The Daily Update: Anand Leads Superbet, Wei Yi Continues to Lead Chessable Masters

The news from the two super-elite rapid events is similar to yesterday's. Viswanathan Anand and Wei Yi continue to lead the Superbet Rapid & Blitz and the Chessable Masters, respectively. Both remain undefeated and scored very well today, earning just half a point less today than they did yesterday.

In Anand's case, that means he has a remarkable 5.5/6, finally being held to a draw by Jan-Krzysztof Duda in round 6. Only Richard Rapport is within a point of Anand (and they have yet to play), while Duda and Wesley So are two point behind. (Or more likely, four points behind. My recollection is that the rapid games count double, while the blitz games count once each - but there will be twice as many of them.)

As for Wei Yi, he added another 3/4 to his total today, and leads with 6.5/8, a point ahead of Anish Giri, Magnus Carlsen (who lost to Praggnanandhaa after making an elementary blunder), and - surprise - David Anton. All that really matters, however, is to be in the top eight, as scores do not carry over into the elimination rounds. (Scores only count for getting into the elimination rounds, and for seeding therein.) So here are the remaining four players who would qualify if the prelims ended today: Ding Liren (5 points), Praggnanandhaa and Pentala Harikrishna (4.5 points apiece), and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (4 points). Nils Grandelius also has four points, but his tiebreak score is inferior to Mamedyarov's. They still have seven rounds to play over the next two days, however, so everyone is at least theoretically still in the running.

Day 1 of the Chessable Masters: Wei Yi the Early Leader in the Prelims

As mentioned in the preceding post, two super-GM rapid events got underway today (Thursday), and this is the second one: the Chessable Masters, part of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. It follows the usual MCC format: a 16-player round robin preliminary that cuts the field in half, followed by a series of knockout matches.

As you'd expect, most of the field is very strong, consisting of 2800s, 2700s, and former 2700s. At the top, the world's #1 and #2 players, Magnus Carlsen and Ding Liren, are participating; and in the 2700s there's Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Wei Yi, Santosh Vidit, Sam Shankland, Jorden Van Foreest, and Pentala Harikrishna. Everyone else is in the 2600s, except for the world's youngest-ever GM, Abhimanyu Mishra. Normally, one would expect him to be the whipping boy, but after losses to David Anton and Ding Liren (though he was beating Ding) he bounced back with wins against Eric Hansen (the second-lowest seed) and Mamedyarov. Could he qualify for the knockout stage?

The current leader is Wei Yi, who drew with Praggnanandhaa in round 1 before defeating Harikrishna, Gawain Jones, and Anton. He is half a point ahead of the murderer's row of Ding, Giri, and Carlsen, all of whom are undefeated.

I'll show one game, the round 3 battle between Nils Grandelius and the world champ. The Alapin/2.c3 Sicilian/Sveshnikov is generally solid and a little dull, and can be a safe way for the lower-rated player to pull the plug against a higher-rated opponent and head for something drawish if nothing interesting happens in the opening. (To be fair, Grandelius also played the Alapin in round 1 against Giri, so it doesn't seem that he was trolling Carlsen for a draw.) In this case, however, it royally backfired, and he was completely lost right out of the opening. Shockingly, Carlsen failed to take full advantage, though he did go on to win. Alas, this won't put an end to the Alapin, but it's still nice to see it get punished. (And it did throughout the day: in five Alapins White managed a total of two draws in five games.) Here's the game.

Superbet Rapid & Blitz, Day 1: Anand Goes 3-0 and Leads

There is some strange scheduling in the chess world, as two rapid events with super-GMs started on the very same day, today. Here in the Superbet Rapid & Blitz, which is part of the Grand Chess Tour, the field includes Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Richard Rapport, Levon Aronian, Viswanathan Anand, and Jan Krzysztof Duda. That's three current Candidates, two other players who have been as high as #2 in the world (and were former Candidates as well), and a former World Champion (and #1-rated player).

Meanwhile, the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour has an event, the Chessable Masters. Who've they got? At the top, there's the current World Champion and world #1 (Magnus Carlsen), world #2 and Candidate Ding Liren, and there are also former Candidates and world #2 players Anish Giri and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. It's a pity for us as chess fans that the two events are cannibalizing from each other - it would have been nice to see the events merged while shedding some of the lower-rated players. And it's also a pity for chess commentators, who must either stay up all night trying to cover the events deeply, or else must pare down their coverage for the sanity's sake. I'm choosing the latter tonight, but if a day's action really grabs me, I may well go the extra mile.

