WORLD CHESS CANDIDATES 2018 BERLIN – ROUND 3

There can only be one word to describe round 3 at the Candidates – WOW! Kramnik’s win with Black out of the Berlin is an absolute gem.

At the same time FIDE still has not yet redeemed their reputation from the first few rounds. Here are a couple of classics. FIDE’s media arm Agon, who own the official broadcast rights to the tournament, famously sued most of the chess streaming websites for showing games from the Carlsen / Karjakin match in New York live with their own commentary. Now Agon are redirecting their users to those same sites because their own live feed isn’t working.

When FIDE tweeted about the schedule of play for round 3 they referred to the players as couples, rather than pairings.

It seems as if FIDE vastly underestimates the ability of chess players and fans to count. A tweet was published boasting about 10.000 chess fans simultaneously logged in to watch the official live coverage on YouTube. This while YouTube indicated 662 viewers tuned in to watch.

For spectators tickets vary in price between 22€ and 114€. There is no spectator seating on the main (second floor) viewing platform and the advertised “Chess Café” for refreshments consists of two vending machines.

Next was a story about the title sponsor of the FIDE GP in 2013, Greek-Russian businessman Ivan Savvidis. He apparently invaded a football pitch with a gun, flanked by body guards, because he was unhappy with a referee decision.  

As regards the games themselves, the first game to finish was the draw between So and Ding out of a Ruy Lopez Marshall Attack.

Next to finish was the Berlin Wall game between Aronian and Kramnik. Take the time to play through the game below – even if it is the only game that you look at. While 7. … Rg8 has been debated a number of times in Correspondence games, finding 19. … Rxg5! And 24. … Bd5! at the board were stunning to watch. Such a pity that Kramnik referred to Rg8 as a novelty that he invented when the move has clearly been played before.

The third game of the day was an Italian Game between Karjakin and Grischuk that too ended in a draw. During the press conference Grischuk referred to Kramnik’s win as: “One of the greatest games I have seen.” There are some commentators that have already referred to this as game of the year 2018.

The final game of the day to finish was Sicilian Najdorf between Caruana and Mamedyarov. Caruana built up a pressing advantage on the board at the expense of his clock. With 10 moves till the time control White was down to just three minutes against Mamedyarov’s almost half an hour. Black’s clear goal was to defend while complicating the position for the American GM in the hope that an error under time pressure would give some degree of hope. In the end that is exactly what happened, but play continued for almost an hour beyond the time control before te draw was agreed.

Here are the games from round 3:

So,Wesley (2799) - Ding,Liren (2769)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (3), 12.03.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.Re1 Bd6 13.d3 Bf5 14.Qf3 Qh4 C89: Closed Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack 

15.g3 Qh3 16.Be3 Bxd3 17.Nd2 Qf5 18.Bd4 Rfd8 [18...Rfe8 19.a4 h6 20.Qxf5 Bxf5 21.Nf3 Be6 22.Be5 ½–½ (30) Caruana,F (2811)-Svidler,P (2768) Wijk aan Zee 2018] 

19.a4 h6 

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20.h4N [20.Kg2 Bf8 21.Re5 Qxf3+ 22.Kxf3 ½–½ (48) Alekseenko,K (2609)-Matlakov,M (2709) Moscow 2018] 

20...Rac8 21.axb5 axb5 22.Bxd5 cxd5 23.Qxf5 Bxf5 24.Ra5 b4 25.Rxd5 Be6 26.Ra5 bxc3 27.Bxc3 Rb8 

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28.Nf1 Bb4 29.Raa1 Bc5 30.Ne3 Rd3 31.Red1 Rbd8 32.Rxd3 Rxd3 33.Rd1 Rxd1+ 

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34.Nxd1 Bb3 35.Ne3 Bxe3 36.fxe3 Kf8² 37.Kf2 ½–½

Aronian,Levon (2794) - Kramnik,Vladimir (2800)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (3), 12.03.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.0–0 C65: Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defence (3...Nf6), unusual lines and 4 0–0 Bc5 [6.Nbd2 Bg4 7.h3 Bh5 8.Nf1 Nd7 9.Ng3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 g6 11.Be3 Qe7 12.0–0 Bd6 13.a4 c5 14.c3 0–0–0 15.Rfb1 Kb8 16.a5 a6 17.Nf1 Qe6 18.Qd1 f5 19.f3 Be7 20.Qa4 Nf6 ½–½ (20) Jakovenko,D (2710)-Almasi,Z (2707) Germany 2018] 

6...Qe7 7.h3  [7.Nbd2=] 7...Rg8 8.Kh1 Nh5N 

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[8...h6 9.Nbd2 g5 10.Nc4 Bd6 11.d4 Nxe4 12.dxe5 Bc5 13.Qe2 f5 0–1 (56) Kazoks,A (2345)-Calio,M (2334) ICCF email 2015] 

9.c3 [9.Nc3=] 

9...g5! 10.Nxe5 

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10...g4! 11.d4 

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11...Bd6! 12.g3! Bxe5 13.dxe5 Qxe5 14.Qd4 Qe7 15.h4 

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15...c5! 16.Qc4 Be6 17.Qb5+ c6 18.Qa4? 

