Shankland is Mostly Right, But...

(Originally published here. Please subscribe to my Substack blog - thanks!)

I’m watching Sam Shankland’s Chess24 course “Why Play 1.d4?” (in part an ad for his Chessable course giving a 1.d4 repertoire), and in the third video he notes a repertoire issue. Suppose you’re a 1.d4 player who wants to avoid the Gruenfeld. No problem: you can start with 1.Nf3 (or 1.c4). If you’re a 1.e4 player trying to avoid certain openings with 1.Nf3, however, you’re stuck. You have to play 1.e4. If you start with 1.Nf3, then after Black’s two most popular moves, 1…Nf6 and 1…d5, you can’t get back to a 1.e4 opening.

That’s true, but if you’re worried about 1…e5 and the Petroff/Berlin/Marshall systems (and aren’t enthused about the Italian Game or other diversions from the Ruy), you could play 1.Nf3 and happily meet the reasonably popular 1…c5 with 2.e4. A less likely option, but one that occurred the very first time I beat a 2300 in a tournament game, you might get lucky and see this:

1.Nf3 f5!? 2.e4!? e5?? 3.Nxe5+-

You may think my punctuation is exaggerated, and it is…maybe. Two question marks for 2…e5, transposing into the Latvian, is perhaps half a question mark too many. Perhaps. As for the ‘+-’, that’s not an exaggeration. White does have a decisive advantage, not that Black will resign voluntarily at this point. (If Black realized how bad the Latvian was, 2…e5?? wouldn’t have appeared on the board. So the game might take another 15-20 move before Black throws in the towel.)

Anyway, the point is that while Shankland is right, speaking generally, it’s not impossible to find ways of reaching 1.e4 positions by transposition. Another move that can be used to that end is 1.Nc3. In case of 1…c5, there’s 2.e4, and it’s a Sicilian. No explanation is needed to explain how 1…c6 or 1…e6 will turn into e4 openings if White is so inclined, and likewise for pretty much any single-square pawn push Black might employ. What about 1…e5? This is known to be a small trap: 2.Nf3! Nc6 3.d4! exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Bg5 gives White a pleasant edge; the problem being that the natural 5…Be7? more or less loses to 6.Nf5, e.g. 6…0-0 7.Nxe7+ Qxe7 8.Nd5 Qe5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.e3 (better than the nervous 10.c3), and Black is lost.

There is a drawback to 1.Nc3, which is 1…d5. White can play 2.e4(?!), and if Black is kind it will transpose to normal 1.e4 lines, but Black is better after 2…d4. So White should be willing to play 2.d4 instead, when 2…Nf6 3.Bf4 is a very trendy line popularized by Baadur Jobava. (Note that 2…c6 or 2…e6 would allow a transposition to the Caro-Kann or the French, respectively, after 3.e4. Likewise, 2…Nf6 3.Bg5 e6 is a French after 4.e4.)

Another move the 1.Nc3 player must consider is 1…Nf6. Now 2.e4 e5 is a Vienna, which is not the most ambitious 1.e4 option for White. If you like it, then you’re set; if not, it’s possible to play 2.d4. If 2…d5, White plays 3.Bf4 - the Jobava line again - and if Black eschews 2…d5 White plays 3.e4, with a possible transposition to a favorable 1.e4 opening. (For example, 1.Nc3 Nf6 2.d4 d6 3.e4 g6 is a Pirc.)

Note: I’m not recommending 1.Nf3 for 1.e4-players - or recommending against it. And as I say in the title, I think Shankland is mostly right. I just want to insist on the “mostly” part: White does have some interesting transpositional options that can lead back to 1.e4 systems, even starting with 1.Nf3 (or 1.Nc3).

How Nakamura Qualified for the Candidates

This isn't the whole story, but its end - or rather, the end of the part that brought Hikaru Nakamura across the threshold, enabling him to qualify for the Candidates for the second time in his career. (The first time was in 2016.) Four players were still in the running for a Candidates slot going into the last game of pool play (the winners of the four pools go on to the knockout stage): Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Leinier Dominguez, Levon Aronian, and Nakamura. MVL was in Pool C, Dominguez in Pool B, and the two Americans, Nakamura and Aronian, were in Pool A.

