GRENKE CHESS CLASSIC 2018 ROUND 3 AND 2798 GRENKE OPEN PERFORMANCE

Round 2 was a day for the White pieces. Round 3, however was a day for the Black pieces.

Top sidebar story of the day must be the superb performance of young Vincent Keymer. The 13 year old German IM beat no less than Richard Rapport to take clear first place in the Grenke Open with an undefeated 8/9. His coach, Grenke Classic commentator could hardly contain his excitement as his young pupil collected his second GM norm with a 2798 tournament performance.

The win means that Vincent will be a player at the Grenke classic super tournament in 2019, emulating Sergey Karjakin who played the Dortmund super tournament at age 14.

Bluebaum vs Carlsen ½-½

Kings Indian Classical. Out of the opening it seemed rather strange to see a position normally favoured by Carlsen as White. But as Carlsen cranked up the heat, Bluebaum’s poker face deserted him. However he held things together for the draw.

Meier vs Caruana 0-1

Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation. In the final scramble to the time control, Caruana sacrificed a Rook to deliver mate with his queen.

Hou vs Vachier-Lagrave 0-1

Symmetrical English. MLV’s win takes him up to equal first with Vitiugov heading into the rest day as we transfer to Baden Baden.

Anand vs Aronian ½-½

Ruy Lopez Berlin Defence. The Berlin seemed a logical for Aronian who is still healing from the battering he received at the Candidates.

Naiditsch vs Vitiugov vs ½-½

Ruy Lopez. Nikita held it together to remain unbeaten in the tournament, but the draw allowed MLV to close the gap.

Here are the games from the Grenke Classic Round 3:

Meier,Georg (2648) - Caruana,Fabiano (2784)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe (3), 02.04.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0–0 Qf6 6.d4 C68: Ruy Lopez: Exchange Variation, sidelines 

6...exd4 7.Bg5 Qd6 8.Nxd4 Be7 9.Be3 Nh6 10.Qd2 

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10...g5N [10...Qg6 11.f3 Bd7 12.Nc3 0–0–0 13.Qf2 f6 1–0 (36) Naiditsch,A (2724)-Maiorov,N (2548) Bastia 2013] 

11.Nf3 Rg8 12.h4 [12.Qxd6= cxd6 13.Nbd2] 

12...Qg6 13.hxg5 Ng4 14.Nc3 h6 15.Bf4 Be6 [15...hxg5µ 16.Bxc7 Rh8] 

16.Bxc7 Rc8 17.Bb6 hxg5 18.Ne2 c5 19.Ng3 Rh8 20.Rfd1 Qh6 21.b4? [21.Ba5=] 

21...cxb4 22.Bd4 

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22...f6! 23.c3 bxc3 24.Bxc3 

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24...Kf7? [24...Nh2!–+ 25.Nxg5 fxg5 26.Bxh8 Ng4] 

25.Rac1! Rc4 26.Bd4 b5 [26...Bd6!? 27.e5™ Bxe5 28.Bxe5 Nxe5 29.Nxe5+ fxe5=] 

27.Qa5 [27.Rxc4= Bxc4 28.Rc1] 

27...Nh2 28.Qxa6? [28.Ne1=] 

28...Nxf3+ 29.gxf3 g4 30.f4 

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30...Qxf4? [30...Qh2+!–+ has better winning chances. 31.Kf1 Rhc8] 

31.Rxc4 bxc4 32.Be3? [32.Qa5!³] 

32...Qf3 33.Rd6? [33.Rb1 Rh3 34.Qa7 Rxg3+ 35.fxg3 Qxg3+ 36.Kh1] 

33...Rh3 34.Rxe6 Rxg3+! 35.fxg3 Qxe3+ 36.Kh2 Qf2+ 37.Kh1 Qf1+ 0–1

Hou,Yifan (2654) - Vachier Lagrave,Maxime (2789)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe (3), 02.04.2018

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.b3 Bg7 5.Bb2 b6 6.Bg2 Bb7 7.0–0 0–0 8.d4 cxd4 9.Qxd4 Nc6 10.Qc3 

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A30: Symmetrical English: Double Fianchetto and Hedgehog 

