CrunchLabs Masters: MVL takes down Carlsen

MVL and Firouzja reach winners' bracket final

In September 2023, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave managed to get two match wins in a row over Magnus Carlsen to claim overall victory at the AI Cup. The memorable win allowed the Frenchman to reach the Champions Chess Tour Finals, which was eventually won by Carlsen.

MVL beat the Norwegian again in the winners' bracket semifinal of the CrunchLab Masters on Saturday. The match was decided in Armageddon, after all four 'regular' games ended decisively, with MVL winning the sudden-death decider with the black pieces (see analysis of the game below).

In the other semifinal of the winners' bracket, Alireza Firouzja got the better of Jan-Krzysztof Duda to set up an all-French showdown in the final. This match saw three games ending drawn and Firouzja winning the deciding encounter with the black pieces after Duda failed to make the most of a clearly superior position.

In the losers' bracket, Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi knocked out Fabiano Caruana and Dmitry Andreikin, respectively.

Carlsen 0 - 1 Vachier-Lagrave (Armageddon)

Carlsen, Magnus2904

0–1

Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime2866

CrunchLabs Masters Chess.com20.07.2024[CC]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.d4 cxd4 6.Qxd4 Nc6 7.Qd3 g6 8.c4 More often played is 8.Nc3 Bg7 9.0-0 Nf6 10.Nd5 0-0 8...Bg7 9.0-0 Nf6 10.h3 0-0 11.Nc3 a6 12.Rd1 What started as a Sicilian that might have led to a sharp struggle turned into a more positional battle with a Maroczy structure. Qe6 13.Be3 Nb4 14.Qb1

14...Rfc8 14...Qxc4 is bad due to 15.Rd4 Qc5 16.a3 Nc6 17.Rd5 and Black is forced to give up the queen - the best way to do it is via Nxd5 18.Bxc5 Nxc3 19.bxc3 dxc5 20.Qxb7 Bxc3 21.Rd1 Nd4 Black is not lost (especially in a blitz game), but White has an objectively clear advantage. 15.b3 Much more trying is 15.Ng5 Qe5 16.a3 Nc6 17.f4 Qa5 18.c5 dxc5 19.e5 Nh5 a variation that Carlsen would have surely found in a classical game - in this Armageddon game, he apparently wanted to keep things positional against one of the sharpest tactical players in the world. 15...b5 16.Nd4 Qd7 17.a3 Nc6 18.cxb5 Nxd4 19.Bxd4 axb5 20.Qd3 Rab8 21.Rac1 Qb7 22.b4 Bh6 23.Rb1 e5 24.Be3 Bxe3 25.Qxe3 Qb6 26.Qf3 Carlsen has continued to play positionally, but he still rejects trading queens, as he is forced to win in the Armageddon decider. Kg7 27.Rd3 Rc6 28.Rbd1 Rbc8 29.g4

With his pieces fully developed, Carlsen decides to advance on the kingside - at this point both players had a bit over two and a half minutes on their clocks (i.e. Carlsen had lost his initial time advantage) . 29...h6 30.h4 Qb8 31.Kg2 Ra6 32.g5 Nh5 33.Nd5 Qa7 34.R1d2 Rc1 35.Qe3 Carlsen was apparently focused on playing quicly, and perhaps a bit nervous after having failed to get much of an advantage in the middlegame. He thus offers a queen trade. Qxe3 36.fxe3 hxg5 37.hxg5 Rac6 An equal endgame has emerged on the board. Black has a clear weakness on d6, but he is in control of the open c-file (i.e. he might invade along the first rank later on) and the white pawns on a3 and e3 are also rather weak. 38.Rf2 Ra1 39.Rb3 Rcc1 While looking for winning chances, Carlsen has allowed MVL to infiltrate his position. 40.Kf3 Rg1 MVL has taken over the initiative, and both players had only a bit over a minute on their clocks at this point. 41.Nc3 It was already difficult to find the right continuation, and Carlsen falters with this knight jump. Rae1