Anyway, this post will stick to the Superbet tournament. As noted in the headline, Anand got off to a 3-0 start, rejecting even a metaphorical application of Richard Lamm's infamous suggestion that old people have a duty to die and get out of the way. (To be fair, his indefensible statement was that old people who were terminally ill had this supposed duty.) Anand isn't likely to get another crack at the (Classical) World Championship, but he hasn't exactly forgotten how the pieces move, and with wins over Radoslaw Wojtaszek (his former second), Wesley So, and Anton Korobov, he's rolling. The wins were just "good for rapid", they were good games, period, especially the last one, against Korobov.

Aronian, Caruana, and Duda are tied for second with 2/3. Aronian drew with Rapport and Wojtaszek (with some good fortune), but beat Caruana in a good game in the first round. Caruana came back with wins over Duda and (by a very long way) bottom seed (and early cellar-dweller) David Gavrilescu. Duda also beat Gavrilescu, and Rapport as well.

Two more days of rapid await us, followed by two days of blitz. Meanwhile, here are three games from the first three rounds, with my comments.

On the Lighter Side: The Chess Elements Song

It's probably not going to be in the next staging of "Chess: The Musical", but our game needs all the songs it can get. Behold:

HT: Allen Becker

The Next Big Event: The Superbet Rapid & Blitz, Starting Thursday

Some sources state May 17 as the start date for the next Grand Chess Tour (GCT) event, the 2022 Superbet Rapid & Blitz, taking place at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland, but that is the date set for "Player Arrival". Nor is it on the 18th, contrary to other sources; that's the date for the opening ceremony. Instead, the action commences on Thursday the 19th, with the first three rounds of the rapid. Rounds 4-6 are on Friday, and the rapid concludes with its last three rounds on Saturday. There is no rest day: Sunday the 21st has the first round-robin of the blitz, and Monday the concluding round-robin.

Here's the field: Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Richard Rapport (all full GCT participants; the rest are wildcards), Viswanathan Anand, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Anton Korobov, Radek Wojtaszek, Kirill Shevchenko, and David Gavrilescu. It's too bad Magnus Carlsen isn't playing, and it would be nice to see some of the young greats who are also rapid & blitz specialists like Alireza Firouza or Arjun Erigaisi playing, but it should still be a very interesting and entertaining event.

From Ukraine With Love For Chess - A Fundraiser (Plus a New Book on Calculation)

If you've been interested in contributing a little money to help Ukraine but wondered, "How will doing that help my chess?", all is now clear: you can buy this book. It's a nice survey of Ukrainian chess, past and present, and considering the talent that country has produced, there's going to be some very high-quality material there. I just bought a copy, so I'm putting my money where my mouth is.

While I'm at it, another new book from New in Chess really has me interested, though I'm going to wait a few days to get it through the Forward Chess app: R. B. Ramesh's Improve Your Chess Calculation. It looks really good, but seems mostly aimed at stronger players (I may be in the middle to upper-middle of his intended clientele). If you're an ambitious youngster or anyone 2000 and up, I recommend it. The publisher has provided a generous number of sample pages, so check them out and see for yourself.

Bob Ciaffone, 1940-2022

I had not been in touch with Bob Ciaffone for many years, but this USCF Master and very strong poker player was an important figure in my teenage years. I played countless blitz games against him, expert Dean Yarbro, and FM and former US Junior Champion Craig Chellstorp in the mid-'80s. Their styles and repertoires were all very different, so it was good to run that gauntlet.

Ciaffone was a very principled positional player. Some of you may have seen his short book on the Smith-Morra Gambit. He would happily accept the gambit, a big believer in static advantages like material and space; much less in the initiative. As a player who enjoyed the initiative, it was useful for me to see just how much I could get away with against him, especially knowing that he was always well-prepared in the opening (when it came to opening research in those pre-engine days, he was far stronger than rating). My results against him were very good - being young and fast made a difference - but he was always a challenging opponent.

