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    Entries in 2019 Wijk aan Zee (13)

    Sunday
    Jan272019

    2019 Wijk aan Zee, Round 13: Carlsen Draws, Wins the Tournament

    There wasn't much drama today in the final round of the 2019 Tata Steel Chess Tournament, either in the Masters Group or even in the Challengers event. There could have been. Anish Giri had the white pieces against Magnus Carlsen, and with a win he'd have vaulted Carlsen and taken clear first. And in the Challengers event Vladislav Kovalev was only half a point ahead of Maksim Chigaev and Andrey Esipenko. But there were no fantastic finishes. Carlsen drew with complete ease, and the question early on was only if he might win or at least try to win the game. And it was even worse in the Challengers event: Kovalev won in 24 moves when his opponent blundered into a mating attack, and for good measure both Chigaev and Esipenko lost their games. So Carlsen won the main event, Kovalev the Challengers, and the latter will be promoted to the Masters event next year.

    As for the rest of the Masters games: Richard Rapport blitzed Jorden Van Foreest off the board in just 21 moves, mostly due, I'd say, to the latter's poor preparation for the line that came up. (His novelty on move 12 - undoubtedly not the result of prior preparation, landed him in a lost position.) The other win took longer: Vladimir Kramnik once again went into self-destruct mode, avoiding a simple draw for a more complex position where only Sam Shankland could play for a win. Shankland took his chance and gave the former world champion his sixth defeat of the tournament. The remaining games were drawn between 19 and 35 moves. (The games, with my notes to Giri-Carlsen, the two decisive games, and Kovalev's last-round win are here.)

    Here are the final standings:

    • 1. Carlsen 9 (out of 13)
    • 2. Giri 8.5
    • 3-5. Nepomniachtchi, Ding, Anand 7.5
    • 6. Vidit 7
    • 7-9. Radjabov, Shankland, Rapport 6.5
    • 10. Duda 5.5
    • 11-12. Fedoseev, Mamedyarov 5
    • 13-14. Kramnik, Van Foreest 4.5

    And just for fun, the final standings of the Challengers group:

    • 1. Kovalev 10 (of 13)
    • 2-4. Gledura, Esipenko, Chigaev 8.5
    • 5-6. Korobov, L'Ami 7.5
    • 7-8. Maghsoodloo, Bareev 7
    • 9. (Lucas) Van Foreest 6
    • 10. Keymer 5.5
    • 11. Praggnanandhaa 5
    • 12-13. Saduakassova, Paehtz 3.5
    • 14. Kuipers 3

    Saturday
    Jan262019

    2019 Wijk aan Zee, Round 12: Carlsen Wins Again, Leads Giri By Half a Point Going Into Their Last-Round Showdown

    Last year Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri tied for first in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, and in this year's edition they are once again the only contenders for first. Last year, Carlsen defeated Giri in a playoff; this year, a playoff is impossible, as Carlsen enters the round half a point ahead of his rival and they face off in the last round. (I suppose one could consider it a de facto playoff: an Armageddon game with a classical time control. If Carlsen wins or draws, he wins the tournament; if Giri wins, then he does.)

    They entered the round tied for first after Giri got a colossal gift from Sam Shankland, who resigned in a completely drawn position. In this round Giri got a second gift, as Teimour Radjabov offered a draw (which was of course accepted by Giri) in a won position. Not a dead or obviously won position, but a winning one all the same. Even with all the freebies Giri is enjoying, Carlsen still enters the last round as the sole leader after grinding out a victory against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. No freebies, just hard work: he obtained an advantage in the early middlegame and never let go. Duda didn't make it easy for him, but he was still forced to surrender after 71 moves.

    Ian Nepomniachtchi entered the round only half a point behind the leaders, but now he's a point and a half behind after getting clobbered by Shankland. Perhaps trying to hard to get a complicated and untheoretical position Nepo played an experimental line, a Pirc with ...e6. The combination of ...g6, ...Bg7, ...Nf6 and ...e6 generally don't go very well together (to oversimplify a bit: if you want to play a Pirc, avoid ...e6; if you want a Hippo, don't play ...Nf6), and they went dreadfully wrong in this game. Shankland played natural, healthy, aggressive chess, and won convincingly.

