GRENKE CHESS CLASSIC 2018 ROUND 5

At first glance round five may seem like a draw fest to you. Do not let yourself be pulled into that state of complacency. The final game of the day featured some interesting manoeuvres in a Bishop and Pawn versus Rook endgame that are useful to know.

On the other hand Meier vs Carlsen was the almost game of the year that got away. This is more about the stunning mating attack that Meier and Carlsen both missed due to chronic time shortage.

Vachier-Lagrave vs Aronian ½-½

Ruy Lopez, Anti-Marshall Systems. MLV got himself a bit tangled up from Aronian’s opening novelty but managed to free himself from the complications.

Anand vs Caruana ½-½

Caro-Kahn, Advance Variation. This was a game where it seemed as if there was nothing happening at all. There was only one reason that the game lasted as long as it did – the tournament has a rule that states that players may not offer any draws before the time control. That is why the draw in this game came at move 41.

Naiditsch vs Bluebaum ½-½

English Opening. Naiditsch had a massive advantage but could not convert.

Hou vs Vitiugov ½-½

Closed Ruy Lopez. The position was equal out of the opening and was heading to a Rook and Bishop versus Rook and Knight ending that held no possibilities for either side. Little surprise that the players opted for a threefold repetition even before the time control.

Meier vs Carlsen vs ½-½

Closed Catalan. For Meier this can be the one that got away. How many chances to you get to check mate a world champion using a double rook sacrifice combination. Fortunately for Magnus, White only had four seconds to make the time control and played a safe move.

Here are the games from the Grenke Classic Round 5:

Meier,Georg (2636) - Carlsen,Magnus (2843)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Baden-Baden (5), 05.04.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 0–0 7.0–0 Nbd7 8.Qc2 c6 9.Bf4 Ne4 10.h4 E08: Closed Catalan: Main Line: 7 Qc2 [10.Nc3 g5 11.Bc1 f5 12.b3 b6 13.Bb2 Bb7 14.Rad1 Qe8 15.Ne5 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Nxc3 17.Qxc3 Rc8 18.e3 1–0 (75) Le,Q (2739)-Nakamura,H (2792) Saint Louis 2017] 

10...Ndf6 

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11.Nbd2N [11.Nc3 Nxc3 12.Qxc3 b6 13.Ne5 Bb7 14.b4 a5 15.c5 axb4 16.Qxb4 Ra6 17.Rfb1 Ba8 1–0 (62) Ilonen,I (2228)-Jones,I (2256) ICCF email 2016] 

11...Nxd2 12.Nxd2 Nh5 13.Be3 f5 14.Bf3 Qe8 15.Bg5 Nf6 16.e3 b6 17.Rac1 Ba6 18.a3 Ne4 19.Bxe7 Qxe7 20.Be2 Bb7 21.b4 Rac8 22.c5 e5 23.dxe5 Qxe5 24.Nxe4 fxe4 25.Qc3 Qf5 26.a4 g5 27.hxg5 Qxg5 28.Kg2 Rc7 29.Rh1 Rg7 30.Rcg1 Qf5 31.Rf1 Ba6 32.b5 [Not 32.Bxa6? Qf3+ 33.Kh2 Rg6–+] 

32...cxb5 33.Rh5 Qf7 34.Qe5 Bb7 35.cxb6 bxa4 36.bxa7 Ba8 [36...Qc7±] 

37.Rg5 

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37...Qxa7? [37...Rxg5± 38.Qxg5+ Qg7 39.Qxg7+ Kxg7] 

38.Bg4! Kh8 39.Ra1= [39.Rh5+- Qf7 [#] 40.Rxh7+!! Kxh7 41.Rh1+ Kg8 42.Be6] 

39...Qe7 40.Qxg7+ Qxg7 41.Rxg7 Kxg7 42.Rxa4 Bc6 43.Rb4 ½–½

Anand,Viswanathan (2776) - Caruana,Fabiano (2804)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Baden-Baden (5), 05.04.2018

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nd2 e6 5.Nb3 Nd7 6.Nf3 c5 B12: Caro-Kann: Advance Variation [6...a6 7.Be2 c5 8.c3 h6 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Nxc5 Nxc5 11.Be3 Rc8 12.0–0 Ne7 13.Nd4 0–0 14.a4 0–1 (41) Wei,Y (2743)-Navara,D (2740) Yancheng 2017] 

