WORLD CHESS CANDIDATES 2018 BERLIN – ROUND 14

This year in November an American chess player will contest a World Championship match for the first time since that famous event in Reykjavík during July and August 1972.

There was one aspect of Caruana’s play today that caught me completely by surprise. When Mamedyarov finished his game Caruana only needed a draw to secure his spot in the World Championship match and a guaranteed large payday. Yet he has a winning position on the board and Grischuk was down to 4 minutes on the clock. Many players, me included, would have offered the draw and take the tournament rather than risk it all by pressing on. What would you have done?

Aronian vs So was the first to finish. It was a Symmetrical English. This was the only game that had zero impact on the top spot in the tournament. The handshake came at only 17 moves.

The second game of the day was a Closed Ruy Lopez between Karjakin and Ding. Ding needed to win the game to have any chance of qualifying. So it was really surprising for him to take a draw in an almost winning position. By taking the draw karjakin needed both Mamedyarov and Caruana to both lose their games.

Then was Kramnik vs Mamedyarov, an Open Catalan. Nothing unusual seeing Kramnik bring out his trusty Open Catalan in a crunch game.  The draw guaranteed second place for Mamedyarov, unless Caurana somehow managed to lose against Grischuk.

The final game was a Petroff between Grischuk and Caruana. I’ll admit that I was very surprised to see Caruana choose the Petroff in a game where he had to win to have full control over his tournament outcome. Yet somehow it all worked out for him.

Hopefully we get to see some fighting games in November rather than the sawdust that Karjakin brought to the board two years ago. In a way it is a relief that none of the Russian players won. Having a team of Russian players and officials in London in November would have been rather awkward to say the least.

Here are the games from round 14:

Aronian,Levon (2794) - So,Wesley (2799)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (14), 27.03.2018

1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.e3 Nf6 5.d4 cxd4 6.exd4 d5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Qb3 Nxc3 9.Bc4 e6 10.bxc3 Bd7 11.Be2 A35: Symmetrical English: 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 Nf3 

11...Na5 12.Qc2 

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12...Bg7N The position is equal. 

13.Ba3 Bf8 14.Bb2 Bg7 15.Ba3 Bf8 16.Bb2 Bg7 17.Ba3 ½–½

Karjakin,Sergey (2763) - Ding,Liren (2769)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (14), 27.03.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a3 0–0 9.Nc3 Bg4 10.Be3 Nd4 C84: Closed Ruy Lopez: Unusual White 6th moves 

11.Bxd4 exd4 12.Nd5 c5 13.a4 Be6 14.Nxf6+ Bxf6 15.Bxe6 fxe6 16.Qe2 Qd7 17.b3 

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17...e5N [17...Qc7 18.Rfe1 1–0 (42) Motylev,A (2687)-Eljanov,P (2732) Poikovsky 2014] 

18.Ra2 b4 19.Nd2 Rae8 20.Raa1! Bd8 21.g3 g5 22.Nc4 Re6 23.a5 Ref6 24.f3 h5 25.Nb6 Qf7 26.Kg2 h4 27.Nd5 

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Strongly threatening f4. 

27...h3+ 28.Kg1 Rxf3 29.g4! Kg7 30.Rxf3 Qxf3 31.Qxf3 Rxf3 32.Rf1! Rxf1+ 33.Kxf1 Bxa5³ Endgame KB-KN 

34.Ne7 [Better is 34.Kf2!³ ] 

34...Kf6µ 35.Nf5 Ke6 36.Ng3 Bd8 37.Nh1 a5 38.Ke2 d5 White must now prevent ...dxe4. 

39.Nf2 Kd6 40.exd5 Kxd5 41.Ne4 

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41...Kc6 [Black should play 41...c4!µ Threatens to win with ...c3. 42.bxc4+ Kc6] 

42.Kd2= Be7 43.Kc1! Kb5 44.Kb2 [44.Kb1!=] 

44...a4 [Black should try 44...Kb6³ ] 

45.Ka2 [45.bxa4+= was the only way to keep the balance. 45...Kxa4 46.Ka2] 

45...a3  ½–½

Kramnik,Vladimir (2800) - Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar (2809)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (14), 27.03.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0–0 6.0–0 dxc4 7.Ne5 Qd6 8.Na3 E05: Open Catalan: 5 Nf3 Be7 

8...Rd8 9.Naxc4 Qa6 

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10.Qc2N [10.Qb3 Rxd4 11.Bf4 Nbd7 12.Rac1 c6 13.Rfd1 Rxd1+ 14.Rxd1 h6 15.e4 Nb6 ½–½ (67) So,W (2674)-Ljubojevic,L (2572) Amsterdam 2010] 

10...Rxd4 11.Bg5 Nbd7 12.Rfd1 Rxd1+ 13.Rxd1 Nxe5 14.Nxe5 Qa5 15.Bf4 Nd5 16.Be4 g6 17.Bh6 

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17...Qc5 [Avoid the trap 17...Qxa2? 18.Bxd5 Qa5 19.Nc4+-] 

