Like much of the world’s population, I found myself contained to my home due to the coronavirus directly after the Candidates’ tournament ended prematurely. The only world-class sports competition to resist the epidemic, the Candidates’ Tournament was the subject of a two-page report in the sports daily L’Equipe (with well-documented content since it was written by my manager, Laurent Vérat 🙂 ).
L’Equipe 26/04/2020
Like other sports events, the great chess tournaments are one by one cancelled or postponed (Grenke, Grand Chess Tour, Norway Chess, Olympiads…). This upsetting situation forces new practices.
One of the advantages of chess is that you can play it from a distance. In the last century, games were thus played by mail, telephone, fax… and even carrier pigeon! And now, thanks to the internet, you can also play live.
So my beginning of containment was the opportunity for me to participate in several online events, including a simultaneous, fundraising exhibition and the tournament organized by World Champion Magnus Carlsen on chess24.
Simultaneous
The schedule of a top-level player leaves little room for meetings with fans. In order to bring a little distraction to everyone, I organized a simultaneous on Lichess on April 10th.
More than 470 people tried to win one of the 20 places available. I would like to thank all the participants, and sorry for those who were not selected. In addition to these 20 players, I had invited 6 people, including Ivan Ljubicic; the Croatian tennis player, after a brilliant career that culminated with a place as No. 3 in the world in 2006, is now the coach of my idol, Roger Federer.
L’Equipe 19/04/2020
He is also an excellent chess player, who has been playing for a long time, as reported in the article in L’Equipe published on April 19. He demonstrated this in the simultaneous, drawing after pushing me up the ropes. The simultaneous ended in a final result of 22 wins, 3 draws and one defeat. I ended up exhausted, but thrilled by the experience.
Kévin Bordi also took advantage of this period to organize a mini charity tournament on 11-12 April in aid of Médecins sans Frontières. The 1st semi-final saw Etienne Bacrot beat Matthieu Cornette. I played in the other semi-final, against Kévin Bordi in the 1st set, and Fabien Libiszewki in the 2nd. In the final the next day against Etienne, the latter got good positions but the time management was fatal to him; “too weak, too slow” 🙂 .
However, the best achievement of this weekend will remain to have collected the tidy sum of 11.250 €, more than double the initial goal!
At the moment I am participating in the tournament organized by Magnus on chess24.com. With a very strong field (the top 5 players in the world as well as Giri, Nakamura and the rising star Firouzja), and an original format (pools and a play-off), the competition promises to be exciting!
In the wake of the Magnus Invitational, the International Chess Federation and Chess.com will organize the Nations Cup Online, a team competition that will take place from May 5 to 10. Six teams will take part in this tournament, which in a way will replace this summer’s postponed Olympics: Russia, USA, Europe, China, India, and a selection representing the rest of the world. I will be the 1st board of the European team, in a competition which will gather most of the best players in the world.
When I came back from a few days vacation in the U.S. early March, the world was still going around pretty much normally. The Charles de Gaulle airport I had just left was usually crowded. Of course, we knew that there was a significant risk of the coronavirus pandemic spreading, but nothing like the magnitude of the pandemic that has taken place since then. I hadn’t yet arrived in my apartment when a private Facebook message from FIDE told me that there might be a spot available for the Candidate Tournament and if so, would I be willing to participate? I had to make up my mind very quickly, as the confirmation should come one or two days later.
Of course, I didn’t hesitate for long and said yes. Immediately, there was a whole organization to set up. I called my manager Laurent Vérat; how do you get there with the limited time? How to manage the visa to be recovered, with the restrictions that were already beginning to be put in place by Russia concerning foreign visitors? And I called my coach Etienne Bacrot, to see with him how to set up in such a short time an operational team, the computers that are needed etc… After that, it was a race against time to get ready, to pick up the visa at the Russian Consulate in Marseille, and then to arrive well in advance in Ekaterinburg, in order to anticipate the last minute problems. As a result, I passed through Istanbul to avoid Moscow, with a « short » 9-hour stopover anyway, but it went rather well! I finally arrived at 7am – local time – at Ekaterinburg airport, where I was welcomed by the organization, without being quarantined 🙂 .
