
Baden-Baden GRENKE Chess Classic

Round three: Bloodshed and violence
3rd round on 09 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Adams Michael |
2725 |
½-½ |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
1-0 |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
½-½ |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |

Georg Meier (above) began the press conference of his game against the World
Champion by reusing Fridman’s line from the day before: “You didn’t
fall asleep during my game?”

It was the World Champion Anand (above) who did most of the talking, however,
and it was evident he was frustrated with his failure to get any sort of real
play against an opponent he outrated by 140 points. It wasn’t for a lack
of trying – Vishy explained he wanted unbalanced play and went for a “slightly
unpredictable opening” where Black makes concessions in the centre to
post a strong knight on b4. Meier in turn was dreaming of pushing his f-pawn
to generate play on the kingside and leave the b4-knight far from the action.
Neither plan materialised.
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+ 3.Bd2 c5 4.Bxb4 cxb4 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.g3 a5 7.Bg2 0-0 8.0-0 d6 9.a3 Na6 10.axb4 Nxb4 11.Nc3 Qc7 12.Rc1 Bd7 13.Nd2 Rfd8 14.Nde4 Ne8 15.b3 Qb6 16.e3 d5 17.Nc5 Bc6 18.N5a4 Qc7 19.c5 Nf6 20.Re1 Nd7 21.Bf1 21.e4!? dxe4 22.Nxe4 e5 23.Nd6 exd4 24.Re7 21...b6 22.cxb6 Nxb6 23.Nxb6 Qxb6 24.Na4 Bxa4 25.bxa4 Rac8 26.Qd2 Qd6 27.h4 g6 28.Bb5 h5 29.Red1 Qf8 30.Kg2 Kg7 31.Kg1 Kg8 32.Kg2 Kg7 33.Kg1 ½–½
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Meier,G | 2640 | Anand,V | 2780 | ½–½ | 2013 | A40 | 1st GRENKE Chess Classic | 3.1 |
Please, wait...

That was a plus for the GRENKE Chess Classic's live broadcast, however, as
the players were happy to comment on the state of play in the other games. They
assessed Adams-Fridman as comfortable for White, with Vishy noting that “maybe
26.f5 was allowed too easily”. Meier, a Catalan expert himself, added
that what was nice for White was that “you don’t need to think too
much”.
Nevertheless, it seemed Fridman had everything under control until he nearly
became another victim to fall into Adams’ quietly woven webs: “The
problem was I thought it was a completely equal rook ending. Then I relaxed
for a while and played some inaccurate move and the position became quite unpleasant
in time trouble.” In the end he escaped with a slight scare and a much-delayed
dinner.
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.d4 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bf4 a5 11.Nc3 Na6 12.Ne5 Bxg2 13.Kxg2 Nd5 14.Rad1 Nxf4+ 15.gxf4 Bd6 16.e3 Qh4 17.Kh1 Nb4 18.Nf3 Qh5 19.Qe2 f6 20.Rg1 Qe8 21.Rg3 Rf7 22.Qc4 Bf8 23.d5 exd5 24.Nxd5 Qc6 25.Qxc6 Nxc6 26.f5 Bd6 27.Rg4 Ne5 28.Nxe5 Bxe5 29.b3 Re8 30.Kg2 c6 31.Nf4 Bxf4 32.Rxf4 Re5 33.Rd8+ Rf8 34.Rd7 Rf7 35.Rd8+ Rf8 36.Rd3 Kf7 37.Rd7+ Re7 38.Rfd4 Rc8 39.Kf3 Ke8 40.R7d6 Rec7 41.Rh4 Ke7 42.Rd1 Rh8 43.Rg4 Kf7 44.h4 h5 45.Rgd4 Ke7 46.Kf4 Rb8 47.Re4+ Kf7 48.Rc4 c5 49.Rd5 b5 50.axb5 Rxb5 51.Rc3 Rb4+ 52.e4 Rcb7 53.Rdd3 Rc7 54.Rd5 Rcb7 55.Rdxc5 Rxb3 56.Rxb3 Rxb3 57.Rxa5 Rh3 58.Ra7+ Kg8 ½–½
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Adams,M | 2725 | Fridman,D | 2667 | ½–½ | 2013 | E06 | 1st GRENKE Chess Classic | 3.2 |
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Saturday’s real action, however, came in the showdown between the early
leaders, Fabiano Caruana and Arkadij Naiditsch. Caruana has made a habit of
surprising his opponents with deep opening preparation in Baden-Baden, but in
Round 3 the shoe was on the other foot. Naiditsch’s eighth move took him
out of book, and 10…a5 provoked Caruana into 11.Kb1?, a move Naiditsch
described as a “big positional mistake”.

