CrunchLabs Masters: Firouzja beats Nepo to reach Grand Final

Nepo knocks out Carlsen, then loses to Firouzja

The protagonists of the 2021 World Championship match in Dubai, Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi, were paired up against each other in the semifinals of the Division I losers' bracket of the CrunchLab Masters. Alireza Firouzja, who came from losing the winners' bracket final, would face the winner of the all-star matchup.

Nepo and Carlsen drew twice to set up an Armageddon decider. Playing white, the Russian grandmaster scored a 71-move win with the black pieces. In the Champions Chess Tour Armageddons, contenders place a bid with the amount of time they are willing to play with the black pieces - thus getting draw odds. In this case, Nepo placed a bid of 7 minutes and 56 seconds, only 4 fewer seconds than Carlsen - the latter thus started the game with 10 minutes on his clock.

After beating the perennial favourite, Nepo again got the black pieces in the first game against Firouzja. The French representative scored a 39-move win (analysed below) and drew the following encounter to set up a rematch against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. MVL had defeated Firouzja in the winners' bracket final, after having taken down Carlsen in an exciting match.

Players in Division I get a rest day before the Grand Final, which is set to take place on Wednesday. For Firouzja - i.e. the winner of the losers' bracket - to claim tournament victory, he needs to beat MVL twice, first in a 4-game match and then in a 2-game match, dubbed the Grand Final Reset.

Firouzja 1 - 0 Nepomniachtchi

Firouzja, Alireza2845

1–0

Nepomniachtchi, Ian2824

Champions Chess Tour CrunchLabs Masters Chess.com22.07.2024[CC]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 Nh5 6.dxc5 Nxf4 7.exf4 a5 8.Bb5 e6 9.Ne5 Bd7 10.Nxd7 Qxd7 11.Qf3 Qc7 12.0-0-0 Be7 In a heavy theoretical battle, Firouzja and Nepo enter a line they had discussed at the Superbet Classic tournament in Bucharest earlier this month. 13.a4 Firouzja is the first one to deviate from the previous encounter. In Romania, the game between the same players had continued thus: 13.f5 0-0 14.Qg3 Qxg3 15.fxg3 Nd4 16.Bd3 Bxc5 17.fxe6 fxe6 13...0-0 14.Nb3 Nb4 White relegated partial control of this square by playing a2-a4. Engines prefer 14...Na7 15.Bd3 Qc6 16.Kb1 Qxa4 17.f5 with a complex double-edged struggle. 15.f5 Bxc5 16.Kb1 Bb6 17.c3 Nc6 Returning with the knight, which has not gained much by jumping to b4 in the first place - White is clearly the one with the initiative now. 18.fxe6 fxe6 19.Qh3 Rf6 20.Rhe1

Attacking the weakness on e6. 20...Qf7 Better is 20...Rh6 21.Qg3 and Black can choose whether or not to trade queens - in both cases, White has a slight edge with his better pawn structure. 21.f4 Firouzja finds the best move in the position! White continues to make progress on the kingside, while controlling a key central square. Rh6 21...Rxf4 is a positional mistake due to 22.Rxe6 Rd8 23.Rde1 and White is clearly for choice. 22.Qg4 Rxh2 Too optimistic, though a decent practical choice in a 10-minute game, creating some chaos on the board. 22...Rg6 23.Qf3 and White will push f4-f5 soon. 23.Qxe6 Qxe6 24.Rxe6 Rxg2 25.Rxd5

The simplifications have left White with two strong rooks controlling the central files and the annoying threat of capturing on c6. 25...Rb8 This innocent-looking move loses the game, as Firouzja, with over 5 minutes left on his clock, managed to find the refutation. Stronger, though also quite dicouraging, is 25...Rg6 26.Rxg6 hxg6 27.Bc4 26.Bc4 A sneaky move, threatening all sorts of discovered checks. Kh8 A necessary manoeuvre. 27.Rb5 Ba7 28.Rxb7