    Ding Liren and Viswanathan Anand could have remained a point behind Carlsen, had either defeated the other. That still would have left them mathematically eliminated from the race for first, after Carlsen's win, but at least they'd be a bit closer. It was a very good game, with Ding playing 1.e4 - an unusual first move for him - and having some deep preparation. Anand defended well, and 28...Rd6 was a beautiful idea that led to an ending where White's had no way to use his material advantage.

    Finally, Vladimir Kramnik made it two consecutive wins by defeating Vladimir Fedoseev in a queen and rook ending, while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov bled some rating points by drawing with Jorden Van Foreest. Kramnik is now "only" -18.7 for the touranment, while Mamedyarov is a ghastly -26 on the live rating list. And Santosh Vidit Gujrathi was winning against Richard Rapport, but after he missed the right way to prosecute his attack the game finished in a draw.

    The tournament site is here, the games (with light comments, though not about photons) are here, and these the pairings for the final round, tomorrow:

    • Giri (8) - Carlsen (8.5)
    • Nepomniachtchi (7) - Radjabov (6)
    • Kramnik (4.5) - Shankland (5.5)
    • Mamedyarov (4.5) - Fedoseev (4.5)
    • Rapport (5.5) - Van Foreest (4.5)
    • Anand (7) - Vidit (6.5)
    • Duda (5) - Ding (7)

    In the Challengers Tournament, the sole leader is Vladislav Kovalev, who came into the event as the second seed. He has 9/12, good for a half-point lead over 16-year-old Andrey Esipenko and Maksim Chigaev. Unfortunately for Chigaev and Esipenko, they're both playing Black against strong opponents (Gledura and Bareev, respectively) while Kovalev has White against bottom seed and co-cellar dweller Stefan Kuipers. One never knows for sure, but the odds of Kovalev's getting clear first and securing qualification to next year's top group look awfully good.

    Wednesday
    Jan232019

    2019 Wijk aan Zee, Round 10: Carlsen Defeats Anand, Enjoys the Clear Lead

    I warned you! After 21 straight draws, Magnus Carlsen finally broke the string with a win over Jorden Van Foreest and then another win over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and now he's back. His confidence has been restored, and he is putting in that extra bit of fight, causing his opponents as many problems as possible. Even Viswanathan Anand succumbed today in a long ending, unable to hold an objectively (but certainly not trivially) drawn knight endgame a pawn down.

    In that way he took care of one of the co-leaders, and with the unexpected help of Jorden Van Foreest the third co-leader, Ian Nepomniachtchi, was also kicked a point behind. Nepo seemed to have been surprised in the opening, chose a dubious line, and got crushed by a kingside attack. (While we're at it, pretty much the same thing happened today to Vladimir Kramnik, albeit in a very different line, as he was drubbed by Santosh Vidit Gujrathi.)

    Carlsen is in great shape, in clear first at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament with three rounds remaining, but there is still one player who is nipping at his heels. Anish Giri is only half a point behind after winning with Black against Vladimir Fedoseev in a game that was probably determined by White's time pressure.

    Perhaps the nicest win of the round was Richard Rapport's win against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The game seemed headed for a draw, but Duda got greedy, careless, or both. His 32.Qd8? was both a bad move and a terribly impractical one. An easy draw was available with 32.Qb2, but his move threatened mate. The reason this was an impractical decision is that Rapport had at least a couple of moments where he could have bailed out and maintained equality if he couldn't find anything better. So Duda let Rapport play with house money: if Rapport finds a win, he wins; if not, he is in no worse shape than he would have been after 32.Qb2. Happily for chess fans, Rapport worked out the combination in full, and won in style.