MVL needed to defeat Sam Shankland to keep his hopes alive, but despite his excellent prep (paying careful attention to obscure email games!) Shankland defended like a boss and drew the game.

Dominguez would have retained a chance with a win or even a draw against Vincent Keymer, but a big tactical error in a worse position led to his getting knocked out of the hunt.

That left Nakamura and Aronian, who were tied for the lead in group A. Nakamura and Aronian had Black against Esipenko and Oparin, respectively, and they both got into trouble as well. Aronian in particular had a terrible game, losing speedily and brutally to Oparin. Oparin now led the group with 3.5 points, and with Esipenko on the attack might have won it. Esipenko missed a subtle chance to win, but still retained equality almost to the end of the game; had he done so, Oparin and Nakamura would have contested a playoff. Instead, Esipenko erred in probable time trouble, and Nakamura pulled out the win - of the game, the Pool, and of a Candidates spot, along with Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

Here are those four critical games, with my comments.

The Next Big Event: The 2019 Champions Showdown

Hopefully everyone is enjoying Valentine's Day with someone they love. (Unless you're a little kid, in which case all that romantic stuff is icky. For you, be happy - the day is almost done!) Here's some good chess news to go along with your romantic bliss: a very high-level rapid & blitz event starts in less than a week.

It's the 2019 Champions Showdown in St. Louis, and it features the United States' Fab Five (note the extra pun, free of charge) taking on five challengers from the rest of the world (ROW). There will be three days of rapid play and two days of blitz, and these are the matchups:

• Fabiano Caruana vs. Pentala Harikrishna
• Hikaru Nakamura vs. Jan-Krzysztof Duda
• Wesley So vs. David Navara
• Leinier Dominguez vs. Veselin Topalov
• Sam Shankland vs. Richard Rapport

I'm pretty excited about the event, and it will be nice to see Caruana and especially the long inactive Dominguez back in action. I think the Americans will be favorites on every board, though I wouldn't be shocked to see the ROWers win one or two of the first, fourth, or fifth matches.

Here are the specifics:

The event runs from February 20-24, and play each day starts at 1 p.m. local time (= 2 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CET). The first three days will be devoted to rapid chess, the last two to blitz. There will be 12 rapid games - 4 per day - and 24 blitz games - 12 per day. The rapid time control is 15' + 10" (an increment, thankfully, not the abominable Bronstein delay) and the blitz control is 3' + 2". The rapid games are scored 2-1-0, the blitz games 1-.5-0, with the prize money in each match awarding $36,000 to the winner and $24,000 to the loser. If the match finishes in a tie, that's it: the money is split and there's no playoff.

Sosonko & Shankland, Good News and Bad News

Jokes about Gennadi Sosonko as a sort of chronicler for the grim reaper have been going around for at couple of decades now. If Sosonko writes about you, there's a kind of good news, bad news to it: the good news is that if he does, you're somebody in the chess world; the bad news is that if he does, you're probably dead. (That may or may not be bad news for you, but it's at least sad for your loved ones.)

Sam Shankland may be the moderately grim reaper. If you lose to him in the last round of an event (or at least your last round), the good news is that you're clearly a really strong player. The bad news is that it might be your last serious game: he sent Judit Polgar into retirement in the 2014 Chess Olympiad (I can't believe it has been four and a half years! I initially wrote "2016", but then checked to make sure), and now he has sent Vladimir Kramnik out of professional chess as well. It's possible that there's no causal relationship between their losses to Shankland and their retirement, but you can't be too careful: make sure your favorite players don't face him in the last round of a major tournament.

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

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.

2019 Wijk aan Zee, Round 11: Giri Gets a Gift, Co-Leads with Carlsen

Well, that was embarrassing. Sam Shankland lost by resigning to Anish Giri in a theoretically drawn position. What's worse is that he didn't have to find anything. All he had to do was retreat the king, and the job would be done. It's remarkable that so studious a player as Shankland was unfamiliar with this particular fortress - it's a bit like Viktor Korchnoi once asking an arbiter if castling queenside was legal if the rook passed over an attacked square. That's chess for you: there's so much to know that it's possible for a 2700 not to know an elementary draw known to many club players.