The winning idea! Making use of the back rank weakness. 28...h5 29.Rxb8+ Nxb8 30.Re7 White is clearly winning, as the black minor pieces are awfully placed on the corner. Nepo's only hope is his passer on the h-file. Nc6 31.Rc7 h4 31...Rg6 fails either to 32.Rc8+ ...or 32.Bd5 32...Kh7 33.Bd3 32.Rxc6 h3 33.Bd5 Rg1+ 34.Ka2 With an extra piece (and an extra pawn), White now controls the h1-square with his strong light-squared bishop. Firouzja has shown remarkable technique to make the most of the advantage he got in the middlegame! h2 35.Rc8+ Kh7 36.Be4+ g6 37.Rc7+ Kh6 38.Rxa7 Re1 39.Bd5 1–0

Division I bracket

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

All games - Division I

Division II: Grischuk to face Vidit

In Divisions II and III, the Grand Finals will take place on Tuesday. In Division II, Alexander Grischuk gained the right to face Vidit Gujrathi in the Grand Final by winning the very competitive losers' bracket - Grischuk defeated Hikaru Nakamura in the final, after the latter had reached this stage by beating the ever-tricky Vladimir Fedoseev.

Much like Firouzja in Division I, Grischuk had reached the final of the winners' bracket, where he lost to Vidit in a thrilling Armageddon decider.

Grischuk 1 - 0 Nakamura

Grischuk, Alexander2683

1–0

Nakamura, Hikaru2769

Champions Chess Tour CrunchLabs Masters Chess.com22.07.2024[CC]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c5 3.cxd5 Nf6 4.dxc5 Inviting Nakamura, a remarkable technician, to enter a queenless position. Qxd5 5.Qxd5 Nxd5 6.a3 The main line in this position is 6.e4 Nb4 7.Na3 e5 8.Be3 6...e6 7.e4 Nf6 8.b4

This is already a quite unexplored - and surely interesting - position. 8...a5 The most accurate move here. Worse is 8...Nxe4 9.Nd2 Nxd2 10.Bxd2 9.Bb2 axb4 10.axb4 Rxa1 11.Bxa1 Nc6 12.Bb5 Bd7 13.Bxc6 Bxc6 14.f3 b6 Another precise pawn break, which justifies Black's opening play. 15.Nc3 bxc5 16.b5

Players are about to finish development, and both have passed pawns on the queenside. White is slightly better. 16...Bb7 17.Nge2 c4 Not accurate - the pawn becomes more of a weakness on c4, and Black should have prioritised ending his development. Better is 17...Bd6 18.Kf2 Nd7 18.Na4 Ba3 19.Bb2 Bb4+ 20.Bc3 Bxc3+ 21.Nexc3 Nd7 22.Ke2 White's pieces are better coordinated, and Grischuk will continue to take advantage of his slight advantage in development. Ke7 23.Rd1 g5 24.Ke3 Rb8 25.Rd4 Ne5 26.Nb6

Despite Black not making a clear blunder in the previous moves, there is no way to defend the pawn on c4 now. 26...f6 27.Nxc4 Rc8 28.Nxe5 Rxc3+ 29.Rd3 Rxd3+ 30.Nxd3 The rooks have left the board, and not even Nakamura (one of the greatest defenders in the circuit) will manage to escape with a draw from this pawn-down position against a player as experienced as Grischuk. Kd6 31.Kd4 e5+ 32.Kc4 g4 33.Nc5 Bc8 34.b6 1–0

Division II bracket

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

All games - Division II

Division III

Arjun Erigaisi and Evgeny Alekseev reached the Grand Final in Division III. Once again, it was the player who had lost the final of the winners' bracket who made it to the Grand Final after winning the losers' bracket - in this case, 38-year-old Alekseev.

Division III bracket

Master Class Vol.17 - Boris Spassky

In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh, examine the games of Boris Spassky. Let them show you which openings Spassky chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were and much more.

All games - Division III

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