FIDE Grand Swiss, Round 9: Caruana Beats Firouzja; They Lead With Howell With Two Rounds To Go

The FIDE Grand Swiss is getting exciting! Just when Alireza Firouzja was on the verge of guaranteeing himself a spot in next year's Candidates tournament, he had the misfortune of facing the tournament's top seed with the black pieces. For Fabiano Caruana, it was a must win situation, and win he did. He played great chess in the opening through the early ending, but a mistake on move 23 let Firouzja get back into the game. It still wasn't easy for Black to hold, and when he mistakenly went for active counterplay with 35...Kd3 and 36...Ke2, Caruana got a second chance to win. This time he converted, and caught up with Firouzja in first.

A three-way tie for first, because David Howell won a good game against Anton Korobov. Through most of the event Howell had been at least a couple of score groups behind the leaders, but after his loss to Caruana in round 5 he has reeled off four wins in a row (against Nodirbek Yakubboev, Ruslan Ponomariov, Andrey Esipenko, and now Korobov). Remarkable.

Of course, the three leaders have the best shot at the two qualifying spots for the Candidates, but they have little security when it comes to the rest of the field, as ten players are just half a point behind: Krishnan Sasikiran, Yu Yangyi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alexandr Predke, Alexei Shirov (still hanging in there!), Grigoriy Oparin, David Anton Guijarro, Gabriel Sargissian, Sam Sevian, and Nikita Vitiugov.

Here are the pairings for the penultimate round:

1. Firouzja (6.5) - Howell (6.5)
2. Vachier-Lagrave (6) - Caruana (6.5) (Not exactly a day off for Caruana!)
3. Vitiugov (6) - Oparin (6)
4. Shirov (6) - Yu (6)
5. Predke (6) - Anton Guijarro (6)
6. Sevian (6) - Sargissian (6)
7. Esipenko (5.5) - Sasikiran (6)

I've annotated a selection of games from round 9: some for their importance at the top of the standings, some because of the tactics therein, and one - Gelfand-Movsesian - for being spectacular from start to finish. Have a look.

FIDE Grand Swiss, Round 8: Firouzja Wins Again, Leads by a Full Point

Things are still looking up for Alireza Firouzja, and that's putting it mildly. He got White again, won again (over Krishnan Sasikiran), and extended his lead in the FIDE Grand Prix to a full point over the closest pursuers. It's not as important, but he also kicked his rating up to 2784, putting him at #4 in the world - leapfrogging Magnus Carlsen's forthcoming match opponent, Ian Nepomniachtchi. And Firouzja is just 18! He shouldn't get overconfident, of course: if he loses in round 9, for instance, as many as six players could be tied with him, and there would still be two rounds to go. It's too soon to celebrate, but he is in a great position.

Going into the round, there were three players half a point behind him. He defeated one of them, while the other two - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and the resurgent veteran Alexei Shirov - drew their game, so now the closest pursuers are a full point back. And it's a large group, including not only MVL and Shirov but the eight players in the next score group who all won their games. That group most notably includes Fabiano Caruana, who will have the white pieces against Firouzja in round 9. (As noted above, it's too soon for Firouzja to celebrate.)

Here are the leading pairings for round 9:

1. Caruana (5.5) - Firouzja (6.5)
2. Anton Guijarro (5.5) - Vachier-Lagrave (5.5)
3. Shirov (5.5) - Vitiugov (5.5)
4. Howell (5.5) - Korobov (5.5)
5. Oparin (5.5) - Predke (5.5)
6. Harikrisha (5) - Sevian (5.5)

In addition to Harikrishna, there are 14 other players with 5 points. Remember that there are two Candidates' slots up for grabs here, so if we assume for simplicity's sake that Firouzja will earn one of the spots, there are 25 players within half a point of each other fighting for the other one. The players are now thoroughly motivated, as we saw with all the blood spilled on the top boards. I've given all the decisive games from round 8 featuring players with at least 4.5 points, here, with varying degrees of commentary.

