Anand wins rapid and leads in Saint Louis

by Priyadarshan Banjan
11/14/2016 – Day four of the Champions Showdown in Saint Louis brought the rapid tournament. The shortened time-control led to excitement and oversights: Viswanathan Anand, for example, tried a faulty combination against Hikaru Nakamura and succeeded because the American failed to find the refutation. After winning twice against Topalov in the rapid Anand now leads the overall standings. Studio guest Garry Kasparov was at his nostalgic best as he commentated the games. Illustrated report.
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Pictures from the Facebook page of the Saint Louis Chess Club

Champions Showdown 2016: Anand wins the rapid games and leads in Saint Louis

 

In this 2-minute video the players share their thoughts on the format of this tournament

Garry Kasparov was back in the studio to commentate the games
together with Tania Sachdev, Yasser Seirawan, and Alejandro Ramirez.

Kasparov offered insights to the games and was at his nostalgic best. When talking about the rapid time-control, he said, "I remember when I first played with Nigel Short in London in February 1987. There were six games, 25 minutes each. It was a special format for television — each game would last one hour, so they had enough time for commentary and advertising. There were no draws — I won four games and he won two. There was a lot of blood spilled on the stage. From there we went to Brussels. It was the first meeting of the Grandmasters Association (GMA). ... I showed the tape of the rapid match there. ... They were quite concerned. What's going to happen with chess? Again, you don't blame them because it was quite unusual. 25 minutes?! I mean, come on, Botvinnik was still there!"

Kasparov does not believe that that chess is dying: "This is the secret of the success of the game of chess over the centuries. It can always adjust. It moved from one country to another — absorbing its cultural and social traditions. For example, chess in Japan is called Shogi, which is different from the European chess."

Rapid Games

With a score of 3.5/6, Anand and Topalov went into the rapid leg of the tournament in joint lead. With 3.0/6 Nakamura was just half-a-point behind while Caruana had still to win a game and was struggling with 2.0/6. He decided that he needed to brush up on his skills with fast time controls and chose to do so before the start of the rapid games on day four.

He crashed a local rapid tournament at the Saint Louis Chess Club in the evening before day four!

Rapid Round Robin 01+02

Before the start of the rapid tournament, each commentator was asked to predict the winner of the rapid. Kasparov bet on Nakamura, the others on Caruana or Topalov.

Topalov played interesting chess throughout the day. In the past,
he was less comfortable with shorter time-controls.

But in the first game of the rapids he let Caruana (who was playing with Black) off the hook:
first in the middlegame, and then by failing to pick up the knight
in the diagram position with Rd4+.

Anand-Nakamura, position after 23.g3.

The commentators were wondering about this move when Garry pointed out that Vishy did not want to calculate a lot of lines here but decided to make a quick move to restrict the black pieces.

In this position Anand pushed forward with 50.b6?? Do you see why he allowed the knight fork? And do you see what is wrong with this idea?

