Category: English

Three months after I played in my last tournament (Gibraltar), the Elite season really took off on April 20, when the traditional Grenke Chess Classic organized by my German team Baden-Baden began.

As usual, the first rounds took place in Karlsrühe, alongside the gigantic Grenke Open, which gathered more than 2.000 players this year! Among them, a lot of french friends, with my trainer Etienne Bacrot and my Asnières teammate Jules Moussard as leaders. Although both unbeaten, they could never play a key role in the tournament, because of the too many draws they conceded.

The Grenke Classic offered this year a very strong line-up, leaded by Magnus Carlsen, in a state of grace those last months. With vice-world champion Caruana, as well as Anand, Aronian and myself, it is half the World Top 10 which was gathered in Germany. Three members of the Baden-Baden team also made the trip (Svidler, Naiditsch and Vallejo), and the field was completed with German players Meier and Keymer. The latter, only 14 years old, was making a noteworthy entrance in a tournament of this caliber, thanks to his victory in last year’s Open.

Round 1: Mvl – Anand (2774) 1/2

Quite a difficult introduction, as I didn’t expect Vishy to enter this heavy tactical line of the Advance Caro-Kann. So I found myself falling between two chairs – so to speak – hesitating between taking a draw already known by theory, or trying to remember all the subtleties of a line I had previously analyzed. When I fully understood that I would never remember all details, I chose the path of wisdom!

Round 2: Caruana (2819) – Mvl 1/2

I was expecting with delight a Najdorf debate, but Fabiano shied away from it, and had me wrong-footed with 2.Nc3 followed by 4.Qxd4! I had the feeling I equalized though, but the reality is that a few good moves gave him the edge, in particular 19.Kd1! in the following position.

After 19…f6 20.Nxc6 Bxc6 21.Nd4 Bd7?!, he could have won a pawn with 22.c4! (instead of 22.f3), as what I had in mind 22…Bf8 23.cxd5 Nc3+? doesn’t work: 24.Bxc3 Rxc3 25.Bc4! and the trapped Rook will cost the exchange. Once the fright was gone, I could defend the position without much difficulty.

Round 3: Mvl – Naiditsch (2695) 1/2

It is known that I remain one of the few Elite players to keep on fighting the Berlin Wall! The fact is that the opening went well, and I got an edge. My problem was that I had a lot of options, and I probably didn’t choose the best one, at least from a practical point of view.

24.f4 Rf8 (otherwise 25.f5!) 25.Nf6+!? is spectacular, but the main drawback of the line is that it gives black a series of forced moves. Probably more efficient was 24.Re3!, which I rejected because of the counterplay on c4 with …Nd7-b6. But actually, after 24…Nd7, the manoeuver 25.Rg3! Rh7 26.Rgd3 Nb6 27.Bc1! gives an overwhelming advantage. The threat is 28.Bg5, and if 27…Nxc4 28.Rd7!. In the game, after 25…gxf6 26.exf6 Bd6 (26…Rxf6? 27.Bxf6 Bxf6 28.Rxe6+ Kf7 29.Rxf6+! Kxf6 30.Rd8 is decisive), I still had the option 27.Rd5! to keep an advantage. But I didn’t see this move and I chose 27.Rxe6+?!, after which I have no more than a draw: 27…Kf7 28.Rde1 (28.Rdxd6 cxd6 29.Re7+ Kg6 30.Kf2 Rd8 31.Rg7+ Kf5 32.Kf3 Nd7 33.Rg5+ Ke6 34.f5+ Kf7 35.Rg7+ Kf8 remains very messy) 28…Rd8 29.g4!? hxg4 30.h5 Nd7 31.Re7+ Bxe7 32.Rxe7+ Kg8 and I will have to content myself with a perpetual.

Round 4 : Meier (2628) – Mvl 0-1

I equalized easily against the try 5.h3 in the Grunfeld. After a few midllegame inaccuracies from both of us, in particular when Meier was heavily low on time, we landed after move 40 in an endgame which is probably a draw, but remains unpleasant to defend for white.

However, he did it rather well, and got a clearly drawn position afew moves later. By inertia, I kept on trying, with the vague hope of testing him in the R+N vs R endame if I had an opportunity. That’s precisely when he began to make some rather strange decisions, until the culminating point in the following position:

Here, I had seen that he had to play 71.Rd1!, in order to keep the King on the second rank, for instance 71…g3+ 72.Ke2 Rb2+ 73.Rd2!. But he played 71.Ra1?, and after 71…g3+ 72.Kg1 Nf3+ 73.Kh1 Rb2, I felt that I should be winning. But I couldn’t find exactly how, so I groped for an idea, before to find the nice zugzwang of the game.

