FIDE GP in Palma: Missed opportunities

One problem with a short-field Swiss is that the games between top players happen too soon. The battle between MVL and Aronian would have been a better fit for the last round.

Two of the tournament favorites, and the top seeds, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (above) and Levon Aronian knocked heads in round three. | Photo: Valerij Belobeev

Strategy University Vol. 4: The technique of realising the win

Great players of the past used to say – the most difficult thing in chess is to win won positions! Every player has such problems – those at the top of the tree and (especially) juniors. The correct technique consists of proper exchange methods and of the continuation of a correctly chosen plan; it is important not to change strategy after a small material gain. The DVD shows and explains instructive mistakes made when trying to make extra material or a positional advantage count and in addition it demonstrates the correct techniques as employed in classic games.

A bit of a strange start: Teimour Radjabov has made little effort with White, but played a bloody brawl with black | Photo: Valerij Belobeev

Radjabov took another rest day with another quick draw with White. Perhaps Teimour is counting on the King’s Indian Defense to see him through to the Candidates. We'll see about that.

While the leaders sorted things out between themselves, another pre-tournament favorite, Peter Svidler finally made his presence known. Peter possesses a sharp opening repertoire with black, and for today's game he guessed right by venturing into the Sicilian instead of his usual 1...e5 lines.

It isn't everyday that one sees a mate played on the board between two top grandmasters, yet that is precisely what happened between Jon Hammer and Peter Svidler | Photo: Valerij Belobeev

1000x Checkmate

In this extended update of the ChessBase mating course, Lubomir Ftacnik initiates you into the fine art of mating your opponent. In four videos the grandmaster explains typical mating patterns. At the same time, two small collections of material allow systematic assimilation of the subject of delivering mate. After that, it is all about answering the training questions in 1000 mating exercises.

In yesterday's report I lamented the absence of upsets in Palma so far. In general, it concerns the entire Grand Prix series. Indeed, among all the players scoring 5.5/9 and 6/9 in the three previous tournaments, only Mamedyarov suffered a defeat in Sharjah, and it was against fellow heavyweight Grischuk.

Other contenders such as Grischuk, MVL and Radjabov, never lost a single game. The closest thing to an upset happened in the very first round of the first event in Sharjah, when Ding Liren lost to Rapport. I blame it on the nonchalant attitude sadly exhibited by many second-tier contestants.
A prime example is below.

Tomashevsky was there in body only, not in spirit | Photo: Valerij Belobeev

Pray tell me, what Evgeny gained from this draw: one rating point? At least, he made some moves, I'll give him credit for that much.

We didn't even get a token effort from Jakovenko-Riazantsev and Inarkiev-Harikrishna today. Of the players involved, only Hari can be given a pass because Black isn't supposed to turn down a repetition of moves in that line. Where's Silvio Danailov when we need him?

At least there were a couple of interesting games on the bottom boards today.

Richard Rapport had excelletn chances, but Li Chao was stubborn as a mule and would not be dragged to his demise | Photo: Valerij Belobeev

Standings after Round 3

All games (Round 3)

Links

• Round 2: The lions are awakened
• Round 1: A promising start
• Official tournament site