    There were only two draws today, and while neither was thrilling they were decent games played to a logical end. Sam Shankland and Teimour Radjabov split their point, with neither player enjoying any real edge, while Ding Liren pressed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov before calling it a day on move 46.

    The games (with comments to the decisive games) are here. The last rest day is tomorrow, and on Friday we'll have round 11, with these pairings:

    • Radjabov (5) - Carlsen (7)
    • Giri (6.5) - Shankland (4.5)
    • Nepomniachtchi (6) - Fedoseev (4.5)
    • Kramnik (2.5) - Van Foreest (4)
    • Mamedyarov (4) - Vidit (5)
    • Rapport (4.5) - Ding (6)
    • Anand (6) - Duda (4.5)

    Tuesday
    Jan222019

    2019 Wijk aan Zee, Round 9: Nepomniachtchi Makes it a Three-Way Tie On Top

    It wasn't the most thrilling round of this year's Tata Steel Chess Tournament, but with Ian Nepomniachtchi getting back into a tie for first it was a significant one. Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand entered the round tied for first, and that's how they left it, too - but with a little company.

    For Carlsen, it was a fairly comfortable draw with Black against Sam Shankland. He never had a ghost of a chance to achieve more than that, as Shankland's sound and solid play kept it a two-results game throughout. A similar story could be told about Anand's draw with Richard Rapport: a fairly comfortable hold with the black pieces, but without any opportunities for more.

    That left the door open not only for Nepomniachtchi, but for Ding Liren and Anish Giri to catch up, if any of them could win. On paper Giri had the best chance, with White against Jorden Van Foreest, but he never achieved enough of a plus (at least in his eyes) to play for more, and the game was agreed drawn in just 30 moves. Giri was a pawn up, but apparently felt that Black's counterplay with the bishop pair would suffice. Ding had Black against Vladimir Kramnik, and for what - the sixth time(??!!) in the tournament Kramnik obtained a losing position. (Or was it seven?) Kramnik lost four of the previous five lost positions he had, but this time he escaped when Ding fell for a nice but not terribly difficult cheapo. That said, the win wasn't obvious either, but all the same Kramnik was fortunate to escape.

    As for Nepo, he defeated Santosh Vidit, who seemed on his way to holding in a Petroff Defense. Nepomniachtchi enjoyed a nice space advantage, but until Vidit's 26...Kb7 it wasn't something that should prove fatal. Even after that White's win wasn't completely clear until Black played 34...Kc7?, which Nepo exploited with 35.Rb4!, followed shortly by Vidit's resignation.

    One other game finished with a winner, and that was Vladimir Fedoseev's marathon win with Black against Teimour Radjabov. It was one of those games where the players could have agree to a draw at any point over a very long stretch, but first one player and then the other decided to flog the dead horse - or the almost-dead horse, as it turned out. Even having lost/sacrificed a pawn, Radjabov still enjoyed equality in the rook ending as late as move 78, but the terrible 79.Rg7+?? let Black's king escape up the board. White still could have put up a bit more resistance with 82.Rd8, because 82...Kb4 83.Rd4+ Rc4? allows White to save the game in the pawn ending: 84.Rxc4+ Kxc4 85.Kf6 b5 86.axb5 Kxb5 87.Kxg6 and the players queen simultaneously.

    But Radjabov probably chose 79.Rg7+ because he assumed that the pawn ending resulting from the immediate exchange would be drawn. What he missed is that after 82.Rxc6+ Kxc6 83.Kf6 b5 84.axb5+ Black does not have to play 84...Kxb5, when 85.Kxg6 transposes to the drawn final position of the line given above. Instead, Fedoseev met 87.Kxg6 with the brilliant 87...Kd6!! - a resource that was unavailable to Fedoseev in the other line - and Radjabov resigned. Black gains a crucial tempo in one line, and in another line forces White's king to g7, whereupon ...a1Q comes with check before White can promote his f-pawn. It's a nice tactic for the puzzle books of the future. (And it's very possible that it already exists as an endgame study, though without the superfluous h-pawns.)