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[18.Qd3µ was the only defense.] 

18...f5 19.Bg5 Rxg5 20.hxg5 f4 21.Qd1 

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[¹21.Kg1 fxg3 22.Qc2] 

21...Rd8 22.Qc1 fxg3 23.Na3 Rd3 24.Rd1 Bd5 

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25.f3 gxf3 26.exd5 Qe2 27.Re1 g2+ 0–1

Karjakin,Sergey (2763) - Grischuk,Alexander (2767)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (3), 12.03.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d3 Nf6 5.Nc3 h6 6.h3 d6 7.Na4 Bb6 C50: Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo 

8.a3 Ne7 9.b4N 

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[9.Nxb6 axb6 10.0–0 0–0 11.Nh4 g5 12.Qf3 Kg7 13.Nf5+ Bxf5 14.exf5 Qd7 15.g4 Qc6 16.Qg3 Ned5 17.Bxd5 Nxd5 18.Qf3 f6 0–1 (40) Neiksans,A (2503)-Ivanchuk,V (2764) Warsaw 2010] 

9...Ng6 10.0–0 0–0 11.c3 c6 12.Nxb6 axb6 13.Bb3 Re8 

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14.Re1 Be6 15.Bc2 d5 16.exd5 Nxd5 17.Bd2 Bf5 18.d4 Bxc2 

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19.Qxc2 exd4 20.Rxe8+ Qxe8 21.Nxd4 b5 22.a4 bxa4 23.Rxa4 

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23...Rxa4 24.Qxa4 Ngf4 25.Qd1 Qe4 26.Qf1 Ne6 27.f3 Qg6 

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28.Nxe6 Qxe6 29.Qd3 b5 30.c4 bxc4= ½–½

Caruana,Fabiano (2784) - Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar (2809)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (3), 12.03.2018

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Be3 Be7 9.Qd2 Nbd7 10.g4 0–0 11.g5 Nh5 12.0–0–0 b5 13.Nd5 Bxd5 B90: Sicilian Najdorf: Unusual White 6th moves, 6 Be3 Ng4 and 6 Be3 e5 

14.exd5 f6 15.gxf6 Bxf6 16.Kb1 Nf4 17.Rg1 Kh8 18.Bd3 Bg5 19.Na5 Bh6 20.Nc6N 

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[20.Be4 Qh4 21.Nb7 0–1 (57) Karg,H (2183)-Kuosa,N (2568) ICCF email 2009] 

20...Qh4 21.Qb4ƒ White is pushing. 

21...Rf6 22.a4 Qxh2 [22...Qh5³ stays ahead.] 

23.Be4± Qe2 24.Bxf4! Bxf4 25.Qa5! Nc5 

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[25...Be3!² 26.Rge1 Qf2] 

26.Qc7! Bh6 27.Nd8 Nxe4 28.fxe4 Rf8 

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[28...Qxe4?! 29.Rdf1=; 28...bxa4 29.Rd3³] 

29.Nf7+ 

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[29.Rde1+- Qh5 30.Rh1] 

29...Rxf7! 30.Qxf7 Rc8 31.Rc1! Qxe4 

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32.Rgf1! Threatening mate with Qf8+! 

32...Bf4 

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33.Rg1! Bh6 

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34.Rgf1 [White should play 34.Rg3!± ] 

34...Rg8 [34...Bf4!=] 

35.Rcd1² bxa4 

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[But not 35...Qxa4?! 36.Qe7±] 

36.Qe7! Qg6! 37.Rf8 Bg5 

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The position is equal. 

38.Rxg8+ Kxg8= Endgame KQR-KQB 

39.Qd7 h5 40.Rg1 e4 41.Qxa4 e3 42.Qxa6 Qf5 43.Qa8+ 

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[Much weaker is 43.Qxd6 e2³] 

43...Kh7 aiming for ...e2. 

44.Qe8 Bf4 45.Qe6 g6 46.Rf1 

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And now b4 would win. 

