Category: English

On Wednesday, September 5, I took up a new challenge, against Komodo Monte Carlo, which uses auto-learning methods similar to those of Alpha Zero. To make things more even, chess.com which was running this online event, had cooked the following program; five blitz games with white against levels 16-20 of Komodo, then six rapid odds games, against the premium Monte Carlo version.
The match was broadcast live and all along, I shared my thoughts with viewers…
Of course, I didn’t expect an easy evening! Even against odds, there’s always a margin to make mistakes. This is especially true against a machine, which for sure is going to offer huge resistance.

The five blitz games could easily be considered as warm ups against « classical » versions of Komodo. not running on the most powerful processors, except for level 20. Komodo being programmed to make instant moves at levels 16 to 19, I could take benefit of his unavoidable lack of depth in several games. I won the blitz match 4-1, losing a game in an overwhelming position, but ultimately winning an inferior one after a bug led Komodo to a loss on time!

In odds chess, it was not the same story! Komodo Monte Carlo, as he was programmed, would certainly display a stratospheric level, coupled with some kind of intelligence, for instance leading him to avoid exchanges.
I began the match by losing two games…

First I was too optimistic with white, a tempo up and f7 pawn missing; then I was unsuccessful in salvaging the Rook endgame, but it was really tricky.

In the second game, I knew the task would be arduous, even if my Queen was supposed to be stronger than his R+N; pratical difficulties here are huge.

As moreover, I made one bad decision after another, I logically went down…

I scored my first half-point in Game 3, but it was a disapointment anyway, as I thought I would be huge favourite to win, with white missing both his g2 and f2 pawns!

Komodo showed his very special resilience in this game, and never ceased to pose problems, until he reached the following ending;

After 39…g4? 40.Rc1!, Komodo won c7 and got enough counterplay to draw the game. I should have preferred 39…Bd7 to keep winning chances.

The fourth game is in my opinion the most impressive one, with Komodo missing the Ng1 for a mere f7 pawn.

Despite the material disadvantage, Komodo always found counterplay, often surprising as if it was coming out of nowhere, by the way ! I wanted to avoid repetitions to demonstrate the power of material, but I ended up making too many second-rate moves, which cost me dearly.

With only one draw and three losses in odds chess, I needed to recover in the last two games.

Being the exchange and a pawn up, I could force events very early.

White’s last move 4.g3? is not very accurate. After the good sequence 4…Bg4 5.Bg2 Qe6+! 6.Kf1 Bh3, the exchange of the white-squared Bishops helped me a lot. Despite a few scares that are unavoidable against the comp, I could continue my process of exchanging pieces, and converted without too much trouble.

And last but not least, the « Knightmare », with 7 Knights against Q+2R+2B, an insane position to play! I decided to fianchetto both my Bishops as quickly as possible, in order to limit the Knights access to the central squares.

Finally, I did rather well against the Knight’s infernal saraband, with an ultimate draw that is impossible to analyse!

[otw_shortcode_quote border=”bordered” border_style=”bordered” background_pattern=”otw-pattern-1″]The LizardIn the first version of the Mvl-Komodo match, organizers had planned much more blitz games, and only three odds games, as was done a few weeks earlier, when Komodo faced Nakamura for its first real challenge. But the usefulness of having a Top player fight against lower versions of Komodo was not obvious. Moreover, it would have been a pity to spoil the viewers of three further odds games, and especially of the devilish « Knightmare »![/otw_shortcode_quote]

Maxime’s games :

Official site: https://www.chess.com/news/view/vachier-lagrave-comments-while-playing-komodo

It’s the first time in my life that I end up a tournament with all my games drawn! Certainly, this is not such a bad result in a field like the Sinquefield one, and my overall score remains decent. Furthermore, the main goal of qualifying for the 2018 Grand Chess Tour finals is reached. Yet, some sense of unfinished business lingers, as I never was in real danger, while I missed a few good opportunities elsewhere.
Continue reading “9 draws and a ticket to London”

Five draws out of five games for Maxime, in a very fierce tournament where noone has taken a clear lead (five players tied at +1). This is how the Classic Saint-Louis tournament stands halfway, just before Thursday’s rest day, which might well see some players doing battle in another context, ie. a basketball court…

On the whole, Maxime’s games have been rather short, with a lot of theoretical debates, especially in his two black games, where after only a few minutes play, a very specific Najdorf line was reached…

At the end of the previous year, during the FIDE Grand Prix in Mallorca, Maxime played 15…h5 against Giri (in french) (1/2, 31). A few days ago, in the Saint-Louis Rapid, he preferred 15…d5 against Caruana (1/2, 51). But when facing Anand in the second round of the Classic tournament, he once again played cat-and-mouse, deviating with 15…Nxd3+ (1/2, 37)! Finally, round 4, he came back to his first love 15…h5 against Grischuk (1/2, 25).
Four draws with black at this level, from the diagrammed position ; Maxime’s Najdorf is a tough nut to crack! Anyone else for the challenge?

