Baden Baden: Naiditsch beats Adams

2/9/2013 – It was a roller coaster seven-hour game– and in the end Germany's top GM Arkadij Naiditch held the upper hand to take a full point from British GM Michael Adams. The game overshadowed the sharp contest between Viswanathan Anand and Fabiano Caruana, where the young apprentice unleashed some more deep preparation to hold the champion at bay. Round two report.

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Baden-Baden GRENKE Chess Classic

Round two: Naiditsch beats Adams after epic battle

2nd round on 08 February 2013 at 15:00
Fridman Daniel 2667
½-½
 Meier Georg 2640
Anand Vishy 2780
½-½
 Caruana Fabiano 2757
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
1-0
 Adams Michael 2725

Michael Adams (above right) confessed afterwards (for the second day in a row!), “I had no idea what was going on”. At first it seemed as though Naiditsch, angry at letting his earlier edge slip, was making the classic mistake of pushing too hard for a win, but towards the second time control Adams found himself in a tough situation.

[Event "1st GRENKE Chess Classic"] [Site "Baden-Baden GER"] [Date "2013.02.08"] [Round "2.2"] [White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"] [Black "Adams, Michael"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E56"] [WhiteElo "2716"] [BlackElo "2725"] [PlyCount "157"] [EventDate "2013.02.07"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O Nc6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. h3 Qe7 11. b3 Rd8 12. Bb2 Ne4 13. Rc1 Bf5 14. Ne2 Rac8 15. Nf4 Ba3 16. Qe2 Bg6 17. Rfd1 a6 18. Bb1 Bxb2 19. Qxb2 Nf6 20. Bxg6 hxg6 21. Rc2 Rc7 22. Rcd2 Qc5 23. Nd3 Qb6 24. Nde5 Nxe5 25. Qxe5 Re8 26. Qf4 Re4 27. Rxd5 $1 {Spectacular!} Rc8 ({Adams admitted he'd simply blundered. The minor problem is that taking the queen sees Black mated:} 27... Rxf4 $4 28. Rd8+ Kh7 29. Ng5+ Kh6 30. exf4 $1) 28. Rd6 {The position was surprisingly still balanced, and after a passage of play in which both players rejected a draw by repetition it was Black who emerged with an extra pawn.} Qa5 29. Qg3 Ree8 30. Ng5 Qxa2 31. Qh4 Qxb3 32. R1d3 Qc4 33. R3d4 Qc1+ 34. Kh2 Qc7 35. Kg1 Qc1+ 36. Rd1 Qc4 37. e4 Rc5 38. Rd8 Rc8 39. R8d6 Rc5 40. Rd8 Rc8 41. R8d4 Qe2 42. Kh2 Rc5 43. Rd8 Rce5 44. f4 Rxd8 45. Rxd8+ Re8 46. Rd4 Qe3 47. Rb4 Nh5 48. e5 f6 49. Nf3 a5 50. Rd4 fxe5 {Adams said he considered himself practically lost after this move. The chess engines in Let's Check say 0.00 (=draw).} 51. fxe5 Rf8 52. Re4 Qb6 53. Qg4 Qc6 54. Rd4 Qe8 55. Qg5 Kh7 56. Qe3 Rxf3 $6 {In desperation Adams decides to jettison the exchange. It was still all to play for, but Adams now had to tread a tightrope while Naiditsch was scenting blood. Exhaustion and time pressure finally had their way, and Mickey offered his hand on move 79.} 57. gxf3 Qe6 58. Rd6 Qa2+ 59. Rd2 Qe6 60. Rd6 Qa2+ 61. Qd2 Qb3 62. e6 Qxf3 63. Rd3 Qc6 64. Qe3 a4 65. e7 Nf6 66. Kg1 b5 67. Rd4 Ne8 68. Rf4 Qd5 69. Kf2 Qc6 70. Ke1 Qh1+ 71. Kd2 Qd5+ 72. Kc1 Qg5 73. h4 Qd5 74. Kb2 Nd6 75. h5 Qxh5 76. Rd4 Ne8 77. Rf4 Qh2+ 78. Qf2 a3+ 79. Ka2 1-0