The tournament’s hotel, which the players have hardly left.
Once I got into the Hyatt Regency, I hardly left it for two weeks. This is both related to the quality of the line-up, since clearly, during a chess tournament of this level, you don’t get out much, but also to avoid being stupidly contaminated. For example, I didn’t go jogging outside or anything like that. That would have been foolish, especially since there was a gym in the hotel. Among my rare outings, I went out to eat twice with Mr. Coffinier, France Consul General in Ekaterinburg. Otherwise, I alternated between the hotel restaurant and room service.
The negative aspect of this forced rush is that with so little time, I could not have anyone to accompany me there. There was no second, so I was on my own for the duration of the tournament. That said, I’m used to it and I can obviously work with my seconds from a distance.
From the chess point of view, there was obviously quite a lot of additional work to be done, but on the spot, it was the usual routine; review the opening files accurately and arrive at the game as well armed as possible. What was good for me was that the games started at 4pm. That allowed me to go to the gym often at lunchtime, and try to stay fit. And then, despite everything, I still had a few moments of relaxation, even though there was a serious lack of sport on TV 🙂 . In the end, it was mainly Netflix that was running, apart from the chess preps of course.
Let’s go! (Photo: Ootes/Fide).
Eventually, the tournament got off to a flying start on 17 March.
Round 1: Mvl – Caruana (2842) 1/2
Even if we suspected that there would be change, we weren’t sure what to expect in terms of opening. Arkhangelsk was one of the possibilities we had considered. But Fabiano was really well prepared for that game and although white, I was the one who had a bit of a problem. I reacted pretty well afterwards and, despite a couple of inaccuracies on both sides, the draw was a logical result. A game with quite a lot of content, quite a lot of things to calculate. A good warm-up to get into the tournament.
Round 2: Mvl – Ding Liren (2805) 1-0
The sequence of two straight white games to start the tournament was obviously critical. It will be the same when the tournament starts again, I will have two successive black games which will be crucial as well. Of course, with 2 whites, it’s clear that 1.5/2 was the score I was aiming for, as much when it is 2 blacks, it will be rather 1 out of 2 I guess 🙂 . But then, we will also see the circumstances of the tournament. We can’t predict that for the moment.
Anyway, it was clear to me that I had to put pressure on Ding. And so the opening went very, very well. We had looked at this 12.Bd2 idea before the tournament. It leads to positions not very easy to play for Black, in particular in the line chosen with …Nd8, and this Knight which remains badly placed for a long time. So I win more or less the game in the opening, especially after 18.c4! which grabs a pawn.
Mvl-Ding Liren, round 2.
If 18…. Bf6 19.cxb5 Qf7, then 20.Bg5! is very strong. I suspect Ding missed this when he played 15…f5?. Then, the technical conversion was made easier by the fact that the Ba8 and Nd8 remained completely out of play. All that was needed were a few precise moves, notably 20.Nh2!.
It’s true that the start of the tournament was rather encouraging in terms of content, especially the fact that I was able to give Ding problems in the opening, despite my short preparation.
The playing hall (Photo: Ootes/Fide).
Round 3: Giri (2763) – Mvl 1/2
Giri is really sharp on his preps, and I was a little bit in trouble in the opening. He came up with a good idea and the position was slightly unpleasant for me to play. Afterwards, I think I defended well, even though he might have had more ambitious options at some point, but they weren’t necessarily easy to find. I’m thinking of 17.Bb5, to provoke …a6, which has been mentioned by commentators; that, for example, I hadn’t thought of.
As a result, I was rather happy with my transition to an endgame. I knew I was a bit worse, but with the pawn in d4 and the possibility to activate my Knight, I felt I wasn’t going to lose it. Even though Anish wasn’t necessarily very precise at the beginning of this ending.