7.dxc5 a6 8.Be3 

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8...Ne7N [8...Nxc5 9.Nxc5 Bxc5 10.Bxc5 Qa5+ 11.b4 Qxb4+ 1–0 (11) Lagunow,R (1969)-Jauk,W (2183) Germany 2014] 

9.Be2 Be4 10.Ng5 Nxe5 11.Nxe4 dxe4 12.c3 Nf5 13.Bd4 Nc6 14.0–0 Be7 15.Bc4 0–0 16.Re1 b5 17.cxb6 Ncxd4 18.b7 Rb8 19.cxd4 a5 [19...Rxb7= 20.Bxa6 Ra7] 

20.d5 e5 21.d6 Nxd6 22.Bd5 Nxb7 23.Rxe4 Bf6 24.Rc1 Qd7 25.Bc6 Qxd1+ 26.Rxd1 Rfc8 27.Bxb7 Rxb7 28.Ra4 h6 29.Rxa5 Rc2 30.Rb1 e4 31.Ra4 Re7 32.Re1 Rxb2 33.Kf1 Rc7 34.Raxe4 Rxa2 35.R4e2 Rxe2 36.Rxe2 Re7 37.Rxe7 Bxe7 38.Nc1 h5 39.h3 g6 40.g4 hxg4 41.hxg4= ½–½

Hou,Yifan (2657) - Vitiugov,Nikita (2735)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Baden-Baden (5), 05.04.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0–0 9.h3 Re8 10.d4 Bb7 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.d5 Nb8 13.Nf1 Nbd7 14.N3h2 c6 C92: Closed Ruy Lopez: 9...Be6, Karpov and Flohr-Zaitsev Variations [14...Nc5 15.Bc2 c6 16.b4 Ncd7 17.dxc6 Bxc6 18.Bg5 h6 19.Bxf6 Nxf6 20.Ng4 Nh7 21.Qd3 Rc8 22.Bb3 Re7 23.c4 ½–½ (54) Navara,D (2749)-Oparin,G (2607) Caleta 2018] 

15.dxc6 Bxc6 16.Bg5 Qc7 17.Ng3 a5 

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18.Bxf6N [18.a3 Qb7 19.Qf3 Nc5 20.Bxf6 Nxb3 21.Rad1 Re6 22.Ng4 0–1 (47) Dushkin,D (2285)-Spagnoli,L (2101) ICCF email 2016] 

18...Nxf6 19.Ng4 Nxg4 20.hxg4 a4 21.Bd5 Bxd5 22.Qxd5 a3 23.bxa3 [23.b3 Qxc3 24.Qxb5 g6 25.Rac1 Qb2 26.Rb1] 

23...Rxa3 24.Rab1 Qc4 25.Qxb5 The position is equal. 

25...Qxb5 26.Rxb5 Rxa2 27.Nf5 Rc2 28.Ne3 Rxc3 29.Ra1 Rcc8 30.Rb7 Rb8 31.Raa7 Rxb7 32.Rxb7= Endgame KRB-KRN 

32...h6 33.Nd5 Ra8 34.Kh2 g6 35.f3 Kg7 36.Nc7 Rc8 37.Nd5 Ra8 38.Nc7 Rc8 39.Nd5  ½–½

Vachier Lagrave,Maxime (2789) - Aronian,Levon (2767)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Baden-Baden (5), 05.04.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.a4 b4 9.a5 d6 10.d3 Be6 11.Bxe6 C88: Closed Ruy Lopez: Anti-Marshall Systems 

11...fxe6 12.h3 

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[12.Nbd2 Rb8 13.Nb3 Qc8 14.h3 Nd8 15.Be3 c5 16.Nbd2 Nc6 17.c3 Rb5 18.d4 exd4 19.cxd4 Nxa5 20.dxc5 dxc5 1–0 (78) So,W (2799)-Aronian,L (2794) Berlin 2018] 

12...Qb8N [12...Qe8 13.Be3 d5 14.c3 Rb8 15.Nbd2 h6 16.d4 Bd6 17.exd5 Nxd5 18.c4 Nxe3 19.fxe3 ½–½ (28) Saenko,O (2516)-Telepnev,I (2411) ICCF email 2010] 

13.c3 White is slightly better. 

