WORLD CHESS CANDIDATES 2018 BERLIN – ROUND 7

It is well known that Alexander Grischuk has a strange relationship with his clock, getting into severe time trouble in virtually every game. Today it verged on the comical. Each game starts with a ceremonial first move by some VIP. After the ceremonial move, White’s clock is started and the player has the choice of replacing the opening move with one of his own or accepting the ceremonial move and pressing his clock to complete the move. Grischuk chose to accept the ceremonial move and waited patiently for Mamedyarov’s reply for almost 10 minutes before realizing he had never pressed his clock! Luckily it did not affect the outcome with a threefold repetition on move 16.

Round 7 started with a classic quote from Peter Svidler almost before a move had been played: “Kramnik shouldn’t be too affected by his latest misadventures, since it’s been happening to him a lot recently!”

There was a lot of excitement everywhere when Ding unleashed the counter of 19… d5! All of a sudden Kramnik had some serious problems to negotiate. Svidler simply evaluated the position as “Game 16”. This is a reference to game 16 of the 1985 World Championship match between Karpov and Kasparov. In that game Garry also sacrificed a pawn on d5, then got a knight to d3. That set him up to win by a brilliant, classic Kasparov attack.

Grischuk vs Mamedyarov was the first to finish. It was a Ragozin Defense in the Queens Gambit Declined and was drawn after a mere 16 moves. It is almost as if these players claimed themselves an extra rest day to recover from the official rest day.

The second game of the day was another Ragozin Defense. This time between Aronian and Caruana. For a long time it looked as if the result could swing either way. In the end time played a role in the outcome. When Aronian made his error of 32.Bc4 he had a mere 41 seconds to make the 8 moves to the time control while Caurana still had a relative buffer of 1minute 45 seconds. The result moves Caruana into the sole lead of the tournament at the half way stage.

Then was Karjakin vs So, a Nimzo-Indian Rubenstein. This seemed to be a game quietly sliding to a draw, allowing the audience to focus their attention on the two other in progress games. That all changed when Wesley managed a losing blunder in a completely innocuous position.

The final game was an English Opening vs Kings Indian between Kramnik and Ding. Kramnik seemed to get himself into a very tenuous position that required sacrificing his Queen for a Rook and knight as well as some degree of counter play – as White! The acerbic Nigel Short noted that being a queen up, “I am sure that Ding can draw this somehow.” Towards the end of the marathon game in a sterile, parched position, commentator Peter Svidler had this to say about Kramnik’s play: “I honestly no longer believe this can be described as trying to win. He is making moves because pieces still have squares they can be placed on.”

  

Here are the games from round 7:

Grischuk,Alexander (2767) - Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar (2809)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (7), 18.03.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 g5 7.Bg3 Ne4 D38: Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defence (4 Nf3 Bb4) 

8.Qc2 h5 9.h3 Nc6 10.e3 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Nxg3 12.fxg3 Qd6 

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13.Qf2N [13.Kf2 h4 14.g4 1–0 (49) Azmaiparashvili,Z (2650)-Nikolaidis, I (2565) Pula 1997] 

13...Qa3 The position is equal. 

14.Qc2 Qd6 15.Qf2 Qa3 16.Qc2 ½–½

Aronian,Levon (2794) - Caruana,Fabiano (2784)

World Chess Candidates 2018 (7.4), 18.03.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.Bxc4 c5 9.0–0 D39: Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defence with 5 Bg5 dxc4 

9...cxd4 10.e5 Qd8 11.Ne4 0–0 12.Qe2 Be7 [12...Bd7 13.Rfd1 Nc6 14.Ng3 Bc5 15.a3 Ne7 16.Ne4 Bb6 17.Nxd4 Ng6 1/2–1/2 (52) Ding,L (2771)-Aronian,L (2802) Tbilisi 2017] 

13.Rad1Qc7 

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14.Bd3N [14.Ng3 Rd8 15.Nh5 g6 16.Nf4 Nc6 1/2–1/2 (31) Moiseenko,A (2671)-Meier,G (2644) Jerusalem 2017] 

14...Nd7 15.Rc1 Qa5 16.g4 [16.Ng3=] 

16...Nxe5³ 17.Nxe5 Qxe5 18.f4 Qa5 White must now prevent ...Bd7. 

19.g5! 

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19...Qd8 [Avoid the trap 19...Qxa2? 20.gxh6 g6 21.Rc7+-] 

20.h4 Bd7 Strongly threatening ...g6. 

21.gxh6 g6 22.h5! Kh8 

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aiming for ...Rg8. 

23.Kh2 Bc6 Hoping for ...g5. 

24.Rf3 [24.Rf2!= and White has nothing to worry.] 

24...Bd6 [24...Qd5–+ 25.Rh3 e5] 

25.Qf2µ Bc7 Threatens to win with ...g5. 

26.Kh3! Qe7 

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[26...gxh5µ ...f5 is the strong threat. 27.Rg3 f5] 

27.Ng5? [Better is 27.Rg1!³ ] 

27...e5? [27...gxh5–+ and Black stays clearly on top. And now ...e5 would win. 28.Rg3 e5] 

28.Rxc6 bxc6 

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29.Nxf7+! Rxf7 [29...Qxf7 30.hxg6] 

30.hxg6 Rf6 31.g7+ Kg8 

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32.Bc4+? [32.Qh4µ nothing else works.] 

32...Kh7–+ 33.Qh4 intending Rg3. 

33...e4 34.Rg3 White threatens Qg4 and mate. 