Round 4: Mvl – Grischuk (2777) 1/2
Frankly, I didn’t understand his time management at all! Why 52 minutes out of 18…Ne7, in a position that we both knew about? On the other hand, in the complications, he reacted very well. He apprehended with class all the difficulties, and in particular found all the only moves, 21…Na4 then 22…Bd5, 24…Rg6 and 25…Bc4; a succession of really not easy decisions…
And then, when the situation became really ultra tactical after 29.a4,
Mvl-Grischuk, round 4.
he made the mistake 29…Nxa4?. I had anticipated he would take and saw quite a few options but what happened was that I obviously looked at the skewer with 30.Re4 or 30.Rf4, but I was rather on 30.Rf4, after which there are no winning ideas like after 30.Re4! b5 31.Rxc4! followed by 32.Rxf7+.
So, when I played 29.a4, for me black’s only move was to take a4 and I had anticipated the game’s continuation with 30.Ba3+ ; I remember that I thought 2’30” to decide if I was going to play 30.Ba3+ directly, or first 30.e6. Anyway, I have a little regret that I missed 30.Re4!.
Did I miss something ? (Photo: Emelianova / Fide).
Also, I must say I underestimated his option with 35…a5! at the end of the sequence.
Mvl-Grischuk.
The four-Rook endgame is clearly superior if he doesn’t have 35…a5!. After that, 36.Rd4+ was the natural move. But I found it really easy to handle for Black. Whereas on 36.Rd1+ Kxe6 37.Re4+ Kf7 38.Rd7+ Kf6 39.Rd5 Kf7 40.Rf5+ Kg8 41.Re7, I thought I still had some small chances of winning; which is not the case, simply 41…Rh7! should draw.
And then, after 36…Ke7 37.Re4, as he played in the game, I thought I really had real chances. But he found all the correct follow-ups, despite his heavy time trouble. The moves are not easy, he must give pawns, he must concede squares… For example, understanding that he has to play 35…a5 is already huge. Certainly, it is natural to push the passed pawn, but on the other hand, it gives so many squares to white that one could imagine that it is necessary to put a Rook in play first. Maybe some other moves would have drawn as well, but 35…a5 is much more clinical. Anyway, Grischuk’s defence was really impressive on the whole.
It was a warning that in a tournament like the Candidates, the opportunities you have, you shouldn’t let them pass you by too often!
Round 5: Alekseenko (2698) – Mvl 1/2
After doubling white at the beginning, I now doubled black against Alekseenko and then Wang Hao. It’s true that I would have liked to win one of these two games… Alekseenko didn’t chicken out at all, and he got head into the complications of a Najdorf line that Carlsen had played against me last December. Certainly, he made an incredible mistake in his preparation since he thought 50 minutes after 16…g6 (instead of 16…Bf8? against Carlsen):
Alekseenko-Mvl, round 5.
17.Rxg6 Rxc3. I didn’t understand what was going on since it was unthinkable that he didn’t look 17.Rxg6 Rxc3 at home. In fact, as he explained later, he just knew that 16…g6 was « impossible » because of 17.Rxg6!. So, in his defense, these are things that can happen. Maybe at the very beginning, the computer didn’t like 16…g6 at all, so he concentrated on 16…Rh7 or 16…Kf8.
As for me, I just had to remember about the lines, and then see on the board if an opportunity arose in case he deviated… That said, I didn’t have too much reason to be that optimistic, because there are a lot of possibilities that are a forced draw. For example 18.Qxc3 Na4 19.Qb3 fxg6 20.Nxe6 and perpetual. The line he has chosen, in fact, is the one that asks the most questions, with 18.Nxe6 Qc8 19.Ng7+ Kf8 20.Rh6. After some other correct decisions on his part, and since he had done everything well, I was obliged to sacrifice a Rook on b2 to impose a perpetual myself.
A very neat access (Photo: Ootes/Fide).