    Finally, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Jan-Krzysztof Duda played a draw that will be of interest only to those whose aesthetic sense will be tickled by the hyper-symmetry of the game.

    The games (without notes) are here; these are the pairings for Wednesday's round 10 action: 

    • Carlsen (6) - Anand (6)
    • Duda (4.5) - Rapport (3.5)
    • Ding (5.5) - Mamedyarov (3.5)
    • Vidit (4) - Kramnik (2.5)
    • Van Foreest (3) - Nepomniachtchi (6)
    • Fedoseev (4.5) - Giri (5.5)
    • Shankland (4) - Radjabov (4.5)
    Sunday
    Jan202019

    2019 Wijk aan Zee, Round 8: Carlsen, Anand Win and Lead

    The logjam at the top has broken up a bit, and now it's the current world champion and his predecessor who head the tournament table in the 2019 edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament with +3 scores. Magnus Carlsen crushed Richard Rapport, obtaining a large positional advantage with he transformed into a powerful kingside attack; while Viswanathan Anand took advantage of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's blundering not just one but two simple tactics involving the d5 square.

    Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi were part of the first-place tie entering the round, but paired with each other they drew speedily, in just 17 moves. Anish Giri was the last member of the pentumvirate(?), but he was never getting more than a draw as Black against Santosh Vidit Gujrathi. Teimour Radjabov trailed the leaders by half a point entering the round, but he too took the round off, also drawing in 17 moves (with Black) against bottom seed and co-cellar dweller (with Vladimir Kramnik, but not any more!) Jorden Van Foreest.

    So today's draws were all pretty lame, but this was compensated by the presence of four decisive games. Two have already been mentioned, and the other two were Vladimir Fedoseev's win over Sam Shankland and Jan-Krzysztof Duda's victory over Kramnik, who no longer weighs the same as a duck but is sinking like a stone. (Ask your parents.)

    The games are here (with some comments). Tomorrow is a rest day, and on Tuesday they'll contest round 9, with the following pairings:

    • Shankland (3.5) - Carlsen (5.5)
    • Radjabov (4.5) - Fedoseev (3.5)
    • Giri (5) - Van Foreest (2.5)
    • Nepomniachtchi (5) - Vidit (4)
    • Kramnik (2) - Ding (5)
    • Mamedyarov (3) - Duda (4)
    • Rapport (3) - Anand (5.5)

    It looks like a round that could have lots of decisive games - let's hope so.

    Sunday
    Jan202019

    2019 Wijk aan Zee, Round 7: Five Leaders

    It's getting bunchy at the top of the 2019 Tata Steel Chess Tournament, as Viswanthan Anand's win over a plummeting Vladimir Kramnik made him the fifth player in the event with a +2 score as the tournament passed the halfway point. Anand was doing fine with Black, with a roughly equal position where he had an extra pawn and Kramnik had the bishop pair. Had Kramnik played 36.c4, insuring that he could regain the sacrificed pawn at will, he'd have enjoyed a small edge with slight winning chances and almost no risk. Perhaps Kramnik felt he was maintaining more position the way he played it, but that proved all to the good for Anand. He kept his extra pawn, got active, and went on to win in the second time control.

    That put him into a tie for first with Magnus Carlsen (who had to suffer a bit with black against Vladimir Fedoseev), Anish Giri (white in a short, sharp draw with Ding Liren), Ding Liren (see the previous clause), and Ian Nepomniachtchi (who had Jan-Krzysztof Duda on the ropes but couldn't put him away). As for Kramnik, he's tied for last place with Jorden Van Foreest, who lost a knight ending to Sam Shankland. That brought Shankland back to 50%, and was his first win after failing to convert winning positions in rounds 1 and 2.

    Teimour Radjabov is only half a point behind the leaders after clubbing Santosh Vidit into a brutal submission. Vidit was already in trouble in the opening after a promising piece sac by Radjabov, and while the game went 36 moves it wouldn't have been out of place for Vidit to resign on move 20.