FIDE Grand Swiss, Round 7: Firouzja in Clear First

Yesterday was a rest day for the FIDE Grand Swiss, and round 7 (of 11) took place today, and went strangely. There were five players with 4.5 points and another 15 with 4 points coming into the round. All the games involving 4-pointers finished in a draw. Not necessarily cleanly, mind you: Andrey Esipenko was probably winning against Alexei Shirov - one of the 4.5 pointers - David Navara was beating Alexey Sarana, and A. Tari was beating Sanan Sjugirov. But all draws nevertheless.

Among the leaders, I already mentioned Shirov's narrow escape. Krishnan Sasikiran and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave drew their game, but the other game between the leaders finished with a winner. Alireza Firouzja enjoyed a winning advantage against Evgenij Najer fairly early in the game, but resourceful play by Najer and mistakes by the youngster allowed Najer to escape into a drawn ending. Not trivially drawn, but drawn all the same, and there were two ways to accomplish it on move 50. Instead, Najer made a move that loses to a method known to 10-year-old non-prodigies, and Firouzja could lick his chops, seize the gift, and retake the clear lead.

A good thing he did, too, because in addition to the four players tied for first with him entering the round and the 15 players half a point behind him, an incredible 12 of the 15 games involving 3.5-pointers finished with a winner. Had he drawn, then, there would have been four players tied with him and 27(!!) players half a point back. Instead, he has a tiny bit of breathing room going into round 8, which has the following pairings with players having 4.5 points or more:

1. Firouzja (5.5) - Sasikiran (5)
2. Vachier-Lagrave (5) - Shirov (5)
3. Grandelius (4.5) - Caruana (4.5)
4. Vitiugov (4.5) - Ponkratov (4.5)
5. Howell (4.5) - Esipenko (4.5)
6. Najer (4.5) - Harikrishna (4.5)
7. Dubov (4.5) - Oparin (4.5)
8. Fedoseev (4.5) - Anton Guijarro (4.5)
9. Sarana (4.5) - Yu (4.5)
10. Maghsoodloo (4.5) - Sarin (4.5)
11. Sevian (4.5) - Navara (4.5)
12. Korobov (4.5) - Volokitin (4.5)
13. Deac (4.5) - Kryvoruchko (4.5)
14. Predke (4.5) - Tari (4.5)
15. Shevchenko (4.5) - Sargissian (4.5)
16. Sjugirov (4.5) - Petrosyan (4.5)

There were quite a few interesting games, especially in the battles of the 3.5-pointers, but today I've focused on the Firouzja-Najer game - have a look, here.

FIDE Grand Swiss: Five Leaders After Six Rounds

Alireza Firouzja, Evgenij Najer, and Alexei Shirov continue to lead the FIDE Grand Swiss after six rounds of 11, but they have been joined by two more players. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave butchered Pavel Ponkratov, while Krishnan Sasikiran overcame Alexandr Predke with Black to make it a five-way tie at 4.5/6. Another 15 players are just half a point back, including Fabiano Caruana, so obviously nothing has been decided at this point.

A few words about some of the games. Firouzja had some winning chances against Shirov, but Mr. Fire on Board's aggressive counterattack saved the day - barely. Najer was definitely winning against Caruana, who may have been taking too many chances in the hopes of defeating a significantly lower-rated opponent. It very nearly cost him the game; indeed, even at the end, when Najer allowed/blundered into a three-time repetition, Caruana's position was probably lost. As already noted above, MVL won in brutal fashion against Ponkratov; all three games mentioned in this paragraph are given, with my comments, here - as are three other games, included on account of some nice tactical points.

Here are the round 7 pairings for the top 10 boards:

1. Firouzja (4.5) - Najer (4.5)
2. Sasikiran (4.5) - Vachier-Lagrave (4.5)
3. Esipenko (4) - Shirov (4.5)
4. Caruana (4) - Sevian (4)
5. Anton (4) - Dubov (4)
6. Yu (4) - Deac (4)
7. Navara (4) - Sarana (4)
8. Petrosyan (4) - Korobov (4)
9. Sargissian (4) - Sarin (4)
10. Tari (4) - Sjugirov (4)

FIDE Grand Swiss, Round 5: Firouzja, Najer, and Shirov Lead with 4 Points Apiece

As usual, there have been lots of draws on the top boards of the FIDE Grand Swiss, so a huge number of players are within striking distance of the lead. Alireza Firouzja continues to lead after his draw, but he has been caught by Evgeniy Najer and - a blast from the past - Alexei Shirov. They each have four points, good for a half point lead over 14 other players, including Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Yu Yangyi, and youngsters Samuel Sevian and Nihal Sarin. All the aforementioned players feature in the pairings for the top 5 boards of round 6: Shirov-Firouzja, Najer-Caruana, MVL-Ponkratov, Sevian-Yu, and Sarin-Navara.

