Superbet Chess Classic, Round 6: Aronian Drubs MVL, Catches So in First

After the rest day, the players in the Superbet Chess Classic came out ready to do battle, and in terms of the number of decisive games and the games' length, it was one of the most fighting rounds of the tournament. There was only one short game, and it was Levon Aronian's massacre - with Black! - of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

That was a genuinely odd game, as Aronian chose a line he has used many times before. It was Vachier-Lagrave who tried something unusual, Aronian replied with good moves that would have come up in MVL's prep with the computer, and then MVL went from one error after another: first an inaccuracy, then a series of three errors of increasing magnitude. We all have days where it would have been better to stay in bed; this was such a day for Vachier-Lagrave.

The win allowed Aronian to catch Wesley So in a tie for first. So only managed a draw, thanks to Richard Rapport's fine prep. Rapport found a nice pawn sac that always gave him equality (in the sense of a more or less certain draw, not in the sense of ever having winning chances), first in the form of the bishop pair, and then thanks to the opposite-colored bishops.

The day's other winner was Leinier Dominguez, who upset Bogdan-Daniel Deac's Cinderella story in a long, very up-and-down game. At one point Deac enjoyed a winning advantage, but for most of the first half of the game it was a roughly balanced battle between Dominguez's bishop pair and Deac's extra pawn. In the second time control, both sides made multiple, serious errors, but the overall trend was in favor of Dominguez's two bishops against Deac's rook and pawn. It's rare that the side with the rook can survive that material imbalance, and while there were a couple of subtle tactical opportunities that would have allowed the improbable to occur, the usual result ensued.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alireza Firouzja played an even longer game, almost making it to 100 moves. Mamedyarov pressed throughout, but remains in last place after the draw. Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi also drew their game after a characteristically thrilling Petroff. Semi-mandatory Petroff joke aside, Nepo had some pull when Caruana messed up his preparation, but not enough to make something out of it.

Here are the games, analyzed to varying degrees, and here's what's on tap for tomorrow's round:

• Nepomniachtchi (3) - Mamedyarov (2)
• Aronian (4) - Caruana (3)
• Rapport (2.5) - Vachier-Lagrave (3)
• Deac (3) - So (4)
• Firouzja (2.5) - Dominguez (3)

Karjakin Loses His Appeal (in Two Senses)

On May 6, the FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission dismissed Sergey Karjakin's appeal. That appeal challenged FIDE's 6-month ban for his breach of article 2.2.10 - essentially for his very public support of P****n's invasion of Ukraine. The ban means that Karjakin won't be able to play in the 2022 Candidates, slated to start in mid-June; his slot, as most of you already know, is going to Ding Liren. Karjakin does have one last means of appeal, if he chooses to use it: the Court of Arbitration of Sport.

Karjakin has done a fine job of making himself a pariah, but he has decided to double down with a weird prank, getting a couple of his friends to call FIDE Director General Emil Sutovsky, posing as the Ukrainian Minister of Sport. Having watched the video, the only thing that they did that could have really damaged Sutovsky, had he fallen for it, was their Borat-like attempt to get him to go along with promoting a chess event not with the Ukrainian army in general, but with the Azov fighters. That group is the one segment in Ukraine that has had some connection to anti-Semitism, which is part of P***n's pitiful "justification" for the war. Sutovsky didn't bite, so as far as I can tell Karjakin achieved nothing for the home crowd while making himself look even worse to the rest of the world.

It's a pity that Karjakin holds his reprehensible views, and a shame that he either lacks anyone with sense to counsel him, or that he simply ignores those people.

Niemann Draws Van Foreest, Wins Sigeman & Co

Congrats to 18-year-old American grandmaster Hans Niemann, who won Sigeman & Co by a full point over Michael Adams, Nils Grandelius, and Arjun Erigaisi! That's his second consecutive tournament victory (before this, he won the Capablanca Memorial), and he has picked up a very tidy 37 (ok, 36.8) rating points over these last two events.

