GRENKE CHESS CLASSIC 2018 ROUND 4

Amazing, after three rounds of play none of the players has made 3 draws. There isn’t even a player with a 50% score.

Carlsen vs Vachier-Lagrave ½-½

Symmetrical English. Carlsen went for an interesting pawn sacrifice but the resulting position was still gave Black few problems to deal with.

Caruana vs Naiditsch 1-0

Ruy Lopez, Steinitz Defence. All was quiet till Naiditsch blundered in time trouble. Both players made it to the time control with only 40 seconds each on their clocks. Once the dust had settled, resignation was the only option for Black.

Vitiugov vs Anand ½-½

Caro-Kann, Advance Variation. Vishy’s solid Caro-Kann held up well to the early tournament leader.

Aronian vs Hou ½-½

Open Catalan. While commentator Peter Leko was suggesting a combination of Blindfold chess and cycling as a way to attract TV audiences, Aronian and Hou quietly shook hands for the draw – amlost without getting noticed at all.

Bluebaum vs Meier ½-½

Queens Indian. The game between the two German Grandmasters was dry as parchment from start to finish. The only surprising aspect is that they ended up being the last game to finish and not the first.

Here are the games from the Grenke Classic Round 4:

Caruana,Fabiano (2804) - Naiditsch,Arkadij (2701)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Baden-Baden (4), 04.04.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 d6 5.0–0 Bd7 C66: Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defence 

6.Re1 [6.c3 g6 7.h3 Bg7 8.Be3 0–0 9.Nbd2 Nh5 10.Ba4 Kh8 11.d4 f5 12.exf5 gxf5 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.Nxe5 Nxe5 15.Bxd7 Qxd7 16.Qxh5 1–0 (30) Grischuk,A (2772)-Wang,H (2709) Huaian 2017] 

6...Be7 7.c3 0–0 8.h3 Re8 9.a4 

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9...Bf8N [9...h6 10.a5 a6 11.Bc4 Qc8 12.d4 Bf8 13.Nbd2 exd4 14.cxd4 ½–½ (31) Bartel,M (2662)-Aleksandrov,A (2544) Yerevan 2014] 

10.Bg5 h6 11.Bh4 g5 12.Bg3 Ne7 13.Bxd7 Qxd7 14.Nbd2 Ng6 15.Nc4 Rad8 16.Ne3 d5 17.exd5 Bg7 18.d4 exd4 19.cxd4 [White should play 19.Qxd4± Nxd5 20.Qxd5 (20.Qxa7 Nxe3 21.Rxe3 Rxe3±) 20...Qxd5 21.Nxd5 Rxe1+ 22.Rxe1 Rxd5 23.Bxc7] 

19...Nxd5 20.Nxd5 Rxe1+ 21.Qxe1 Qxd5 22.Bxc7 Rc8 23.Rc1 Bxd4 24.Qd2 Qd7! 25.Nxd4 Rxc7 26.Rxc7 Qxc7 27.Nf5 Kh7! 28.g3 Ne5 29.Qe3 Nc4 30.Qc3 [White should play 30.Qe8² Nd2 31.Kh2] 

30...Qe5 31.Qd3 Nxb2 32.Qc2 Qe1+ 33.Kg2 Qd1 34.Qe4 Qxa4? [34...Qd7=] 

35.Qxb7 Qa2 

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[35...Qe8 was worth a try.] 

36.Ne3! Kg7 37.Qb4 Qb1 [¹37...Kg8] 

38.g4 Kg8 39.Nf5 Qc2 40.Qb8+ Kh7 41.Qb7 Kh8 42.Qe7+- [¹42.Qd5 Qc3 43.Qd6]  1–0

Vitiugov,Nikita (2735) - Anand,Viswanathan (2776)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Baden-Baden (4), 04.04.2018

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.Nf3 Bxc5 6.Bd3 B12: Caro-Kann: Advance Variation 

6...Ne7 7.0–0 Ng6 8.a3 The position is equal. 

8...0–0 

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9.Nbd2N [9.b4 Bb6 10.Ng5 Nc6 11.Qh5 h6 12.Nxf7 Rxf7 13.Bxg6 1–0 (29) Shirov,A (2693)-Ganaus,H (2289) Zuerich 2017] 

9...Nc6 The position is equal. 

10.b4 Bb6 11.Bb2 Nf4 12.Nb3 a5 13.Qd2 Nxd3 14.cxd3 d4 15.bxa5 Bxa5 16.Nxa5 Rxa5 17.Nxd4 Nxe5 18.Rfe1 Rd5 19.Rxe5 Rxe5 

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20.Nc6! bxc6 [Don't go for But not 20...Qg5? 21.f4+-] 

21.Bxe5 f6 22.Bc3 c5 23.d4 cxd4 24.Qxd4 Qxd4 25.Bxd4= Endgame KRB-KRB 

25...Rd8 26.Bb6 Rd6 27.Bc5 Rd5 28.Be3 Bd7 29.h3 Ba4 30.Rc1 Rd1+ 31.Rxd1 Bxd1 KB-KB 

32.f3 e5 33.h4 h5 34.Kf2 Kf7 35.Ke1 Ba4 36.Kf2 Bd1 37.Ke1 Ba4 38.Kf2  ½–½

Carlsen,Magnus (2843) - Vachier Lagrave,Maxime (2789)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Baden-Baden (4), 04.04.2018