Round 6: Wang Hao (2762) – Mvl 1/2
That’s my bad game of the first half of the tournament.
Wang Hao-Mvl, round 6.
First of all, I didn’t play the obvious 22… Qh4+. I don’t know at all what I was afraid of after 23.Ng3 Qf6, but I was clearly afraid of something. Yet White has nothing better than 24.Ne2, repeating moves. So I opted for 22…Rh8 instead, and after 23.Rh1, I spent quite a lot of time calculating 23…e5 24.d5 Nd4 25.Nxd4 exd4 26.Qd3; and there I was considering 26…Rh4 and I thought it was not so bad. Black more or less threatens 27…. b5, I imagined that it would not be so trivial for White. And then, when he actually played 23.Rh1, I realized that after 26…Rh4 27.Rcd1, the d4-pawn would be lost without compensation since the White King is rather safe on f2 or e2. Certainly I can still play 27…b5, but simply 28.Bxb5 Rc3 29.Qd2! and it is over. From then on, I had to fall back on the backup variation, and exchange the four Rooks by 23…Rxh1 24.Rxh1 Rh8 25.Rxh8 Kxh8. I still thought it was OK, but I missed 26.Qc3! and it gets complicated. And after 26…Kg8 27.d5, I missed the nice pattern 27…Qh4+ 28.g3 Qh2+ 29.Ke3 exd5 30.Bxd5 because I didn’t see 30…Ba6! from afar. It was so much better than the game that I probably would have played it anyway, even though it sounds highly acrobatic.
In the game, after 26…Qxc3 27.Nxc3, the problem is that against the move I want to play, 27…Ne5, there is obviously 28.d6 which is a problem now. It may be tenable, but in fact the difference for me was that on 27…Na5 28.d6 Kf8, then I had 29…e5 which allowed me to isolate the d6-pawn. But after 27…Na5 28.Fd3! played by Wang Hao, it is objectively game over.
Then a small miracle happened.
Wang Hao-Mvl.
If he had played 34.Nc3! instead of going for the a6-pawn with 34.Nc7?!, I would have had no chance of surviving. Indeed, he would have quickly forced …b5, in particular to give the c5 square for his King; and if I move the Bb7 to give a6, my Na5 still doesn’t move anywhere, which changes everything compared to the game, where he could pass to d6 via b7! After 34…Kd6 35.Nxa6 Nb7, I didn’t understand 36.g4? atall, which facilitated my defense. By the way, it seems that there is a forced draw after 36…Nc5!, but in the heat of the moment, I did not understand it; it must be said that it was not at all obvious! Indeed, it seemed to me that the Bishop ending is lost after 37.Nxc5 bxc5+ 38.Kc3 f5 39.gxf5 gxf5 40.Bc4 f4 41.a4 Bh3 42.a5 Bg2 43.a6 Kc7; there are several ways to win here, but the most aesthetic one is 44.d6 Kxd6 45.Bd5!. On the board, the natural 38…Kxd5 (instead of 38…f5) 39.Bc4+ Ke5 40.Bxf7 g5 looked highly suspicious to me; however, it seems that it draws according to the computer!
So I gave up 36…Nc5! for 36…g5?. As the game unfolded, all I could hope for was a kind of fortress with the Knight on d6. But I had nevertheless slight doubts; if, for example, he managed to put the King on b4, then the Bishop on c6, and play Nb5, I was not sure that the fortress would hold on. For example, a4, Nc7-a8 and the b6-pawn is still not completely serene. So I decided to take a little more active steps by bringing the King to c5.
Later on, after 56.gxf5,
Wang Hao-Mvl.
I discarded the natural 56…Nxf5 57.Nxf5 Bxf5 58.f4 g4 because of 59.Kf2, but in fact, as Wang Hao told me after the game, here 59…b5! 60.Kg3 (60.a3 b4! 61.axb4+ Kxb4 and White doesn’t have enough pawns anymore) 60…b4 forces the draw. But as on the other side, I had felt that 56…Bxf5 57.Nxf5 Nxf5+ 58.Ke4 Nh4! would be a fortress, I chose this option. I also envisioned scenarios where my fortress could scrumble. So, I was very careful and I calculated carefully each of my moves!