34...Bxf4 35.g8Q+ Rxg8 36.Bxg8+ Kh8 37.Rg7 [¹37.Rg6 Qd7+ 38.Qg4 Qxg4+ 39.Rxg4] 

37...Qf8 38.Rh7+ Kxg8 0–1

Karjakin,Sergey (2763) - So,Wesley (2799)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (7), 18.03.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0–0 5.Nf3 d5 6.Bd2 c5 7.a3 cxd4 E51: Nimzo-Indian: Rubinstein: 4...0–0 5 Nf3 d5 [7...Bxc3 8.Bxc3 Ne4 9.Rc1 Nxc3 10.Rxc3 cxd4 11.Nxd4 dxc4 12.Bxc4 Bd7 13.0–0 Nc6 14.Nb3 Qe7 15.Be2 Rfc8 16.Qd2 Nd8 17.Nc5 Be8 18.Rfc1 Rc7 19.Ne4 Rxc3 20.Qxc3 1/2–1/2 (49) Riazantsev,A (2671)-Inarkiev,E (2709) Doha 2016] 

8.axb4 dxc3 9.Bxc3 dxc4 White is slightly better. 

10.Bxc4 Qxd1+ 

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11.Kxd1N [11.Rxd1 Bd7 12.Ne5 Rc8 13.Be2 Ba4 14.Ra1 Be8 15.Nc4 1–0 (57) Sandipan,C (2569)-Visakh,N (2389) Kolkata 2015] 

11...Bd7 12.Ke2 [12.Bxf6± And now Bc3 would win. 12...gxf6 13.b5] 

12...Rc8= 13.Bd3 Nd5 14.Ne5 Be8 15.Bd2 

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15...f6 [15...Na6!?] 

16.Nc4 Rd8 17.Rhc1 Nc6 18.Be4 Ndxb4 19.Bxb4 Nxb4 20.Bxb7 Rab8 21.Rxa7 Rd7 22.Na5 Nd3 23.Rd1 Nxb2 24.Rxd7 Bxd7 25.Bc6 Bxc6 26.Nxc6 Endgame KRN-KRN 

26...Re8 27.e4 Nc4 28.Kd3 Nd6 29.f4 Kf8 30.e5 fxe5 31.fxe5 Nf5 32.g4 Nh4 33.Kc4 Nf3! 34.Ra2 Rc8 35.Kb5 Ke8? 

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[35...Rc7!=] 

36.Kb6!+- g5? [36...h6 keeps fighting. 37.Kb7 Kd7 38.Nb8+ Kd8] 

37.h3 Nxe5 38.Nxe5 Rc3 39.Rh2 [¹39.Ra7] 

39...Ke7 40.Kb5 Re3  1–0

Kramnik,Vladimir (2800) - Ding,Liren (2769)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (7), 18.03.2018

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.d3 g6 5.g3 Bg7 6.Bg2 0–0 7.0–0 d6 8.b3 Nd4 9.Nd2 c6 10.e3 Ne6 11.Bb2 Nc5 12.Qc2 a5 13.Rae1 Re8 14.h3 Bf5 15.e4 Bd7 16.Ne2 

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16...b5?! [16...a4! 17.b4 a3 18.Ba1 Na4÷] 

17.d4 [17.f4!² exf4 18.gxf4] 

17...exd4 18.Nxd4?! [18.Bxd4²] 

18...Rc8 19.N4f3?! 

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19...d5 20.exd5? Rxe1 21.Rxe1?! cxd5 [21...Bf5! 22.Qd1 Nd3³ 23.Bxf6 Bxf6 24.Re3 cxd5 25.g4 Nb2] 

22.cxb5?! [22.Ne5=] 

22...Bf5 23.Qd1 Nd3 24.Bd4 Rc1 25.Qxc1 Nxc1 26.Rxc1 Ne4 27.Nf1 [27.Rd1³] 

27...Bxd4?! [27...Bd7!µ] 

28.Nxd4 Qb6 29.Bxe4 

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29...dxe4 [29...Bxe4µ 30.Rd1 a4µ 31.bxa4] 

30.Nxf5 gxf5 31.a4= Qe6 32.Ne3 [32.Rc3 h5 33.h4] 

32...Qxb3 33.Rc4 h5 34.h4 Kh7 35.Kg2 f6 36.Rd4 Kg6 37.Rc4 Kf7 38.Kh2 Kg6 39.Kg1 Qb1+ 40.Kg2 Qb3 

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41.Rd4 Kf7 42.Rd5 Qxa4 43.Rxf5 Kg6 44.b6 Qb3 45.Rxa5 Qxb6 46.Rd5 Qb2 47.Rf5 Qa2 48.Rc5 Qe2 49.Rc4 Qa2 50.Rb4 Qa5 51.Rb8 Qa2 52.Rd8 Qa5 53.Rd5 Qa2 54.Rf5 Qe6 55.Rd5 Qa6 56.g4 hxg4 57.h5+ Kf7 58.Rd7+ Ke6 59.Rg7 Qe2 60.h6 Qf3+ 61.Kg1 g3 62.Rxg3 Qh5 63.Rg7 

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63...f5 [63...Qxh6 64.Re7+ Kxe7 65.Nf5+ Ke6 66.Nxh6 f5 67.Kf1 f4 68.Ke1 Kf6 69.Kd1 Kg6 70.Ng4 Kf5 71.Nh2 Ke6=] 

64.h7 f4 65.Ng4?! 

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65...Qh3 [65...Kf5! 66.Nh2 Kf6 67.Rg4 Ke5 68.Rg7 Qh3 69.Rf7 f3 70.Nxf3+ exf3 71.Rxf3 Qxh7= 72.Rf4 Ke6 73.f3] 
66.Rg6+ Kf5 67.Rg7 Ke6 68.Rg6+ Kf5 69.Nh6+ Kxg6 70.h8Q Qxh6 71.Qe8+ Kf5 72.Qb5+ Kg4 73.Qe2+ Kf5 74.Qb5+ ½–½