    Finally, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Richard Rapport drew their game at the time control. Mamedyarov had a meaningful advantage through much of the middlegame, but it slipped away as the time control neared.

    No analysis today, I'm afraid, but the games can be replayed here. Here are the pairings for round 8:

    • Carlsen (4.5) - Rapport (3)
    • Anand (4.5) - Mamedyarov (3)
    • Duda (3) - Kramnik (2)
    • Ding (4.5) - Nepomniachtchi (4.5)
    • Vidit (3.5) - Giri (4.5)
    • Van Foreest (2) - Radjabov (4)
    • Fedoseev (2.5) - Shankland (3.5)

    Friday
    Jan182019

    2019 Wijk aan Zee, Round 6: Four Leaders, Including the Surging Carlsen

    It's always fascinating to see confidence monsters ("con mons"?) in action. They can struggle for a long time, with no end in sight, but once something goes their way it's like a switch is flipped and they go back to full blast. This is how it was for Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov, and it has been true of Magnus Carlsen as well. After 21 draws in a row, the string was finally broken with a win over the tournament's (by far) bottom seed. Should that suddenly herald the return of good form? Not normally, but when we're talking about a confidence monster, it might. Carlsen won again today, this time against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, in a complicated ending, and with that he is in a four-way tie for first in the 2019 Tata Steel Chess Tournament, which I hereby pronounce is over: Carlsen will win it, probably running away from the field. (But we'll see.)

    Also joining the tie for first: Anish Giri, who crushed Jan-Krzysztof Duda with the black pieces. In fact Giri is 3-0 with Black, and has more than made up for his first-round loss.

    The other two leaders are Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren. Nepo drew quickly with Black (22 moves) against Viswanathan Anand, while Ding Liren tried for a long time (75) moves to defeat Teimour Radjabov with the white pieces before admitting the draw.

    The round's other winner was Jorden Van Foreest, who was lost against Vladimir Fedoseev before the latter made a string of errors to turn his winning position into a lost one. A late mistake gave Fedoseev a chance to put up serious resistance and maybe even hold, but a blunder in return erased that opportunity and gave the Dutch players a sweep on the day.

    Vidit-Shankland was an 18-move draw, and like the two draws already mentioned was very clean. Rapport-Kramnik was anything but clean, with both sides having winning advantages at different times. The game dragged on for 94 moves, but the last 30 were utterly pointless as Kramnik "tried" to win rook vs. knight. He wouldn't manage to defeat me in such an ending - it's a trivial task for the weaker side to hold - so his playing it out against Rapport was slightly insulting, or at least absurd. Maybe Kramnik had a fight with his wife and didn't want to resume the argument, or maybe he was thinking about variations for the press conference where his opponent survived by a "miracle". Whatever the case, playing out the ending for 30 moves was somewhere between pointless and dumb, especially since Rapport had tons of time on the clock.

    The games, with my comments to the decisive battles, are here. The round 7 pairings are as follows:

    • Fedoseev (2) - Carlsen (4)
    • Shankland (2.5) - Van Foreest (2)
    • Radjabov (3) - Vidit (3.5)
    • Giri (4) - Ding (4)
    • Nepomniachtchi (4) - Duda (2.5)
    • Kramnik (2) - Anand (3.5)
    • Mamedyarov (2.5) - Rapport (2.5)

    Wednesday
    Jan162019

    2019 Wijk aan Zee, Round 5: Ding, Nepo Lead; Carlsen Wins

    Finally! After a crazy 21-game drawing streak, Magnus Carlsen once again did what world champions do: he won a game. More precisely, he won a classical game, and with it pulled to within half a point of the leader - now leaders - in the 2019 edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament.