Anyway, as good as he was in chess, he was apparently much better in poker, where his most notable result was a third-place finish in the WSOP no limit main event back in 1987. And something I didn't know about him until just now is that he was also a Life Master in bridge. He was an impressive gamer, and always a nice guy to me, despite my teenaged obnoxiousness. I'll remember him fondly.

Rest in peace, Bob.

Superbet Chess Classic 2022: Vachier-Lagrave Wins in a Playoff

It wasn't a clean or a dominating performance, but it didn't matter: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave did a better job of keeping his nerves and fighting to the last than his rivals, and he was rewarded with the win in the prestigious Superbet Chess Classic.

Going into the last round, Wesley So and Levon Aronian were tied for first, with Vachier-Lagrave half a point behind. With Black against Leinier Dominguez, So was content to make a draw, though by the end he had at least a small advantage. It's easy to criticize this decision, but a good case can be made that it was correct. Just to make up some numbers: maybe he had a 10 percent chance of winning, a five percent chance of losing, and an 85% likelihood of a draw. Those numbers are probably at least somewhat wrong, but I don't think I'm wrong in claiming that a draw is the likeliest outcome. As it was either already known or a dead certainty that in case of a draw he was going to have a playoff with Aronian, and possibly with MVL as well, playing a longer game would leave him with less energy and less time to prepare for that playoff. So I think he made the correct decision - more on that later.

Aronian, as hinted in the preceding paragraph likewise drew his game. In fact, he didn't even try: it was clear as early as move 7 that despite having the white pieces, he was entirely content with an easy draw against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Thank goodness for the Sofia rules!

Finally, MVL. He had Black against Alireza Firouzja, and chose a solid line. The game was (generally) balanced for a long time, but both sides passed on opportunities to turn that equality into something irreparably drawish. The tension gradually increased, and it was Firouzja who snapped, and the result was a three-way tie for first.

The day's other games finished in draws - correctly in Deac-Caruana, and anything but in Rapport-Nepomniachtchi (see the game file for details), and it was on to the playoff, a rapid round-robin. In game one, So's rest and preparation paid off with a smooth win with White against Aronian. In game two, Vachier-Lagrave had White against So, and here too So was successful, enjoying first equality and then an advantage. Unfortunately for So, he couldn't maintain it, and was soon on the back foot. In time trouble both sides took turns blundering, but in the end MVL won on time with a winning advantage on the board.

Aronian would need to win with White against MVL to set up a further tiebreak, but it didn't happen. He was soon much worse, and while there were again fluctuations in time pressure MVL again won on time in a winning position, and took tournament victory.

The games, with my comments (to the classical games only) are here. Before giving the final standings, I note that the Grand Chess Tour points were distributed equally among the first-place finishers; Vachier-Lagrave won an extra $10k for winning the playoff.

Final Standings:

1-3. Vachier-Lagrave (first after the playoff), So, Aronian 5.5/9
4-6. Caruana, Dominguez, Deac 4.5
7-8. Firouzja, Nepomniachtchi 4
9-10. Rapport, Mamedyarov 3.5

Superbet Chess Classic 2022, Round 8: So & Aronian Still Lead Entering the Final Round

Full points have been hard to come by in the Superbet Chess Classic, and for the fifth time in eight rounds only one game finished with a winner. That game was not critical to the race for first, but one of the games that was crucial could very easily have finished with a winner. Let's recap the round:

First, the win. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had a chance for an edge early against Leinier Dominguez, had he played a4-a5 before Black played the equalizing ...a6-a5. After that, the game seemed headed for a draw, though Mamedyarov seemed to be playing, without justification, for more. Mamedyarov's 40th move was objectively losing, and though he caught a break when Dominguez erred in turn on move 41, he immediately returned the favor with a further mistake on move 43. Dominguez replied correctly, and this time there was no hope of another "amnesty", so Mamedyarov resigned, falling into a tie for last place.

On the other end of the tournament table there's Levon Aronian, who entered - and exited - the round tied for first with Wesley So. Aronian's position was computer-okay against Ian Nepomniachtchi both before and after his decision to give up a couple of minor pieces for a rook and a pawn, but that material imbalance is generally much more dangerous for the side picking up the rook and pawn. So it was here: a single, but significant, error on move 33 (33...c6?) handed White a winning advantage after 34.b5 and 36.b6. Black should not be able to keep his pawn on b7 safe, at least not without losing the farm on the kingside, and while both sides made inaccuracies and errors Nepo was well on his way to victory. Humanly speaking, Aronian was resilient in defense, but with 75.Nh4+ White could still have proved a decisive advantage. Instead, 75.Ne5? gave Aronian the chance to prove the draw, which he managed after a study-like series of only-moves.