All in all, still a very bad performance on my part, but it’s crucial to be able to save those games!
Highly focused (Photo: Emelianova/Fide).
Round 7: Mvl – Nepomniachtchi (2774) 1-0
I wasn’t necessarily expecting the French, but even so, as Ian had already played it earlier in the tournament (against Alekseenko), we had to take it into account. So we looked at how to pose problems, which is not the most complicated against the Winawer 🙂 . However, you have to be ready to take a minimum of risks, of course…
Mvl-Nepomniachtchi, round 7.
Round 7: Mvl – Nepomniachtchi (2774) 1-0
I wasn’t necessarily expecting the French, but even so, as Ian had already played it earlier in the tournament (against Alekseenko), we had to take it into account. So we looked at how to pose problems, which is not the most complicated against the Winawer 🙂 . However, you have to be ready to take a minimum of risks, of course…
Mvl-Nepomniachtchi.
Later, after 22…Nc6, I anticipated sacrificing the exchange on b4. I knew there were probably other ways to play of course, but I liked the concept. And my original idea was to do it with 23.Rfb1… But when I saw that I could also play 23.f4 directly, I didn’t hesitate for a second! But the path was narrow for the concept to work, after Black tried to close the position with 23…Ne7 24.Rfb1 f5. But the fact that in the structure, there is now this idea of breaking with g4! was finally crucial. And this is indeed what happened a few moves later. There is still an important point to mention though, to show it was all but smooth.
Mvl-Nepomniachtchi.
Here, instead of 32…exf5, Ian could try 32…Qb6. I think it must lose too, but it was a much better practical chance. For me, at the board, the move was 33.f6+. But in fact, after 33…gxf6 34.Qh7+ Kd8 35.Qxh6, Black has 35…fxe5 36.fxe5 Qb1+ and it is already perpetual. And if I try to anticipate with 35.Kf2, then Black has the miracle resource 35…fxe5 36.fxe5 Ke8! 37.Qxh6 Nf8 and everything holds, for example 38.Qg7 Qb1! and the h-pawn will not go far. A posteriori, the machine shows that the correct move against 32…Qb6 was 33.Qa1!, but it is clear that Ian and I both considered that it was 33.f6+ which would have refuted 32…Qb6.
In the game, after 33.Ng3 followed by 34.Nxf5+, I still had to be concentrated and precise not to let the whole point escape.
Nepo resigns and the tournament ends with the two players in the lead (Photo: Emelianova/Fide).
In terms of both results and content, this first half of the Candidates’ Tournament is obviously very positive for me. This is the case from the point of view of the preps, but also in my play itself. But obviously, absolutely nothing has been achieved yet, and there are a lot of things that are going to happen in the second half. In fact, when the tournament resumes, I’m going to start with black against Caruana and Ding Liren; it’s going to be a complicated and very important passage. There will also be the penultimate game with black against Nepo, the current co-leader. As things stand now, that game has the potential to be decisive for the tournament’s victory. But generally speaking, all the games are going to be very important, and every half point will count. If I play at the level I’ve shown so far in Ekaterinburg, I’m obviously one of the big favourites to win. But it’s up to me to prove it…
The tournament has been suspended following the Russian government’s announcement of the imminent closure of its airspace. We were able to leave the country in the dead of night, thanks to the chartering of a private jet that dropped Caruana and I – and a few others – at Amsterdam airport 🙂 .
So halfway through, I’m sharing the lead with Ian Nepomniachtchi. With 4.5/7, we are one point ahead of the chasing group. Until the tournament resumes, I’m going to stay quietly at home for as long as it takes. I’m still going to keep up my physical fitness and my game though. In fact, I’ll be taking part in the Carlsen Invitational online tournament, which starts on April 18 and will bring together the best players in the world. Then the time will come when I’ll have to step up the pace, obviously; when things will be clearer and a bit better in the world.