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1.e4 5 e5 10 2.Nf3 5 Nc6 5 3.Bc4 5 Bc5 5 4.0-0 6 Nf6 5 5.d3 5 d6 8 6.c3 6 0-0 32 7.Re1 14 a6 5 8.a4 9 h6 14 9.Nbd2 10 Kh8 85 A new move at the top level. 9...Be6 was Kramnik's choice against Anand in Leuven. 10.Bxe6 fxe6 11.Nf1 Nh5 12.Be3 Bxe3 13.fxe3 Qe8 14.b4 Nf6 15.Ng3 a5 16.b5 Ne7 17.c4 Ng6 18.Rf1 b6 19.Nd2 Rd8 20.Qe2 Rd7 21.Nh5 Rdf7 22.Nxf6+ Rxf6 23.Rxf6 Rxf6 24.Rf1 Qf7 25.Rxf6 Qxf6 26.Qg4 Nf8 27.Qh5 Qe7 28.h3 Nd7 29.Nb3 Nf6 30.Qd1 d5 31.exd5 exd5 32.c5 Nd7 33.cxb6 cxb6 34.d4 Qg5 35.Qf3 Kh7 36.e4 Nf6 37.dxe5 Qxe5 38.exd5 Nxd5 39.Qd3+ Kh8 40.Nd2 Nc3 41.Qd8+ Kh7 42.Qd3+ Kh8 43.Qd8+ Kh7 44.Qd3+ 1/2-1/2 (44) Anand,V (2770)-Kramnik,V (2812) Leuven 2016 10.Nf1 31 Ba7 19 11.h3 26 Be6 30 12.Bxe6 35 fxe6 5 13.Be3 8 Bxe3 11 14.Rxe3 9 Ne7 40 15.d4 119 Ng6 5 16.dxe5 26 dxe5 9 17.N1d2 45 b5 76 18.c4 109 Qd7 107 19.Qb3 47 c6 46 20.Rd3± 61 Seirawan pointed out that Aronian has had some success with this kind of structure with black -- doubled pawns on e-file. Kasparov pointed out that that is because he would generally have some dynamic compensation on other parts of the board. He added that here, Hikaru is just under pressure on all fronts. Qc7 171 21.axb5 90 axb5 5 22.Rxa8 17 Rxa8 5 23.g3 5 Kasparov points out that Vishy does not want to calculate here as he knows Nakamura will always try to be tricky with tactical resources. Therefore, he makes a quick decision to tie down Nakmura's pieces. Nf8 121 23...Ra1+ 24.Kg2 24.Kh2 Qb6= 24...Nh5 was Kasparov's immediate suggestion. His point is that 25.cxb5 cxb5 26.Qc3 26.Qxe6 Nhf4+ is all tears for white. 26...Qb8 27.Rd7± 24.cxb5 14 cxb5 5 25.Kg2 34 Qb7 5 26.Qb4 34 N8d7 8 27.Rb3 38 Rb8 11 28.Qe7 14 Qb6 30 29.Rd3 18 Re8 13 30.Qd6 10 Qxd6 5 31.Rxd6 5 Nc5 5 32.Rb6 5 Ncxe4 16 33.Nxe4 5 Nxe4 5 34.Rxb5 25 Nd6 5 35.Rb6 8 Nc4 22 36.Rb4 5 Rc8 42 37.b3 5 Nd6 5 38.Nxe5 5 Nf5 5 39.Rc4 16 Ra8 5 40.Rc2 12 Nd4 11 41.Rb2 5 Ra5 7 42.f4 7 g5 7 43.b4 Rb5 44.Kf2 12 gxf4 10 45.gxf4 Kg7 46.Nd3 15 Kf6 10 47.Ke3 5 Nc6 5 48.Kd2 6 Rh5 19 49.b5 5 Na5 5 50.b6?? 68 Vishy is confident that he has calculated a brilliant finish. He is wrong! 50.Kc3 Rxh3 50...Nb7 51.b6 Rxh3 52.Ra2 transposes 51.b6 Nb7 52.Ra2 Rg3 52...Nc5 53.Kc4 Nxd3 54.b7+- 53.Kd4 Nd6± 50...Nc4+ 7 51.Kc2 5 Nxb2 5 52.Ne5 5 Nc4?? 38 But Nakamura blunders back! 52...Nd3‼ is the drawing idea. 53.Kxd3 White is forced to play this. 53.Nxd3 Rb5-+ 53.b7 Nb4+ 54.Kc3 Na6-+ 53...Rxh3+ 54.Kc4 Rg3 55.b7 Rg8 56.Kd3 Kf5 57.Nc6 Kxf4 58.b8Q+ Rxb8 59.Nxb8 h5 60.Nd7 holding back the e6 pawn. h4 61.Ke2 entering the square for the h pawn. 53.b7 5 Nxe5 5 54.fxe5+ 5 Kf5 5 55.b8Q 5 Rxh3 5 56.Kd2 8 h5 5 57.Ke2 8 h4 5 58.Kf2 5 Rg3 5 59.Qf8+ 9 Kxe5 5 60.Qh8+ 5 Kf5 5 61.Qxh4 5 Rg5 5 62.Kf3 5 Kg6 5 63.Kf4 5 Rf5+ 5 64.Ke4 5 Kf7 5 65.Qh7+ 5 Kf6 5 66.Qg8 5 Re5+ 7 67.Kf4 7 Rf5+ 5 68.Kg4 5 Ke7 5 69.Qc8 5 Kf7 6 70.Qd7+ 5 Kf6 5 71.Qe8 5 Rg5+ 5 72.Kf4 5 Rf5+ 5 73.Ke4 5 Re5+ 5 74.Kd4 5 Rd5+ 5 75.Kc4 5 Ke5 14 76.Qh8+ 5 Kf5 5 77.Qg7 5 Rd1 15 78.Qf7+ 5 Kg4 5 79.Qxe6+ 5 Kf3 5 80.Kc3 9 Rf1 5 81.Kd2 5 Rf2+ 12 82.Kd3 5 Kg2 5 83.Qg4+ 5 Kh2 5 84.Ke3 5 Rg2 5 85.Qh4+ 5 Kg1 5 86.Kf3 5 Rg8 5 87.Qe1+ 17 Kh2 5 88.Qe5+ 5 Kh1 5 89.Qh5+ 27 Kg1 5 90.Qc5+ 5 Kh1 5 91.Kf2 5 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Anand,V2779Nakamura,H27791–02016C50Champions Showdown 20167

