GRENKE CHESS CLASSIC 2018 ROUND 2

The Carlsen vs Hou game gives us the chance to address a number of key factors relating to the state of women’s chess within that ethical organization called FIDE.

Hou is the strongest active female player in the world, indeed the only woman rated above 2600 in the April 2018 FIDE rating list of active players. However, she is no longer the World Champion because she refused to degrade herself to the “special” rules for the knock out world championship tournament in Iran. She has the option to challenge Tan Zhongyi to a match for the title as long as Hou puts up the prize fund and FIDE match fee – an amount equal to the total player prize fund. Should she win, her reclaimed title will only be valid till the next FIDE knock out world championship.

Zhongyi won her title in Tehran in February / March 2017. However, neither she nor her 63 competitors received their prize money. I remember reading somewhere that the reason for non-payment was that payments could only be made to players’ husbands – but this last point is unconfirmed.

Carlsen vs Hou 1-0

Bishop’s Opening: The World Champion got into the type of position that allows him to simply grind out the win in a relentless fashion.

Aronian vs Naiditsch 1-0

Kings Indian: The Armenian GM pressed relentlessly to seal his first win in 12 games.

Vachier-Lagrave vs Anand 1-0

Sicilian Timanov: Black’s position got very cramped and unpleasant. Would Anand find a way to untangle. The final answer was no… During the press conference MVL stated that 11…Rc8 had come as a complete surprise until he remembered that it was one the main lines of his preparation.

Caruana vs Bluebaum ½-½

French Classical System. Neither player was able to leverage anything at all out of the position.

Vitiugov vs Meier 1-0

French Advance Variation. Nikita won in the time scramble just before the move 40 time control. Maybe choosing the French against the guy who wrote the book on the French Defence was not the best choice for today.

Here are the games from the Grenke Classic Round 2:

Vitiugov,Nikita (2735) - Meier,Georg (2648)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe (2), 01.04.2018

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 Nh6 7.b4 C02: French: Advance Variation 

7...cxd4 8.b5 [8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Be3 Bd7 10.Bd3 Rc8 11.0–0 Nxe3 12.fxe3 Be7 13.Qe1 f6 14.exf6 Bxf6 15.Kh1 a5 16.b5 Ne7 17.Nc3 0–0 18.Na4 Qd6 19.Qxa5 1–0 (33) McShane,L (2644)-Howell,D (2702) Llandudno 2017] 

8...Na5 

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9.Bxh6N [9.Nxd4 Bc5 10.Be3 Nf5 11.Nxf5 exf5 12.Bd4 f4 13.Be2 Bf5 14.0–0 0–0 0–1 (29) Gregory,S (2173)-Buckley,S (2237) Torquay 2002] 

9...gxh6 10.cxd4 Bd7 11.Nbd2 Rc8 12.a4 Qc7 13.Bd3 Qc3! 14.Ke2 Be7 15.Rc1 Qxc1 16.Qxc1 Rxc1 17.Rxc1 Bd8 18.Nf1 Bb6 19.Rc3 Ke7 20.Ng3 a6 21.Ke3 axb5 22.axb5 Nc4+ 23.Bxc4 Rc8 24.Nd2 Ba5 25.Rc2 dxc4 26.Nge4 c3 27.Nb1 Rg8 [Don't go for 27...Bxb5? 28.Nd6+-; Better is 27...Rc4² ] 

28.Nbxc3 Rxg2 

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29.Nd6 [White should try 29.d5!+- ] 

29...Rxh2 [29...Bxc3± 30.Rxc3 b6] 

30.Nxb7 Bb6 31.Nc5 h5 32.Nxd7 Kxd7 33.Ne4 h4 34.Rc6 Bd8 35.Nc5+ Ke8+- [¹35...Ke7 36.b6 Bxb6 37.Rxb6 Rh3+ 38.Kf4 Kf8] 

36.b6 Rh1 37.b7 h3 38.b8Q h2 39.Rc8 1–0

Aronian,Levon (2794) - Naiditsch,Arkadij (2701)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe (2), 01.04.2018

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.e4 d6 4.d4 Bg7 5.Nge2 0–0 6.Ng3 e5 7.d5 a5 8.Be2 Na6 9.h4 h5 10.Bg5 Qe8 11.Qd2 Kh7 12.f3 E70: King's Indian: Miscellaneous lines with 4 e4, including 5 Nge2 and 5 Bd3 0–0 6 Nge2 

12...Ng8 

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13.Nb5N [13.0–0–0 a4 14.Rdg1 f6 15.Be3 f5 16.exf5 gxf5 17.Nxh5 Qxh5 18.g4 Qe8 19.h5 a3 1–0 (31) Kantor,G (2506)-Nitin,S (2415) Budapest 2017] 

13...b6 14.a3 Bd7 15.b4 f6 16.Be3 f5 17.exf5 gxf5 18.Bg5! [Don't play 18.bxa5 f4µ] 

18...e4 [18...f4² 19.Ne4 Nf6] 

19.Rb1 exf3 20.gxf3 axb4 21.axb4 Bxb5 22.cxb5 Nb8 23.0–0 Nd7 24.Rbc1 Ra7 25.Bd3 Qe5 [¹25...Qg6 26.f4 Ne7] 

26.Nxh5 Qxd5 27.Nf4 Qb3 28.Bc4 Qb2 29.Rc2 Qd4+ 30.Qxd4 Bxd4+ 31.Kg2 Be5 32.Ne6 Rc8 33.Nd8 d5 34.Nc6 Ra3+- [¹34...dxc4 35.Nxa7 Ra8] 

35.Bxd5 1–0

Vachier Lagrave,Maxime (2789) - Anand,Viswanathan (2776)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe (2), 01.04.2018