Personally, I have the feeling that the activity in general, and the chess activity in particular, will not resume before at least the beginning of September…
In this period of containment, the chess on the Internet has the wind in its sails, and there are lots of initiatives. Unable to cope with the (very) numerous requests from French chess clubs to participate in one of their online tournaments, Maxime has decided to propose a simultaneous display. He will thus play on Friday, April 10th at 6 pm, against 20 opponents previously drawn among the interested persons who will have registered. Modalities to be discovered very soon on the MVL’s social networks 🙂 .
I’m going to participate in the Candidates’ Tournament in Iekaterinburg after Teimur Radjabov’s withdrawal! Here’s a short article because I suddenly find myself in time trouble 🙂 .
It all started on Wednesday, when I
was coming back from a few days vacation in New York. FIDE contacted
me to tell me that there was a possibility that one of the qualifiers
would not participate in the Candidates Tournament, without telling
me who, nor why. According to the rules, I was the first substitute.
Friday morning, after Teimour’s forfeit was announced, I was
officially invited to participate.
Of course, it was a big surprise for
me, even though I had read Teimour’s statement after his World Cup
victory, questioning his participation in the Candidates. I also knew
that the coronavirus epidemic could disrupt things at any time. But
still, I didn’t expect anyone to withdraw at all, especially so close
to the event.
Obviously, I’m delighted to have this
opportunity, even if that’s not how I originally wanted to qualify.
I will arrive in Iekaterinburg on
March 12. My priority between now and the start of the tournament is
to get everything in place logistically as quickly as possible so
that I can concentrate on the chess prep.
Although I’m in at such a short
notice, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time, so I’m certainly
not going to be a picky eater.
My goal is March 17, the day of the
first round – against Caruana… It’s up to me to focus on chess to
be ready that day.
This is indeed the 9th time I’ve been here for the Grand Open at the beginning of the year in Gibraltar’s Caleta Hotel, a tournament that I particularly enjoy. After the tension of the last months of 2019 with the Grand Chess Tour and the qualifying tournaments for the Candidates, it was nice for me to play an Open, most of the time with opponents I had never played against before.
Round
1: MVL – SUKANDAR (2402) 1-0
This game against an Indonesian IM was a good warm-up to get into the tournament. There were many lines to calculate, after 14…Qb6 already, a move that forced me to sacrifice a pawn. Generally speaking, there were quite concrete things to evaluate, including a few nice lines 🙂 . For example, after 22.b4 :
Mvl-Sukandar, Ronde 1.
My opponent played 22…Qa7, but in case of 22…Qxc4, I had planned 23.Nb6 Qxb4 24.Nxa8 Rxa8 25.f6! exf6 26.exf6 Ne8 (26…Re8 27.Qc3) 27.Nxc6 bxc6 28.Rxa6!.
French derby (Photo: www.saund.co.uk/John Saunders).
Round 2: FLOM (2510) – MVL 1/2
The French IM played a line from the Grunfeld Exchange that I knew, of course.
Flom-Mvl, Round 2.
In this position, I was well aware that 20…Bxe5 was leading to a draw. So I decided to play something else, but well, that didn’t bring much; I remembered that 20…Bd7 was probably not so good, but playable to avoid an immediate draw. But then I felt wings sprouting; indeed, after 21.Rhg1 Bb5 22.Rc3 Kh8 23.f4 Rd5 24.Kc2 Bxd3+ 25.Rxd3 Rc8+ 26.Kd2 Rcd8 27.Rxd5 Rxd5+, I didn’t expect 28.Kc2, but 28.Ke2. Then I realized that if I allowed him to play 29.Rd1, it would be a draw right away. So I calculated 28…f6? to continue the game, for example after 29.exf6 Bxf6 30.Rg6 Rf5. But he played 29.Rg6! and I then realized that there is no 29…fxe5 30.fxe5 Rxe5? because of 31.Bd4, white’s King being on c2, and not on e2! So I had to give two pawns away and pray that it would work… Well, it seemed like it should draw anyway after 30…Bxe5 31.Rxh6+ Kg8 32.Rxe6 Fd4, but it was a bit of a sport, let’s not kid ourselves.