As for the other co-leader; well, he took the day off. So had White against Alireza Firouzja, but when the latter played the King's Indian against him rather than the Gruenfeld, he played the toothless 7.dxe5, 8.Qxd8 line. The game was as good as dead after White's 16th move, and the remainder was necessary only for the sake of satisfying the Sofia rules.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave could have caught the leaders with a win, and with White against bottom seed Bogdan Deac it looked like a great opportunity. When Deac played a touch inaccurately against MVL's surprising 11.Be3 the Frenchman's fans had even more reason for optimism, but a return inaccuracy and Deac's nice 16th move returned the game to equality. From there Deac played very well, and never gave White any further opportunities for anything but a draw.

Finally, Fabiano Caruana obtained a serious advantage out of the opening against Richard Rapport. Neither player appreciated how good White's position would be after a2-a4 or a3-a4 (on moves 19, 20, and 21), and failing to play that or to take advantage of several opportunities, Caruana let Rapport escape. After Black's 25th move, he finally equalized, and from there on played flawlessly to hold the draw.

One round remains, and it looks like Aronian, who saved lost positions in this round and back in round 3 against Firouzja, has an excellent chance to win the tournament. He will have White in the last round against Mamedyarov, while So will have Black against Dominguez and MVL (half a point behind) will be Black against Firouzja. (In case of a tie for first, there will be a playoff after the round.)

Today's games, with my comments, are here; these are the final round pairings:

• Aronian (5) - Mamedyarov (3)
• Rapport (3) - Nepomniachtchi (3.5)
• Deac (4) - Caruana (4)
• Firouzja (4) - Vachier-Lagrave (4.5)
• Dominguez (4) - So (5)

Superbet Chess Classic, Round 7: Two Short Draws, Two Long Wins, and (at least) Two Blunders

We're into the home stretch of the 2022 Superbet Chess Classic, and Wesley So and Levon Aronian continue to lead the way. They both drew their games, quickly, against Bogdan Deac and Fabiano Caruana, and waited to see if anyone could close to within half a point of them. (Deac and Caruana started and finished the round a point behind them.)

Ian Nepomniachtchi could have done so, had he won with the white pieces against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. After Mamedyarov's 35...h6?? he had a chance to do so, but missed it. Nepo wasn't worse after the mutual oversight, but he played very poorly in the second time control, and went on to lose.

Another player with a chance to close to within half a point of the leaders was Leinier Dominguez. He and Alireza Firouzja had a complicated and lively game that was almost perfectly played until Dominguez's 35...Nc6??, falling for a standard tactic in a very non-standard situation. Unlike Nepo in his game, Firouzja spotted the problem and exploited it to the full, getting back to 50% for the event.

That left only Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with a chance to cut the leaders' edge to half a point. He seemed the least likely candidate to do so, as he was on the black side of a very drawish line of the Meran against Richard Rapport. A speedy repetition seemed possible until Rapport uncorked the blunder 28.Nd5?? That word, "blunder", gets overused in chess circles - and I'm probably guilty of that as well. We're all spoiled by computer evaluations, and can now recognize immediately that a certain move was a big mistake, objectively, even in cases where it might have taken grandmasters weeks or months to notice the error and demonstrate the refutation. Rapport's blunder today, however, was, as they used to say, the genuine article. No analytical confab or 3600-level computer analysis was required for this one. Errare humanum est strikes again.

In sum: with two rounds to go, So and Aronian lead MVL by half a point; lead Caruana, Firouzja, and Deac by a full point; Nepo, Mamedyarov, and Dominguez by a point and a half; and poor Rapport by two points.

Today's games, with my comments, are here; these are the pairings for round 8:

• Mamedyarov (3) - Dominguez (3)
• So (4.5) - Firouzja (3.5)
• Vachier-Lagrave (4) - Deac (3.5)
• Caruana (3.5) - Rapport (2.5)
• Nepomniachtchi (3) - Aronian (4.5)