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Qf3 B48: Sicilian: Taimanov: 5 Nc3 Qc7 6 Be3 a6 without Be2 [7.Qd2 Nf6 8.f4 Bb4 9.Bd3 Na5 10.a3 Bxc3 11.Qxc3 Qxc3+ 12.bxc3 d5 13.exd5 exd5 14.Nb3 Nc4 15.Bd4 Ne4 1–0 (57) Carlsen,M (2834)-Matlakov,M (2718) Wijk aan Zee 2018] 

7...Nf6 8.0–0–0 Ne5 9.Qg3 b5 10.a3 Bb7 11.Bxb5 

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11...Rc8N [11...Bxa3 12.Bf4 Bd6 13.Nxe6 fxe6 14.Rxd6 Qxd6 15.Bxe5 1–0 (37) Frolyanov,D (2534)-Khanin,S (2434) Kazan 2017] 

12.Ba4 Nxe4 13.Nxe4 Bxe4 14.Bf4 Qc4 15.Bxe5 Qxa4 16.Rd2 f6 17.Bd6 Kf7! 18.Re1 Bg6! 19.Bxf8 Rhxf8 20.Qd6 Kg8 21.f4 Rfe8 22.Re3 Qc4 

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23.b3! Qc7 24.Qxc7 Rxc7 25.Kb2 Rb8 26.g4 Bf7 27.a4 Rc5 28.Ne2 Rc7 29.Rd6 Ra7 30.Red3 Be8 31.f5 exf5 32.gxf5 Rc8 33.Nc3 Rc5 34.R3d5 Rc6 35.Ne4 Kf7 36.Rd3 Rac7 37.c4 g6 [¹37...Ke7 38.R6d4 Kf8] 

38.fxg6++- 1–0

Caruana,Fabiano (2784) - Bluebaum,Matthias (2631)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe (2), 01.04.2018

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Be7 C11: French: Classical System: 4 e5 and 4 Bg5 dxe4 [6...Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Qd2 0–0 10.0–0–0 a6 11.Qf2 Qe7 12.Bd3 f6 13.exf6 Nxf6 14.h3 Bb4 15.Qh4 Bxc3 16.bxc3 Qa3+ 17.Kd2 Bd7 18.Nxc6 Bxc6 1–0 (50) Anand,V (2782)-Bacrot,E (2725) Riadh 2017] 

7.Be3 0–0 8.Qd2 a6 9.Bd3 b5 

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10.Qf2N [10.0–0 Nc6 11.Be2 Bb7 12.a3 Qb6 13.Rad1 cxd4 14.Nxd4 Bc5 1–0 (31) Quattrocchi,G-Rebaudo,N ICCF email 1997] 

10...Nc6 11.dxc5 Qa5 12.0–0 b4 13.Ne2 Nxc5 14.Nfd4 Nxd4 15.Nxd4 Qc7 16.Nb3 Nxb3 17.axb3 a5 18.Bb6 Qc6 19.Bd4 Bd8 20.g4 Ba6 21.f5 Bxd3 22.cxd3 f6 23.Rac1 Qd7 24.fxe6 Qxe6 25.Qf5 Qxf5 26.Rxf5 fxe5 27.Rxf8+ Kxf8 28.Bxe5 Kf7 29.Kf2 Ra6 30.Kf3 Bf6 31.Rc7+ Kg6 32.d4 Re6 33.Kf4 Bg5+! 34.Kf3 Bf6 35.Kf4= Bg5+ 36.Kf3 ½–½

Carlsen,Magnus (2843) - Hou,Yifan (2654)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe (2), 01.04.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 c6 4.Qe2 Be7 5.Nf3 C24: Bishop's Opening: 2...Nf6 

5...d6 6.c3 Nbd7 7.Bb3 0–0 8.0–0 a5 

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9.d4N [9.a4 b5 10.Bc2 Ba6 11.axb5 cxb5 12.Nbd2 Qc7 13.d4 a4 1–0 (32) Polgar,J (2680)-Gelfand,B (2758) Khanty-Mansiysk 2009] 

9...a4 10.Bc2 Re8 11.Re1 Bf8 12.Qd1 b5 13.Nbd2 Qc7 14.Nf1 g6 15.Bg5 h6 16.Bd2 Bg7 17.Ng3 Nb6 18.b3 axb3 19.axb3 Rxa1 20.Qxa1 Bg4 21.Qc1 Bxf3 22.gxf3 h5 23.Bh6 Qe7 24.Bxg7 Kxg7 25.Qg5 Kh7 26.f4 Nfd7 27.Qxe7 Rxe7 28.fxe5 dxe5 29.Rd1 Re8 30.dxe5 Nxe5 31.f4 Ng4 32.Rd6 Re6 33.Rd8 Kg7 34.Nf1 Rf6 [34...c5= remains equal.] 

35.h3 Nh6 

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36.f5! gxf5 37.Ng3! Rg6 38.Kf2 [White must play 38.Kh2!± Kh7 39.exf5] 

38...fxe4 [38...Rg5= keeps the balance.] 

39.Nxh5+ [Don't take 39.Bxe4?! f5±] 

39...Kh7 40.Bxe4 f5 41.Bg2 Nf7 42.Rf8 Ne5 

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43.Nf4! Rd6 44.Rxf5 Nbd7 45.Ke2 Kg7 46.h4 Nf7 47.Be4 Nde5 48.Nh5+ Kh6 49.Ng3 Re6 50.Ke3 Kg7 51.Rf1 Kf8 52.Nf5 Ng4+ 53.Kf4 Nf6 54.Bf3 Nd5+ 55.Bxd5! cxd5 56.Ra1 Kg8 57.Ra8+ Kh7 58.Ra7 Rf6 59.h5 Kg8 60.Rd7+- b4 61.cxb4+- 1–0