I travelled with my King from the Kingside to b3. Here, Meier had to find the only move 82.Kh1!, in order to get the same position than in the game, but with black on the move! For instance 82…Kb2 83.Re1 Nf3 84.Rd1. In this nice position of mutual zugzwang, I would have had to admit that the King’s journey was useless, and tried to find the winning plan with the King on the Kingside. Meier made things much easier for me with 82.Rd1? Nf3+ 83.Kh1 Kb2! and being on the move, white has nothing else than 84.Rg1, giving the exchange. But beware! It is not yet so trivial after 84…Nxg1 85.Kxg1,because black’s King is far away. But I I had foreseen a clinical line, which gives the g pawn away, but isolates the white’s Knight from the King. 85…Kc3 86.Ne3 Rd3 87.Nf1 Ke2! 88.Nxg3+ Kf3 89.Nf5 Rd2 90.Nh4+ Kg3 91.Nf5+ Kg4 92.Ne3+ Kf3 93.Nf5 Rd5 94.Ne7 Rc5 0-1.

Round 5: Mvl – Aronian (2763) 1/2

Levon uncorked a new idea of closing the center in an Anti-Marschall position we had already discussed a number of times. Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to a draw so quickly, but all the possible plans to play for the advantage involved a Kingside expansion, which on the board, looked quite risky to me.

After this game, we had a rest day which was used to make the (short) trip between the tumultuous playing hall in Karlsrühe, and the intimacy of the one in Baden-Baden!

After this game, we had a rest day which was used to make the (short) trip between the tumultuous playing hall in Karlsrühe, and the intimacy of the one in Baden-Baden!

Round 6: Svidler (2735) – Mvl 1/2

I fairly easily equalized against the English, and Peter took a risk when he declined to exchange Queens on move 12. So I tried to play against his offside Queen on h3.

Unfortunately, here I made the wrong decision of exchanging black squared Bishops by 18…Bh6?!, as I didn’t see any follow-up for the attack. I was not sure to be quicker in case of mutual attacks on opposite sides, a4-a5 being very fast for him, while his Queen might reenter the game if the position opens up. But the computer refutes me , and argues that the simple 18…Be7, as well as the sharp 18…f5!? 19.exf5 Nd5, would both have given me a clear edge! In the game, after 19.Bxh6 Rxh6 20.Qe3 Rh7 21.Rfd1 Rhd7 22.Nf1 and the exchange of all four Rooks, the position quickly simplified towards a draw.

Round 7: Mvl – Vallejo (2693) 1/2

A long game full of manoeuvers, typical of the Advance French. The problem with this kind of position is that you always feel fine, with a space advantage, but it’s in fact never that simple. I tried to organize my pieces so as to be able to sac a piece on the Kingside, but I never found a way to do so in a convincing manner.

Round 8: Mvl – Keymer (2516) 1-0

The young German is a Sicilian Najdorf fan, but I chose to transpose the fight right into the middlegame with 2.c3. In a rather simple and equal position, he opted for the radical 17…b5?!, whose idea is to get control of d5, even though at the cost of time. He had no obligation to do so though.

After 18.cxb5 Nb4 19.Ne5 Qxb5 20.Rh3, I was able to play my Rook all along the third rank, alternating threats on both wings. I ultimately forced the weakening …f5. Maybe the position was still within equalizing margin for him, but it’s really tough to defend in a practical game! He had a last chance in the following position, however with very few time left for his remaining 4 moves.

Here, objectively best was probably 37.gxf5 exf5 and white keeps an edge, but I still played 37.Qe3, as I felt that his idea was to bring the Rook to g8 via c8, and I had anticipated that it was wrong! Indeed, after 37…Rc8? 38.gxf5 Rg8+ 39.Kh2 Nxf5 40.Nxf5 exf5, I could display a nice and winning stairway manoeuver; 41.Qb3+ Kf8 42.Qb4+ Kf7 43.Qc4+ Kf8 44.Qc5+ Kf7, and now 45.Ra1! Ra8 46.Ra6! is lethal as black can’t move anymore (1-0, 49 moves). However, after 37.Qe3, he still had the loophole 37…fxg4 38.Qxh6 g3!, and the position remains very unclear after 39.Qh7+ Ke8 40.Nf3.

Round 9: Carlsen (2845) – Mvl 1-0

A very difficult game against an amazing Carlsen, who was almost assured of the tournament victory before the last round. On the board, I decided not to play my usual systems against the English, opting for the flexible variation with …d6 and …Ff5, while avoiding his prep on the way.

Nevertheless, I was a bit surprised by his move 9.Be3, with the clear intention of playing d4 in good circumstances.

But there was no reason to overreact with …a6-…b5 as I did. I had various other « normal » options at this moment; for example 9…a6 10.Qd2 Rb8, with the idea …b5, but without sacrificing the pawn! But having said A, I went on with my idea and said B, pushing 10…b5? immediately. I thought I had compensation after 11.cxb5 axb5 12.Nxb5 Qa5, but I quickly realized the truth, ie. that it was not to be! Nevertheless, I could ask Magnus tactical questions, and he had to find a transposition in a Queen’s endgame with a pawn up.