46...Kg7 47.Qxf5 gxf5 48.c4 

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Hoping for Kc2. [Not 48.Rxf4? e2–+] 

48...Bg3! 49.Rg1 h4 [49...f4!? 50.Kc2™ e2=]  ½–½

WORLD CHESS CANDIDATES 2018 BERLIN – ROUND 1

Matters got heated even before the first move of round 1 was played. First there was the twitter war between Giri and Carlsen when it emerged that Giri would be helping Kramnik during the Candidates.

Next was the fiasco of a press conference the day before the event. Figures were quoted of 30 million people watching the games live and over a billion following the results. The press conference was sprung with zero pre-announcement, and was live streamed to a massive audience of fifty people around the world.

Now that round one is complete, we have yet more behind the scenes revelations. First, the official tournament website is still incomplete and not functioning properly. In addition, the player toilets do not have any water. Then there was the noise. Even spectators complained of not being able to concentrate on the games due to the background noise. Noise that FIDE says is caused by “technical issues,” not there is any indication whether this will be resolved in future rounds.

From such a low point, we can but hope that matters improve.

As regards the games themselves, the first game to finish was the draw between Aronian and Ding out of the Flohr-Mikenas System in the English Opening.

Next up was Caruana’s win with White against So using the main line of the Closed Catalan.

The next was a hard pressing Kramnik with White against Grischuk from the London / Colle system.

The final game, between Karjakin and Mamedyarov was a Ruy Lopez. All was even until Karjakin played 49 Kg2. Mamedyarov replied with Qe3! After that Blacks attacking pressure and the passed pawn on b3 continued for another 20 moves.

Here are the games from round 1:

Aronian,Levon (2794) - Ding,Liren (2769)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (1), 10.03.2018

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 d5 4.e5 d4 5.exf6 dxc3 6.bxc3 Qxf6 7.d4 b6 8.h4 A18: English Opening: Flohr-Mikenas System (1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e6 3 e4) [8.Be2 Bb7 9.Bf3 Bxf3 10.Nxf3 Bd6 11.Qa4+ c6 12.0–0 0–0 13.Rb1 Bc7 14.Re1 Rc8 15.Kh1 Qf5 ½–½ (26) Svidler,P (2763)-Ding,L (2774) Palma de Mallorca 2017] 

8...Bb7 9.Bg5 Qf5 10.Bd3N 

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[10.Rh3 h6 11.Bd3 Qa5 12.Bd2 Nd7 13.Nf3 0–0–0 14.Kf1 Be7 15.h5 Nc5 1–0 (31) Budczies,J-Vogt,L (2500) Bochum 1990] 

10...Qa5 11.Kf1 Nc6 12.Rb1 f6 13.Bd2ƒ White is more active. 

13...0–0–0 [13...Qa3=] 14.a4!± e5 15.c5 [15.Rh3!?] 

15...Bxc5! 16.Rb5 Qa6 17.Rh3 Bxd4 ...Bc5 is the strong threat. 

18.Be2 Rd6± 

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[Wrong is 18...Bc5? 19.Rxc5! Rxd2 20.Qxd2+-; 18...Ba8!= remains equal.] 

19.Rb1 [Much worse is Much weaker is 19.cxd4?! Nxd4 20.Bd3 Ne6³; White should play 19.Rb2!± Qa5 20.cxd4] 

19...Qa5!= aiming for ...Qd5. 

20.Rb5 [20.cxd4= Qd5 21.Rb5 Qxd4 22.Rd3 Qxh4 23.Rxd6 cxd6 24.Bc3] 

20...Qa6± 

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21.Rb1 Qa5!= Hoping for ...Qd5. 

22.Rb5  ½–½

Caruana,Fabiano (2784) - So,Wesley (2799)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (1), 10.03.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Be7 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 0–0 7.0–0 c6 8.Qb3 Nbd7 9.Bf4 a5 E07: Closed Catalan: Main Line (5 Nf3 0–0 6 0–0 Nbd7) 

10.Rd1 Nh5N 

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[10...b5 11.c5 Ba6 12.Qc2 b4 13.Bf1 Ne4 14.Nbd2 f5 15.Ne5 Nxe5 16.Bxe5 Nxd2 17.Qxd2 ½–½ (35) Mamedyarov,S (2775)-Kovalenko,I (2644) Riga 2013] 

11.Bc1 Nhf6 The position is equal. 

12.Nbd2 b5 13.c5 b4 14.Qc2 a4 15.Re1 e5 16.Nxe5 Nxe5 17.dxe5 Nd7 18.Nf3! Bxc5 19.Ng5! g6 20.Bf4 e6 is the strong threat. 