Six rounds remain to determine two more slots for the 2022 Candidates. For now, here are three games from round 5, with my comments.

A (Downgraded) FIDE Grand Swiss is Underway; Firouzja the Early Leader

The FIDE Grand Swiss has a weaker field than was originally intended. First it moved, from the Isle of Man to Riga, and then because Covid is a problem there many leading players bowed out, including Alexander Grischuk, Richard Rapport, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Hikaru Nakamura, and Vidit Gujrathi. The top seed Fabiano Caruana is still playing, and other members of the super-elite are participating as well.

That includes the third seed, 2770-rated Alireza Firouzja, who is the only player to still have a perfect score after three rounds. With eight rounds to go, none of the contenders need to lose sleep over that fact, though if he can keep winning for a few more rounds Caruana et al will have cause to get a bit nervous. This isn't "just" another big tournament; it's a qualifier for the 2022 Candidates tournament. To refresh your memories, four spots are already committed: the loser of next month's World Championship match, Teimour Rajdabov as the FIDE nominee, and Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Sergey Karjakin as the top two finishers of this year's World Cup. (The remaining slots will go to the top two finishers in the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix, to be held between February and April of next year.)

I've annotated six games from the first three rounds, and will continue to present games from the event as it continues. (And readers, if a game especially catches your eye, please mention it in the comments.) Enjoy.

Norway Chess 2021, Final Round: Carlsen First, Firouzja Second

The champ is the champ for a reason. Magnus Carlsen won the 2021 Norway Chess tournament, and while his play in the second half of the event was very good it wasn't an easy win. Richard Rapport played very well through the first seven rounds, and Alireza Firouzja came on like a freight train in the end. But overall, Carlsen played the best chess and enjoyed the most consistent results. He won four classical games in a row in rounds 6-9, and in five of the six remaining rounds drew the classical game and triumphed in Armageddon. He only lost one game in the entire event, a classical game against Sergey Karjakin in round 5.

Entering today's round a classical win would clinch tournament victory, but with Black against Ian Nepomniachtchi he only managed a draw. A win in the Armageddon game gave him 19.5 points, which meant that a win by Rapport in his classical game against Firouzja would let him catch Carlsen and force a playoff.

It didn't happen. Firouzja came up with a fascinating exchange sac in a Rossolimo sideline that gave him a huge lead in development and a dangerous initiative. Rapport had a way to bail out early that he may have considered and rejected as too drawish, and in the complications that followed soon went astray and lost. It was a nice one-off idea by Firouzja, and it gave him a fourth win in a row. He leapfrogged Rapport and finished in clear second, a point and a half behind Carlsen. Both he and Carlsen finished with 6.5/10 in their classical games (on traditional scoring), but Carlsen had more success in his Armageddon games than Firouzja did. One never knows how the later rounds of a tournament would have gone, given changes in the earlier rounds, but if Firouzja had drawn his classical game with Carlsen in round 6 (which could very easily have happened) and subsequent rounds went the same way, the youngster would have finished ahead of the champ - even if he had lost their subsequent Armageddon game. (On the other hand, Carlsen would have had to play for a win against Nepo in the last round, and who knows - maybe he'd have achieved it.)

Anyway, "if" doesn't put food on the table (unless one is Rudyard Kipling), so Firouzja will have to content himself with an excellent, well-deserved second. His win against Rapport, with my notes, is here. And these are the final standings. (Remember, it's 3 points for a win in the classical game and 0 for a loss, while a draw is worth one point to each player with an additional half-point available to the winner of the Armageddon game [or to Black, in case it's a draw].)