The commentary team was in awe as blunders and brilliancies walked hand in hand in most of the games!

Hikaru Nakamura bounced back (as usual) in the second round of the round robin. Here, he won a pawn with an old tactical motif.

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1.e4 5 e5 10 2.Nf3 5 Nc6 5 3.Bc4 5 Bc5 5 4.c3 5 Nf6 5 5.b4 5 Bb6 9 6.d3 5 d6 5 7.a4 5 a5 5 8.b5 5 Ne7 5 9.Nbd2 5 Ng6 30 10.0-0 5 0-0 19 11.Bb3 5 c6 9 12.Nc4 8 Bc7 5 13.Re1 12 h6 15 14.d4 7 Be6 35 15.Ba3 161 Bxc4 37 16.Bxc4 5 Re8 5 17.Bb3 172 d5 24 18.exd5 24 cxd5 71 19.dxe5 5 Nxe5 5 20.Bc5? 16 20.Nxe5 Bxe5 21.Rc1= 20...Nxf3+ 17 21.Qxf3 5 21.gxf3 also suffers from the same problem. 21...Bxh2+! 5 22.Kf1 57 22.Kxh2 Qc7+ 23.g3 Qxc5 Black is a pawn up now. 22...Be5 15 23.Bd4 70 Bxd4 55 24.Rxe8+ 5 Qxe8 8 25.cxd4 5 Qd7 6 26.Re1 66 Rc8 12 27.Qf4 36 b6 12 28.Ba2 82 Qc7 29 29.Qe5 5 Kf8 41 30.g3 112 Qd7 16 31.Qf4 9 Ne4 98 32.Bb1 30 g5 12 33.Qe3 24 Rc3 47 34.Bd3 5 Ra3 14 35.Qe2 20 Rxa4 19 36.Bxe4 5 dxe4 5 37.Qxe4 5 Qxd4 61 38.Qa8+ 5 Kg7 5 39.Re8 42 Ra2 26 40.Qf3 5 Rb2 46 41.Re7 25 Qf6 14 42.Qe3 5 Rxb5 12 43.Rc7 5 Qe5 22 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2823Nakamura,H27790–12016C54Champions Showdown 20168

Focused: Vishy Anand

In the first rapid round robin, Caruana finally managed to win a game — against Topalov.
But he then lost again to Nakamura in the second round robin.