20...Qb6 21.e4 b3! 22.axb3 axb3 23.Qe2! Ba6 

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[Black should try 23...Rxa1!² 24.Rxa1 Nxe5] 

24.Qf3!± Bc4 next ...Rxa1 is good for Black. 

25.Rxa8 Rxa8 26.e6 dxe4 27.exf7+‚ White attacks with force. 

27...Bxf7 28.Nxe4 aiming for Bh3. 

28...Bd4 

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[28...Re8±] 

29.Nd6!+- Bd5? [29...Nf6] 

30.Qe2 Threatens to win with Bxd5+. 

30...Nf8 

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[¹30...Qa5 31.Rd1 Qc5] 

31.Bxd5+! cxd5 32.Qf3 Qa5 33.Re7  1–0

Kramnik,Vladimir (2800) - Grischuk,Alexander (2767)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (1), 10.03.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.b3 c5 A48: 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6: Torre, London and Colle Systems 

4.dxc5 Qa5+ 5.Nbd2 Qxc5 6.Bb2 Bg7 7.e3 0–0 8.c4 8...b6N 

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[8...d6 9.Be2 Nbd7 10.0–0 b6 11.Rc1 1–0 (94) Grachev,B (2655)-Chatalbashev,B (2552) Astana 2017] 

9.Be2 Bb7 10.0–0 Qc7 11.Rc1 d6 12.Nb1 Nbd7 13.Nc3 Rac8 14.Rc2 Qb8 15.Qa1 a6 16.Rd2 Rfe8 17.Rfd1 Ba8 18.Ng5 Rc5 19.Nh3 b5 20.Nf4 bxc4 21.Bxc4 Rg5 22.Ncd5 Ne5 23.Be2 Ne4 24.Rd4 [24.Rc2±] 

24...Nc5 25.h4 Rf5 26.e4 [26.g4± Rxf4 27.Rxf4 (27.exf4 e6±) ] 

26...Rxf4! 

XABCDEFGHY
8lwq-+r+k+(
7+-+-zppvlp'
6p+-zp-+p+&
5+-snNsn-+-%
4-+-tRPtr-zP$
3+P+-+-+-#
2PvL-+LzPP+"
1wQ-+R+-mK-!
xabcdefghy

[Wrong is 26...Nxe4? 27.Rxe4 Qc8 28.Qc1+-] 

27.Nxf4 Nxe4 28.Nd5 Nc5 29.Rb4 Qa7 30.Ne3 a5 [30...h5=] 

31.Rb5 Ne6 32.Rxe5 dxe5 33.Bxe5 Qc5 34.Bxg7 Nxg7 35.Qd4 [35.Rc1± Qb4 36.Bc4] 

35...Qxd4 36.Rxd4 Bc6! 37.Rd2 Rb8 

XABCDEFGHY
8-tr-+-+k+(
7+-+-zppsnp'
6-+l+-+p+&
5zp-+-+-+-%
4-+-+-+-zP$
3+P+-sN-+-#
2P+-tRLzPP+"
1+-+-+-mK-!
xabcdefghy

 38.Rc2! Be8 39.Rc7 Kf8 

XABCDEFGHY
8-tr-+lmk-+(
7+-tR-zppsnp'
6-+-+-+p+&
5zp-+-+-+-%
4-+-+-+-zP$
3+P+-sN-+-#
2P+-+LzPP+"
1+-+-+-mK-!
xabcdefghy

40.Ra7! a4 41.bxa4 Rb1+ 42.Kh2 Rb4 [42...Rb2± 43.Bc4 Rxf2] 

43.a5 Rxh4+ 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-+lmk-+(
7tR-+-zppsnp'
6-+-+-+p+&
5zP-+-+-+-%
4-+-+-+-tr$
3+-+-sN-+-#
2P+-+LzPPmK"
1+-+-+-+-!
xabcdefghy

44.Kg1! Ra4 45.Bc4 Bc6 46.Rc7 Be8 47.a6 Nh5? [47...Ra5 was called for. 48.a7 h5] 

48.Nd5+- 1–0

Karjakin,Sergey (2763) - Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar (2809)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (1), 10.03.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.c3 a6 C60: Ruy Lopez: Unusual Black 3rd moves and 3...g6 [4...d6 5.d4 Bd7 6.0–0 Bg7 7.Be3 Nf6 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Nbd2 0–0 10.Re1 Re8 11.h3 h6 12.a4 a6 13.Bc4 b6 14.b4 Qc8 15.a5 bxa5 16.bxa5 ½–½ (24) Tari,A (2597)-Kamsky,G (2677) Moscow 2018] 