Here, I could have offered a much tougher reistance, had I played 34…Kg8 35.Qxd5 Qa3, and white still has to demonstrate how he wins this. Instead, I wanted to be active with 34…f6? 35.Qxd5 h5, only facilitating white’s task after 36.gxh5 gxh5 37.Qd7+ Kg6 38.a4 Qe2 39.Qd5! and everything is under control (1-0, 44 moves).

Thanks to this final win, Carlsen won the tournament with the staggering score of 7.5/9. There’s nothing to add; just applaud…

As for me, I felt I was not really in great shape in this tournament, and I didn’t play any particularly inspiring game. The result is more or less ok, not the quality of the games.

From now on, the calendar is speeding up, as I will fly on Monday, May 6 to Abidjan (Ivory Cost), where the first tournament of the Grand Chess Tour 2019 will take place, May 8-12.

It is not so frequent that Maxime is approached in Paris streets, in particular in the Jardin du Luxembourg near his flat, where you can often see him walking or jogging. Well, this is not so frequent :), but it gives chess amateurs who recognize him the opportunity to exchange a few words, and to encourage him for his forthcoming competitions.

Maxime’s games :

After the end of the Gibraltar tournament on January 31, my schedule of February and March has been rather light. But it allowed me to recharge the batteries and to train more deeply, before to dive into an 8-month period, between April 20 and Christmas, which I expect to be the most intense in my career. But I won’t be alone here, as a lot of my colleagues will also have to go through the same agenda!

That’s because of an international calendar which could not be harmonized, and forces us to play all FIDE tournaments (Grand Prix, World Cup and Grand Swiss), all Grand Chess Tour ones, as well as private tournaments and French Team Championships, between end of April and December!

In the early days of April though, I had a foretaste of what’s awaiting me in the crazy 2019 schedule, which will begin on April 20 when I play the Grenke Classic with the likes of Carlsen, Caruana, Anand and Aronian…

It began on April 4, when I spent the day with an Eurosport crew for a TV shoot, which should be on air pretty soon.

Next day at noon, I caught a flight for Düsseldorf, as I had to join my Baden-Baden teammates some 30 kilometers further, in Solingen, for the last Bundesliga weekend of the season. The decisive match against Solingen was precisely scheduled on the afternoon of Saturday.

On the first board, I faced India #2, Pentala Harikrishna (2723):

Until there, Hari had followed my game against Anand, played last year in Grenke Chess (1-0, 39 moves).

A surprising choice, as he had already thought for quite a long time, and I was wondering where he expected to improve black’s play. But in the diagrammed position, I was the first to deviate with 19.Ree2. Indeed, I remembered that against Anand, after 19.Bxf8 Rhxf8 20.f4, black could have played 20…Qc4! 21.Qxd7 Bf7! and the double threat of 22…Rfd8 and 22…Qa2 allows him to keep the balance. I knew that 19.Ree2 was the best move, but I needed time to understand why it was the case after 19…e5! I finally found the cunning 20.b3 Qa5 21.Qh3!, and if 21…Qc3 22.Qxd7+ Kg8, which looks strong for black, I have 23.Rd3! on hand, freeing d2 for the KIng (23…Bxd3? 24.Qe6 mate). So he opted for 21…Rd8, but I earned a huge edge after 22.b4 (the Qh3 protects a3!) 22…Qa4

23.Qb3+! Qxb3 24.Nxb3.

Unfortunately, I played badly in the technical phase. I wanted to avoid complications and any hint of black counterplay, but in doing so, I let him come back into the game, until a moment when he could force a clearcut draw, which he missed!

Then we ended up playing the following ending:

Here, black’s last chance was 57…Kg7 58.Ne5 Ra5+ (58…Bc8? 59.Rg6+) 59.Kd6 (59.Kd4 Bc8 60.Rg6+ Kh7 61.Rxg5 Ra7! and the pawn on c7 falls) 59…Bc8 and the outcome remains unclear. In contrast, after Hari’s choice 57…Ke7?, I was able to play the simple 58.Rg6 Ra2 59.Rxg5 after which I was almost certain to win, especially when seiing my opponent becoming more and more feverish (1-0, 67 moves).

So we won against Solingen, and the next day, we had to confirm against a theoretically weaker team (Düsseldorf), in order to guarantee the Bundesliga title. A match which gave me the opportunity to play against a chess legend for the first time in my life, Jan Timman (2549), still active at 67.

I played quite quickly with black, trying to avoid drawish lines and keep the position alive. Timman reacted quite correctly, and kept the game afloat until we reached the following position:

Here instead of 29.g4 or 29.h4, Timman chose the catastrophic 29.Qb3? which loses material. It is not obvious at first glance, but after 29…b6 30.Rb5 (30.Rc4 Kh8! and white shouldn’t survive the threat 31…f5) 30…Qc6!, the pin on the long white’s diagonal happens to be decisive. The game ended after 31.Rb4 (31.f3 Rxe4! followed by 32…Rd2+ and 33…Qd7 with a mating attack) 31…Kh8 32.Kh2 f5 33.Ng5 Rd2! 0-1.