It was a big gift for Anish Giri, who thereby caught up with Magnus Carlsen in first place with two rounds to go after the latter drew quickly and easily with Black in a Sveshnikov against Teimour Radjabov. They are half a point ahead of Ian Nepomniachtchi, who bounced back from yesterday's loss by defeating Vladimir Fedoseev. Nepo had a serious, evening winning advantage early on in an Advance Caro-Kann, let it slip, and then won the game a second time when Fedoseev faltered just before (and after) the time control.

Ding Liren and Viswanathan Anand are a further half a point behind. Ding drew with Richard Rapport in all of 16 moves, while Anand came close to achieving something with White against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Close, but Duda had the one tempo he needed to equalize.

The last two games were decisive. Santosh Vidit Gujrathi defeated the plummeting Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with Black, and pretty easily, too. Meanwhile, Vladimir Kramnik finally won a game - with great difficulty - against Jorden Van Foreest. Kramnik was winning smoothly early on, and was on the way to what would have been an attractive attacking game. He missed his best opportunity, and after further inaccuracies Van Foreest equalized. But Kramnik started grinding and kept on grinding, and in the second time control Black made several errors to lose in a double bishop ending. Even with the win Kramnik is still alone in last place, half a point behind Van Foreest and Mamedyarov. Both Kramnik and Mamedyarov have lost 23 points in what has proved to be a disastrous event for them. (Tournament site here, games here, with notes to Kramnik's and Giri's games.)

But enough about their woes. The race for first is where the action is, and five players are still in the hunt. Better still, the pairing for the last round is Giri-Carlsen. First we have round 12, and here are the pairings:

• Carlsen (7.5) - Duda (5)
• Ding (6.5) - Anand (6.5)
• Vidit (6) - Rapport (5)
• Van Foreest (4) - Mamedyarov (4)
• Fedoseev (4.5) - Kramnik (3.5)
• Shankland (4.5) - Nepomniachtchi (7)
• Radjabov (5.5) - Giri (7.5)

Just think: if Carlsen and Giri draw, Nepomniachtchi wins, and either Ding or Anand wins, there will be a four-way tie for first entering the last round. And if we add to that a draw between Van Foreest and Mamedyarov and a Kramnik win there will be a five-way tie for last. It's impossible to happen in this event, but has a tournament ever finished with half the players tied for first and the other half tied for last? My favorite oddball super-GM tournament result was Linares 2001, when Kasparov finished in first with a +5 score while the other five players (Polgar, Karpov, Leko, Shirov, and Grischuk) tied for second=last place with -1 scores.

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)

Saturday Summary: Two Leaders Entering the Final Round of the IOM; Svidler Wins his Match

The pre-World Championship match festivities are winding down; the match between Peter Svidler and Sam Shankland is over, while there's just one round left to play at the Isle of Man. (But don't fret: there's the Shenzhen Masters starting November 4 with Ding Liren, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri, Yu Yangyi, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, and Nikita Vitiugov. There's no getting away from big chess anymore.)

Starting with what has finished: Svidler had some advantage with White, but not enough to cash in with a win (and probably not a lot of motivation to do so, either). Shankland drew, so Svidler won the match 3.5-2.5. This was pretty close to what one would expect from their ratings, with Svidler gaining two points from the match. The undercard maintained its "perfection", as Vladimir Fedoseev and Jorden Van Foreest drew all six of their games, and thus the match.

The Isle of Man International finishes tomorrow (Sunday), and the trends were reversed in today's penultimate round. The number of leaders had been increasing every round; now it has shrunk to two. The nine super-GMs had been performing well, with at least eight of the nine enjoying great chances to win the tournament. Now only one of the big nine is within half a point of the lead, and he's not one of the two leaders. Here's the run-down:

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Wang Hao were among the co-leaders, but after their (clean) draw they're half a point back. The next two games involving co-leaders were decisive, however. Arkadij Naiditsch defeated Hikaru Nakamura, first obtaining a positional advantage and then surviving the up-and-down tactical play that resulted from Nakamura's objectively dubious piece sac on move 26. Naiditsch was short of time though and it wasn't a bad practical chance. Nakamura managed to equalize, but then was worse before having one brief chance to be better with 35...Nf4. After 35...Re5? White was (again) winning, and didn't give Black any more opportunities.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek was the other winner, defeating Michael Adams thanks mostly to Adams' blunder on move 15. It cost him the exchange, and Wojtaszek duly converted his advantage.

