Superbet Chess Classic, Round 6: Mamedyarov & Grischuk Win, Lead

Per usual, a Romanian player - Constantin Lupulescu again - was involved in the day's decisive games, but for the second time in the tournament a non-Romanian was involved in one of the decisive games.

Wesley So made Anish Giri defend for a long time, but was unable to win. Knight and four pawns vs. knight and three pawns is typically winning for the strong side, but because Black had 48...g5 available at the start of the ending it was objectively drawn. Good "d" by Giri.

Alexander Grischuk won convincingly on the white side of a Classical Sicilian against Lupulescu. His preparation was good, and his opponent's wasn't. A surprisingly easy win for White.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave seemed to mix up his move order against Fabiano Caruana in a sharp Ruy Lopez, and was soon lost. Fortunately for him, Caruana failed to play 22...Qf6, which would have kept a winning advantage, and the game soon ended in a repetition.

Finally, Deac-Radjabov was an uninspired draw that probably suited both players. 'nuff said.

The games, with my notes to the two decisive games and MVL-Caruana, are here. These are tomorrow's pairings:

• Radjabov (3) - So (3.5)
• Lupulescu (2) - Deac (3)
• Aronian (2.5) - Grischuk (4)
• Caruana (3) - Mamedyarov (4)
• Giri (2.5) - MVL (2.5)

The Superbet Chess Classic, Rounds 1-4

While the online rapid & blitz games make for good drama, it's nice to see slow over-the-board chess return (at least when the players fight and there's a non-trivial percentage of decisive games). The depth of the game is so much greater at a classical time control, and while it's harder to win and to pose unsolvable opening surprises when the defender has two hours rather than 20 minutes (or less) on the clock, that greater level of difficulty makes won games all the more impressive and valuable.

The classical event in question is the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, Romania, which started June 5 (the 45th anniversary of Paul Keres' passing, for those who remember the Estonian legend) and runs through the 14th. Ten players are participating in this nine round event, eight of whom are members of the absolute elite while two strong but comparatively lower-rated players represent the home country. Thus far, both of the Romanian players - Constantin Lupulescu and Bogdan-Daniel Deac - are performing very respectably. They are both on 50% after four rounds, and while a cynic could note that they're only half a point out of last place, it's simultaneously true that they're only half a point out of first. The oddity of the event is that of the five decisive games played thus far, four involve them, with each player both winning and losing a game.

All five games were drawn in round 1, and in round 2 there were two decisive games. Fabiano Caruana defeated Lupulescu's French with a nice near-novelty that led to a speedy win, while Deac survived a difficult position against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and managed to pull out a win.

In round 3, Lupulescu bounced back with a win over Anish Giri. The game was at first even, but an error by the Romanian gave Giri a promising kingside initiative. Giri didn't make the most of it, and the game remained even (or very slightly in Giri's favor) until a pair of errors on moves 31 and 32 allowed Lupulescu a mating attack. He took advantage and made it back to 50%.

In round 4, he was joined at 50% by Deac, coming from the opposite direction. He was ground down by Alexander Grischuk in an isolated d-pawn middlegame. Rather than suffering an endless siege of the pawn, Deac decided to pitch the pawn for some freedom and in the hopes of regaining it. The sac was probably correct, but he didn't manage to reclaim the material and went down in a long heavy piece ending. Meanwhile - and finally! - there was a decisive game not featuring the Romanians. Caruana was also dragged back down to an even score when he was impressively outplayed by Wesley So. So found a nice pawn sac that split Black's position into two non-isolated halves. On the kingside, Caruana's king was joined by a dreadful bishop and a marginally helpful knight; on the queenside his queen was stuck out of play, joined by a hapless knight. His position wasn't yet lost, but it was difficult; difficult enough that even the number two player in the world quickly fell apart.

The surprising upshot is that the two winners in round 4 are the two co-leaders of the tournament. So and Grischuk lead with +1 scores, Vachier-Lagrave and Giri share last with -1 scores, and in addition to Caruana and the Romanians the tie for 3rd-8th is also shared by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Levon Aronian, and Teimour Radjabov.

All the games are here, with my comments to the decisive games. And here are the pairings for round 5:

• Deac (2) - So (2.5)
• Radjabov (2) - Grischuk (2.5)
• Lupulescu (2) - Mamedyarov (2)
• Aronian (2) - MVL (1.5)
• Caruana (2) - Giri (1.5)

Banter Blitz 2020 Final, Day 2

Today's matches were mostly routs, but there was one glorious exception. All the first-round pairings involved seeded players facing off against qualifiers, and while the latter are all terrific players there's still a gap (with one exception; two [at least or especially in blitz], counting yesterday, when qualifier and 2013 World Blitz Champion Le Quang Liem upended Teimour Radjabov) between them and the creme de la creme of the world's elite.