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 e5 4.e3 Nf6 5.d4 e4 6.d5 A34: Symmetrical English: 2 Nc3, lines with ...d5 

6...exf3 7.dxc6 fxg2 8.cxd7+ Bxd7 9.Bxg2 g6 10.b3 Bg7 11.Qd6 Qb6 

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12.Qxb6N [12.Qe5+ is more complex. 12...Kf8 13.Bb2 1–0 (68) Grischuk,A (2750)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2795) chess.com INT 2017 13...Nh5 14.Qd5 Bc6 15.Qd6+] 

12...axb6 13.Bb2 [Much weaker is 13.Bxb7 Ra7µ] 

13...Bc6 14.0–0 Ke7 15.Nd5+ Bxd5! 16.cxd5 Rhg8 17.d6+ Kxd6 18.Rad1+ Ke7 19.Be5 Rgd8 20.Bxb7 Rxd1 [20...Ra7 keeps more tension. 21.Rxd8 Kxd8 22.Bc6 Rxa2 23.Rd1+ Kc8] 

21.Rxd1 Rd8 22.Rxd8 Kxd8² Endgame KBB-KBN 

23.Kf1 Ne8 24.Bg3 Kd7 25.a4 f5 26.f3 Ke6 27.Bc8+ Kd5 28.Bb7+ Ke6 29.Bc6 Nd6 30.Bf2 Be5 The position is equal. 

31.h4 f4 32.exf4 Bxf4 33.a5 bxa5 34.Bxc5 Nf5 35.Bb6 Bd2 36.Bd8 Nd4 37.Ba4! Kd6 38.Kg2 Ne6 39.Bb6 Nc5 40.Bxc5+ Kxc5  ½–½

Aronian,Levon (2767) - Hou,Yifan (2657)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Baden-Baden (4), 04.04.2018

1.c4 e6 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d5 4.Nf3 Be7 5.0–0 0–0 6.d4 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 c5 9.dxc5 Bxc5 E05: Open Catalan: 5 Nf3 Be7 

10.Qxc4 [10.Bg5 h6 11.Bxf6 Qxf6 12.Nbd2 Bd7 13.Ne4 Qe7 14.Ne5 Rc8 15.Nxc5 Rxc5 16.Bxb7 Ra7 17.Nxd7 Nxd7 1–0 (33) Giri,A (2772)-Sethuraman,S (2618) Tbilisi 2017] 

10...b6 11.Ne5 Ra7 12.Nd3 Be7 13.Bf4 Bb7 14.Bxb7 Rxb7 

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15.Rc1N [15.Nd2 b5 16.axb5 axb5 17.Qc2 ½–½ (40) Piorun,K (2644)-Hou,Y (2652) Tbilisi 2017] 

15...Nd5 16.Bxb8 b5 17.axb5 axb5 18.Qb3 Qxb8 19.Nd2 Rc8 20.Nf3 g6 21.Nd4 Rxc1+ 22.Rxc1 Bf6 23.Nc6 Qa8 24.Ncb4 Nxb4 25.Qxb4 Kg7 26.Qe4 Qa7 27.Qc6 Rb6 28.Qc5 Be7 29.Qe3 Qb7 30.Ne5 Ra6 31.h3 Bf6 32.Kh2 h5 33.Nd3 Ra8 34.Qc5 Ra4 35.b3 Ra2 36.Rc2 Ra1 37.Rc1 Ra2 38.Rc2 Ra1 39.Rc1= Ra2 ½–½

Bluebaum,Matthias (2616) - Meier,Georg (2636)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Baden-Baden (4), 04.04.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Bxd2+ 5.Qxd2 d5 6.Bg2 c6 7.Nf3 Nbd7 8.0–0 b6 9.Ne5 Bb7 10.Nc3 0–0 11.Rac1 Qe7 12.Nxd7 E16: Queen's Indian: 4 g3 Bb7 5 Bg2 Bb4+ [12.cxd5 cxd5 13.Nb5 a6 14.Rc7 Rab8 15.Rxb7 Rxb7 16.Nc6 Qe8 17.Nd6 Qa8 18.Rc1 Nb8 19.Nxb7 Qxb7 1–0 (57) Radjabov,T (2724)-Bruzon Batista,L (2664) Tromsoe 2014] 

12...Qxd7 

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13.b3N [13.Rfd1 dxc4 14.e4 Rfd8 15.Qe2 b5 16.e5 Nd5 17.Ne4 Qe7 18.Nd6 0–1 (38) Khenkin,I (2570)-Granda Zuniga,J (2605) Elenite 1993]
13...Ba6 14.cxd5 cxd5 15.Qb2 Qe7 16.Rc2 Rac8 17.Rfc1 h6 18.Nb1 Rfd8 19.Rxc8 Rxc8 20.Rxc8+ Bxc8 21.Bf1 Ba6 22.e3 Bxf1 23.Kxf1 Ne4 24.Nd2 Nd6 25.Qc2 Qd7 26.a4 f6 27.Nf3 Kf7 28.Kg2 Qc8 29.Qxc8 Nxc8 30.Nd2 Ne7 31.Kf3 Nc6 32.Ke2 e5 33.dxe5 fxe5 34.e4 Ke6 35.Kd3 g5 36.exd5+ Kxd5 37.Nc4 h5 38.Ne3+ Ke6 39.Ke4 Nd4 40.b4 g4 41.Nd5 Nf3 42.Nc7+ Kd7 43.Nd5 Ke6= 44.Nc7+ Kd7 ½–½