5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bg4 8.Qb3 Bxf3 9.gxf3 Bg7 10.Be3N 

XABCDEFGHY
8r+-wqk+ntr(
7+pzp-+pvlp'
6p+p+-+p+&
5+-+-+-+-%
4-+-zPP+-+$
3+Q+-vLP+-#
2PzP-+-zP-zP"
1tRN+-mK-+R!
xabcdefghy

[10.Nc3 Ne7 11.Ne2 0–0 12.h4 ½–½ (37) Tobler,P (2154)-Egner,M (2188) ICCF email 2016] 

10...Ne7 11.Nc3 Bxd4 12.Bxd4 Qxd4 13.Qxb7 0–0 14.Qxc7 Rab8 15.0–0 Rxb2 16.Qxe7 Qxc3 17.Kg2 Rc2 18.Rad1 Rxa2 19.Rc1 Rc2 20.Rxc2 Qxc2 21.Ra1 Qc4 22.Qb7 Qb5 23.Qxa6 Qg5+ 24.Kf1 Qf6 25.Kg2 Rb8 26.Ra5 Rb3 27.Qc8+ [Better is 27.Qe2!³ ] 

27...Kg7 28.Qg4 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-+-+-+(
7+-+-+pmkp'
6-+p+-wqp+&
5tR-+-+-+-%
4-+-+P+Q+$
3+r+-+P+-#
2-+-+-zPKzP"
1+-+-+-+-!
xabcdefghy

28...Rb5! 29.Rxb5 cxb5 30.Qd7 Qg5+ 31.Kf1 Qe5 32.h4 b4 33.Qb7 Qc3 34.e5 b3 35.Kg2 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-+-+-+(
7+Q+-+pmkp'
6-+-+-+p+&
5+-+-zP-+-%
4-+-+-+-zP$
3+pwq-+P+-#
2-+-+-zPK+"
1+-+-+-+-!
xabcdefghy

35...Qc4! 36.Qb6 h6 37.Kg3 Qd5 38.f4 Kh7 39.Qb8 Qc4 40.f3 Qc3 41.Qf8! Qc4 42.Qb8 Kg7 43.Qb6 Qd5 44.Qb8 Qd1 45.Qb7 Qg1+ 46.Kh3 Qe3 47.Kg2 Qe2+ 48.Kg3 Qe1+ 49.Kg2? 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-+-+-+(
7+Q+-+pmk-'
6-+-+-+pzp&
5+-+-zP-+-%
4-+-+-zP-zP$
3+p+-+P+-#
2-+-+-+K+"
1+-+-wq-+-!
xabcdefghy

[49.Kh3µ] 

49...Qe3! [Don't play 49...Qxh4 50.e6] 

50.Qb4 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-+-+-+(
7+-+-+pmk-'
6-+-+-+pzp&
5+-+-zP-+-%
4-wQ-+-zP-zP$
3+p+-wqP+-#
2-+-+-+K+"
1+-+-+-+-!
xabcdefghy

[50.Kf1 was necessary.] 

50...g5! 51.hxg5 hxg5 52.fxg5 Qe2+ 53.Kg3 Qxe5+? [53...b2–+ 54.e6 Qe5+ 55.Kg2 fxe6] 

54.Kf2 Qh2+ 55.Ke3 Qg1+ 56.Kf4! Qc1+ 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-+-+-+(
7+-+-+pmk-'
6-+-+-+-+&
5+-+-+-zP-%
4-wQ-+-mK-+$
3+p+-+P+-#
2-+-+-+-+"
1+-wq-+-+-!
xabcdefghy

[56...Qd1!? 57.Qc3+ Kh7µ] 

57.Kg4! Qe3 58.Kg3? [58.f4!³] 

58...Qxg5+ 59.Kf2 Qd5 60.Ke3 Kg6? [60...Kf6] 

61.Ke2 Kf6 62.Ke3 Ke6 63.Qb6+ Kd7 64.Qa7+ Kc6 65.Qa6+ Kc5 66.Qa4 Qc4 67.Qa5+ Kc6 68.Qa1 Kb5 69.Qb2 Kb4 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-+-+-+(
7+-+-+p+-'
6-+-+-+-+&
5+-+-+-+-%
4-mkq+-+-+$
3+p+-mKP+-#
2-wQ-+-+-+"
1+-+-+-+-!
xabcdefghy

[And not 69...Qc2 70.Qxc2 bxc2 71.Kd2=]  0–1