The calendar being what it is, www.chess.com couldn’t find an ideal date to fit its first online Bullet Championship. It finally took place at the same time than the last Bundesliga weekend, though in the evenings. Bullet, especially without increment, is a merciless format (one minute each KO). It puts the emphasis on calculation speed, use of the mouse, and « premove » science! (ie. anticipate one’s own move before to see the opponent’s one, in order to win extra time). Therefore, hierarchy is not necessarily the same, and real Bullet experts, like the Ukrainian Oleksander Bortnik or the young Iranian prodigy Alireza Firouzja, have earned their place in the 8-player final bracket.

My « real » Saturday game against Harikrishna had been quite a long one, so the time left was scarce in order to be in my room for my scheduled ¼ final match against GM qualifier Federico Perez Ponsa, from Argentina! Just enough time to have a quick bite and I won very narrowly in overtime (8.5-7.5). Later in the evening, I played Bortnyk in the semi-final. I already had the opportunity to play Bullet series against him a long time ago, with a very tiny overall lead. But maybe this very long day of chess was a bit too much  and I lost the match 12.5-16.5.

The next evening, after having completed the Bundesliga weekend, my follow-up was the Bullet Championship third-place match against Aronian, played best of 3 sets of 6 wins. I won (6-2, 6-0) while a few minutes later, Nakamura easily clinched the title against Bortnyk (6-1, 6-2, 6-1).

It was time for me to go to bed, because the Marathon was not over yet! The next morning, I had to travel to Gonfreville l’Orcher, near Le Havre, where I was expected to attend the closing ceremony of their 50th International Open, and then give a simultaneous display on 28 boards.

Under the leadership of Cyrille Vaugeois, the sympathetic Norman club is renowned for its organizational abilities, and I could indeed witness it with my own eyes when I came to Gonfreville as a spectator for the 2016 French Youth Championships.

Of course, the result of a simultaneous display remains anecdotical, but I have to point out that Rouen player Bilguun Bat (2163), who is 12 years old or not yet, was the only one to earn a draw, though it would have been no scandal had he won the game! Other youngsters tried to trick me with timely draw offers, but I remained merciless ! 🙂

After the signing session, the cocktail, and the unavoidable night blitz games, I was taken back to my hotel and could enjoy a well-earned rest, after five intense days!

Playing an online chess tournament is not always easy. You need a reliable connection, a good mouse, a quiet environment… Playing from an hotel abroad doesn’t necesarily help either. Yet this is what Maxime’s Bundesliga teammate Levon Aronian and himself had to do from Solingen’s Hotel Maritim lobby, in order to play the Bullet Championship. Having both lost their ½ final match, they were supposed to meet for the third-place match the next day. Fortunately, they were able to avoid an online duel 2 meters away from one another – which would admittedly have been funny – as Maxime had booked an hotel room at Düsseldorf airport, to be sure not to miss his plane on the next morning (6,40 am !), and to reach Gonfreville l’Orcher on mid-day!

Mxime’s Bundesliga games:

Bullet tournament games :

Chess is on its way to the esport world, around which a healthy industry has already popped up. Although not yet in the gamers big shows, we can trust chess could end up there in the near future. This is something the www.chess.com platform has understood and anticipated. Armed with its more than 27 million members, the leader of the chess market has, amongst other things, sealed a partnership with the streaming giant www.twitch.tv, which offers various contents, though mainly based on online games and esport.

Supported by chess.com, I launched my own streaming channel a few weeks ago, www.twitch.tv/mvlchess . Depending on my schedule, I can free up some hours to play and comment games live. For instance when playing online tournaments, like the Pro Chess League or the latest Usa-France consultation match, when MF Kevin Bordi and myself fought against IM Danny Rensch and Nakamura.

I may also play casual games against strong players happening to be online, or dedeciate specific streaming sessions to playing against my subscribers only.

Finally, I sometimes take up challenges, like when I tried to break Nakamura’s « Puzzle Rush » World record on March 5.

This game is all the rage amongst chess players of any level; you have to solve as many tactical exercises as you can – with growing difficulty – within exactly 5 minutes (with a tolerance of two mistakes, the third one being eliminatory).

For the anecdote, when I tried to break the record live, I stopped at 53, one point short of my personal best, and two points from Naka’s record (55)…

Let’s take a moment to look at the end of my finest series of that day.

With only 27 seconds left and only one mistake registered, I was offered to score my 54th point in the following position:

After 1.Qf4+ Kb6 2.Qxb4+ Ka6, I unfortunately played 3.Rf5 which leads to a quick mate, but this Puzzle Rush game is ruthless… 3.Rb8! was giving mate one move earlier, so my 3.Rf5 was counted as my second mistake!

Good bye record! But for the sake of honour, I wanted to reach 54.