There were five matches today: Levon Aronian vs. Gawain Jones, Anish Giri vs. Peter Svidler, Magnus Carlsen vs. S.L. Narayanan, Alexander Grischuk vs. Rauf Mamedov, and Fabiano Caruana vs. Matthias Bluebaum. Excepting the Giri-Svidler match - the one case where the qualifier (Svidler) is himself a member of the world elite, and indeed, the player whose overall career is still the more impressive one - the other four matches were blowouts, with the losing side collectively achieving only three wins. Carlsen won 5.5-.5 (obviously going undefeated), Aronian won 5.5-2.5 (Jones won one game), Grischuk won 5.5-1.5 (also undefeated), and Caruana dropped a couple of games to Bluebaum on the way to a 5.5-2.5 victory (he started off 3-0, and was never really threatened).

Giri-Svidler, by contrast, was a dream match. The first seven games were decisive, with White winning the first six before Svidler broke the string in game seven. After a couple of draws, Svidler only needed a draw in game 10 to clinch the match, but lost. Two further draws ensued, and then Giri won the Armageddon game with White to win the match 7-6. (Giri's wins in games 1, 3, and 13 are here.)

Tomorrow the last of the first-round matches takes place between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Grigoriy Oparin, and then the quarter-finals will look like this:

• Carlsen - Giri
• Aronian - Grischuk
• Caruana - Le Quang Liem
• So - MVL/Oparin

Website here.

Free ChessLecture Show

There's a new freebie each week, so the headline isn't really news. The news is that this week it's one of my videos that's the freebie, so if it isn't thrilling enough to read my work (/sarc) you can hear and see it, too. The game in question was a 2005 win by Alexander Grischuk over Famous Freakin' Legend Gata Kamsky; the video is here. You need an account to watch, but if you don't already have one you can set one up for free. The video will be available on demand through the next two Sundays (I'm not sure if it carries over into the following Monday or not, when that week's new video becomes available.) Enjoy.

Candidates, Round 5: Nepo Wins and Leads; Caruana Barely Survives; Grischuk Wants a Postponement

Alexander Grischuk, sitting on 50% and still very much in the thick of things, said this in the post-game interview:

My form is terrible. I don't want to play at all with this situation. When it was the beginning I didn't have a clear opinion but now already for several days, I have a very clear opinion: that it should be stopped, this tournament. The whole atmosphere is very hostile. Everyone is with masks, also more security and so on.

For me, it's very difficult. I just don't want to play, don't want to be here. Considering this, I am quite happy with my result but overall, it's no coincidence that everything else has stopped. We are the only one left, the only major sport event in the world. I think it should be stopped and postponed.

This seems right to me, but then it seemed right to me before the event as well. And if the event is postponed, how does FIDE justify Radjabov's ouster? It's a mess - but then that's true of the whole situation around the world.

To the games: there was only one decisive game today, but it was a biggie. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Wang Hao, two of the three co-leaders, faced off, and when Nepo won he found himself in clear first. He didn't seem to have anything special on the white side of a Petroff; certainly nothing that impresses the engines. But slight pressure, when it endures long enough, can bear fruit. (This is one reason why players, including amateurs, shouldn't hurry to offer draws in superior positions, even if they have no idea what to do with them. Often your opponents will do your work for you.) Even a Candidate can go astray, and Wang Hao did, missing a key point shortly before the time control. Nepo now leads with a +2 score.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is in clear second after a very entertaining draw with Kirill Alekseenko. It was a super-sharp Najdorf, and MVL seemed to have practically the entire game, with Black, prepared at home. For Alekseenko, it was a matter of discovery from early on. He seemed to find all the right moves (or at least one of the more-or-less correct approaches), but all that did was net him a draw.

Pre-event favorite Fabiano Caruana entered the round at 50%, and was very fortunate to end it the same way. He was at death's door against Anish Giri, and his resilient defense wouldn't have been enough against best play. Luckily, Giri's renowned propensity for draws reigned supreme, and the 2018 challenger is still in the race.

Finally, Grischuk's game with Ding Liren was well-played by both sides, and finished in a correct draw.