A first win for top German GM Arkadij Naiditsch


Second seed in Baden Baden: Italian GM Fabiano Caruana

Fabiano Caruana’s difficulties in last month’s Wijk aan Zee started with an early loss with the black pieces against Vishy Anand. Although that could of course happen to anyone, things soon went from bad to worse. When the dust had settled the young Italian had lost five games and almost 25 rating points, dropping not only out of the world Top Five but also the Top Ten. Caruana told the GRENKE Chess Classic press team that his performance there was the result of a whole combination of factors. One was that he was unwell for most of the event, but he was also without his coach Vladimir Chuchelov, who was focussing on one of his other students, Anish Giri. Here in Baden-Baden Vladimir is accompanying Fabiano, and a repetition of the Wijk aan Zee scenario doesn’t seem to be on the cards. For the second day in a row Caruana demonstrated deep preparation...

[Event "1st GRENKE Chess Classic"] [Site "Baden-Baden GER"] [Date "2013.02.08"] [Round "2.1"] [White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C92"] [WhiteElo "2780"] [BlackElo "2757"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2013.02.07"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Re8 10. d4 Bb7 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. d5 Nb8 13. Nf1 Nbd7 14. N3h2 Nc5 15. Bc2 c6 16. b4 Ncd7 17. dxc6 Bxc6 18. Bg5 h6 19. Bxf6 Nxf6 20. Ng4 a5 $5 { Caruana's trainer Vladimir Chuchelov had recommended the night before instead of the previous grandmaster choice of 20...Nxg4. There are five games with this move in the online database. Three were drawn and two won by White.} 21. Nxf6+ Qxf6 22. Ne3 {Anand continued to play relatively quickly, but he lived to regret it - lamenting this "careless" move which allowed Caruana to equalise with 23...d5!} axb4 23. cxb4 d5 {Anand in the press conference: "I should have at least thought about this.!} 24. exd5 Bd7 25. Qb1 $146 {A novelty. Caruana emphasised that both sides had a lot of options and he'd barely looked at this move.} ({Predecessor:} 25. Ng4 Qg5 26. d6 Ra6 27. Qd3 e4 28. Rxe4 Rxd6 29. Qe2 Rd2 30. Qe1 Rxe4 31. Qxe4 g6 32. Bb3 Bxg4 33. hxg4 Qf6 34. Rf1 Rd4 35. Qe2 {1/2-1/2 (35) Colin,S (2113)-Suto,J (2382) ICCF email 2005} ) 25... g6 26. d6 Rad8 {Caruana said he thought "maybe this wasn't the best"... } 27. a4 Bxd6 28. axb5 {... but after the crucial} e4 $1 {he was visibly confident in his position as he left the stage.} 29. Bxe4 Qf4 30. Nf1 Bxb5 31. g3 Qf6 32. Bg2 Rxe1 33. Qxe1 Bxf1 34. Qxf1 Bxb4 35. Ra8 Rxa8 36. Bxa8 Bd6 37. Kg2 Kg7 38. Bf3 Bf8 39. Qe2 Qe7 40. Qxe7 Bxe7 1/2-1/2


World Champion Vishy Anand during his game against Caruana

The second game to finish was the 26-move draw between German grandmasters Daniel Fridman (above) and Georg Meier. Fridman is a very funny man, and greeted IM Lawrence Trent in the press conference with, “you didn’t fall asleep?” True, it wasn’t spectacular chess to watch, but what emerged from the press conference was an insight into the subtleties that decide matters in the higher echelons of world chess. Meier revealed that “a lot happened in the early moves”, as Fridman managed to use a move-order trick to play a line of the Nimzo-Indian that Meier had successfully avoided in last year’s Dortmund tournament. Meier was left struggling to remember the analysis he’d done as a junior, while Fridman… claimed he hadn’t expected to succeed and also couldn’t remember the line!