I had 14 seconds left to solve the following exercice…

After 1.Ne3+ Kg3 2.Qg4+ Kf2, being under severe time pressure, I instantly played 3.Nd1+?, but realized just afterwards that the winning move was 3.Qf4+!, as white mates or wins the Queen after 3…Ke2 4.Qf1+ Kd2 (4…Kxe3 5.Qe1+) 5.Qd1+ Kc3 6.Qc2+ Kb4 (6…Kd4 7.Nf5+) 7.Qb2+ Nb3 (7…Ka5 8.Nc4+ Ka6 9.Qb6 #) 8.Qa3+!! Kxa3 9.Nc2 #.

As for the record, that will happen another time!

Watch the full video of the record breaking attempt:

The 2019 Pro Chess League regular season is over for Maxime’s Marseille Migraines. The team ended up at the first non-qualifying place of its group, just behind the other French team, the Cannes Blitzstreams. Unfortunately, the latter didn’t manage to get out of the playoffs, and will miss the four-team finals. Though played online as the previous stages, these finals will also take place on stage, in front of the audience, in San Francisco’s Folsom Street Foundry early May! https://folsomstreetfoundry.com.

Maxime will take small consolation from the fact that he was the best performer of the regular season, with 31/44 and a 2753 Elo performance – just ahead of Caruana 2752, and Nakamura 2751!

Maxime’s Pro Chess League games (last rounds):

This famous Napoléon Bonaparte quote illustrates fairly well the chess event that took place February 16 in La Roche sur Yon. But what is the connection between Napoléon and the Vendée prefecture, you will probably ask?

It turns out that, by decree of 1804, May 25, the one who would become Emperor a few months later, ordered the foundation of a new administrative and military town, in the center of Vendée. La Roche sur Yon is hence a « Napoleonian town », which regularly honours its founder.

This year, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Napoléon’s birth, the city decided to create a chess event, as the Emperor was a player himself. So, off for a blitz match between the promising Dutch youngster Jorden Van Foreest and myself! And as « imagination rules the world », the organizers had invented a fairly original format; seven games, of which two were Classical, two were Chess 960, two were thematic, and a further blindfold game to top it off!

A well thought out organization put the event on high level standards, for the players as well as for the audience A 300-seat auditorium almost filled up for a chess show, in an average town like La Roche sur Yon, means a clear success and is always a pleasure for the players.

As for the match itself, Jorden proved he was a worthwhile opponent. I was in danger as early as game 1, which I lost with white.

Here, instead of the normal 9.Nxd7, I got carried away by the pawn sacrifice 9.d4?! cxd4 10.Bf4, but after 10…Qc8, I could not prove any compensation.

Fortunately, I was able to move up a gear in the second classical game, then in the two 960 games, hence recording three wins in a row.

Here is a nice tactical shot in the latest one:

White just played 23.Bxc5 and the position looks so symetrical. But black is on the move and tactical themes seem to favour him! 23…Qb3! and strangely enough, white has a one and only move to find to avoid losing material, and it is not so easy to spot with little time on the clock. The game went on 24.Qxb3? (24.Re1? Bd4+!) 24…Bxb3 25.Rd3 (25.Rc1 Rxc5! 26.Rxc5 Bd4+ or 25.Bd5+ Bxd5 26.Rxd5 Rxc5!) 25…Bc4 26.Rd4 Bf7! (but not 26…Rxc5? 27.Rxc4! and the tactical motif is reversed! Neither 26…Bxd4+, which would « only » win the exchange) 27.Rd7 Rxc5 0-1.

Returning to the diagrammed position, the only move after 23…Qb3! was 24.Bf3! and everything holds!

The thematic games could offer nothing else than a « Napoléon Opening »!

Unimpressed by the imperial second white move, we both won fairly easily with black!

Then came the time for the blindfold game, with a little more time (15/10). We’re not used anymore to this type of play! Unfortunate though, as in spite of its ultra intense side – or perhaps thanks to it – blindfold chess is really interesting, as it requires an higher and unusual level of concentration. I know some players consider it is too demanding…

At the beginning of the game, we played the opening too quickly for the broadcast. But the IM duo Mullon/Mensch repaired the damage at lightning speed, discovering on the way that I had discarded my beloved Najdorf for the benefit of the Dragon. A choice which turned out to be no great success, although I was able to earn the half-point at the end, allowing me to win the match by a two-point margin, 4.5-2.5.

The afternoon concluded with the giant 100-board simultaneous display. We were four to face the players, Jorden and myself being joined by the commentators, IM Jean-Baptiste Mullon and FM Yannick Berthelot.

In other words, each of us was back to a certain game four moves later, which means we usually had to think from scratch!

Of course, there were a few hiccups, Jorden and I being a bit quicker than our comrades . Therefore, it happened sometimes that we overtook one of them, creating traffic jams around a few boards in the process. With the result that some players had very little time to think, while others had way too much of it…

Thus, in the general good mood around, a few pieces were left en prise, and a few games were lost by us!

