Grand Swiss: Caruana leads, six potential candidates

All in

The FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss is an eleven-round event that serves as qualifier to the 2020 Candidates Tournament. It takes place from the 10^th to the 21^st of October, with a rest day on the 16^th. You can find more info here. 

It is the home stretch of the Grand Swiss, and the contenders for the big prize — a spot in the Candidates — know this is their chance to shine at the main stage of the chess world. Round ten illustrated perfectly what happens when some of the strongest players in the world go all in, betting all their chips when the situation requires them to do so. Seven decisive results on the top eight boards left six players still with chances to get the coveted ticket.

Co-leaders after nine rounds Nakamura and Aronian signed a 31-move draw on board two and remain in the race. They will have stiff competition in the final round though, as Wang Hao, Kirill Alekseenko, David Howell and Nikita Vitiugov are also on 7 out of 10 thanks to their wins on Sunday.

In the meantime, the two highest-rated players on the planet showed what they are made of — despite having secured their spots in the World Championship cycle a long time ago. Caruana leads the competition after beating David Anton, while Carlsen tied Ding Liren's 100-game unbeaten streak with a victory over Maxim Matlakov. 

World champion Magnus Carlsen lost a classical game for the last time in July 2018 | Photo: John Saunders

These are the relevant pairings for Monday's deciding round, which will kick off one and a half hours earlier, at 12:30 UTC (14:30 CEST):

At this point, it is critical to mention the tiebreak criteria used in the Grand Swiss. The first decider is known as AROC (average rating of opponents). With the pairings for round eleven already published, we know who will have prevalence over the rest in case of a tie — the average ratings are in parentheses:

1. Wang Hao (2725)
2. Alekseenko (2701)
3. Aronian (2700)
4. Nakamura (2670)
5. Vitiugov (2659)
6. Howell (2641)

Of course, facing 2876-rated Carlsen is the main booster for this criterion. Unfortunately for Aronian though, having to play the world champion in the last round was not enough to surpass Alekseenko's score...by some decimal points. Nevertheless, even Howell could get the spot in the Candidates if all the other contenders draw or lose and he manages to win. It all comes down to those last four games.

Will either of these two long-time members of the elite reach the Candidates? — Levon Aronian and Hikaru Nakamura | Photo: John Saunders

Round ten highlights

The first one to join the group on seven points was Wang Hao, who took down Vishy Anand with Black in merely 27 moves. No one can deny that the Chinese has deservedly earned his spot as the favourite on tiebreaks, showing first-rate chess from start to finish on the Isle of Man. A painful loss in round seven against Aronian was the one major hiccup that prevented him from getting to the last round with an even better prospect.

Wang played the Petroff and later declared that this perhaps threw Anand off, given the tournament situation. The former world champion was facing a deeply prepared opponent in the kind of position you need to know specific lines. The "Tiger of Madras" overplayed his hand by going for the win and lost the thread on move 24:

The Reliable Petroff

The Petroff (or Russian) Defence which is characterised by the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 has been popular at the highest levels for many years and enjoys the reputation of being an extremely solid defence.

White needs to be extremely careful here. Anand, instead, went forward with 24.e6, and after 24...♜xf5 25.♖a3 left his rook out of play on the queenside. There followed 25...♝c4 26.exf7+ ♝xf7 27.c3 a5 28.♖xe4 ♜cf6 and White resigned. The threats to enter on f1 and the out-of-play rook are more than enough justification to throw in the towel.

Wang Hao prepared the Petroff using correspondence games | Photo: Maria Emelianova / chess.com

The second one joining the winners' circle was David Howell. The player from Eastbourne had an eventful tournament so far, losing against Baadur Jobava and Adhiban in rounds one and five, but compensating with three straight wins in rounds eight to ten. His latest victim was none other than Alexander Grischuk. Naturally, it was time trouble havoc, with perhaps the two players of the elite most addicted to being left with seconds on their clocks facing each other!

Howell confessed that he has not been checking the pairings the night before the rounds, as it prevents him from getting to the games fresh enough. But his round ten opponent came as a nice 'surprise', as he later admitted that Grischuk is both a hero of his and one of the few players from the top he had not ever played in the past. 

The Englishman decided which move to open the game with just five minutes before the round — a time trouble addict all the way — and spent close to an hour on moves 10 to 12. Of course, Grischuk responded in kind, using 35 and 20 minutes on his next two decisions. 

White had a more comfortable position, and the Russian faltered decisively on move 22. Despite having seconds on his clock, Howell converted his advantage with admirable precision.

Interviewer Fiona Steil-Antoni is good friends with David Howell | Photo: Maria Emelianova / chess.com

The next '1-0' was scored by Nikita Vitiugov, who took down his compatriot Aleksandr Rakhmanov in a game that kicked off with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.♘f3 a6 and the unpopular 4.c5. Vitiugov was in for an over-the-board fight and the strategy served him well as he handled the pressure better than his lesser-known opponent. The decisive mistake came on move 27, when both Russians were already slightly hurried by the clock:

Master Class Vol.10: Mikhail Botvinnik

Our experts show, using the games of Botvinnik, how to employ specific openings successfully, which model strategies are present in specific structures, how to find tactical solutions and rules for how to bring endings to a successful conclusion

Rakhmanov's 27...♞d7 was a rather timid attempt, when precisely the opposite was called for — Vitiugov showed that 27...f5 was the right way to go here, when White would have needed a lot of precision to increase his advantage. The game continued 28.♘h4, and 28...♜a7 was already the decisive mistake, as it gave way to the good-looking 29.♖xe6, winning. Rakhmanov resigned two moves after the time control.