1. Carlsen 19.5 (of a possible 30)
2. Firouzja 18
3. Rapport 16.5
4. Nepomniachtchi 12
5. Karjakin 10
6. Tari 7

Aimchess Quarterfinals Finish; Semis Set

The quarterfinals are over, and we're down to the final four of Vladislav Artemiev vs. Alireza Firouzja in the battle of the youngsters, and Magnus Carlsen vs. Levon Aronian in the battle of the 30-somethings.

Firouzja had the most difficult time in the quarters, though it certainly didn't seem like it through the first five games. On day one he won the first two games against Wesley So and then clinched the first mini-match with a draw, and on day two he drew the first game and won the second, after which a single draw in the remaining two games would suffice to clinch overall match victory. It didn't happen. So crushed Firouzja in game 3 of the second mini-match and with Black in round 4 ground out a win in a rook ending to win that mini-match and force a two-game blitz playoff. In the first of those games, So enjoyed a winning advantage, but could not figure out how to put opponent away. That game finished in a draw, and in the second Firouzja bounced back to win and advance to the next round.

Artemiev had some trouble as well. After drawing with Leinier Dominguez in the first game, he lost game 2 and only drew the third game with the white pieces. No matter: he won on demand in the fourth game to split the first mini-match. On day two, the first two games were drawn, but then Artemiev won - again with Black - to take the lead. Now Dominguez would have to win on demand, with Black, to split the second mini-match and force a blitz playoff - and he came close. He revved up a dangerous attack with the sequence 21...Rc6, 22...Rh6, and 23...Rxh3, and at the end of a wonderfully complicated line found himself with a serious advantage. Unfortunately for Dominguez, his 36...Bc7 allowed Artemiev to equalize, though the position was still challenging for both sides, and then a couple of moves later 38...Qe6?? was an outright blunder. Having no competitive choice but to keep playing, Dominguez struggled all the way to move 83, but the outcome was never in doubt, and it would have required "miracles" for him to save half a point, never mind get the win he needed.

The world champion faced Jan-Krzysztof Duda, a strong and very tricky opponent for most players. For Magnus Carlsen, well, not so much. On day 1 he won games 1 and 3 with White and drew game 2 with Black to clinch the first mini-match, and on day 2 he did exactly the same thing, except that his wins in games 1 & 3 came with Black.

As for Aronian, day 1 saw four decisive battles, with Aronian winning games 1 and 3 with White, Mamedyarov winning game 2 with White, but Aronian winning game 4 with Black to take the first mini-match. On day Aronian started with a win, and clinched match victory with two draws.

So, again, it's Artemiev-Firouzja and Carlsen-Aronian, starting later today (Thursday).

Event website here.

Tata Steel: Van Foreest Defeats Giri in a Playoff to Win the Tournament

It's a bizarre result, worthy of a year that seems to have inherited more than its fair share of 2020's turmoil. Anish Giri entered the last round of the Tata Steel chess tournament in clear first, half a point ahead of his Dutch countryman Jorden Van Foreest, Fabiano Caruana, and Alireza Firouzja. All four with favorites in their respective games, but only one managed to win.

Caruana had Black against Aryan Tari, the bottom seed (though by no means the tailender - he finished with a very respectable -1 score). Unfortunately, Tari chickened out with the Exchange Variation against the French (or maybe he hoped that Caruana would do something crazy trying to create winning chances against it), and while Caruana did outplay him for a time, he never managed to dredge up enough and Tari held the draw.

Firouzja came much closer with White against Radoslaw Wojtaszek. He was much better-to-winning for most of the game, and only on move 61 did he let his winning chances slip away for good. Apparently, though, he would not have been in contention for the title even had he won: he would have tied for first, but his tiebreak score would have left him outside of the playoff.

Van Foreest made it into the playoff by crushing Nils Grandelius, whose second half was as unpleasant as the first half was delightful. Grandelius led just before the halfway mark with 4/6, but only managed two points in his remaining seven games.

Giri, as you will have gathered from the subject line and from simple logic, drew his game. He was in serious danger of losing to David Anton with Black in a positional Najdorf, but White's technique wasn't good enough to finish the job. So it was on a playoff, with the winner to become the first Dutch player to win their country's remaining extant super-tournament since Jan Timman did it in 1985.