10...Qc7N [10...Rc8 11.Rd1 Qc7 12.Qe1 Qb8 13.Nc3 Rfd8 14.Rac1 e6 15.Ng5 h6 16.Nge4 Nxe4 17.Bxe4 Ne7 1–0 (88) Aronian,L (2780)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2783) Leuven 2017] 

11.Rd1 Rad8 12.Na3 a6 13.Rac1 Rfe8 14.Qe1 Qb8 15.Nc2 b5 16.c5 d5 17.cxd6 Rxd6 18.Rxd6 Qxd6 19.Nfd4 Nd5 20.Ba3 Qd7 21.Nxc6! Bxc6 22.e4 Nc7 23.Nb4 Bb7 24.Rd1 Qc8 25.Qe3 a5 26.Nd3 b4 27.Bb2 Bxb2 28.Nxb2 Nb5 29.Nc4 Nc3 30.Rd2 Rd8 31.Nxa5 [31.Bh3= e6 32.Nd6] 

31...Rxd2 32.Qxd2 Ba6! 33.Bf1? [33.Bf3µ] 

33...Bxf1 34.Kxf1 

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34...Qa8 [Stronger than 34...Nxe4 35.Qxb4 Qc2 36.Qb8+ Kg7 37.Qe5+ f6 38.Qxe7+ Kh6 39.Qa7=] 

35.Nc4 Qxe4 36.Kg1 Ne2+ 37.Kf1 Nd4 38.f3 Qxf3+ 39.Qf2 Qh1+ 40.Qg1 Qe4 41.Qf2 f6 42.Ne3 Kf7 [Resist 42...Qh1+ 43.Qg1–+] 

43.h4 Qh1+ [¹43...Nf5 44.Nxf5 Qxf5 45.Qxf5 gxf5] 

44.Qg1 Qxg1+ [44...Qe4] 

45.Kxg1 Ne2+ 46.Kf2–+ Nc3 0–1

Anand,Viswanathan (2776) - Aronian,Levon (2794)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe (3), 02.04.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 0–0 6.0–0 C65: Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defence (3...Nf6), unusual lines and 4 0–0 Bc5 

6...Re8 [6...d5 7.Nbd2 dxe4 8.dxe4 a5 9.Bxc6 bxc6 10.Nxe5 Re8 11.Nxc6 Qd7 12.Nd4 Bxd4 13.cxd4 Qxd4 14.Nf3 Qxe4 15.Re1 Qc6 16.Rxe8+ Nxe8 17.Be3 Bb7 18.Rc1 Qb5 19.Rc2 Ra6 20.Rd2 ½–½ (20) Karjakin,S (2763)-Anand,V (2776) Moscow 2018] 

7.Bg5 [7.Re1 a6 8.Ba4 b5 9.Bb3 d6 10.Nbd2 Bb6 11.Nf1 Ne7 12.Ng3 Ng6 13.h3 h6 ½–½ (41) Anand,V (2783)-Aronian,L (2809) Paris/St Petersburg 2013] 

7...Be7 

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8.Re1N [8.Nbd2 h6 9.Bh4 d6 10.a4 a6 11.Bc4 Be6 12.Bxe6 fxe6 13.b4 Qd7 1–0 (53) Ter Sahakyan,S (2581)-Petrosyan,M (2546) Skopje 2017] 

8...d6 9.d4 Bd7 10.d5 Nb8 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.a4 Be7 13.Na3 Rf8 14.Bxd7 Nxd7 15.Nc4 Kh8 16.b4 g6 17.a5 a6 18.Ncd2 f5 19.h3 Bg5 20.c4 Bh6 21.Nb1 fxe4 22.Rxe4 Nf6 23.Re1 Qd7 24.Nc3 Rf7 25.Ne4 Nxe4 26.Rxe4 Raf8 27.Ra3 Rf4 28.Rae3 R4f6 29.Rc3 Rf4= 30.Rce3 R4f6 31.Rc3 Rf4 ½–½

Naiditsch,Arkadij (2701) - Vitiugov,Nikita (2735)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe (3), 02.04.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 Bc5 6.c3 d6 [C77: Ruy Lopez: 3...a6 4 Ba4 Nf6, unusual lines [6...b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.Nbd2 0–0 9.Nf1 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Ng3 f6 12.0–0 Be6 13.Ne4 Be7 14.d4 exd4 15.Nxd4 Nxd4 16.Qxd4 ½–½ (30) Caruana,F (2799)-So,W (2788) London 2017] 

