Grenke Chess Classic: Caruana Wins the Tournament; Carlsen a Point Behind

Finishing with two wins in his last three games, Fabiano Caruana has won the 2018 Grenke Chess Classic, a full point ahead of Magnus Carlsen and a point and a half ahead of the next three players in the crosstable. This is his third tournament victory in his last four events (he also won the London Chess Classic and the Candidates), and he's back to #2 in the world, ahead of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and 21 points behind Magnus Carlsen. Not bad at all!

After six of the tournament's nine rounds he was tied for first with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Nikita Vitiugov, with Carlsen half a point behind. In round 7 Carlsen beat Arkadij Naiditsch with Black, but at the same time Caruana defeated MVL - also with Black - to go into clear first, with Vitiugov and Carlsen half a point behind. All the other games in round 7 were drawn, and in round 8 everyone drew.

That set up an exciting last round, with Caruana playing Black against Vitiugov and Carlsen having Black against Viswanathan Anand. The latter game was an interesting and mutually well-played draw, while Caruana's game echoed his Candidates finale against Alexander Grischuk. Once again he was paired with a Russian, had Black, played the Petroff, and faced the slightly unusual line 3.d4 Nxe4 4.dxe5 d5 5.Nbd2. And once again, he outplayed his opponent and won.

Congratulations once again to Caruana, who now comes back to St. Louis to try to reclaim the U.S. Championship title he won in 2016 but surrendered to Wesley So in 2017. As usual, the big three are all participating in the tournament, which begins April 18. Also starting on the 18th is the Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir, and Carlsen will be in that event, along with Mamedyarov, Vladimir Kramnik, and six other top players.

Back to the GCC. The games from the last three rounds, with my notes to the three decisive games, are here. (N.B. I've analyzed the Vitiugov-Caruana game more deeply for ChessLecture.com, for those of you who have memberships there, are considering memberships, or want to watch it a la carte when it comes out.) And here are the final standings:

• 1. Caruana 6.5 (of 9)
• 2. Carlsen 5.5
• 3-5. Aronian, Vitiugov, Vachier-Lagrave 5
• 6. Bluebaum 4.5
• 7-9. Anand, Hou Yifan, Naiditsch 3.5
• 10. Meier 3

2018 Grenke Chess Classic, Rounds 5 & 6: Still a Troika on Top

The last three rounds of the Grenke Chess Classic have been draw-heavy, but not for want of effort. Round 4 was already covered in the preceding post; now we'll have a look at rounds 5 and 6.

In round 5, all five games were drawn, including those featuring the leaders. There were two games, not featuring the leaders, which could and should have finished with a winner. Georg Meier was beating Magnus Carlsen after the world champion was enticed by a dubious tactical trick (30...Qf5 31.Rf1 Ba6). Fortunately for Carlsen, White's wins weren't entirely obvious, and as they arose on move 39, right before the time control, Meier may not have had the time and peace he needed to spot the subtle points within the winning variations.

That was a fortunate escape for Carlsen, but not nearly as lucky as Matthias Bluebaum's save against Arkadij Naiditsch. Bluebaum's 19...Bxd3 was a terrible move, giving his opponent a crushing attack for an irrelevant pawn. Fortunately for Bluebaum, Naiditsch went for the flashy 23.Rxg7, sacrificing a rook, when the boring 23.f4 would have won quickly and at no cost. White was still winning even after giving away a rook, but further errors and inaccuracies resulted in an ending where the win was no longer easy, and in fact the game soon petered out into equality.

With all five games drawn, the status quo was maintained. In round 6 there were a pair of decisive games, but neither affected the top of the crosstable, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Nikita Vitiugov, and Fabiano Caruana remain in clear first with +2 scores. Vitiugov played Vachier-Lagrave, enjoying a slight-to-moderate advantage throughout in a game that was played to bare kings. Caruana, however, was in grave danger, worse and at times losing on the White side of a Petroff(!) against Hou Yifan(!). Apparently Caruana's favorite black opening against 1.e4 is so strong that he doesn't know what to do against it either. He had to suffer for a very long time to save the game, but since tomorrow's a rest day he'll have a chance to recover before round 7.

Turning to the decisive games, Meier stood well against Naiditsch in a very sharp game, but fell asleep (not literally) on move 33. White had a number of reasonable options, and they all had in common that they enabled him to defend against threats on the a8-h1 diagonal. Instead, Meier played 33.cxb6, completely missing Black's idea. After 33...Qb7, it was already time for White to resign, and he did.

The other decisive game was a big upset, with bottom-seed Bluebaum beating former world champion Viswanathan Anand. Anand equalized with Black out of the opening, but still needed to be a little careful about his a- and b-pawns. I've seen Anand use little tactics to "kill" a position (i.e. make it a dead draw) on countless occasions, but this time he miscalculated and lost material. He tried sacrificing a piece for a couple of pawns, one a far-advanced passer, but it wasn't enough. The youngster (Bluebaum will turn 21 in a week and a half) won and made it back to 50%.