The Trophée Napoléon in La Roche sur Yon has been a real success, and it might happen again next year. The organization team has set really high standards for a first, well supported by motivated city officials, and it definitely deserves to have another shot.

Official site: http://www.larochesuryon.fr

I take this opportunity to remind the readers that on my channel www.twitch.tv/mvlchess, I’m regularly streaming live events in which I’m playing on www.chess.com, like the Pro Chess League, Titled Tuesday, or other stuff… Sometimes, I content myself with the live streaming of casual games against strong (even super strong ) players, or with the solving of tactical exercises in limited time! Often in english, sometimes in french, I share my views and insights while playing, and I also answer lots of questions live…

Mi and l’Au is the name of a french-finnish band whose members are Laurent Leclère and Mira Romantchouk. The band is recognized among folk and ethereal music fans and has already released a few albums. The chess loving couple lives in Finland, and they wrote to us in order to share some of their melodies. Very special feature of these songs, they have been written by a lake near their house, while watching a lot of Maxime’s games! Gosh, for sure you don’t see that everyday!
Here is a piece of this music, so remarkable in its making.

Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/wearemiandlau

First tournament of the year, Gibraltar is now the routine destination for me. I love the atmosphere there, with all the other french players, more than 10 of them this year. The numerous friendly evenings are also part of the fun: team blitz, tarot, mini table tennis, « Battle of the sexes » on a giant board, etc.

Despite the loss of my passport, I arrived on the Rock 48 hours before the beginning of the tournament, determined to enjoy my stay, but also to begin the sporting year on a positive note, in the always difficult context of a strong Open.

Round 1: Kiik (2410) – Mvl 0-1

I started against an experienced Estonian IM with black. I got an edge quite early on, but I made my life complicated before the time control. The position was no doubt still winning, but it it’s a real technical task ahead. As I was not really up to it, 17 moves later, we reached the following, critical position:

Had Kiik just done nothing, I would probably have had to go through the …g5-g4 break, which would inevitably generate counterplay for white.

But he opted for the very bad 58.g3?, which fatally weakens the position; 58…Qc5 59.Kg2 Qc1, and I put him out of his misery after 60.Qb4? De3! 0-1.

Round 2: Mvl – Puranik (2536) 1/2

Here, I intended to play the natural 19.Be3 Qd3 20.Qa2! (but not 20.Qe1? Nxb3! 21.Rxb3 Qxc4), and the threat 21.Bf1 seems to be giving the advantage, as Black’s Queen is trapped. But I realized that black could then sacrifice the Queen with 20…Fxc3 21.Rd1 Qxe3!, and although he has merely Bishop and Knight to compensate it, the lack of access to black’s position would have prevented me to progress in any way. Therefore, I chose the slightly superior endgame after 19.Nd5 Bxd5 20.exd5 Qd3 21.Bf1 Qxe2 22.Bxe2. Then I won a pawn, but at the cost of a transposition into a Rook + opposite-coloured Bishops ending almost impossible to win.

Here, in spite of a 15-minute think, I really went crazy with 42.Rf1?. I simply overlooked that after 42…Rxb3, if 43.Be6, black has the winning 43…Rc3! (but not 43…Bd4? 44.Rf7+ Kg6 45.Rxe7 Re3+ 46.Kf4). So I quickly wrote off 42…Rxb3, and focused on the other possibilities 42…Rf8 44.Bh3 or 42…Bg3. So once the move 42…Rxb3 was on the board, I had to move backwards and start defending the pawn-down ending by 43.Bd7 Bc3 44.Bb5 Rh3 45.Kf5 Rxh4 46.Ke6!. After grabbing e7 and the transfer of the King all the way to b6, I succeeded in salvaging the half-point, at the end of a not too reassuring game.

Round 3: Mvl – Onabogun (2189) 1-0

A not so simple game – far from it ! – against an unknown Nigerian player who, all the same, had beaten two GMs in the first two rounds ! Moreover, he played very correctly in the opening, and I was literally stunned when I saw him unleash 16…Nc2 a tempo in the following position!jouant 16…Cc2 a tempo !

I had so many tactical shots at my disposal that I was pretty sure I would find a win when I started calculating. Admittedly, 17.Bh6? gxh6 18.Nxe7+ Rxe7 19.Qxf6 Re6 doesn’t work. 17.Be3 Qxb2 doesn’t seem sufficient either. 17.Bg5 was also interesting, but I focused on 17.e5, which looked so tempting ! After 17…Nxa1 18.Nxe7+ (but not 18.Nxg7? Kxg7 19.exf6+ Bxf6 20.Bh6+ Kg6!, nor 18.Bg5 because of the pretty 18…Nd7! defense) 18…Rxe7 19.exf6 Re6!, black seems to hold. I don’t know if my opponent was aware I had bunches of tactical shots available after his 16…Nc2, but the fact is that I resolved myself to play the trivial 17.Rb1, and after 17…Nd4, black has equalized! The art of walking through a minefield while whistling!