Naiditsch summed it up: “the bishop pair, the dark squares, you can’t
get more in the Najdorf!” Chess is seldom easy, however, and from the
press conference you got the impression that it was a question of what would
triumph – Naiditsch’s optimism and belief in his position or Caruana’s
objectivity?
The complications after 17...Nd4 were only the prelude to the drama, and Caruana
and eventually Naiditsch were left with perilously little time to navigate the
hair-raising position that arose. They’d been there before, and Caruana
told the press team afterwards that he’d drawn some comfort from the fact
that Naiditsch had failed to win a similarly wild game in their last meeting
in Dortmund. Back then Houdini assessed Naiditsch’s edge as over -7 while
here his edge “only” reached -2, but Georg Meier, who was a fine
co-commentator for IM Lawrence Trent, explained that you shouldn’t pay
too much attention to the computer: “The problem is Black’s position
is so close to strategically lost he needs to make the correct move every time”.
Sure enough, Naiditsch faltered.
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Qd2 Ng4 9.g3 0-0 10.0-0-0 a5N 10...Nxe3 11.Qxe3 Nd7 12.f4 b5 13.Kb1 Qb6 14.Qe1 Nf6 15.Bd3 Bg4 16.Rc1 Bd7 17.Nd5 Nxd5 18.exd5 Bf6 19.Nd2 Rae8 20.Ne4 Bd8 21.Qg1 Qxg1 22.Rhxg1 Bc7 23.f5 Bxf5 24.Nxd6 Bxd6 25.Bxf5 e4 26.c4 Re5 27.Bg4 bxc4 28.Rxc4 a5 29.Be2 f5 30.Ra4 Ra8 31.a3 Kf8 32.Rd1 g5 33.Rdd4 Rae8 34.Rxa5 f4 35.gxf4 gxf4 36.Ra6 Ke7 37.Ra7+ Kf6 38.Rd7 Bc5 39.Rc4 Bf8 40.Rxh7 11.Kb1? a4! 12.Nc1 a3! 13.b3 Nxe3 14.Qxe3 Bg5 15.f4 Bh6 16.Nd3 Nc6 17.h4 Nd4 18.Nb4 Bg4 19.Rd2 Rc8 20.Nbd5 f5 21.Bc4 Kh8 22.Rxd4 exd4 23.Qxd4 Bf3 24.Re1 fxe4 25.Nb5 Rc6 26.c3 Qd7 27.Nxa3 Qh3 28.Rg1 Qh2 29.Nb5 Ra8 30.a3 e3 31.Re1 e2 32.Qe3 Qg2? 32...Qxg3! 33.Nd4 Rxc4 34.bxc4 Bh5 35.Nxe2 Re8 36.Ne7 g5? 36...g6! 37.fxg5 Bf8 38.Nf4! 38.Nf4 Qf3 39.Qxf3 Bxf3 40.Neg6+ hxg6 41.Rxe8 1–0
- Start an analysis engine:
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Caruana,F | 2757 | Naiditsch,A | 2716 | 1–0 | 2013 | B90 | 1st GRENKE Chess Classic | 3.3 |
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That dramatic reversal of fortune put Fabiano Caruana back in the world Top
Ten and leaves him in the driving seat of the inaugural GRENKE Chess Classic
on 2.5/3. Anand, Naiditsch and Fridman are a point behind on 1.5, while Adams
and Meier have one point each.

The game of the day in round four on Sunday will be Adams-Caruana. Can the
multiple English Champion hold back the rising Italian star? Find out by following
the live coverage on the GRENKE Chess website from 15:00 CET.
Report: Colin McGourty Photos: Georgios Souleidis
Video commentary of round three by Lawrence Trent
Schedule and results
1st round on 07 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
½-½ |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
Adams Michael |
2725 |
½-½ |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
1-0 |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
2nd round on 08 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
½-½ |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
½-½ |
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
1-0 |
Adams Michael |
2725 |
3rd round on 09 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Adams Michael |
2725 |
½-½ |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
1-0 |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
½-½ |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
4th round on 10 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
|
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
|
Meier Georg |
2640 |
Adams Michael |
2725 |
|
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
5th round on 11 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
|
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
|
Adams Michael |
2725 |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
|
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
6th round on 13 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
|
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
|
Adams Michael |
2725 |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
|
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
7th round on 14 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
|
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
|
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
Adams Michael |
2725 |
|
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
8th round on 15 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
|
Adams Michael |
2725 |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
|
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
|
Meier Georg |
2640 |
9th round on 16 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
|
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
|
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
|
Adams Michael |
2725 |
10th round on 17 February
2013 at 13:00 |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
|
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
Adams Michael |
2725 |
|
Meier Georg |
2640 |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
|
Anand Vishy |
2780 |