The games of the last two rounds are here (with some annotations by me). Tomorrow (Saturday) is a rest day, and on Sunday the pairings for round 7 are as follows:

• Naiditsch (2.5) - Carlsen (3.5)
• Anand (2) - Meier (1.5)
• Hou Yifan (2) - Bluebaum (3)
• Vachier-Lagrave (4) - Caruana (4)
• Aronian (3.5) - Vitiugov (4)

Grenke Chess Classic, Round 4: Caruana Wins, Joins the Leaders

It's good times for Fabiano Caruana, as he goes from one success in Germany to another. After winning the Candidates in Berlin a week or so ago, he's now the co-leader of the Grenke Chess Classic after defeating Arkadij Naiditsch in round 4. All the other games were drawn - entirely cleanly, it seems, which is unusual and impressive. In fact, the Caruana-Naiditsch game also should have been drawn, too. The position was almost dead drawn, but Caruana managed to create a few problems for Black in the run-up to the time control, and it paid off. (While the material balance was different, I'm reminded of Karjakin-So from the Candidates, which looked like a sure, practically dead drawn game that Karjakin somehow managed to win. In both cases, the defender had a slightly offside knight that he couldn't quite manage to harmonize with the rest of his position.)

The games are here, with my brief comments on the critical moments of the Caruana-Naiditsch game. Here's what's ahead in round 5:

• Meier (1) - Carlsen (2.5)
• Naiditsch (1) - Bluebaum (1.5)
• Anand (1.5) - Caruana (3)
• Hou Yifan (1) - Vitiugov (3)
• Vachier-Lagrave (3) - Aronian (2.5)

2018 Grenke Chess Classic, Round 3; Vitiugov and MVL Lead. Plus a 13-Year-Old Wins the Grenke Chess Open

The higher-rated players had Black today in all five games, and they managed to convert in two of them while going undefeated overall. Fabiano Caruana was winning, then not; then winning, then not...etc. against Georg Meier...and finally won. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won against Hou Yifan when the latter underestimated a simple tactical point. With the win Vachier-Lagrave caught up with Nikita Vitiugov, who drew with Arkadij Naiditsch; both players have 2.5/3.

Fabiano Caruana is half a point behind, as are Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian. Carlsen did his best to get something against bottom seed Matthias Bluebaum, but he played well, didn't get intimidated, and confidently achieved the draw. As for Aronian, he drew with Viswanathan Anand.

Today's games (with comments to the decisive ones) are here - with a bonus (see below). Tomorrow (Tuesday) is a rest day; here are the pairings for round 4, on Wednesday:

• Carlsen (2) - Vachier-Lagrave (2.5)
• Aronian (2) - Hou Yifan (.5)
• Vitiugov (2.5) - Anand (1)
• Caruana (2) - Naiditsch (1)
• Bluebaum (1) - Meier (.5)

The Grenke Chess Open ran concurrently, and in a field with over 50 GMs, four of whom were rated over 2700, the winner was 13-year-old International Master Vincent Keymer, with an enormous, undefeated score of 8/9, including four wins over GMs. (I'm not sure what his TPR was, so if someone else has that info please pass it along in the comments.) In the last round he beat Richard Rapport (2715) in a crazy game I've included in the file above. (I've annotated it in depth for a ChessLecture.com video, so members might look for it there in a couple of weeks.)

A couple of fun facts about the young Mr. Keymer. First, he's apparently working with Peter Leko at the moment, but I don't know how long their partnership has existed. Also, when entering his name into the tags for the post I was surprised to see that he was already there - I wrote about him once before, more than two and a half years ago. So as amazing as his performance was in this event, maybe he has been underperforming for the past 30+ months, since he was 2350 back then and was only 2403 coming into this tournament. Anyway, if he can replicate what he did here, he's going places. (Speaking of which, he's going to at least one place: his victory in the Open qualifies him for next year's Chess Classic.)

2018 Grenke Chess Classic, Round 2: Vitiugov Wins Again

So did almost everyone else with White, on a day where the higher-rated player - usually the much higher-rated player - had the white pieces. Nikita Vitiugov broke the hearts of all the fans of his French Defense books by taking it on and winning against a variation he recommended for Black. But fear not, Francophiles, improvements are available to you! In the game, Georg Meier struggled, and didn't manage to show his best defensive abilities. Vitiugov was the only winner in round 1, so the second win guaranteed that he remain in clear first with a 2-0 score.

Three other players won with White, including World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen didn't get much (read: anything) against Hou Yifan in a Bishop's Opening, but in true Carlsen style kept posing problems and won, bit by bit and step by step. His technique wasn't at its peak, and several times fairly late in the game he gave her the chance to equalize. She missed her chances, though, and after her last serious error - 38...fxe4 - there was no coming back.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated Viswanathan Anand in a Taimanov Sicilian. Anand had a nice improvement on some earlier games, but perhaps he hadn't prepared the idea deeply enough. MVL was better in the middlegame, and successfully transitioned into an ending where Anand's terrible bishop ultimately cost him the game.

