Svidler and Erdogmus trade wins at Clash of Generations in Marseille

Tied at the halfway mark

The Clash of Generations classical chess match between Peter Svidler and Yagız Kaan Erdogmus has reached its halfway point with the score tied at 1½–1½. The six-game confrontation, hosted at the InterContinental Hotel in Marseille, runs from 24 to 29 July and features a living legend facing one of its fastest-rising young talents.

Svidler, aged 49, is an eight-time Russian champion and former World Cup winner, while Erdogmus, aged 14, became the youngest player ever to cross the 2600 mark in 2024 and is now 4 rating points shy of entering the world's top 100.

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The match is played with a classical time control: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20, and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment from move one.

Game 1 – Svidler falters

The match began with Erdogmus choosing the French Defence with black, while Svidler opted for the Steinitz Variation. The players followed known theoretical lines until move 14, when Svidler took a long think before playing 15.dxc5.

The resulting middlegame position saw both players navigating a complex structure with weak pawns for both sides.

The queens were exchanged on move 26, simplifying the position somewhat, but time pressure soon became a factor. By move 26, Erdogmus was playing mostly on the 30-second increment, while Svidler had just 12 minutes remaining.

Surprisingly, it was the Russian (with more time on the clock) who made the decisive mistake, blundering with 29.Nb7

A better move would have been 29.Ne6, which the engines evaluated as slightly favourable for White. Erdogmus capitalised immediately with 29...Rxc7 30.Rxc7 Ne8 31.Re7 Kf8, and White's rook found itself short of squares.

After 32.Rxe5 Rxb7 33.Rxd5, Svidler had two pawns for the piece and later gained a third on the queenside, but Black's extra minor piece proved dominant in the open position. Erdogmus concluded the game precisely and forced resignation after 43...Re2.

Game 2 – Theoretical duel ends peacefully

The second game of the match saw the players enter a Ruy Lopez, leading to a rich positional struggle. Once again, theory was followed for 15 moves, after which a strategically complex battle emerged. Svidler, playing white, managed to win the exchange, but at the cost of a pawn, and the resulting position remained dynamically balanced.

With both sides playing accurately and the evaluation hovering around equality throughout, neither player was able to make significant progress. A repetition of moves brought the game to a draw after 43 moves.

The result kept Erdogmus in the lead and demonstrated that both players were well-prepared and capable of handling tension over the board.

Game 3 – Svidler strikes back in dynamic Sicilian

Despite being ahead on the scoreboard, Erdogmus showed no intention of playing it safe in the third game. He went for a sharp Sicilian Defence with black, signalling his willingness to test himself in complex tactical positions against his experienced opponent.

The young Turkish GM deviated from a 2023 game between Yu Yangyi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with the move 12...dxe5

The game evolved into a sharp fight, with the kind of dynamics in which Svidler has often excelled throughout his career. He also gained a slight edge on the clock. Rooks left the board by move 26, and the tension increased as both players approached time trouble. Svidler began to mount pressure with a series of small, persistent threats.

A critical moment came just before the time control.

On move 38, Erdogmus had the opportunity to force the exchange of dark-squared bishops with 38...Be5, a simplification that would have eased his defensive task. Instead, he played 38...Bd6, allowing Svidler to intensify his initiative by taking control of the long diagonal.

A few moves later, after the inaccurate 42...Qe2, Svidler broke through with 43.Qg7+

There followed 43...Ke8 44.Qg8+ Ke7 45.Qxh7+ Kd8 46.Qxg6, securing two extra pawns for the eight-time Russian champion.

Although both queens and all bishops remained on the board and the white king was also exposed, Svidler managed the conversion carefully. His accurate play in the final phase of the game allowed him to seal victory on move 60, levelling the match score at 1½–1½.

Links

• The rise of the brilliant Young Turks
• Svidler wins TePe Sigeman & Co, as Gelfand beats Abhimanyu
• Throwback Thursday: Svidler eight-time Russian champion