Indeed, the final position is the famous Vancura draw in the Rook endgame, known for a century. So if there is any refutation, it would already have been found 🙂 .
Flom-Mvl.
In fact, I got Vancura’s position, but with a pawn on h5 in addition, which however plays no role. I had a little scare because it took me a little while to find the exact path to the draw, but I finally managed it before my opponent tested my knowledge! After 51…Rf6 52.Kc5 Rf5+! (but not 52…Rh6? 53.Kb5 Rxh5+ 54.Kb6 Rh6+ 55.Kb7 and the fact that there is no check on the 7th costs the game) 53.Kc6 Rf6+ 54.Kd7, I saw the drawing pattern with 54…Rb6 (in this exact position, 54…Rf7+ is even simpler). 55.Kc7 Rf6 (only move) 56.h6+ Kh7 (only move) 57.a7 Rf7+ (only move!) and as soon as the White King wants to get out of lateral checks, he must let the Black Rook pass on the a-file, with a trivial draw.
In the half-light (Photo: www.saund.co.uk/John Saunders).
Round 3: MVL – BARON (2529) 1-0
A power outage was the highlight of the round 🙂 . It affected the whole neighbourhood! Luckily, the Caleta Hotel had quite a few small desk lamps that worked without electricity, which were to be used for the closing ceremony. Some brave players had chosen to continue the game in this kind of subdued atmosphere… Others, including my opponent Tal Baron, kept thinking in half-light, clock stopped; which turned out to be counterproductive in his case, since he made a fatal miscalculation as soon as play resumed!
Round 4: VAIBHAV (2593) – MVL 1/2
Round 5: MVL – SANAL (2569) 1/2
After a near-theoretical draw against Vaibhav, I had white against the Turkish GM Sanal; the only one of my 6 white games that I didn’t win 🙂 .
That
game had gotten off to a bad start due to a miscalculation…
Mvl-Sanal, Round 5.
Here,
I had anticipated 13.d4, but finally, the position after 13…Qc7!
14.dxe5 dxe5 15.Nxe5 0-0! 16.0-0 (16.Bf4 Rd8) 16…Qxe5 (16…Rd8
17.Qe1) 17.Bf4 Qh5 18.Bxb8 Bg4, I didn’t like it.
So
I played 13.h3
0-0 14.c4,
with the idea of surrounding the b3 pawn. But it’s a slow plan and I
think he didn’t react very well because he let me regain the
advantage. Except that I myself mishandled the position back, and I
even had to be careful in the endgame in order to draw.
All
in all, the first half of the tournament was quite uneven, with a few
games where I calculated rather well, and some quite ugly games, I’m
thinking in particular of those against Flom and Sanal.
Facing Russian WGM Dina Belenkaya during the blitz tournament, under Ivanchuk’s watchful eye! (Photo: Niki Riga).
Round 6: MVL – PERALTA (2574) 1-0
A rather well-controlled game on the whole, notably because I refuted his conception in the opening :
Mvl-Peralta, Round 6.
I
didn’t know 10…Na5
immediately, and I found on the board the very interesting move
11.h4!?,
while
12 other moves had already been tried in this position!
I don’t know if it’s that strong, but in any case, he fell directly into my trap, because after 11…h5?! 12.Ne3 Nxe3 13.fxe3, I already have a clear advantage. We’ll move on to the final episode of this game, already well documented on specialized websites 🙂 . In a completely winning position, I played a move that let him back in the game, but he had the same hallucination as me, thinking he was being mated, and he resigned!