Threatening mate with the rook on g3. 42.Rh2 The decisive mistake. 42.Re2 Rg3+ 43.Kf2 Rh1 44.Rb1 and Black is better, but the battle continues. 42...Rg3+ 43.Kf2 Rexe3 There is no way to save the knight, so Carlsen resigned. MVL performed remarkably under pressure, keeping things under control throughout the opening and middlegame, and then making the most of a small window of opportunity in the end. 0–1

Division I pairings

Master Class Vol.11: Vladimir Kramnik

This DVD allows you to learn from the example of one of the best players in the history of chess and from the explanations of the authors (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) how to successfully organise your games strategically, consequently how to keep y

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Division II: Aronian and Naka knocked down to losers' bracket

Two big names were knocked down to the losers' bracket in Division II, with Jules Moussard beating Levon Aronian and Vladimir Fedoseev beating Hikaru Nakamura on Saturday.

Moussard and Aronian will face Alexander Grischuk and Vidit Gujrathi in the winners' bracket semifinal. While Grischuk obtained a walk-over win over Karthikeyan Murali, Vidit defeated Frederik Svane by a clear 2½-½ score.

Besides Karthikeyan and Svane, Maxim Matlakov and Vladimir Kramnik remain in the race in the losers' bracket.

Svane 0 - 1 Vidit

Svane, Frederik2634

0–1

Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi2714

CrunchLabs Masters Chess.com19.07.2024[CC]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.0-0 Qe7 7.Nbd2 Nd7 Not the most trying attempt in this theoretical line. The more direct 7...Bg4 8.h3 Bh5 has been played by the likes of Carlsen, Nakamura and Navara in the past. 8.Nc4 a5 9.a4 f6 10.Be3 Svane goes for simplifications against his higher-rated opponent. Bxe3 11.Nxe3 Nc5 12.Nh4 g6 13.Nf3 b6

14.Qe1 14.d4 was playable here, making the most of the fact that Black has weakened his kingside permanently, e.g.: exd4 15.Qxd4 0-0 and 16.e5 when Black's best continuation is f5 with a double-edged battle. 14...Ne6 15.Kh1 Bb7 16.Ng1 0-0-0 17.Ne2 Rhf8 18.b3 f5 In the manoeuvring sequence that preceded this pawn break, Black safeguarded his king and made real progress, while White made mostly artificial moves. Vidit already had an advantage here. 19.Nc4 White should instead keep the tension with 19.f3 c5 20.Nc4 Qf6 19...fxe4 20.dxe4 Ba6 Opening up the centre clearly favours Black. 21.Nxe5 Qc5 22.Nc4 Much worse is 22.Nf3 Qxc2 22...Bxc4 23.bxc4 Qxc4 24.f3 Qxc2

Black now has "the material and the compensation". 25.Nc3 Nf4 26.Ra2 Qb3 27.Qa1 Rd3 28.Rc1 White was already lost, but this passive defence only makes matter worse. 28.Ne2 Nxe2 29.Rxe2 Rfd8 is better (though still clearly favourable for Vidit). 28...Rfd8 29.Rac2 Rd2 30.Rxd2 Rxd2 31.e5 31.Rg1 loses to Qc2 31...Rxg2

Svane resigned. 31...Rxg2 32.Qb1 Qe6 33.Rc2 Qh3 0–1

Division II pairings

Master advanced Tactics and Calculations like a super Grandmaster

The Indian chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi with an ELO of over 2700 (June 2023) is one of the best 20 players in the world. For the first time, the sympathetic top player presents himself in a video course. Let a world-class player show you tactical moti

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Division III

Arjun Erigaisi, Daniil Dubov, David Anton and Evgeny Alekseev reached the semifinals of the winners' bracket in Division III.

Division III pairings

All games - Division III Placement

Links

• Official website
• Four ‘regular’ events and a grand finale in this year’s Champions Chess Tour
• Carlsen beats resilient Firouzja, wins Chessable Masters
• Firouzja takes down Carlsen to win Chess.com Classic