7.Bg5 Ba7 8.Nbd2 

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8...h6N [8...0–0 9.0–0 Bg4 10.h3 Bh5 11.Re1 Qe7 12.Nf1 Nd8 13.Ne3 Bxe3 14.fxe3 0–1 (49) Brcar,A (1940)-Tomazini,Z (2170) Slovenia 2010] 

9.Bh4 Bd7 10.Nf1 g5 11.Bg3 Ne7 12.Ne3 Ng6 13.Nf5 Ne7 14.Ne3 Ng6 15.Bb3 Qe7 16.Qc2 0–0–0 17.0–0–0 Nf4 18.Rhe1 N4h5 19.Nd2 Nxg3 20.hxg3 Ng4 21.Ndf1 Nxe3 22.Nxe3 Bxe3+ 23.Rxe3 h5 24.d4 h4 25.Ba4 Bxa4 26.Qxa4 hxg3 27.Rxg3 Rh4 28.Re3 Rdh8 29.dxe5 Qxe5 30.Qd4 Qxd4 31.cxd4 Rf4 32.Rd2 Rh1+ 33.Kc2 Rf1 34.Ree2 Kd7 35.Kd3 c6 36.Ke3 d5 37.exd5 cxd5 38.f3 Rf6 39.Kd3 Re6 40.Rc2 Rd1+ 41.Red2 Ree1 42.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 43.Rd2= Re1= ½–½

Bluebaum,Matthias (2631) - Carlsen,Magnus (2843)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Karlsruhe (3), 02.04.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0–0 6.Be2 e5 7.Be3 exd4 8.Nxd4 Re8 9.f3 c6 10.Bf2 d5 11.exd5 cxd5 12.0–0 Nc6 13.c5 a6 [E92: King's Indian: Classical: 6 Be2 e5: 7 dxe5, 7 Be3 and Petrosian System without 7...Nbd7 [13...Bf8 14.Kh1 Bd7 15.Qd2 Rc8 16.Nb3 d4 17.Nxd4 Bxc5 18.Nxc6 Rxc6 19.Bxc5 Rxc5 20.Rad1 Qe7 21.Qd4 ½–½ (38) Inarkiev,E (2732)-Radjabov,T (2722) Monzon 2016] 

14.Qd2 Qa5 

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15.Rfe1N [15.Nb3 Qb4 16.Rfd1 Bf5 17.Bf1 Rac8 18.Rac1 Be6 19.Qc2 Bh6 20.a3 Qf4 21.Nd4 0–1 (48) Taras,I (2239)-Lloveras Rebell,J (2200) ICCF email 2006] 

15...Qxc5 16.Ne6 Qa5 17.Nxg7 Kxg7 18.a3 d4 19.Bxd4 Nxd4 20.Qxd4 Rd8 21.Qe3 Bd7 22.Rad1 Be6 23.Rxd8 Rxd8 24.Rd1 Rxd1+ 25.Bxd1 Qd8 26.Be2 Qd6 27.f4 Bd7 28.Bf3 Bc6 29.Bxc6 Ng4 30.Qg3 Qc5+! 31.Kf1 Ne3+ 32.Ke2 Nf5 33.Qf2 Qxc6 34.g4 Qc4+ 35.Kd2 Nd4 36.Qe3 Nc6 37.Ne2 h5 38.h3 hxg4 39.hxg4 g5! 40.fxg5 Qxg4 41.Qc3+ Kg8 42.Qf6 Qg2 43.Ke3 Qh3+ 44.Kd2 Qd7+ 45.Kc2 Ne7 46.Nc3 Ng6 47.b4 Nf8 48.Qe5 Qe6 49.Qxe6 Nxe6 50.Ne4 Kg7 51.a4 b6 52.Kc3 Kg6 53.Kc4 Nxg5 54.Nd6 f5 

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55.Nxf5! Kxf5 56.Kd5 Nf3 57.Kc6 b5 58.axb5 Nd4+ 59.Kc5= Nxb5 60.Kb6 Ke5 ½–½