Caruana and Aronian score

by Johannes Fischer
3/14/2018 – The fourth round of the Candidates Tournament in Berlin brought some serious drama. Kramnik vs Caruana was a wild back-and-forth battle. Caruana was much better, then Kramnik was close to winning before finally blundering it all away on move 59. Grischuk missed a killer chance against Ding Liren and played to a draw. Aronian won with Black thanks to good preparation against Karjakin, and Mamedyarov and drew an unspectacular game against So. Caruana is now in the sole lead with 3.0 / 4.
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A bad day for the Russians

Today the cabaret artist Matthias Deutschmann — the voice of Fritz — was allowed to make the ceremonial first move, and he was able to choose the board. He chose the board of Vladimir Kramnik. Kramnik wanted to play 1.e4, whereupon Deutschmann joked: "Not Nf3 to clear the way for the rook to g1?" After that, he asked, "Why 1.e4?" "I am in a fighting mood," Kramnik replied.

And so he was, even if it did not appear so in the opening. The fight was truly baffling at times, but in a stunning reversal of fortune, the game was suddenly over in one move. Kramnik, who was already being spoken of as a challenger, was clearly shaken, and with good reason.

Kramnik 0-1 Caruana

After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 played Kramnik 5.Qe2, a move that leads to an early queen trade and seems to flatten any dynamic chances. But Kramnik played the middlegame very aggressively, which actually brought him to the brink of defeat. Yet, in the first critical phase, Caruana did not find the right continuation and so they reached a highly complicated position, with advanced passed pawns on both flanks. Then it was Kramnik's turn to miss the most favourable options, which brought the position back into balance, albeit with opportunities for both sides. Finally, Kramnik lost control of the game and Caruana pounced on a tremendous oversight from the fourteenth World Champion.

 

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Karjakin 0-1 Aronian

Levon Aronian recovered well from his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik and came well-prepared against Karjakin. On the free day, he visited his parents, who live about 30 minutes to the east of the Berlin city centre, and played Scrabble (in Russian), which he won.

Back at the Kuehlhaus today, in a sharp version of the Ragozin defence, he wheeled off a novelty for which the previous World Championship challenger could find no antidote. The pair initially followed the game So vs. Aronian from round nine of the 2017 Tata Steel Masters, by transposition, through 13...Qb4. Just a few moves later, Aronian was already slightly better.

Levon Aronian vs Sergey Karjakin | Photo: World Chess

 

After 16...Nc5 the engines give Black a slight edge — he has a pawn more and White has to fight for compensation. Karjakin was not up to the task. He found nothing better than to turn to a pawn-down endgame, which he defended well but could not hold.

After the game, Karjakin equated his situation to that Aronian himself was in on Monday. "After Nc5 I felt like Levon in the game against Vladimir after ...Rg8. Instead of fighting for advantage you are clearly worse with white in ten minutes and it's just a terrible feeling."

Grischuk ½-½ Ding Liren

Alexander Grischuk and Ding Liren delivered a breathtaking exchange of blows. Grischuk chose a sharp variation with an early piece sacrifice, but later missed a favourable tactical opportunity with which he could have won. Instead, a complicated and double-edged position arose with many tactical possibilities, in which black stood objectively better, but which was difficult to play. Grischuk defended himself stubbornly and was able to save the draw in the end.

 

Alexander Grischuk vs Ding Liren | Photo: World Chess

Mamedyarov ½-½ So 

After two defeats to kick off the tournament, it's understandable that Wesley So tries to play it safe. After a draw against Ding Liren in round three, he came into round four with Black against Mamedyarov and succeeded in making a trouble-free draw. Both sides followed a well-known variation in the Nimzo-Indian, in which black sacrifices a pawn for active play. On the 16th move, Mamedyarov went for 16.Rxd2, a new move — 16.Qxd2 was the choice of Vassily Ivanchuk with black against Evgeny Bareev, in Havana 2006, where he had no problems. Mamedyarov's was aware of this game, and joked that it was before So was born (not quite!) but his novelty didn't get him anywhere.

 

Black soon regained his pawn and the position quickly evened out into a draw.

Standings after four rounds: 

 

Round-up show

GM Daniel King on the highlights of round four

All games

 

Translation from German: Macauley Peterson

Links

Topics: Alexander Grischuk, Candidates 2018, Candidates Tournament, Ding Liren, Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Sergey Karjakin, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Vladimir Kramnik, Wesley So
Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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