Luckily for me, after 18.Nxd4 Qxd4 19.Rd1 Qe5 (19…Rad8 was possible) 20.Bf4, he didn’t throw 20…dxe4 in, and I took advantage of it after 20…Qe6?! 21.exd5!, leading to a favorable ending, down to a pure Bishop ending after move 40.

Here, white could get an easy win with 41.Ke2! g4 42.hxg4 hxg4 43.Kd2 followed by 44.Kc2, then b3 and taking back on b3 with the King, to keep the furthest pawn on the a file. Instead, I played 41.b3? axb3 42.axb3 g4+ 43.hxg4 hxg4+ 44.Ke2.

You can see that a pawn on the a file would be unstoppable in this position, while this is far from being the case with a b pawn. Had he been watchful and played 44…Kf7! 45.b4 (45.f4 Bf6!) 45…Ke6, my opponent would have been a heavy favourite for the draw! But he forgot that after the natural 44…Kf6?, white has 45.f4!, and the prise en passant is forced not to lose d4. And after 45…gxf3+ 46.Kxf3 Ke6 47.b4 Kd5 48.b5, it is not the same story at all, as white’s King will reach f4 thanks to the threat of exchanging Bishops! That’s just the way the game ended: 48…Bb8 49.Bd8 Bd6 50.b6 Kc6 51.Bc7! 1-0. Whew!

Round 4: Vocaturo (2626) – Mvl 1/2

Against my Najdorf, the Italian GM chose a rare line in the 6.Bc4 variation, which I didn’t really understand; 6…e6 7.Bb3 Nbd7 8.0-0 Nc5 9.Qe1!?. After the game, he explained the idea, but it remains a bit over-ornate to my eyes. I got a pleasant middlegame position to play, but I made an inaccuracy on move 16:

Here, I castled a bit too mechanically, allowing the manoeuver Nd1-e3.

16…Qc7! first was more precise. After 16…0-0?! 17.Nd1! Nh5 18.Ne3 Ng7 19.Bf2 f5 20.c4, the position became sharper. The computer prefers white, but I didn’t feel worse during the game! After another inaccuracy on my part (31…Qd7?! instead of 31…Rc4! =), the machine shows that white could take a large edge by surrendering e4 in the following position, a concept far from obvious when seated in front of the board!

White missed 33.Rxa6!, when e4 is immune, due to 33…Nxe4 34.Nd4! with the idea 34…Nxf2? 35.Qg6+ which is a killer. And if 33…Rxe4, it’s 34.Nc5! dxc5 35.Rxf6 Bxf6 36.Qxe4 which looks decisive. We both missed the theme, and after 33.Nd2? Rxb2 34.Rxa6 Qc7, Vocaturo should have played 35.Ra8, with a dynamic balance. But he preferred 35.Rc6? Qa5 36.Rc2, and I was the one to miss a chance with the simple 36…Qa1+ (instead of 36…Rxc2?) 37.Kh2 Qa2! 38.Rxb2 Qxb2 and white is in danger.

Undoubtedly, I felt off balance at the beginning of the tournament, my brain just wasn’t working efficiently.

Round 5: Mvl – Ju Wenjun (2575) 1-0

A key moment in the tournament, against the reigning Women’s World Champion…

In the English line 1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.b3 Be7 5.Bb2

… I didn’t know this sub-variation 5…dxc4. Therefore, after 6.Bxc4 c5, I took the decision to be upfront and straightforward with 7.g4!?, after a rather rare – by my standards – 23-minute think. I also took into consideration the fact that a normal plan with d4, or even a d3/Cbd2, would leave her in her comfort zone. So I was going to take her out of it by force! Both of us got a bit lost in the complicated tactical lines arising after 7…0-0 8.g5 Nd5 9.Nc3 a6.

In this position, I probably should have played 10.Qb1. I chose 10.Qc2 to keep the option Nxd5 and Qc3, but after 10…Nb4 11.Qe4, black could have set the board on fire with the brave 11…b5!? 12.Qxa8 N8c6 (or 12…Qc7!?). She arguably wanted to be more reasonable with 11…Bd7 12.Ne5 Bxg5, but after 13.Rg1 (13.Qg2!?) 13…Ra7?! 14.Qg4!, I definitely stood better, despite the position remaining extremely messy. I like the way I converted, in particular in the following position:

I felt 22.Ncd7 could win on the spot, but 22.Rxg7+ was too tempting! After 22…Rxg7 23.Rxg7+ Kxg7 24.Nc6+ Kf8 25.Nxd8 Ke7 26.Ndb7, being a pawn up with black’s weakness on a5, I had no doubt about the game’s outcome.

Round 6: Artemiev (2709) – Mvl 1/2

A relatively quiet draw against the eventual tournament’s winner. The funny thing is that Artemiev was shocked to see me across the board. Leading the field with Navara, he assumed the pairing was obvious and didn’t check it. He just forgot that in Gibraltar, you are offered the option of taking byes, which Navara did for this round!