In the ensuing blitz (5'+3") playoff, Giri was winning the first game, with Black, but failed to convert his advantage: draw. In game 2 Giri was much better, if perhaps never clearly winning, but once again the game finished in a draw. Finally, it was time for an Armageddon game, and Giri was absolutely winning this game - at two different stretches. Unfortunately, on the very last move without a prior increment (move 60) Giri made a colossal error that transformed the game from completely winning to totally lost, and Van Foreest won the playoff and the tournament. All credit to him for surviving the playoff, but it has to be said that Giri distributed more gifts than Santa Claus on the Oprah Winfrey show.

It was a great event for Van Foreest (and for the even younger Andrey Esipenko, who also won in the last round and also made it to 2700 by tournament's end), who obviously achieved a career result. Is he too old at 21 to be talked about as a future member of the world's elite? By the standards of the last 20-30 years the answer would seem to be yes, and even here, aside from an almost comically fortunate win in an Armageddon game he didn't beat any of the elite players. Still, he is just 21, this was a great result, and none of the elite players managed to beat him, either. So we'll see, and hopefully he gets some other invitations to classical events, and the critical experience that goes along with it. That he has achieved as much as he has with so few opportunities to play slow games against 2700-level opponents is extremely impressive. With the world's absolute elite committed to the almost hermetically sealed Grand Chess Tour, and the only slightly less exclusive FIDE world championship qualifying events, it is difficult for Van Foreest (or any other up-and-comer) to get much experience against the absolute top players, but hopefully this will be a crowbar that opens the door for him (and Esipenko).

Here are Van Foreest's games from the last day of the event, and here are the final standings:

• 1-2. Van Foreest, Giri 8.5 (out of 13)
• 3-5. Esipenko (who won in the last round vs. Donchenko), Caruana, Firouzja 8
• 6. Carlsen 7.5 (Thanks to a last-round win over poor MVL.)
• 7. Harikrishna 6.5
• 8-9. Tari, Grandelius 6
• 10. Duda 5.5
• 11-13. Wojtaszek, Anton, Vachier-Lagrave 5
• 14. Donchenko 3.5

Tata Steel: Giri Clings to a Half-Point Lead with One Round to Go

And that round will take place in a few hours.

Anish Giri could have clinched a tie for first, as he was very much winning against Alireza Firouzja in round 12. Somehow, he failed to convert; in part thanks to Firouzja's dogged defense, but some of Giri's errors were unforced, too. Thanks to his narrow escape, Firouzja, as well as Fabiano Caruana and Jorden Van Foreest(!) are all just half a point behind Giri entering the last round.

Going back to round 11, one of the tournament's Cinderella stories came to an end when Andrey Esipenko played a very poor game against Aryan Tari. After going undefeated to that point and having defeated Magnus Carlsen, he may have lost his sense of danger when facing the lowest-rated player in the event. He took some unjustified risks in the early middlegame, and soon his position was critical. Things got worse, and Tari rounded the game off with some nice attacking play at the end. It was a pity for Esipenko, but a good lesson for the next time.

Another very important game in round 11 was Firouzja vs. Caruana. First it was Caruana - twice - who could have obtained (or more precisely, maintained) a winning advantage afforded by his opponent's errors on the preceding moves. But then it was Firouzja who had a more durable winning advantage of his own, but a few inaccuracies allowed Caruana to slip out to a drawn major piece ending.

Also in round 11: Van Foreest's win over Pentala Harikrishna brought him into the tie for second Esipenko was simultaneously leaving. Harikrishna played overexuberantly with Black, offering an unsound piece sacrifice (perhaps, like Esipenko, he underestimated his opponent?), and Van Foreest refuted it on the way to a longish but always nearly certain win.

I've analyzed the games above, along with what I take to be a cute moment in the game between Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Caruana from round 12, here. The tournament website is here, and these are the pairings for the final round (which starts two hours early, at 12:00 CET/6:00 A.M. ET): 

• Anton (4.5) - Giri (8)
• Donchenko (3.5) - Esipenko (7)
• Carlsen (6.5) - Vachier-Lagrave (5)
• Van Foreest (7.5) - Grandelius (6)
• Tari (5.5) - Caruana (7.5)
• Firouzja (7.5) - Wojtaszek (4.5)
• Duda (5) - Harikrishna (6)