Giri beats Jobava to win MrDodgy Invitational

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
5/17/2021 – The second edition of the MrDodgy Invitational was played on May 12-16 in the chess24 PlayZone. The event was a 16-player knockout, with each match consisting of 12 blitz games (5 minutes for the game, without increments). Top seed Anish Giri, who had won the first edition of the event, defeated Baadur Jobava in the final to get the first prize of $2,500 plus a picture of Dodgy on a horse.

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The dance contest

For those that closely follow the world of chess on Twitter, MrDodgy surely is a well-known name. Constantly sharing jokes related to the world of over-the-board and online chess in a creative and incredibly consistent way has allowed the “man on a horse” to become an active member of the ‘real’ chess world, as a number of elite players not only interact with him online but have also accepted to participate in the “Prestigious MrDodgy Invitational”, whose second edition came to an end on Sunday.

The man behind the scenes is Michael Duke, a Scottish chess aficionado with a standard rating of 2067 who lives in Sweden with his family. He has thus explained why he uses the MrDodgy alias online:

I like to surprise people and take risks in the game. Draws are nothing for me.

In keeping with the light-hearted nature of the event, MrDodgy not only offered a $2,500 first prize but also the chance to get the notorious photo of a man on a horse — true to his style, Dodgy wrote on the official site:

Sixteen players will compete in a knockout tournament for a prize fund of one (1) picture of the Organizer on a horse.  There may also be some cash prizes, but that’s not important or interesting.

MrDodgy Invitational

For a second year in a row, it was Anish Giri — also a major force in the world of Twitter — who collected the top prize. Last year, the Dutch grandmaster had won the 8-player inaugural event after beating David Navara in the final. In the second edition, he got the better of Baadur Jobava in the final to finish first.

Giri reached the final after eliminating José ‘Pepe’ Cuenca, Nils Grandelius and none other than Daniil Dubov, who famously knocked out Magnus Carlsen at the quarterfinals of the Airthings Masters last year. Jobava, on the other hand, defeated second seed Alexander Grischuk, former finalist David Navara and Vidit Gujrathi.

In his trailer for the final, MrDodgy wrote:

They come from different countries, they have different styles and they’re ready to fight to the death but they have one thing in common...

The ‘dance contest’ was finally won by Giri. After trading wins with white in the first four games, a mouse-slip by Jobava gave Giri the lead, which he would never let go of until scoring a clear 7-3 victory.

 
Giri vs. Jobava - Game 5

Jobava’s 22...Re2 was a turning point in the match.

In the bracket below, you can see the amount of top players that agreed to participate in the tournament, including veterans Alexei Shirov, Peter Svidler and Peter Heine Nielsen.