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1.d4 5 Nf6 10 2.c4 5 e6 5 3.Nf3 5 d5 5 4.Nc3 5 dxc4 5 5.e4 5 Bb4 5 6.Bxc4 5 Nxe4 5 7.0-0 5 Nxc3 5 8.bxc3 5 Bd6 5 9.Bg5 9 Be7 6 10.Bxe7 12 Qxe7 5 11.Re1 5 The first new move. 0-0 5 12.Ne5 5 Nd7 51 13.Nxf7 14 Nb6 95 13...Rxf7 14.Rxe6 14.Bxe6 Qf6 15.Bxf7+ Qxf7 14...Qd8 14...Qg5 15.Re3 Kf8 16.Bxf7 Kxf7 17.Qb3+ Kf8 18.Rae1+- 15.Re3 Nf6 16.Qb3 Qd7 17.Rae1 Kf8 18.Be6 Qe8 19.Qa3+ Qe7 20.Bd7‼+- 14.Ne5 5 Nxc4 5 15.Nxc4 5 b6 6 16.Qg4 66 Bb7 17 17.Ne5 44 Rf6 37 18.Qe2 47 Raf8 73 19.f3 5 c5 39 20.Rad1 5 Rf4 60 21.Nd3 65 Ba6 30 22.Qxe6+ 12 Qxe6 5 23.Rxe6 5 Bxd3 5 24.Rxd3 5 cxd4 5 25.cxd4 7 Rd8 15 26.Re4 49 Rf5 5 27.Re7 7 Rf7 9 28.Re5 39 Rc7 18 29.d5 100 Kf7 28 30.Kf2 21 Rc2+ 28 31.Re2 5 Rc5 5 32.d6 27 Rd7 61 33.Rd4 19 Rf5 57 34.Rde4 17 a5 84 35.g4 109 Rf6 58 36.Re7+ 5 Rxe7 5 37.Rxe7+ 5 Kf8 5 38.Rd7 5 b5 55 39.Ke3 5 b4 5 40.Ke4 21 a4 34 41.f4 12 Rh6 22 42.h4 134 b3 5 43.axb3 5 axb3 5 44.Ke5 19 Rxh4 10 45.Rb7 9 Ke8 62 46.Rxg7 9 b2 5 47.Rb7 5 Rxg4 5 48.Rxb2 5 Rg1 14 49.Rb8+ 5 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nakamura,H2779Caruana,F28231–02016D37Champions Showdown 201611

We invite the readers to find a suitable caption for this picture of Topalov.

While choosing your caption, bear in mind this complicated battle that occurred in the final round of the day. Topalov fought with passion as Nakamura counter-attacked with an uncompromising attitude. But then something weird happened that left even Anand scratching his head:

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1.d4 5 Nf6 10 2.c4 5 g6 5 3.Nc3 7 Bg7 5 4.e4 5 d6 5 5.f3 5 0-0 6 6.Be3 5 a6 7 6...e5 is the main move. 6...Nc6 is also famous. 7.Bd3 8 c6 5 8.Nge2 13 b5 5 9.0-0 12 bxc4 24 10.Bxc4 5 d5 5 A rare position in GM practise 11.Bb3 89 a5 11 11...dxe4 12.fxe4 Ng4 13.Bf4 e5 14.dxe5 Qb6+ 15.Qd4 Nd7 16.Qxb6 Nxb6 17.Nd4 c5 18.Nf3 c4 19.Na4 Nxa4 20.Bxa4 Rb8 21.h3 g5 22.Bxg5 Nxe5 23.Nxe5 Bxe5 24.Be7 Bxb2 25.Rab1 Be6 26.Bxf8 Kxf8 27.Rf2 c3 28.Bb3 Ke7 29.Rbxb2 cxb2 30.Rxb2 a5 31.Rc2 Bxb3 32.axb3 Rxb3 33.Rc7+ Kf6 34.Rc6+ Kg7 35.Ra6 Rb5 36.Kf2 Rb2+ 37.Kf3 Ra2 38.g4 h6 39.e5 a4 40.Kg3 a3 41.Kh4 Re2 1/2-1/2 (41) Chatalbashev,B (2579)-Kozul,Z (2593) Zadar 2008 12.Kh1 42 Ba6 23 13.Rc1 17 e6 58 14.Bg5 33 h6 69 15.Bh4 5 g5 37 16.Bf2 5 Nbd7 5 17.e5 10 Nh5 76 18.Na4 23 Bb5 27 19.Re1 18 f6 13 20.exf6 22 Qxf6 5 21.Nec3 73 Ba6 31 22.Ne2 5 g4 180 23.Ng1 65 Nf4 64 24.Rxc6 14 Nd3 5 25.Bg3 5 Nxe1 5 26.Qxe1 5 Rfe8 10 27.Nc3 38 Qf7 21 28.fxg4 10 Bxd4 92 29.Nf3 12 Bg7 5 30.g5 23 h5 5 31.Bc2 82 Nf8 46 32.h3 57 Rec8 7 33.Rd6 82 Rd8 5 34.g6 18 Qe8 5 35.Ba4 6 Qxg6 51 36.Nxd5 5 Kh8 10 37.Nf4 78 Qf5 21 38.Nh4 10 Qf7 5 39.Rb6 15 Bd4 23 40.Rc6 33 Rdc8 20 41.Qe4 6 Bg7 37 42.Nhg6+ 37 Nxg6 5 43.Nxg6+ 5 Kg8 5 44.Ne5 8 Qf5 10 45.Qxf5 21 exf5 5 46.Rb6 15 Rcb8 14 47.Rg6 24 Kh7 6 48.Rg5 5 Bf6 15 49.Rxf5 5 Kg7 11 50.Rxf6 5 Kxf6 5 51.Nd7+ 5 Kf5 5 52.Nxb8 5 Bc4 5 53.b3 Bd3 54.Nc6 15 Bb1 11 55.a3 5 Kf6 5 56.Bb5 5 Re8 5 57.Kh2 8 Re3 9 58.Nxa5 5 Rc3 10 59.Bc4 11 Be4 5 60.Bf1 15 Rc1 5 61.Nc4 8 Ba8 13 62.Ne3 5 Rc3 5 63.Bf4 5 Rxb3 5 64.a4 5 Rb4 5 65.Bc4 15 Rxa4 5 66.h4 8 Ra3 5 67.Be2 6 Kg6 5 68.Kg3 5 Be4 5 69.Bf3 5 Bb1 5 70.Nc4 5 Rc3 5 71.Ne5+ 5 Kf6 5 72.Kh2 5 Kf5 5 73.Bg3 5 Be4 5 74.Bxh5 5 Rxg3 5 75.Kxg3 5 Kxe5 5 76.Bf3 5 Bf5 5 77.Kf2 5 Bd7 5 78.Ke3 Be6 79.g3 10 Bd7 10 80.Bh5 5 Be6 5 81.Be8 5 Kf5 5 82.Bh5 6 Ke5 5 83.Be2 5 Bd7 5 84.Kd2 5 Be6 5 85.Kc3 5 Ke4 5 86.Bd1 5 Ke5 5 87.Kb4 5 Kd4 8 88.Kb5 5 Ke5 5 89.Kc5 5 Bd7 5 90.Be2 5 Be8 5 91.g4 5 Kf4 5 92.g5 5 Ke5 11 93.Bd1 Bf7 94.Be2 Be8 95.Kb6 15 Kd6 15 96.Bd3 5 Bh5 5 97.Bc2 5 Be8 5 98.Bd1 5 Bf7 5 99.h5 Ke5 100.g6 10 100.h6 is the simplest win. Bg6 101.Bh5 Be4 102.Kc7 Ke6 103.Kd8 Bd3 104.Ke8 Ke5 105.Ke7 Bf5 106.g6 Be6 107.h7 100...Be8 10 101.h6?? 5 101.g7 Bf7 102.h6 Kf6 103.Bc2 Bd5 104.Be4 Bg8 105.Bd3 Bd5 106.Kc5 Bg8 107.Kd4 Bb3 107...Ke7 108.h7+- 108.Bc4 101...Bxg6 5 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Topalov,V2760Nakamura,H2779½–½2016E81Champions Showdown 201612

The spectators enjoyed the creative play of the top players.

Standings at the end of the rapid games. The fifth and final day will see blitz action.