Round 7: KARTHIKEYAN (2606) – MVL 1/2
Karthikeyan is a young Indian who beat me in the last round last year, despite my Najdorf turning out pretty well for me. This time, he played the opening well and managed to get the advantage, but luckily he underestimated his position twice, and allowed me to stabilize the game.
Nice to analyse with Mvl by his side! (Photo: Niki Riga).
Round 8: BASSO (2600) – MVL 1/2
Round 9: MVL – CAN (2600) 1-0
After
another draw with Black in a very theoretical Grunfeld against
Italian GM Basso – without ever being able to play for the win – I
faced the Turkish Can in the penultimate round :
I
think he made it easier for me by quickly entering a Queenless
middlegame:
Mvl-Can, Round 9.
Can certainly thought that the position was not so dangerous, but in fact it seems to me really inferior because in addition to the isolated pawn, the Bb7 is badly placed and the a6-pawn is weak too. Here, he should still have tried to be active by 17…Re4 18.Bg3 Rde8 19.Kf1 Bc6, rather than allowing 17…Nf8?! 18.a5!, and the position becomes a long torture for Black after 18…Ne6 19.axb6 Bxb6 20.Bd2 Nd4 21.Nxd4 Bxd4 22.Bd3!. Maybe I had a more concrete solution after 22…Re6 23.Ra4 Ff6 24.Rb4 Bc8. Instead of 25.Ra1, 25.Rxe6 fxe6 26.Rb8 (idea 27.Ra8) probably would have won the a6-pawn. But then, do you want to make concrete decisions in this position? Not at all, actually! Because even if I take a6, Black may have counter-play with …Rc8 and …e5. There are a lot of details to check, and the position does not require such an approach from a practical point of view, in my opinion.
Round 10: MVL – MAGHSOODLOO (2674) 1-0
A win in this last round game wold give me a small chance to finish in the leading pack, and I had the pleasant surprise of doubling white against the former world junior champion. I played 1.d4, which seemed to me a relevant choice against this specific opponent.
Mvl-Maghsoodloo, Round 10.
J I got an ending a pawn up, but it was definitely a draw. Here, the easiest for him was 30…Rxc5! (instead of 30…Rd8) 31.dxc5 Ne4+ (31…Nc4 should also be a draw, but the possible pawn ending to be foreseen from afar after 32.Rc3 Rc8 33.c6 bxc6 34.Bxc4 dxc4 35.Rxc4 Kd5 may be frightening) 32.Bxe4 dxe4 and Black will end up ok without difficulty. In the game, after 30…Rd8 31.Rac3 Rd7 32.a4, he certainly didn’t need to give me the c6-square with 32…b6? 33.Rc6 Rdd8 34.Ke2 Rd7 35.Rc1 Rh8 36.a5! and black’s position only holds by a thread. I may not have played optimally afterwards, but it’s always difficult not to allow any counter-play at all.
The famous “Battle of the Sexes” party. Here Mvl in the ring, with former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova (Photo: www.saund.co.uk/John Saunders).
The balance of this tournament is contrasted; 5.5/6 with white is very correct, but drawing all my black games against weaker players on paper cannot satisfy me. Of course, I finish in the leading group at 7.5/10 (with 6 other players). But as a symbol of the year, I ended up 5th in the tie-break (Elo performance), a very small point behind the fourth and last player qualified for the tie-breaks awarding the £ 30.000 first prize 🙂 .
I
don’t have any tournaments scheduled before April or May, so it’s a
good time to take stock and find ways to improve!
No need for the federation to bring together one of the strongest french teams ever. Maxime, with Etienne Bacrot (2669 Elo), Maxime Lagarde (2655), Romain Edouard (2653), Christian Bauer (2625), Yannick Gozzoli (2599), Matthieu Cornette (2556), Fabien Libiszewski (2526) and Kévin Bordi (2288), is playing the prochessleague 2020. After 6 rounds, the French are 2nd in the Central Division.
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