Nikita Vitiugov | Photo: Maria Emelianova / chess.com

Not long after Howell's victory, Caruana grabbed the lead by converting a superior endgame against David Anton, who surprisingly went for a line in which Black has to suffer in defence from an early stage. By this time of day, the commentators already knew what would be the likely pairings for the last round. Fiona Steil-Antoni pointed out to Caruana that he would be facing his long-time rival Hikaru Nakamura. This is what Caruana had to say about it:

Well it's sort of a must-win for him I guess. [...] I'm not playing for qualification, so I guess there's less pressure on me, but still I want to finish well.

David Anton lost his chances by losing against an in-form Fabiano Caruana | Photo: Maria Emelianova / chess.com

Perhaps the most exciting game of the round was Carlsen's victory over Maxim Matlakov. This was also the world champion's hundredth unbeaten classical game...but that did not prevent him from leaving the playing hall rather disappointed with his performance. This is why:

The Triangle Setup - A complete defense to 1.d4

The polish GM Michal Krasenkow presents a repertoire based on the Noteboom and the Stonewall. Black's set-up may lead to a whole range of different and interesting positions, which help the black player to broaden his strategic and tactical understanding.

The Semi-Slav defense (1.d4 d5 followed by ...e7-e6 and ...c7-c6) is one of the most popular opening set-ups for Black. Black can follow two entirely different concepts.

The black pieces are out of play, and all Matlakov has in his favour is some initiative on the kingside. At this point, Carlsen could leave his g3-bishop hanging and continue playing in the centre with 27.e5. But the world champion went for 27.♗xf4 and had to fight to recover his advantage. The curiosity of it all is that the Norwegian had seen 27.e5 in advance and was very much planning to play it — Carlsen recounted how he went to the bathroom, came back and instantly recaptured on f4, only to quickly realize what had just happened.

A visibly disquieted Carlsen later confessed that he "could not really calm down", but he nonetheless got the full point after converting an ending with a queen against a rook and a bishop. Matlakov tried to create a fortress, but the world champion "knew it was not a fortress" and, with fine technique, went on to show why.

Maxim Matlakov tried to set up a fortress but could not succeed in doing so | Photo: Maria Emelianova / chess.com

Also a long day at the office had Kirill Alekseenko, who said it was a great honour to have beaten Russia's number one Sergey Karjakin with the black pieces, a player he had never faced before. Much like in the other encounter between Russians, the players stepped away from mainstream theory early in the game. Alekseenko spent no less than 41 minutes on move 6:

Unorthodox Chess Openings

How many times have you been caught off guard by a seemingly inferior and unusual opening system that later turns out to be an especially strong one? Unorthodox openings can be a real asset to anyone’s opening repertoire and they often do not contain much theory, making them easy to master for your next important tournament.

The 22-year-old from Saint Petersburg took his time considering 6...c6 because he knew that Karjakin could continue with 7.c4, when Black is given a chance to go for a sharp struggle at an early stage:

Alekseenko now used 22 minutes before deciding on 7...f6, and White's best alternative is to give up the knight with 8.cxd5. Of course, Karjakin is not one to shy away from complications and opted for this variation. 

When asked about this sequence, Alekseenko explained that he spent a lot of time calculating all the way down to 16...♛c4, when Black can consolidate his material edge. The game followed his calculations, and slowly but surely Black got the upper hand. Karjakin tried to defend an ending with rook and bishop versus rook and an extra pawn, but to no avail. Resignation came on move 89.

Kirill Alekseenko will face his teammate Nikita Vitiugov in the last round | Photo: Maria Emelianova / chess.com

Round 10 round-up

GM Simon Williams reviews the highlights of the day

Commentary webcast 

Power Play 14 - Test Your Tactics

On this DVD Grandmaster Daniel King:
● demonstrates typical tactical patterns
● shows how strong players use their tactical awareness
● puts your tactical abilities to the test — but this is a test with a difference. Although the emphasis is on tactics, there are also positions that require a strategic solution. You don’t know what’s coming next...

Commentary by GM Daniel King and IM Anna Rudolf

Pairings for Round 11 (top 20 boards)

...77 boards

All games of Round 10

All games available at Live.Chessbase.com

Links

• Official site
• Full results (Chess-Results)
• Preview: Start of the "Grand Swiss"
• Round 1: Najer upsets Anand
• Round 2: Five-player leading pack
• Round 3: Caruana and Wang Hao still perfect
• Round 4: Maghsoodloo and McShane join the leaders
• Round 5: McShane lets Caruana off the hook
• Round 6: No quarter
• Round 7: Aronian catches up with Caruana
• Round 8: Anton beats Grischuk, joins the leaders
• Round 9: Nakamura co-leader