Standings:

Rank Name Rating Classical Rapid Blitz Total Score
1 GM Viswanathan Anand 2779 3.5/6 4.5/6 - 8.0
2 GM Hikaru Nakamura 2779 3.0/6 3.5/6 - 6.5
3 GM Veselin Topalov 2760 3.5/6 1.5/6 - 5.0
4 GM Fabiano Caruana 2823 2.0/6 2.5/6 - 4.5

Games

 
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1.Nf3 0 d5 0 2.c4 0 e6 0 3.b3 2 c5 25 4.e3 21 Nc6 21 5.cxd5 exd5 0 6.Bb5 1:08 Nf6 23 7.0-0 35 Bd6 26 8.Bb2 0 0-0 1:50 9.d4 17 cxd4 2:23 10.Nxd4 0 Bg4 2:09 11.Be2 4:21 Bxe2 57 12.Nxe2 38 Re8 3:50 13.Nd2 6:27 Be5 40 14.Bxe5 26 Nxe5 0 15.Nf3 32 Nxf3+ 1:27 16.gxf3 0 Qa5 2:49 17.Qd3 5:16 Rac8 4:02 18.a4 22 Rc5 7:45 19.Rfb1 3:47 Qc7 0 20.Rc1 1:50 b6 4 21.Rc3 3:26 Rc8 1:43 22.Rac1 1 a5 14 23.Kg2 5:58 h6 47 24.Qa6 1:33 Qd8 0 25.Rxc5 3:15 bxc5 35 26.Ng3 25 g6 1:11 27.Qb5 8:28 Qc7 51 28.Ne2 32 c4 1:54 29.Nf4 29 Qc5 0 30.e4 1:37 Qxb5 3:27 31.axb5 0 Rb8 0 32.bxc4 42 dxc4 0 33.Rxc4 36 Rxb5 0 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2823Anand,V2779½–½2016A062016 Champions Showdown6.1
Topalov,V2760Nakamura,H27791–02016C672016 Champions Showdown6.2
Nakamura,H2779Caruana,F28231–02016D572016 Champions Showdown5.1
Anand,V2779Topalov,V2760½–½2016C542016 Champions Showdown5.2
Caruana,F2823Topalov,V2760½–½2016A092016 Champions Showdown4.1
Nakamura,H2779Anand,V27790–12016A212016 Champions Showdown4.2
Anand,V2779Caruana,F2823½–½2016B322016 Champions Showdown3.1
Nakamura,H2779Topalov,V27601–02016E352016 Champions Showdown3.2
Caruana,F2823Nakamura,H2779½–½2016C652016 Champions Showdown2.1
Topalov,V2760Anand,V2779½–½2016A212016 Champions Showdown2.2
Topalov,V2760Caruana,F28231–02016A172016 Champions Showdown1.1
Anand,V2779Nakamura,H2779½–½2016C542016 Champions Showdown1.2

The commentary was top-notch in its mix of high-quality analyses and delightful anecdotes. Enjoy!

Topalov talks about his plans for the future and his dissatisfaction with the quality of his rapid games.

Follow the games live on playchess.com

The 2016 Champions Showdown shall be an exhibition event featuring four players (Viswanathan Anand, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Veselin Topalov). Over five days, the Players shall complete two Classical Round Robins (G/60 +5” delay), two Rapid Round Robins (G/15 +5” delay) and four Blitz Round Robins (G/3 +2” delay).

Day Date Time Showdown in Saint Louis

Wednesday

9-Nov

  

Arrival

Thursday

10-Nov

1:00 PM

RR1: Round 1

   

3:30 PM

RR1: Round 2

Friday

11-Nov

1:00 PM

RR1: Round 3

   

3:30 PM

RR2: Round 1

Saturday

12-Nov

1:00 PM

RR2: Round 2

   

3:30 PM

RR2: Round 3

Sunday

13-Nov

1:00 PM

Rapid (6 rounds)

Monday

14-Nov

1:00 PM

Blitz (12 rounds)

Tuesday

15-Nov

  

Departure

 

Place

Prize

1st

$60,000

2nd

$40,000

3rd

$30,000

4th

$20,000

Total Prize Fund: $150,000 USD

When:

November 10th, 2016 1:00 PM CST through November 14th, 2016 12:00 AM CST

Location:

Chess Club & Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
4657 Maryland Ave Saint Louis
MO 63108
United States

Official website

Priyadarshan Banjan is a 23-year-old club player from India. He works as an editor for ChessBase News and ChessBase India. He is a chess fanatic and an avid fan of Vishy Anand. He also maintains a blog on a variety of topics.

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