U.S. chess is doing very well, even aside from our imported super-GMs...though we're very happy to have them remain here, thank you very much. Our younger generation of Sam Sevian, Jeffery Xiong, and now Niemann may or may not supplant our absolute top players, but they're at the very least a brilliant set of reserves. And then there are the even younger guys like Abhimanyu Mishra, whom you may recall broke Sergey Karjakin's record last year for the youngest grandmaster of all time. He's still making some progress, recently winning a round-robin tournament in St. Louis with a 2739 TPR.

Superbet Chess Classic, Round 5: The Triumph of the Status Quo

There was one victory today in the Superbet Chess Classic, with Fabiano Caruana defeating Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on the white side of a Petroff in a battle between players sharing last place, but the other four games were drawn, mostly uneventfully.

Entering the round Wesley So was in clear first, half a point ahead of Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Bogdan-Daniel Deac. So achieved a very comfortable draw on the black side of a Symmetrical English against Levon Aronian, and Vachier-Lagrave also had a very easy time with the Black pieces against Ian Nepomniachtchi. In fact MVL was even pressing a little at one point, but after missing the chance to play 27...h5 Nepo was able to hunker down and save the game. Deac, however, had a crazy game against Alireza Firouzja. First he was much better, maybe even winning, but then in time trouble he blundered and was lost. Time trouble did its damage to Firouzja as well, and he squandered his winning chances in the last few moves of the time control - and on move 41 as well - to allow Deac to escape.

The last game - like Caruana-Mamedyarov a battle of tailenders - hit its high point on move 2. Richard Rapport essayed 1.e4 e5 2.Ne2!? It was good for a smile, but not an advantage, and Leinier Dominguez had little difficulty achieving equality and a draw. (All five games, with my comments, are here.)

The players have a rest day tomorrow, and on round 6 the following games will take place:

• Mamedyarov (1.5) - Firouzja (2)
• Dominguez (2) - Deac (3)
• So (3.5) - Rapport (2)
• Vachier-Lagrave (3) - Aronian (3)
• Caruana (2.5) - Nepomniachtchi (2.5)

Yuri Averbakh, 1922-2022

It wasn't that long ago that I mentioned that Yuri Averbakh became the first grandmaster, past or present, to reach 100 years of age. Alas, news comes that the Russian GM and erstwhile Candidate passed away on Saturday. Here are some tributes:

• ChessBase
• Chess24
• Chess.com (The best of the bunch)
• FIDE

Averbakh was not only an accomplished player, but a theoretician, endgame specialist, writer, chess historian, international arbiter, and administrator as well. As far as I know, he didn't engage in correspondence chess, and he wasn't involved in computer chess; other than that, he made significant contributions to every aspect of our game.

Rest in peace.

Sigeman & Co: Niemann on the Verge of a Major Triumph

A tournament that flew under my radar until earlier today was the annual Sigeman & Co tournament in Malmo, Sweden. The eight-player field features only one current 2700 (Jorden Van Foreest), but almost the entire rest of the field includes players who were over 2700 (four of whom entered the tournament within 10 points of that milestone).

And yet...going into today's final round, the leader is the only player who hasn't come close to a 2700 rating (although if he wins today he won't be that far away from it): 18-year-old American talent Hans Moke Niemann. He has scored an undefeated +3, with wins over Arjun Erigaisi, Saleh Salem, and Alexei Shirov. He is a point ahead of Erigaisi and Nils Grandelius, so if he can survive against Van Foreest he will clinch clear first.

Superbet Chess Classic, Rounds 3-4

The first event of the 2022 Grand Chess Tour is nearing the halfway point, and in round 4 of the Superbet Chess Classic the previous quota of one win per round was exceeded. In round 3, that winner was - shockingly - bottom seed and wildcard Bogdan Deac, who exploited a Richard Rapport blunder to win what was an equal, drawish position. That put him into a three-way tie for first with round 1 winner Wesley So and round 2 winner Ian Nepomniachtchi. Of the round's four draws, only one should have resulted in a winner. Alireza Firouzja was clearly winning against Levon Aronian, but the latter survived by a hair in a tricky minor piece and then king and pawn ending.