Jeffery Xiong was the last co-leader, but in his long game with Vladimir Kramnik he was always playing defense. He was in trouble shortly after the first time control, but when Kramnik played 46.Bxf2 instead of 46.Kg1 Xiong was able to escape.

All the games featuring players half a point out of first finished in a draw except for Gawain Jones vs. Levon Aronian. Jones won pretty convincingly, as if he was the former world's #2 rather than a consistent mid-to-upper 2600-level player. Congrats to Jones!

Here are the leading pairings for the final round:

1. Naiditsch (6.5) - Wojtaszek (6.5)
2. Xiong (6) - Jones (6)
3. Grischuk (5.5) - Vachier-Lagrave (6)
4. Wang Hao (6) - Anand (5.5)

The next eight boards are all 5.5 vs. 5.5 pairings, but they are of course outside of the race for first.

Seven Lead at the Isle of Man; Status Quo Everywhere Else

1. There were lots of draws at the top in round 7 (of 9) at the 2018 Isle of Man International. The six leaders drew their three games, and only one of the nine players entering the round half a point out of first managed to win. Thus Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Arkadij Naiditsch, Hikaru Nakamura, Jeffery Xiong, Wang Hao and Radoslaw Wojtaszek remain tied for first, now with 5.5 points apiece, and thanks to Michael Adams' win over Abhijeet Gupta he too shares the lead.

Of the leaders, only Vachier-Lagrave had anything like serious winning chances, but the board was such a mess he preferred the safety of a speedy perpetual. On move 21, it was better to be greedy and recapture with the king, and even after that it wasn't necessary to repeat. That's easy to say with a computer running, but that it's easy doesn't make it false.

In the next score group, both Vladimir Kramnik (against Vladislav Artemiev) and Richard Rapport (against Gawain Jones) should have won, but they didn't. They're still very much in the hunt with two rounds to go; here are the pairings for round 8:

1. Vachier-Lagrave (5.5) - Wang Hao (5.5)
2. Naiditsch (5.5) - Nakamura (5.5)
3. Wojtaszek (5.5) - Adams (5.5)
4. Kramnik (5) - Xiong (5.5)
5. Jones (5) - Aronian (5)
6. Giri (5) - Rapport (5)
7. Anand (5) - Artemiev (5)
8. Parligras (5) - Grischuk (5)
9. Karjakin (5) - Sethuraman (5)
10. So (4.5) - Shirov (5)

For those who occasionally ask how the top players would do in open tournaments, and if their ratings are protected by their playing mostly amongst themselves, see for yourselves. Except for So, the nine super-GMs are all no more than half a point out of first, and even So, who is having a relatively poor event - the worst of the bunch - is only down 7 rating points for the event.

2. Game five of the Svidler-Shankland match was drawn. Shankland got nothing from his last white game, and will have to win the last game with Black to tie the match. Game five of the Fedoseev - J. Van Foreest was drawn, just like the first four.

3. TCEC Superfinal: 26 games are finished, and Stockfish leads 3-0 with 23 draws against Komodo. Only 74 games remain.

4. Chess.com Computer Chess Championship, Blitz edition. It has been a while since we updated this one. As suggested in the post's title, though, there's nothing new to report, except that more games have been played and we've all aged. Stockfish leads with 92.5/102, five points ahead of Houdini. Lc0 has played one more game, and has 79.5/103, while Komodo is battling with Ethereal and Fire for fourth, not far behind Lc0. All three engines have played 102 games, and Ethereal has 77.5 points while Fire and Komodo have 77. This is just stage 1, with the top 10 engines making it to stage 2 and then the top 4 from stage 2 playing in the third and final stage. So...it'll be a while before it's all over.