13...Qb5 14.c4 Qb7 15.Nbd2 Nd7 16.Nb3! Nd8 17.d4 exd4 18.Nbxd4 c5 [18...Bf6 19.Nb3 Re8 20.Qc2 c5 21.Bg5 Bxg5 22.Nxg5 h6] 

19.Nxe6! Nxe6 20.Qd5 Qxd5 21.exd5 

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21...Rxf3! 22.gxf3 Ne5ƒ White is under pressure. 

23.Rxe5! dxe5 24.dxe6= Endgame KRB-KRB 

24...Rd8 And now ...Rd1+ would win. 

25.Be3 g5 26.Kf1 Kg7 27.Ke2 Kf6 28.Rd1 [28.Rg1= keeps the balance. 28...h6 29.b3] 

28...Rxd1µ 29.Kxd1 Kxe6 KB-KB 30.Kc2 Kf5 [30...h6µ] 

31.Kd3!= The position is equal. 

31...Bd6 32.b3 Be7 33.Bc1 Bd6 34.Be3 Be7 35.Bc1 Bd6 36.Be3  ½–½

Naiditsch,Arkadij (2701) - Bluebaum,Matthias (2616)

5th GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 Baden-Baden (5), 05.04.2018

1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Nf6 4.b3 Be7 5.Bb2 0–0 6.Nc3 dxc4 A13: English Opening: 1...e6 

7.bxc4 c5 8.Rg1 Nc6 The position is equal. 

9.g4 

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9...e5N [9...a6 10.g5 Ne8 11.h4 Nd6 12.h5 f5 13.Be2 Rb8 14.a4 1–0 (35) Grischuk,A (2767)-Kramnik,V (2800) Moscow 2018] 

10.g5 Ne8 11.Qb1 f5 12.gxf6 Nxf6 13.Be2 Kh8 14.Ng5 h6 15.Nf3 Ne8 16.Nd5 Bf5 17.d3 Bd6 18.Bc3 Rb8 19.Qb2ƒ White has some pressure. 

19...Bxd3? [19...b5= 20.cxb5 Nd4] 

20.Bxd3+- Rxf3 

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21.Qe2! Rf8 22.Qh5 Ne7 23.Rxg7 Kxg7 24.0–0–0 [Don't take 24.Ke2 Rf7+-; ¹24.f4 Kg8 25.0–0–0 (25.fxe5 Nxd5 26.Qg6+ Ng7±) ] 

24...Rf7 And now ...Nxd5 would win. 

25.Rg1+ Kf8 White must now prevent ...Rg7. 

26.Qxh6+ Rg7 27.Rxg7 Nxg7 28.Qf6+ Kg8 29.Bxe5 Nef5 30.Bxf5 Qxf6 31.Nxf6+ Kf7 32.Bxd6 Rd8 33.Bc7 [Worse is 33.Bxc5 Nxf5 34.Ne4 Rc8³] 

33...Rh8 34.Be4 Kxf6 35.Bxb7± Endgame KRN-KB 

35...Nf5 

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36.Bf4 [¹36.Bd5!] 

36...Rg8 37.a4 Rg1+ 38.Kd2 Rb1 39.Bc6 Rb2+ 40.Ke1 Rb4 41.a5 Rxc4 42.a6 Bb8 is the strong threat. 

42...Rb4 43.Bb7 Ke6 44.Bc8+ Kf6 45.Kd2 Rb2+ 46.Kd3 Rxf2 47.Ke4 Ra2 48.Be5+ Kg5 49.Bb8 Ra4+ 50.Ke5 c4 [Don't play 50...Ne7?! 51.Bb7±] 

51.Bxf5 Ra5+ 52.Kd4 Hoping for Be6. 

52...Kxf5 53.Bxa7 Rxa6= KR-KB 

54.Bc5 Ra4 55.e4+ Ke6 56.Kc3 Ke5 57.Bb4 Ra2 58.Kxc4 Rxh2 59.Kd3 Rh3+ 60.Ke2 Kxe4 Black has an edge. 

61.Kf2 Rb3 62.Bd6 Rb2+ 63.Kg3 Rc2 64.Bb8 Rc3+ 65.Kg2 Rb3  ½–½