Fall Chess Classic: Yu Yangyi wins the last round and the tournament

Strong nerves

The last round of the Fall Classic tournament required good nerves: After eight rounds Yu Yangyi was sole first with 5.5 out of 8, but he was only half a point ahead of Vidit and Nguyen, who shared places two and three with 5.0/8 each.

But Yu showed good nerves and defeated Grigoriy Oparin with energetic play to finish sole first.

 

Yu,Y2718

1–0

Oparin,G2683

Fall Classic-A 20222022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 d6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 0-0 7.c3 a6 8.Ba4 Re8 9.h3 Bf8 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bh4 b5 12.Bb3 Na5 13.Bc2 c5 14.a4 b4 15.cxb4 cxb4 16.Nbd2 Be7?! White refrained from discussing the pros and cons of the Berlin Defense and preferred to discuss a complex Spanish structure, which offers chances for both sides. However, the text move is not the best. Instead, the engines recommend 16...g5 or 16...Bb7 with an approximately equal position. 17.Bg3 Nd7 18.d4 Bf6 19.Nb3 Bb7 20.Nxa5 Qxa5 21.Nd2! Rac8 22.Bb3 White brought his pieces into promising positons and starts to put pressure on Black. Oparin's counter in the center leads to a double-edged position but Yu reacts precisely. d5!? 23.Qg4! Rcd8 24.exd5 Bxd5 25.Nc4 Bxc4 After this exchange White controls the white squares and can protect the pawn on d4 tactically. 26.Bxc4 Re7 26...exd4?? loses a piece after 27.Rxe8+ Rxe8 28.Qxd7 27.Qf5 b3 28.Re4 Rde8 29.Rae1 White increases the pressure. Kh8 30.Bxb3 g6 31.Qf3 Bg7 32.R4e2 f5 33.Qc6 Qb4 34.Qc3! White is a pawn up and wants to liquidate into a won endgame. Qxc3 35.bxc3 Bf6 36.Bc4 f4 37.Bh2 g5 38.Bxa6 exd4 39.Rxe7 Rxe7 40.Rxe7 Bxe7 41.cxd4 The players reached the time-control and Oparin resigned. White is two pawns up and should win easily. 1–0

Vidit played with White against Ilya Nyzhnyk and finished the tournament with a win in a pretty attack that secured him sole second place as Nguyen only drew against Aram Hakobyan.

With 35.Rxf6 gxf6 36.Qxf6 Be7 37.Qf4 Rh7 38.d5 Rd8 39.d6! 1-0 Vidit found a nice way to finish the game and the tournament.

Final standings after 9 rounds - Group A

Games

Group B

The last round in group B was far less exciting, because Aleksandr Lenderman was certain the tournament. After 8 rounds he led the field with 6.5/8 and was two points ahead of a four-player chasing pack. However, in the last round Lenderman lost against Cristian Chirila. While this loss did not endanger his tournament win, it was still a bitter defeat, because Lenderman had to defend a cheerless endgame for a long time but still had to concede defeat after 107 moves.

Sole second place went to young Indian Raunak Sadhwani, who won with Black against Akshat Chandra in the last round - the remaining three games of the round all ended in draws.

Aleksandr Lenderman | Photo: Austin Fuller

Final standings after 9 rounds - Group B

Games

Links

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