The games are here - unannotated for now - and this is what's coming in the morning (assuming the event isn't postponed):

• Grischuk (2.5) - Caruana (2.5)
• Alekseenko (2) - Giri (2)
• Nepomniachtchi (3.5) - Ding Liren (2)
• Wang Hao (2.5) - Vachier-Lagrave (3)

Moscow Grand Prix, Round 4, Day 3: Nepomniachtchi Wins Playoff and the Event

Congratulations to Ian Nepomniachtchi, who survived a lot of bad positions in the event and finally wound up winning it, defeating Alexander Grischuk in the final. After draws in their classical games, it was time for a rapid playoff yesterday/today (Wednesday). Grischuk had White in game 1, and while he somehow managed to achieve a slight advantage against the Petroff with the ultra-dynamic 3.d3 (/sarc), Nepo was able to defend fairly comfortably. 26...a5! was the clincher, assuring himself of sufficient play to draw.

In game 2 the players contested an Italian Game, and although Grischuk equalized he made a fundamentally wrong choice on move 16 (and again on move 18). Had he parted with the bishop, I think he would maintained objective equality and a position that was fairly easy to handle. He instead kept the bishop and wound up with an offside knight that cost him the game. That initial decision was not fatal - further errors were required - but it was objectively mistaken and sowed the seeds of the subsequent loss.

Official site here, games (with my notes) here; what follows are the Grand Prix points each of the players earned. Note, importantly, that players who won their matches in the classical portion, without needing rapid playoffs, gained an extra point for each such match victory. That's why two players who left in the same round can have differing Grand Prix point totals.

1. Nepomniachtchi 9
2. Grischuk 7
3. Wojtaszek 5
4. Nakamura 3
5-7. Svidler, Wei Yi, Dubov 2
8. So 1
9-16. Giri, Mamedyarov, Aronian, Radjabov, Karjakin, Vitiugov, Duda, Jakovenko 0

Moscow Grand Prix, Round 4, Day 2: Another Draw; Playoffs Tomorrow

It was a short draw in a 5.Re1 Berlin, but there was some content. Ian Nepomniachtchi had White, and he was well-prepared for Alexander Grischuk's use of a recent Vladimir Kramnik idea. Nepo obtained an edge, but bit by bit it slipped away. Grischuk even started thinking about playing for the win himself, but short on time and not seeing a way to make meaningful progress decided to call it a day.

Tiebreaks tomorrow; meanwhile, here's today's game, with light notes.

Moscow Grand Prix, Round 4, Day 1

The final match between Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomniachtchi is underway, and game 1 is in the books as a draw. Nepomniachtchi played a (seemingly) risky line of the Gruenfeld, but as he was better prepared he was the one trying to push for an advantage from early on, despite playing with the black pieces. Grischuk played well, first securing the queenside and then the kingside, and the players agreed to a draw just before the time control. (The game, with my brief notes, is here.) The second classical game takes place tomorrow/today (Tuesday), and if it's another draw the rapid (and, if necessary, blitz) playoffs will be Wednesday.

Moscow Grand Prix, Round 3, Day 2: Grischuk Advances; Nepomniachtchi-Wojtaszek Goes to Tiebreaks

One semi-final is finished, while the other proceeds to tiebreaks tomorrow. The game between Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Ian Nepomniachtchi was a 22-move dud, deferring the real battle to the rapid (and potentially blitz) games tomorrow. Alexander Grischuk, by contrast, played for keeps against Hikaru Nakamura, and won a very impressive game to advance to the final. The games are here, with notes based on, but not limited to, those given by Grischuk himself in post-game interviews.

Moscow Grand Prix, Round 3, Day 1: Two Draws

Both games were drawn, but they were not perfunctory exercises in make-believe on the way to the blitz tiebreaks. They had genuine content.

With Black in a Giuoco Piano against Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Grischuk found a nice pawn sac in the opening that gave him excellent play with the bishop pair. At some point late in the game Grischuk obtained an advantage that was bordering on something serious, but it never quite consolidated into something tangible, and they called it a day shortly before the time control.

In the second game, Ian Nepomniachtchi went for the 6.Bd3 sideline against Radoslaw Wojtaszek's Najdorf, and was pressing for an edge throughout. As far as I can tell, both players performed very well. Maybe 16...Bf8 is a little more accurate, and perhaps White could pressed a little with a move other than 26.h3 at the end. Najdorf players should have a look at this line: it's not a barn-burner, but it isn't completely toothless, either.

Tomorrow they do it again with colors reversed; in the meantime, here are today's games, with my notes.