Levon Aronian won his first game since round 4 of the Candidates, defeating Arkadij Naiditsch rather convincingly on the white side of a King's Indian. Aronian enjoyed a massive space advantage, and Naiditsch's bid for counterplay with 16...f5 only served as an invitation to White's pieces to flood in.

Finally, there was one draw. Fabiano Caruana had White again, but couldn't get anything against the considerably lower-rated Matthias Bluebaum and his French. (A bit of consolation for those of you weeping over the Vitiugov game.)

The games are here (some with notes), and the round 3 pairings are Bluebaum-Carlsen, Meier-Caruana, Naiditisch-Vitiugov, Anand-Aronian, and Hou Yifan-Vachier-Lagrave. The five players with White all have half a point each and are the five lowest-rated players in the event (excepting Anand, who is higher-rated than Vitiugov), while all the players with Black are undefeated and have 1.5 points (except for Caruana with 1 and Vitiugov with 2).

Grenke Chess Classic, Round 1: Caruana Ekes Out a Draw, Vitiugov Wins a Brilliancy

The much, but not long-awaited game between Magnus Carlsen and his latest challenger, Fabiano Caruana, took place in round 1, and it did not disappoint. At least it didn't disappoint fans looking for a hard-fought game; partisans of each player will have something to regret - but also to celebrate. Carlsen proved better in the middlegame, while Caruana demonstrated his defensive prowess and showed that Carlsen's vaunted technique isn't perfect.

The opening was unusual and full of little surprises: Caruana played 1.d4 and then chose a rather passive Anti-King's Indian/Anti-Gruenfeld with 4.e3. Carlsen turned the game into an oddball King's Indian, and outplayed his opponent in the non-standard middlegame that ensued. He eventually obtained a winning double-rook ending, but Caruana defended stoutly, and at a certain point in the second time control Carlsen was forced to find a difficult (but not impossible) winning move. He didn't manage to clear that last hurdle, and from there the draw wasn't too hard for Caruana to secure.

Four of the five games were drawn, and most of the drawn games had some adventures. Viswanathan Anand had White against Hou Yifan and played a risky, experimental opening, sacrificing a pawn and later an exchange. (Though by that time, he was a pawn up, so he had a pawn for the exchange.) Slightly reminiscent of the Karjakin-Caruana game from the Candidates - Caruana's only loss - Anand's compensation for the exchange was a brilliant bishop on d5. Hou's position was difficult, but she defended resourcefully and saved the game.

Arkadij Naiditsch's game with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was a real barn-burner. Both players love extreme complications and handle them very well. This time around, Naiditsch handled them better for a good portion of the middlegame, but MVL managed to keep things wild and managed enough counterplay to draw.

Georg Meier's game with Levon Aronian was the dullest game of the round; not exactly a shock given Meier's 5.Re1 against the Berlin. There are exceptions in Meier's repertoire, but for the most part he plays risk-averse chess, trying to obtain small advantages and then grind away with his excellent technical skills. It's unlikely to prove successful against the top players in the field, but then again he won't lose to them in such situations, either.

Finally, the one decisive game was a keeper, a minor brilliancy sure to make the rounds. The first 19 moves of Matthias Bluebaum-Nikita Vitiugov looked likely to result in a draw, but then Bluebaum fell into a very deep trap. Vitiugov's 21...Rxf2! was the start of a combination running a dozen or so moves in the main line, requiring a number of precise, subtle, beautiful moves to work. I've annotated this game, along with Caruana-Carlsen, and all five games can be replayed here.

The round 2 pairings are Carlsen - Hou Yifan, Vachier-Lagrave - Anand, Aronian - Naiditsch, Vitiugov - Meier, and Caruana - Bluebaum. The higher-rated player has the white pieces in every game, and it's a significant rating difference in all of them but MVL-Anand.

Caruana-Carlsen...in Round 1, Now!

Part of the fun of the Grenke Chess Classic is that it features the first game between Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen, now that the former is the official challenger for the latter's world championship title. And we didn't have to wait: they were paired for round 1, and that game is underway now.

The other pairings are: Viswanathan Anand - Hou Yifan, Georg Meier - Levon Aronian, Arkadij Naiditsch - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Matthias Bluebaum - Nikita Vitiugov.

Grenke Chess Classic

The lead-up to the 2018 World Chess Championship begins this weekend with the Grenke Chess Classic in Baden-Baden, Germany. Both Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana will be playing, together with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, Viswanathan Anand, Nikita Vitiugov, Arkadij Naiditsch, Hou Yifan, Georg Meier, and Matthias Bluebaum.

The pairings haven't yet been decided, and the first round is at 3 p.m. local time (= 9 a.m. ET). Who will get the upper hand in the psychological duel between Carlsen and Caruana? Stay tuned.