    His victim was Jorden Van Foreest, who deserves points for boldness, though not for prudence, for repeating the 6.Nd5 Anti-Sveshnikov line Fabiano Caruana tested against Carlsen in their match without success. Van Foreest can use a computer, just like Carlsen, but the many hours Carlsen and his team spent on the line before and during the match cannot be duplicated with a couple of hours at the computer. White's position was fine as far as the engine was concerned, coming out of the opening, but Carlsen outplayed him pretty easily to win in crushing style in just 33 moves.

    The day's other winner also won with Black (who leads in the event 9-2 in decisive games!), and also did the job in 33 moves. The winner was Ding Liren, who caught up to Ian Nepomniachtchi in first place with a +2 score, and his victim was Sam Shankland. Shankland had looked very good in his previous games, and with a little more accuracy might entered the round tied for first with his own +2 score. This game was a disaster for him, and vaulted Ding into a tie for first and the #3 spot on the live rating list.

    Two other games could have finished with a winner. Santosh Vidit was winning (with Black, naturally) against Vladimir Fedoseev after grinding away in the ending for hours, but didn't manage to put him away in the day's longest battle. Teimour Radjabov was winning against Jan-Krzysztof Duda and was still better at the end of the game when he acceeded to a repetition. 22.Re3 was a mistake; either 22.Qh2 or 22.g4 (followed by Qh2) kept a winning advantage.

    The remaining games were had fewer dramatic moments. Vladimir Kramnik and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov drew a well-played Open Ruy, Richard Rapport managed to minimize the ill-effects of his damaged pawn structure to draw against Nepomniachtchi, and Viswanathan Anand neutralized Anish Giri's theoretical opening edge with a new idea in the Italian Game. (In fact, he was a little better in the end, but Anand has tended over the years to be too quick to draw in better positions with Black against players when a draw was his principal ambition entering the game. A bit like Carlsen in the last classical game with Caruana, except that Carlsen's advantage was much bigger and Anand's tendency appears to be far more ingrained.) (The games are here, but without notes due in part to zeitnot in my world.)

    Tomorrow - Thursday - is the first rest day; on Friday round 6 will have the following pairings.

    • Carlsen (3) - Mamedyarov (2.5)
    • Rapport (2) - Kramnik (1.5)
    • Anand (3) - Nepomniachtchi (3.5)
    • Duda (2.5) - Giri (3)
    • Ding (3.5) - Radjabov (2.5)
    • Vidit (3) - Shankland (2)
    • Van Foreest (1) - Fedoseev (2)

    Taking a quick peek at the Challengers' event (the winner of which will receive automatic promotion to next year's top group), the top two seeds - Anton Korobov and Vladislav Kovalev - lead with 3.5/5, half a point ahead of the quintet Andrey Esipenko, Maksim Chigaev, Erwin L'Ami, Evgeny Bareev, and Parham Maghsoodloo.

    Tuesday
    Jan152019

    2019 Wijk aan Zee, Round 4: Nepomniachtchi Remains in Clear First; Carlsen Draws Again

    Looks like I was wrong about Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik. After Kramnik's first three games I assumed he'd be ripe for the picking by Carlsen, but where Kramnik's suicide streak only extended to three games (and two in which he was successful), the champ's 20-game series of draws was an unstoppable force. Kramnik put on his Sunday best, played strong and sensible chess, and drew like the three-time world champion and frequent 2800 player that he is.

    Theirs was an interesting draw, but the other four drawn games were utterly forgettable. I'd tell you more about them, but they've already slipped my memory, so I'll only note that one of the draws was the shared property of Ian Nepomniachtchi, who continues to enjoy the sole lead in the event with a +2 score of 3 out 4.

    On to the two decisive games. As usual, the Dutch players were involved. On the sunny side, Anish Giri moved to +1 by defeating Richard Rapport with the black pieces. The game was balanced until Rapport found an exchanging combination that backfired. Rapport presumably missed Giri's 22nd or 24th move, and the result was a lost middlegame that Giri cashed in without much trouble. Things were less sunny for Jorden Van Foreest. He found himself a pawn down in an opposite-colored bishops ending. It was probably drawn, as I think I've demonstrated in the analysis, but (possibly due to time trouble) he didn't manage to save hte game against Santosh Vidit.