Round 7: Mvl – Tari (2625) 1-0

We discussed a Symetrical English variation that I had prepared the previous day with black for Artemiev, and before round 2 with white for Puranik, though it didn’t occur in any of these games! This line leads to types of positions that probably don’t give white an edge, but are quite difficult to play

I was expecting the normal move 13…Be6 (13…Bh3 is also possible), but the 2017 World Junior Champion played 13…h6?!, underestimating the dangers looming after 14.Nd5 Nxd5 15.cxd5 Ne7 16.Nf2!. His position quickly turned into some sort of terrible Benoni, without any normal counterplay on the Queenside, until the decisive central breakthrough:

25.e5! Rxf4 26.Rxf4 Rxf4 27.exd6 Qxd6 28.Nc4 Rxc4 29.bxc4 Nf5 30.Bh3! gave a technically winning endgame.

Round 8: Le Quang Liem (2714) – Mvl 1/2

The Vietnamese chose an old line against the Grünfeld, which I often played with both colours.

Here, I almost played a quick 16…Bc8, as Caruana did against me in 2013, during our World Cup ¼ final, when he took 50 minutes for the move! I still remembered in time that 16…Bd7 is better, and after 17.dxc5 bxc5 18.Qxc5 Qxc5 19.Bxc5, I could draw by force with 19…Bxc3! 20.Ra3 (20.Rxa7 Rxa7 21.Bxa7 Nc6 =) 20…Bg7 (20…Bf6? 21.e5) 21.Bxe7 Re8 22.Bd6 Rxe4! (the move I missed). I chose 19…Bc6 instead, and I was slightly worse after 20.Rxa7 Rxa7 21.Bxa7 Nd7 22.Bd3!. Fortunately, the activity of my pieces happened to give enough compensation for the missing pawn.

Round 9: Mvl – Alekseenko (2637) 1-0

A typical game where the opening prep works perfectly!

My trainer Etienne Bacrot had discovered the new idea 19.dxc6 Nxc6 20.c4 during the prep of a game against Aronian. Our analyses were covering the line chosen by Alekseenko up to 25.Qg4.

Here, my opponent, who had already spent almost 1 hour just to counter my novelty, didn’t find the critical 25…Nc2!. I knew that 25.Nxf7 Nxe1 (25…Kxf7? 26.Qe6+) 26.Qe6 was leading to a draw if black could find the only move 26…Qb8!, and white has nothing better than the perpetual. In this case, I would have chosen 25.Rc1!?, and even if there’s no objective advantage for white after 25…Qb2, I would still have had good reasons to keep the game going with 26.Qf5, or even 26.Nxf7, especially against an opponent whose ticking clock showed only 15 minutes remaining!

In the game, Alekseenko sinked after 25…Ra7?! 26.h4 Nc6? 27.Bh6 Bf8 28.Nd7! and white is winning.

Round 10: Karthikeyan (2570) – Mvl 1-0

Obviously, I will not hide the fact that my tournament fizzled out badly, with a last-round loss against a much lower rated opponent. Yet this decisive game for the fate of the tournament had begun with the best possible prospects…

Having countered the 6.Be3 variation against the Najdorf with 6…Ng4 and not 6…e5, I was surprised to see the young Indian taking a lot of time for the following moves, although I already played numerous games with both of those replies! After the game, he made it clear that he had only prepared 6…e5. So, he was clearly struggling in the opening, went into a rare and objectively doubtful line (12.Nf3?!), and I quickly got an edge with black, after a series of normal developing moves.

The simple 16…Bxc3 would have kept a clear edge. But I had already planned to play 16…Rg8?, which I did very quickly, before realizing that I was just allowing white to solve all his problems with 17.Nd5! Qxd2 18.Rxd2.

In order not to just have hopes of a draw, I avoided the « normal »

18…Bxd5 19.exd5, and decided to complicate matters with 18…Bh6 19.Rdd1 f6, but it turned against me. And when you take such a bad decision as 16…Tg8?, you enter a downward spiral, a mistake usually calling for other mistakes to be made. Afterwards, I tried hard to set up nice tactical traps, but my opponent very cleverly navigated through them, and didn’t let me any realistic chance of salvation whatsoever.

A game to be forgotten, but also a few lessons to be drawn from it for the future…

Talking about the future, I now know that I won’t play any official tournament before late April or early May, after which the schedule will be fully packed throughout the remaining months of 2019.

So I have three months ahead of me to work on the adjustment of all the settings!

Site officiel : https://www.gibchess.com/

A few days after Gibraltar, Maxime played in the monthly blitz tournament on www.chess.com, the « Titled Tuesday », which always gathers an impressive number of strong GMs. While streaming his games live on the channel www.twitch.tv/mvlchess, he finished at a reasonable 8/10. Not enough though to challenge Grischuk, who was on fire; the Russian won 9 straight games, before to settle for a quick last-round draw!