With white, Maxime was also involved in theoretical battles; the first one against So’s Berlin Wall, when he couldn’t take any advantage. And another one against Caruana’s Petroff, whose solidity is impressive since the American first decided to add it to his repertoire, at the end of 2016 (btw, the stem game was against Maxime!).
Both players expressed afterwards the feeling that white had got a slight but insidious pressure, despite the apparent symetry of the position.

Anyway, very serious and precise play from Caruana allowed him to keep the equilibrium all along.

Eventually, the only game which went outside the trodden paths was the one against Carlsen, at the very beginning of the tournament. After five mere moves, both players had succeeded in getting a new position from the Sicilian Defence !

Despite the weakening of his light squares after 5…h6 6.h5 g5 7.Nh2!, followed by Nf1-e3, Carlsen never really seemed in trouble in that game. What would have been said though, if an amateur had played this way with black!
The game finally concluded on a logic draw, Maxime’s Rooks being worth the World Champion’s Queen and pawn.

The players still have four rounds to break the tie, while for the time being, the four players qualified for the 2018 Grand Chess Tour Final in London are Nakamura, Aronian, Maxime and Mamedyarov.

When play resumes for round 6, on Friday August 23 at 1pm (Saint-Louis time), Maxime will be black against Mamedyarov, the top player against whom he has the worst stats…

[otw_shortcode_quote border=”bordered” border_style=”bordered” background_pattern=”otw-pattern-1″]Saint LouisThe Saint-Louis Chess Club is proud to present itself as the anchor’s point of American chess resurgence. And the fact is, that under the leadership of local billionaire Rex Sinquefield, considerable resources have been invested to create a pleasant and appealing place in the heart of Saint-Louis. But also to attract the best players and the best youngsters, without forgetting the scholastic part, throughout the town’s schools.
There’s also a « Hall of Fame » inside the club, that honours the best players in History and which is open to visitors, as well as a variety of exhibitions on chess themes.
Saint-Louis, Missouri, « the Mecca of chess », the Americans say…[/otw_shortcode_quote]

Maxime’s games (rounds 1-5) :

Official site : https://grandchesstour.org/2018-grand-chess-tour/2018-sinquefield-cup

The Rapid & Blitz tournament opened this long August month of chess in Saint-Louis. It was organized on the now customary model of Grand Chess Tour (GCT) rapid competitions, with three days of Rapid games 25/10, and two days of blitz 5/3.
Continue reading “Long live blitz!”

Barely back from Biel in the afternoon of August 2, on the day after a last round followed by a closing ceremony leaving little room for sleep, Maxime was expected to enter the 2018 Speed Chess Championship, organized by chess.com

Coming back from another great edition of @BielFestival and despite a serious sleep mismanagement ready to fight in 40 minutes against @chessleinier on @chesscom #speedchess

— MVL (@Vachier_Lagrave) 2 août 2018

The format was the same than the previous year, with fourteen invited players and two qualifier spots making up the knock-out brackets. The formula was also identical, although cleared of the chess960 games which didn’t make much sense. As for the rythm, it was still featuring 90 minutes of 5/1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3/1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1/1 bullet chess.
Just arrived home, Maxime played some training games online with IM Minh Le, a Vietnamese player with high blitz reputation, mainly in bullet. And at 9pm, he was sill in front of his computer, ready to face his 1/8 finals opponent, Leinier Dominguez from Cuba, a player not to be underestimated as he was once World Blitz Champion, back in 2008!

Here are a few highlights of this online match, whose 3-hour of play meant 31 games.

The 5/1 segment was quite even in terms of play, even if Maxime took a two-point lead.

In a blitz game, 29.Ke3? is a bad move, as you wouldn’t like to have a Rook trapped after 29…c5!. Nor did Dominguez, who immediately liberated it by sacrificing a pawn with the impulsive 30.b4?, a choice which didn’t prevent him from losing the Rook ending. However, black would still have had to prove he could take benefit from the trapped rook after a waiting move from white…
The fact remains that in the diagrammed position, 29.c5! guaranteed an easier draw, for instance 29…Rd5 30.cxb6 Rxb5 31.axb5 cxb6 32.Kd3.

After an epic tactical slugfest during which he was on the ropes, Maxime got a difficult Rook ending, which could have been concluded by white after 50.Kb4. Instead, Dominguez chose the intuitive 50.Ka2?, trying to win by force with his b pawn, without allowing the black Rook behind it. An idea which worked perfectly after 50…Rc1? 51.b6 Rxc4 52.b7 Rb4 53.Rb2! Rxb7 54.Rxb7+ Ke6 55.Kb3 and white’s King is back in time. However, after 50.Ka2?, black had the opportunity to take advantage of the King’s remoteness and to use its own f pawn; 50…f4!, with the idea 51.b6 Rg1 52.b7 Rg8 53.c5 f3!, and against any move, black will play …f2 /Rxf2 Kd7(d6) blocking white’s pawns with the King! For example 54.Kb3 f2! 55.Rxf2 Kd7 56.Rxf7+ Kc6, or 54.c6 f2! 55.Rxf2 Kd6. But to find this line at the end of a blitz game ? Inhuman !