[Event "1st GRENKE Chess Classic"] [Site "Baden-Baden GER"] [Date "2013.02.08"] [Round "2.3"] [White "Fridman, Daniel"] [Black "Meier, Georg"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A16"] [WhiteElo "2667"] [BlackElo "2640"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2013.02.07"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 e6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. g3 Ne4 7. Qd3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 Nc5 9. Qe3 b6 10. Bg2 Bb7 11. Bxb7 Nxb7 12. Ba3 Nc6 13. Nb5 Nca5 $146 ({ Predecessor:} 13... f6 14. Rd1 Nca5 15. Bb4 a6 16. Nd6+ Nxd6 17. Rxd6 Nc6 18. Rxc6 {1-0 (18) Lenic,L (2598)-Horvath,T (2429) Austria 2009}) 14. Bb4 {Fridman wasn't yet low on time, but he explained his reasoning for playing this instead of potentially more promising moves: "In some ways I just believed him. If I started to calculate all the variations I might play the same Bb4 but without time on the clock."} a6 15. Qd4 {There was a lively tactical sequence featuring this nice zwischenzug, but the game never left the bounds of equality and finished in a logical repetition of moves.} f6 16. Bxa5 bxa5 17. Nd6+ Nxd6 18. Qxd6 Rc8 19. Qxa6 Qc7 20. O-O Qxc4 21. Qxa5 Qxc3 22. Qh5+ Ke7 23. Qg4 Kf7 24. Qh5+ Ke7 25. Qg4 Kf7 26. Qh5+ 1/2-1/2


German GM Georg Meier

The highlight of Saturday’s Round 3 looks set to be Caruana-Naiditsch. Will Naiditsch’s satisfaction at winning be enough to overcome the exhaustion of today’s game? In the same fixture in Dortmund last year the Italian only escaped by the skin of his teeth.

Report: Colin McGourty Photos: Georgios Souleidis

Schedule and results

1st round on 07 February 2013 at 15:00
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
½-½
 Fridman Daniel 2667
Adams Michael 2725
½-½
 Anand Vishy 2780
Caruana Fabiano 2757
1-0
 Meier Georg 2640
2nd round on 08 February 2013 at 15:00
Fridman Daniel 2667
½-½
 Meier Georg 2640
Anand Vishy 2780
½-½
 Caruana Fabiano 2757
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
1-0
 Adams Michael 2725
3rd round on 09 February 2013 at 15:00
Adams Michael 2725   Fridman Daniel 2667
Caruana Fabiano 2757   Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
Meier Georg 2640   Anand Vishy 2780
4th round on 10 February 2013 at 15:00
Fridman Daniel 2667   Anand Vishy 2780
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716   Meier Georg 2640
Adams Michael 2725   Caruana Fabiano 2757
5th round on 11 February 2013 at 15:00
Caruana Fabiano 2757   Fridman Daniel 2667
Meier Georg 2640   Adams Michael 2725
Anand Vishy 2780   Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
6th round on 13 February 2013 at 15:00
Fridman Daniel 2667   Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
Anand Vishy 2780   Adams Michael 2725
Meier Georg 2640   Caruana Fabiano 2757
7th round on 14 February 2013 at 15:00
Meier Georg 2640   Fridman Daniel 2667
Caruana Fabiano 2757   Anand Vishy 2780
Adams Michael 2725   Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
8th round on 15 February 2013 at 15:00
Fridman Daniel 2667   Adams Michael 2725
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716   Caruana Fabiano 2757
Anand Vishy 2780   Meier Georg 2640
9th round on 16 February 2013 at 15:00
Anand Vishy 2780   Fridman Daniel 2667
Meier Georg 2640   Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
Caruana Fabiano 2757   Adams Michael 2725
10th round on 17 February 2013 at 13:00
Fridman Daniel 2667   Caruana Fabiano 2757
Adams Michael 2725   Meier Georg 2640
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716   Anand Vishy 2780

Links

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