Deac drew in round 4, continuing to enjoy an excellent tournament, but it wasn't enough to stay in first. The other co-leaders battled it out, with Nepo repeating a pawn sac he had used before in the hopes of making a draw with patient, passive defense. He held the position for a long time, but it's difficult to do so forever, and after back-to-back errors his opponent took advantage with a nice tactic. That put So in clear first, half a point ahead of Deac and a point ahead of Nepo. Deac's previous +1'ers may have left him, but he was joined by two new ones. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was clearly worse against Fabiano Caruana, but the latter's over-excited exchange sac (20...Rxf3??) more than turned the tables. The Frenchman collected the full point, and so did Levon Aronian, who ground down Leinier Dominguez in a bishop vs. knight ending with an extra pawn.

The games, with my notes, are here; these are the pairings for round 5:

• Caruana (1.5) - Mamedyarov (1.5)
• Nepomniachtchi (2) - Vachier-Lagrave (2.5)
• Aronian (2.5) - So (3)
• Rapport (1.5) - Dominguez (1.5)
• Deac (2.5) - Firouzja (1.5)

Superbet Chess Classic 2022, Rounds 1-2

The 2022 Grand Chess Tour is underway, and the first event of the year is a classical chess tournament in Bucharest, Romania, the Superbet Chess Classic. The field is very strong, including the world's #3-8 players. Two rounds of nine are in the books, and there have only been two decisive results. In round 1, Wesley So defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and in round 2 Ian Nepomniachtchi won with Black against Alireza Firouzja.

All ten games are here, with my notes. Here are the round 3 pairings:

• Vachier-Lagrave (1) - Mamedyarov (.5)
• Caruana (1) - So (1.5)
• Nepomniachtchi (1.5) - Dominguez (1)
• Aronian (1) - Firouzja (.5)
• Rapport (1) - Deac (1)

Ding Liren Gets to 30

Or rather, 32! He had played four games over the course of (most of) the past year, and needed to get in 30 games to be eligible for the Candidates later this year. He did it, playing a remarkable 28 Classical games in 28 days, going unbeaten throughout against players rated from 2564 to 2729. He gained 7.2 points, and will be rated 2806 at the start of May. This will put him in the Candidates unless Sergey Karjakin's six-month ban is overturned.

To recap earlier information, then, these are the Candidates (starting June 16):

Ian Nepomniachtchi (2021 World Championship runner-up), Teimour Radjabov (FIDE nominee, compensating for his refusal to play in the 2020 Candidates over COVID risks), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (World Cup winner), Alireza Firouzja (Grand Swiss winner), Fabiano Caruana (Grand Swiss runner-up), Hikaru Nakamura (Grand Prix winner), Richard Rapport (Grand Prix runner-up), and either Ding Liren (highest rated eligible player as of May 2022) or, if reinstated, Sergey Karjakin (World Cup runner-up).

American Cup, Days 3 & 4

The American Cup, a hybrid double-elimination event has at last eliminated two players - Jeffery Xiong and Sam Shankland - while only two undefeated players remain - Leinier Dominguez and Fabiano Caruana, who will play each other in the next round. Here's what has happened since my post at the end of day 2.

Dominguez took on Aronian in the Champions bracket (the bracket for those who have yet to lose a match), and he won in the classical games 1.5-.5, not needing a playoff. The first game was a Petroff, but it was neither a sleepy game nor one won by White. Dominguez won in just 28 moves with a crushing attack, and managed to stay out of trouble in the rematch on the way to a draw.

The other match in that bracket was between Fabiano Caruana and Sam Sevian. Their classical games were drawn, and then Caruana won 2-0 in the playoff. It was not completely smooth sailing, however, at least not in the second game, as Sevian missed the chance to give mate or win Caruana's queen starting with 54...Qb1+. (It should be noted, however, that this was a one-move opportunity deep in a game with a short time control, which had been winning for Caruana for a while before that. On the other hand, Sevian had been winning before that, and before that it was again Caruana who was winning. It was a back-and-forth affair, with Caruana on top most but not all of the way.)

In the elimination matches, Ray Robson needed to win in Armageddon to eliminate Shankland, while Wesley So did the job more smoothly against Xiong, winning the first game and drawing the second.

The games are here (with notes to Dominguez's win over Aronian), and in the next round we'll have Caruana-Dominguez in the Champions bracket and the matches Sevian-Robson and Aronian-So in the Elimination bracket.