18.Qd2 Qb4 19.Qc2 Qc5 20.Qd3 Qd6 21.Nc4 Qc5 22.Qf3 c6 

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23.Bd3 [But not 23.Ne5 f5µ; Much weaker is 23.Bxd5 exd5 24.Ne3 Qd6µ] 

23...Nf6 24.e4 e5 25.Be3 Qb4 26.Nxe5 Qxb2 27.Bf4! Be6 28.Rb1 Qxa2 29.Rxb7 Bc5 30.Kg2 Re8 [30...Bd4=] 

31.h3 [Better is 31.Bg5± Nh5 32.Nxc6] 

31...Bxf2 32.Qxf2 Bxh3+! 33.Kg1 Qxf2+ 34.Kxf2 Rxe5! 35.Bxe5 Ng4+ 36.Kg1 Nxe5 37.Be2 Kg7 38.Rxa7 Kf6 39.Ra5 Bd7 40.Kf2 Ke6 41.Ke3 Kd6 42.Ra1 h5 43.Rd1+ Ke7 44.Kd4 f6 45.Kc5 Bh3 46.Ra1 Bg2 47.Ra4 Ke6 48.Rd4 Nf3 49.Rd8 Ng5 

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50.Bc4+ [Don't play 50.Kxc6 Nxe4 51.Bc4+ Kf5µ] 

50...Ke7 51.Rg8 Nxe4+ 52.Kxc6 Nd6+ 53.Kc5 Nxc4 54.Kxc4= Kf7 ½–½

Grischuk,Alexander (2767) - Caruana,Fabiano (2784)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (14), 27.03.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.dxe5 d5 5.Nbd2 Nxd2 6.Bxd2 C43: Petroff Defence: 3 d4 

6...Be7 7.Bd3 [7.Be2 0–0 8.0–0 c5 9.Bf4 Nc6 10.Qd2 Be6 11.c3 Qd7 12.h3 Rad8 13.Rfd1 h6 14.Bd3 Bf5 15.Bg3 Bxd3 16.Qxd3 Qe6 17.a3 b6 ½–½ (31) Nepomniachtchi,I (2751)-Mamedyarov,S (2809) Moscow 2018] 

7...c5 8.c3 Nc6 9.0–0 Bg4 10.Re1 Qd7 11.h3 

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11...Bh5N [11...Bf5 12.Qc2 Bxd3 13.Qxd3 0–0 1–0 (47) Vallejo Pons,F (2696)-Perez Garcia,R (2426) Lugo 2009] 

12.Bf4 Qe6 13.a3 0–0 14.b4 h6 15.Bg3 b6 16.Nd4 Bxd1 17.Nxe6 fxe6 18.Raxd1 c4 19.Bc2 b5 20.a4 a6 21.f3 Bg5 [21...Nxb4!? 22.cxb4 Bxb4=] 

22.Bf2 Bf4 23.Bc5 Rfd8 24.Bd6 Bg3 25.Re2 g5 26.Kf1 Kf7 27.Bc7 Re8 28.Bd6 Rac8 29.Ra1 Red8 30.Bb1 Rd7 31.Ra3 

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[31.axb5= keeps the balance. 31...axb5 32.Ra6] 

31...d4! 32.axb5 axb5 33.cxd4 Nxd4 34.Rea2 Nc6 35.Be4 Bxe5 36.Bxc6 Rxd6 37.Bxb5 Rd1+ 38.Ke2 Rg1! 39.Ke3 Rb1 [Better is 39...c3µ 40.Bd3 Rd8] 

40.Ra7+ 

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[40.Ra8³ Rxa8 41.Rxa8] 

40...Kf6! 41.Bd7 Bf4+ 42.Ke2 Rd8 43.Rc2? [43.R2a6 only move.] 

43...Rxb4 [¹43...Rg1 44.Kf2 Rd1] 

44.Bc6 

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44...c3! 45.Rd7 Rc8 46.Be4 h5 47.Kd3 Rb2 48.Ke2 h4 49.Rd1 Ke5 50.Ra1 Rd8 51.Rd1 Rdb8 52.Ra1 Bd2 53.Ra6 [53.Ra4 was called for.] 

53...Rd8 54.Rc6 [¹54.Ra3] 

54...Rb1 55.Kf2 Ra1 56.Rc4 Rd4 57.Rc8 Rb4 

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58.Ke2? [58.Bd3] 

58...Kf4 [¹58...Re1+ 59.Kf2 Rbb1 60.Rc5+ Kd4 61.R2xc3 Bxc3 62.Bxb1 Kxc5] 

59.Kf2 Rbb1 60.Rf8+ Ke5 61.Bd3 Rb2 62.Ke2 Re1+ 63.Kf2 Rc1 64.Rxb2 cxb2 65.Rb8 Bc3 66.Be4 Bd4+ 67.Ke2 Kf4 68.Rb4 e5 69.Rb7–+ Kg3–+ 0–1