Despite three wins in a row, Maxime ran out of steam at the end of this 3/1 segment, allowing the Cuban back to striking distance, only one game behind before the bullet segment.

In a further high-wire tactical display, the Cuban’s King joined the attack, a fearless initiative which turned out to be too risky; after46…Qg8+! 47.Kf6 (47.Ke8? Bg7+ 48.Ke7 Qf8+ 49.Ke6 Qf6 #), black had the choice between a perpetual with 47…Qg5+, or 47…Rg5! 48.Qf7 (only move) 48…Qxf7 49.Rxf7 Bg7+ 50.Ke6 Rg6+ 51.Kf5 Kh7, keeping the edge. Unfortunately, Maxime chose 46…Qg7+? in the diagrammed position, and after 47.Ke8 Qxd7+ 48.Kxd7, lost this ending with his miserable Bishop on f8.

You just don’t see what white could have come up with after the passive defense 42…Rf7 43.Rc6 Re7. But Dominguez chose activity, and the ending is no more drawn after 42…Rd5? 43.Rc6! (maybe the Cuban only expected 43.Rxc7?) 43…Rxb5 44.Rxe6 Rxb4+ 45.Kd5, because if indeed black has managed to restore material balance, he’s just dead lost anyway!

Dominguez opted for c8, and quickly went down after 22…Kc8? 23.Qxa7 Rb7 24.Qa8+ Rb8 25.Nb6+! 1-0 because of a nice fork to follow on d7. He had to hide his King on the corner by 22…Kb7 23.Rb1+ Ka8, and the threat of a back rank mate on a1 prevents white from delivering a decisive combination.

In this strategically almost hopeless position, Maxime used his well-known defensive skills with 29…Rf3!? 30.gxf3 Qd7!, which forces white to find the only winning move 31.f4!, not a trivial task in a 3-minute game! But Dominguez did find it, and converted…

Maxime knew that in the bullet segment, he would be clear favourite, and indeed he overpowered the Cuban, leading to an overall match victory 19-12.

In a bullet game, you can’t expect to control everything. Here, white had to protect the b4 pawn, but above all to prevent …g5, trapping the Rf4! After 25.Qc3? g5, black quickly prevailed. Thus, essential was 25.b5 Nc5 26.Nd2, and the game goes on…

This kind of things sometimes happen in those extreme rythms of play… Instead of remaining a pawn up with the advantage after 29.Rg1, Dominguez chose a Queen ending (29.Rxf8??), that doesn’t exist ! (29…Qe1+).

In a slightly superior position, white just retreated the Knight from b6. Maxime instantly found the flaw… 23…Rc8! 24.Nxe5 Bxe5 and the Bc1 is trapped and lost!

In a high-quality match on the whole, the 31st and last bullet game happened to be the only one filled with spectacular mistakes.

Here, Maxime missed 29.Qc3+ followed by 30.Qxc6, which was the simplest way to end the game right away. After further ups and downs, black emerged with an endgame up two pawns.

After a move like 53…Ke6, the position is technically winning for black. But Dominguez played 53…Rb3?, completely forgetting the fork 54.Rxb6+! Rxb6 55.Nd5+ Ke6 56.Nxb6, and the Knight endgame is drawn.

The position has now transposed into a pawn endgame, which is still a draw. But corresponding squares are impossible to determine without thinking time, and the players made several mistakes: 62.Kd5? (only 62.Ke3! was drawing) 62…Kg6? (the triangulation 62…Kg7! 63.Ke5 Kg6 was winning, because of the outflanking by h5-g4. And if 63.Kd4 Kh6 64.Ke3 Kh5 65.Kf3 Kh4 outflanks again) 63.Ke5 Kg7 64.Kxf5 Kf8 65.Kf6 Ke8 66.Kg7 Ke7? (66…f5! 67.Kf6 Kf8 68.Kxf5 Kf7 was, as it happens, a trivial draw!) 67.f5! Ke8 68.f6 1-0. It’s the Cuban who erred once too often!

In quarter finals, to take place next september or october, Maxime will play against the circuit bully, American Nakamura, who eliminated him last year, and who just heavily crushed Woman #1 Hou Yifan in the first round, 27.5-2.5!

[otw_shortcode_quote border=”bordered” border_style=”bordered” background_pattern=”otw-pattern-1″]Transatlantic flightThis year, Maxime decided to travel to Saint-Louis (Missouri) via New-York. But the journey went tough, because of a large delay of the Paris-New York flight. Maxime will have spent eleven hours flying, notwithstanding the extra hours of waiting in both Charles de Gaulle and Newark airports! Thankfully, by arriving in Saint-Louis a mere two and a half days before the beginning of the games, he earned enough time to digest this long travelling day, as well as the 7-hour time difference.
The Grand Chess Tour Rapid tournament in Saint-Louis, as it’s obviously what we are talking about here, will begin on Saturday, August 11 at 1pm (local time)[/otw_shortcode_quote]

Maxime’s games :