MrDodgy Invitational

All games

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
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1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e4 0-0 6.Be2 Bg4 7.Be3 Nfd7 8.0-0 Nc6 9.d5 Bxf3 10.Bxf3 Na5 11.Be2 Bxc3 12.bxc3 e5 13.dxe6 fxe6 14.Qd2!?       Leaves trodden paths. E91: King's Indian: Classical: 6 Be2, unusual replies including 6...c5 and 6...Bg4. b6 15.f4 Qe7 16.Rae1
White is slightly better. 16...Nb7N Predecessor: 16...Rae8 17.Bd3 Nb7 18.f5 Ne5 19.Bh6 Rf7 20.fxg6 hxg6 21.Rxf7 Qxf7 22.Rf1 Qh7 1-0 (46) Dittel,H (2064)-Popelka,O (2123) Austria 2018 17.Qc2 Nbc5 18.Rf2 Rf7 19.Ref1 Raf8 20.g3 e5 21.f5 g5 22.f6? 22.h4 keeps the upper hand. gxh4 23.g4 22...Nxf6 23.Bxg5 Strongly threatening Bh5! Qe6 23...Ncxe4 24.Bxf6 Nxf6 24.Bxf6= Rxf6 25.Rf5
25.Rxf6= remains equal. Rxf6 26.Rxf6 Qxf6 27.Bg4 25...Rxf5 Better is 25...Nxe4!       26.Rxf6 Nxf6 26.exf5 Qh6 27.Kg2 Qe3 27...Re8 feels hotter. 28.Bd1 e4 29.Qe2 Qf6 30.Qe3 Re5 28.Rf3! Qe4 29.Qxe4 Nxe4       Endgame KRB-KRN 30.g4! Kg7 31.h4 h6 32.Bd3 Nc5 33.Bc2 Kf6 34.Rg3 Threatening g5+. Rg8 35.Kf3 c6 36.Be4 Nxe4 37.Kxe4 KR-KR d5+ 38.cxd5 cxd5+ 39.Kxd5 Threatens to win with Ke4. h5 40.g5+ Kxf5 41.g6 e4 41...Rd8+!= 42.Kc4 Rc8+ 43.Kd3 e4+ 44.Kd2 Kf6 42.g7 42.Rg5+± Kf6 43.Kxe4 42...Kf4?      
42...e3!= and Black is okay. 43.Rxe3 Rxg7 43.Rg1!+- e3
And now ...e2 would win. 44.Ke6! e2 45.Kf7 Rc8 46.g8Q Rxg8 47.Kxg8 KR-KP Kf3 48.Kg7 Kf2 49.Rb1 e1Q 50.Rxe1 Kxe1 K3P-K3P 51.Kg6 Kd2 52.Kxh5 Kxc3 KPP-KPP 53.Kg6 b5 54.h5 b4 55.h6 Kb2 56.h7 Kxa2 57.h8Q b3 58.Qd4 b2 59.Qa4+ Kb1 60.Qxa7? 60.Kf5 mates Kc1 61.Qc4+ Kd2 62.Qb3 b1R 63.Qxb1 Ke3 64.Ke5 Kf3 65.Qc2 60...Kc1= 61.Qc5+ 61.Kf6 feels hotter. b1Q 62.Qe3+ Kb2 63.Qd4+ Ka2 64.Qa7+ 61...Kb1?       61...Kd2= 62.Qc4 White mates. Ka1 63.Qa4+ Kb1 64.Kf5 Kc1 65.Qc4+ Kb1 66.Ke4 Ka1 67.Qa4+ Kb1 68.Kd3 Kc1 69.Qc2# Weighted Error Value: White=0.25/Black=0.42
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Giri,A2780Cuenca Jimenez,J25241–02021E91Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Grischuk,A2776Jobava,B26030–12021D10Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Vidit,S2726Nielsen,P26180–12021D75Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Svidler,P2714Fressinet,L26380–12021A23Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Dubov,D2710Williams,S24641–02021A96Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Van Foreest,J2701Howell,D26581–02021B15Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Navara,D2697Adhiban,B26600–12021E94Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Grandelius,N2670Shirov,A26621–02021C84Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Shirov,A2662Grandelius,N26700–12021D77Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Adhiban,B2660Navara,D26970–12021A01Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Howell,D2658Van Foreest,J27011–02021A07Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Fressinet,L2638Svidler,P27141–02021A09Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Nielsen,P2618Vidit,S2726½–½2021A34Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Jobava,B2603Grischuk,A2776½–½2021B91Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Cuenca Jimenez,J2524Giri,A27800–12021B77Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Williams,S2464Dubov,D27100–12021B62Mr Dodgy Invotational 21
Giri,A2780Cuenca Jimenez,J25241–02021C41Mr Dodgy Invotational 21.1
Grandelius,N2670Shirov,A26621–02021B76Mr Dodgy Invotational 21.2
Dubov,D2710Williams,S24641–02021C02Mr Dodgy Invotational 21.3
Svidler,P2714Fressinet,L26380–12021A14Mr Dodgy Invotational 21.4
Van Foreest,J2701Howell,D26581–02021B12Mr Dodgy Invotational 21.6
Grischuk,A2776Jobava,B26031–02021D94Mr Dodgy Invotational 21.8
Giri,A2780Grandelius,N26701–02021B52Mr Dodgy Invotational 22
Vidit,S2726Howell,D26580–12021D10Mr Dodgy Invotational 22
Dubov,D2710Fressinet,L26381–02021D53Mr Dodgy Invotational 22
Navara,D2697Jobava,B26031–02021B12Mr Dodgy Invotational 22
Grandelius,N2670Giri,A27801–02021B87Mr Dodgy Invotational 22
Howell,D2658Vidit,S2726½–½2021A34Mr Dodgy Invotational 22
Fressinet,L2638Dubov,D27101–02021A50Mr Dodgy Invotational 22
Jobava,B2603Navara,D26970–12021D38Mr Dodgy Invotational 22
Giri,A2780Dubov,D27100–12021E01Mr Dodgy Invotational 23
Vidit,S2726Jobava,B26031–02021C41Mr Dodgy Invotational 23
Dubov,D2710Giri,A27800–12021B90Mr Dodgy Invotational 23
Jobava,B2603Vidit,S27261–02021B22Mr Dodgy Invotational 23
Giri,A2780Jobava,B2603½–½2021B40Mr Dodgy Invotational 24
Jobava,B2603Giri,A2780½–½2021E67Mr Dodgy Invotational 24

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

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