance. 12.Qh5+ (12.Nxe4 d5µ) 12...Ke7] 

12.Ne3N [12.exf5 exf5 13.Bd3 Nc6 14.Qc2 Be6 15.Ne3 Ne7 16.f4 Nd5 17.Nxd5 Bxd5 18.0–0–0 Bxg2 19.Rhg1 Bd5 20.Bxf5 Qf6 21.Be4 Bf7 22.Rdf1 ½–½ (22) Kodinets,K (2405)-Vaulin,A (2535) Moscow 1998] 

12...d5 13.exf5 exf5 14.Nxd5 Re8+! [But not 14...Qxd5? 15.Bc4+-] 

15.Ne3 f4 16.Bc4+ Be6! 17.Bxe6+ Rxe6 18.Qb3 Qe8 [18...Qd6!=] 

19.Ne4 Nd7 [19...Kf8!²] 

20.gxf4 gxf4 

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21.Ng4! Kh8 22.f3 Rxe4+ 23.fxe4 Qxe4+ 24.Kf2 f3 25.gxf3 Rf8 26.Nh2 Qh4+ 

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27.Kg2! Qg5+ 28.Kf1! Qh5 

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29.Qc2! [Much weaker is 29.Qxb7?! Rb8=] 

29...c5 30.Qg2 [30.Kg2±] 

30...cxd4 31.Ng4 Qb5+ 32.Kg1 [White should play 32.c4!² Qxc4+ 33.Kg1] 

32...dxc3 33.bxc3 Qc5+! 34.Qf2 Qxc3 35.Kg2 Ne5 36.Nxe5 Bxe5 37.Rxh6+ Kg7! 38.Rhh1 Rf6 39.Rag1 Bd4 40.Kf1+ Kf7 41.Rh7+ Kf8 42.Rh8+ Kf7 43.Rh7+= Kf8 44.Rh8+= ½–½

Anand,Viswanathan (2776) - Hou,Yifan (2657)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe (1), 31.03.2018

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 Bd6 A17: English Opening: 1...Nf6 with ...Bb4 [4...Be7 5.b3 0–0 6.Bb2 dxc4 7.bxc4 c5 8.Rg1 Nc6 9.g4 a6 10.g5 Ne8 11.h4 Nd6 12.h5 f5 13.Be2 Rb8 14.a4 1–0 (35) Grischuk,A (2767)-Kramnik,V (2800) Moscow 2018] 

5.b3 0–0 6.Bb2 c5 7.g4 d4 [7...h6³] 

8.exd4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 e5 10.Nf5 Bxf5 11.gxf5 

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11...Nc6N [11...e4 12.d4 0–1 (27) Loxine,J (2409)-Santos Ruiz,M (2508) Germany 2017] 

12.Bg2 Nb4 13.Qe2 [13.0–0=] 

13...Nc2+ 14.Kd1 Nxa1 15.Bxa1 Qd7 16.Ne4 Qxf5 17.Nxf6+ Qxf6 18.Bxb7 Rad8 19.Kc2 Rfe8 20.Bc3 Bc5 21.f3 Bd4 22.Re1 g6 23.Qe4 Kg7 24.Bd5 Qb6 25.b4 f5 26.Qd3 Bxc3 27.dxc3 Qd6 28.a4 a5 29.Kb3! Rb8 30.b5 Qc5 31.h4 Rbd8 

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32.h5! Kf6 33.hxg6 hxg6 34.Qe3 Qxe3 35.Rxe3 Rd6 36.Re1 Rc8 37.Rh1 Kg7 38.Kc2 g5 39.Rd1 Kf6 40.Kd3 Rb6 41.Rh1 Kg7 42.Rg1 Kf6 43.Ke3 Rd6 44.Rb1 Rb6 45.Ke2 Kg6 46.Kf2 Kf6 47.Rh1 Kg7 48.Re1= ½–½

Caruana,Fabiano (2804) - Carlsen,Magnus (2843)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe (1), 31.03.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.e3 0–0 5.Be2 d6 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.d5 E61: King's Indian: Early deviations for White, including Smyslov System [7.0–0 e5 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 a5 10.bxa5 Rxa5 11.Nd2 Nd7 12.Nb3 Ra8 13.a4 f5 14.Ba3 e4 15.Qc2 b6 1–0 (23) Kuzubov,Y (2638)-Onischuk,V (2614) Lvov 2016] 

7...Nb4 8.a3 Na6 9.Nd4 White has an edge. 

9...e5 

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10.dxe6N [10.Nc2 Nc5 11.b4 Nb3 12.Rb1 Nxc1 13.Rxc1 Nd7 14.0–0 f5 0–1 (46) Breutigam,M (2340)-Brendel,O (2375) Germany 1996] 

10...fxe6 11.0–0 e5 12.Nb3 c6 13.e4 Nc7 14.f4 Ne6 15.f5 Nd4 16.Be3 [16.Bd3 gxf5 17.exf5 Qb6 18.Nxd4 Qxd4+ 19.Kh1] 

16...Nxe2+ 17.Qxe2 gxf5 18.exf5 d5! 19.cxd5 cxd5 20.Rad1 d4 21.Bg5 Qb6! 22.Qc4+ Rf7 23.Na4 Qc7 24.Qxc7! Rxc7 25.Nac5 

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25...b6!ƒ White is under pressure. 

26.Bxf6 bxc5 27.Bxg7 Kxg7 28.Nd2 [28.f6+³ Kf7 29.Rc1] 

28...Bb7!–+ 29.f6+ Kf8! 30.Rde1 Re8 31.Ne4 Bxe4! 32.Rxe4 Endgame KRR-KRR 

32...c4 33.g4? [33.h4] 

33...Rb8 34.Rxe5 Rxb2 35.Rd5 c3! 36.Rd8+ Kf7 

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...c2 is the strong threat. 

37.Rh8 Rbb7 38.Rxh7+ Kg6 39.Rxc7 Rxc7 KR-KR 

40.Kf2 c2 41.Rc1 d3! aiming for ...Rd7. 

42.Ke3 Rd7! 43.Kd2 Kxf6 44.h4 Ke5 45.Rf1 Kd4! 46.h5 Re7!? 47.Rf4+™ Kd5 [47...Kc5=] 

48.Rf1? Kc4! 49.Rf4+ Kd5 50.Rf1 Kc4 ( -> ...Re2+) 

51.Rf4+ Kb3! 52.Rb4+ Kxa3 53.Rc4 Kb3 54.Rc8 

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54...a5? [54...Rh7!–+ 55.Rc5 [#] (55.Kxd3? Rd7+ 56.Ke3 a5–+) 55...a5! 56.Rxa5 Rc7] 

55.h6= The position is equal. 

55...Re2+ 56.Kxd3 Rh2 Hoping for ...Kb2. 

57.g5 Strongly threatening Rc3+. 

57...Rh3+ 58.Kd2 Rh2+ 59.Kd3  ½–½