Candidates, Round 7: MVL Beats Nepo, Catches Him for First At the End of the First Cycle
I'm a fan of the French Defense, but what was Ian Nepomniachtchi thinking playing it in a draw-is-fantastic situation against the only player who could catch him? It would be one thing if the French - and the Winawer, at that - had been a surprise, but that element was gone when he played it against Kirill Alekseenko in round 3. Going for a repeat performance against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was risky, and it didn't work out. Nepo's 18...c4 was a serious error, after which he was bludgeoned to death without a shred of counterplay, but even after better moves White had the advantage. Of course, he might have lost to MVL in a solid opening as well, and he might have been very confident in his French prep. Even so, it seems a very iffy practical choice.
Whatever our assessment of his decision, the upshot is the same: Vachier-Lagrave has caught Nepomniachtchi in first place at the end of the first cycle, a point ahead of their closest competitors: Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Grischuk, Anish Giri, and Wang Hao. They played one another (Caruana and Wang Hao, Giri and Grischuk) and drew their games, with nothing too serious going on. The tailenders (a further point behind) also faced off, and Ding Liren and Alekseenko drew their game, too.
The games are here, and the second cycle starts in the morning with the following pairings:
- Caruana (3.5) - Vachier-Lagrave (4.5)
- Wang Hao (3.5) - Ding Liren (2.5)
- Nepomniachtchi (4.5) - Giri (3.5)
- Alekseenko (2.5) - Grischuk (3.5)
With the exception of the final pairing, I suspect that the player scores are approximately the opposite of what we would have expected. In particular, I was worried before round 1 that MVL would be a spoiler for Caruana, and now it's the other way around. (It's not too late!) The tournament has not gone the way anyone would predict.
Speaking of which...players and fans alike have been wondering if the tournament would be postponed at some point, and now the news has come that Russian President Vladimir Putin has cancelled the coming work week and asked all non-essential workers to stay home. That's good, sensible news, but guess who's apparently essential? Right, chess players. (HT for both sources: Daniel Parmet.) This despite Teimour Radjabov's withdrawal, at least half of the players complaining, and two of the players (Nepo and Ding) suffering a bad cough. It's good for us, I guess, but pretty terrible for the players, who might want to band together and refuse to play. What would Garry do, I wonder? (Speaking of which, has anyone seen him address the topic on social media or elsewhere?)
Reader Comments (1)
You'll likely already know, but the tournament has stopped.