    All the games can be replayed here, with comments to the two decisive games and Carlsen-Kramnik. (Tournament site here.) Here are the pairings for round 5: 

    • Van Foreest (1) - Carlsen (2)
    • Fedoseev (1.5) - Vidit (2.5)
    • Shankland (2) - Ding (2.5)
    • Radjabov (2) - Duda (2)
    • Giri (2.5) - Anand (2.5)
    • Nepomniachtchi (3) - Rapport (1.5)
    • Kramnik (1) - Mamedyarov (2) 

    Carlsen has to win this time, right?

    Monday
    Jan142019

    2019 Wijk aan Zee, Round 3: Nepomniachtchi the Clear Leader

    The implosion of Vladimir Kramnik continues apace, and today's grateful recipient was Ian Nepomniachtchi. The 5.Re1 Anti-Berlin rarely leads to interesting positions, but it did this time. Kramnik got a bit carried away looking for queenside counterplay, got into terrible time trouble, and four consecutive mistakes on moves 32-35 turned a worse position into a complete disaster. Nepo now leads with 2.5/3, half a point ahead of Viswanathan Anand and Ding Liren.

    Anand was the other co-leader entering the round, and was satisfied with a comfortable draw with Black against Sam Shankland. Ding Liren started the round half a point out of first, and thanks to his win over Jorden Van Foreest remains on Nepo's heels. In fact Ding was winning in the middlegame, but misplayed a promising attacking position (29...f4! kept a decisive advantage) and had to win the game all over again in an ending. Or perhaps we could say that Van Foreest had to lose it again, because it came down to one big mistake. The idea of playing b3-b4 was correct, but 39.b4 was a de facto blunder; it needed to be preceded by a2-a4. The point is that after 39.b4 Black played 39...a4, and that pawn's survival resulted in a winning ending for Ding, which he converted without any mistakes.

    The round's other winner was Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who bounced back from yesterday's loss to defeat Vladimir Fedoseev with the black pieces. (So far the score in decisive games is 6-1 in Black's favor.) Fedoseev seems to have underestimated Black's attacking potential when he played 24.e3 and 25.Nxh4, perhaps assuming that 26.Qc4 and the resulting queen trade his king couldn't be in that much danger. It turned out he was wrong, and Duda won in good style to get back to 50%.

    In other games, Magnus Carlsen managed to reach a rook and four pawn vs. rook and three pawn ending against Santosh Gujrathi Vidit. This ending began at move 37, and continued until move 131. Vidit knew what he was doing, and Carlsen never came close to getting anything. Anish Giri and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov played a lively Gruenfeld, with Mamedyarov coming up with an interesting novelty on move 15. (Black had almost always played 15...b4, with a long theoretical line to follow.) Black had been doing fine there, drawing every game but one - which he won. Time will tell if Mamedyarov's idea is another arrow in the arsenal, but in the game he didn't have any real problems. Other than move 26 he belted out his moves instantly, and the game was dead drawn when they called it quits on move 31. Finally, Teimour Radjabov and Richard Rapport went a move further, calling it a day after 32 moves of a Taimanov Sicilian.

    The tournament website is here, and the games, with very light notes, are here. Finally, here are the round 4 pairings:

    • Carlsen (1.5) - Kramnik (.5)
    • Mamedyarov (1.5) - Nepomniachtchi (2.5)
    • Rapport (1.5) - Giri (1.5)
    • Anand (2) - Radjabov (1.5)
    • Duda (1.5) - Shankland (1.5)
    • Ding (2) - Fedoseev (1)
    • Vidit (1.5) - Van Foreest (1)

    Looks like Carlsen's amazing 20-game winless streak in classical chess will finally come to an end. If by a "miracle" Kramnik wins, though, Carlsen will fall to #2 on the rating list. But it ain't gonna happen.