Candidates R07: Nakamura beats Topalov

The 2016 FIDE World Chess Candidates Tournament is a 14-round event, which determines the next Challenger to Magnus Carlsen's title, is taking place in Moscow from March 10–30. Eight players, including six of the World’s top-ten rated grandmasters. The time control is 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move one. The guaranteed prize fund is US $420,000.

Note that ChessBase is doing daily one-hour roundup shows after each round

Candidates round seven – Nakamura beats Topalov

Report from Moscow by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal

The Four Seasons Hotel where the players are residing for this event

The view from the hotel

The entrance to the Red Square (more pictures will be coming up in the next reports)

The author of these lines enjoying with characters of Russian History.
The character on the right is supposed to be Stalin, but who is the one of the left?

Anish Giri - Viswanathan Anand 0.5-0.5

Anand and Anish have been friends since 2010 – read the final part of this article for proof

It would be difficult to tell you which opening was played by Anand – was it the Queen’s Gambit Declined, the Nimzo Indian or the Ragozin? I would say it was a potpourri of all of them. The name of the opening doesn’t really matter, what matters is the fact that Anand was extremely well prepared and this dissuaded Anish Giri from taking the most principled approach in the position.

Anand’s move 11…Re8!? is a very interesting idea. The plan is to meet 12.cxd5 with e5!? Whether the pawn sacrifice is enough or not is unclear, Anish thought it was a safe idea not to mess with Anand’s preparation. As he said in the press conference, “I don’t mind to fight this position with Vishy, which in itself is a big challenge. But to fight Vishy + a strong machine is not part of my plan!” Once he didn’t choose 12.cxd5 and instead went for 12.Bxf6, it was very apparent that the game would end in a draw. Quite a successful result for Anand, who consolidated his win against Svidler in the sixth round with this solid draw. On the other hand Anish is still looking for his first win in the tournament.

What can you do if the game finished early, you still have a chocolate bar to finish?

How did you spend your rest day? Anish, “Apparently preparing all the wrong things!”

“I tried this new idea with 11…Re8, and things can get highly unpleasant if you potter around.
Given the fact that my last black game against him was quite unsuccessful, I was happy today.”

Anish kibitzing the live games with a journalist from TASS

Hikaru Nakamura – Veselin Topalov 1-0

Interviewer to Hikaru, “How did you come back after your loss to Levon?” “The most important thing for me was that there was no game yesterday. It was a rest day. I took a break from chess and followed news, sports and all the other things that are important in life as well.” And it was good news for Nakamura that he was facing the out-of-sorts yet highly ambitious Topalov. Veselin has been having a pretty bad event, but that hasn’t stopped him from taking risks and playing in an aggressive style. When you aren’t calculating well this strategy can be quite risky. This was the case in the game when in a complex position he made quite a few errors and lost. Full credit to the Bulgarian grandmaster for making it an exciting game.

In the above position Veselin mixed up things really well with the move 21…Bxc5 22.dxc5 d4!? Nakamura had underestimated this idea. And while the computer shows an edge for White, over the board it was extremely difficult for the American grandmaster to find the right path. However, Topalov didn’t continue in the most incisive manner, which made the game end in Nakamura’s favour.

–3 after seven rounds is not something Veselin was hoping for

Spend some time with this position. It is Black to play. What is the best move for Topalov here? Mind you, the Bulgarian grandmaster couldn’t find it. Your task is to immerse yourself in the position and see what exactly is going on. Once you are aware of it, you might well find the move.

This video shows you Topalov's emotions after his loss with Nakamura and also his chat with his manager IM Silvio Danailov after the game. This clip also gives you a feel of the tournament venue, where the players exit after their games, where the viewers usually sit for the game and where the press conference room is.

When Hikaru was asked about the J’adoube incident, he replied, “It’s not a big deal. At that time I probably touched the king for a second or two. In the moment I certainly didn’t feel like I touched the king, but I probably did that and the arbiter seemed to think that way. I have no problem with the ruling. I am just upset that Levon, instead of keeping it to chess, decided to make it personal with a few things that he said.” Watch the full video above for more.

The j’adoube incident has added to the misery of Hikaru Nakamura at the Candidates 2016

Sergey Karjakin – Levon Aronian 0.5-0.5

The game between the two leaders lived up to the expectations. Sergey’s games are interesting to follow because in almost all his games he is going for lines which are complex and have a lot of play for both sides. Today his choice was the King’s Indian Attack. Levon had come well prepared to the game and showed a new idea beginning with pushing his a-pawn down the board.

This move doesn’t really change the character of the position, as in the King’s Indian Attack Black often goes for queenside expansion. But this move order is pretty unique and that made Sergey take up a lot of his time. Levon obtained a very nice position out of the opening. One particularly impressive moment was the following:

Sergey has just moved his knight to g5. Aronian made a move here which had traces of great prophylactic and defensive geniuses in it like Tigran Petrosian or Anatoly Karpov. Can you find what the move is? The answer is given in the replay board below:

The expression of an artist immersed in his work

Peter Svidler – Fabiano Caruana 0.5-0.5

Peter Svidler’s bad fortune in the tournament continues. His preparation at the event is simply phenomenal. Apart from his game against Vishy Anand he got an advantage out of the opening in almost all the games he has played so far. However, today’s game against Caruana was somehow the biggest miss, as Peter following his excellent preparation got a technically winning position literally out of the opening.

Fabiano, on the move, takes a sip of water. But where is his opponent?

Peter Svidler is otherwise occupied (watching Giri vs Anand unfold)

Fabiano’s 10…b6 was really slow as it allowed Peter to open the kingside with 11.h5!
Later the bishop went to h6 and the queen to c1 and it was a blistering attack.

The attack was converted into a better endgame which Svidler was unable to win.

As can be seen in this interview Peter was quite dejected with his performance. But he was also hopeful that if the first half is anything to go by, then he would surely be getting many more chances in the second half.

The picture says it all!

Food, drinks and engines on the mobile phone – a chess lover is ready for a long session of viewing!

The temperature went down as low as minus six degrees Centigrade on Saturday and this man was walking on the streets of Moscow in sport clothes. The secret of why he wasn’t feeling cold – he comes from Siberia!

In one of our previous reports we had mentioned that many veterans had made their way to the tournament hall to watch event. On Saturday you could see many young women at the venue enjoying the games.

Her choice of h3 square for the knight may not be the best,
but the selection of necklace is top notch!

The stare!

Polina Torochkova, Founder of the charity Fund "Country of Talents"

Can’t miss a moment! The players haven’t come out but the journalists are ready to shoot!

Ian Nepomniachtchi replaced Alexandra Kosteniuk as the official commentator in the seventh round

From the 20th of March we will see the second cycle begin in the tournament. The same players who faced each other in the first round will face-off in the eighth round but with colours reversed. For example: Anand was white against Topalov in the first round. He will now have the black pieces in the eighth.

All photos by Amruta Mokal of ChessBase India

Standings after seven rounds

Pairings and results

Roundup broadcasts

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Roundup Commentary Schedule

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