Candidates R3: Ding’s missed chance

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
6/20/2022 – All four games finished drawn in round 3 of the Candidates Tournament. Richard Rapport survived from an inferior position with black for a second time in the event, as he managed to keep the balance in his encounter against Ding Liren. In the longest game of the day, Hikaru Nakamura showed great calculation skills to split the point with Alireza Firouzja. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

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Long thinks

Going into the first rest day of the 2022 Candidates Tournament, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana are sharing first place on a plus-one score (2/3 points). Two of the four players standing a half point back, Alireza Firouzja and Hikaru Nakamura, staged the longest game of the third round.

After twice saving draws with black, Firouzja faced the ever-resilient Nakamura in his first game with white. Out of a Nimzo-Indian Defence, the youngster all but blitzed out his first 25 moves, while Nakamura spent 14 minutes on move 13, and needed a bit over 42 minutes to decide how to proceed five moves later.

 
Firouzja vs. Nakamura

White has given up a knight for two pawns on g5, and now threatens to recover the sacrificed piece with e4-e5. Given the time spent by Firouzja, we can deduce he was excellently prepared to face this line, as he even blitzed out the sacrifice on g5 (a novelty).

Nakamura, on the other hand, was faced with a tough decision — 18...e5, 18...Nxd4 and 18...Rxd4 are all playable, but plenty of side variations need to be considered in each case.

The 5-time US champion eventually opted for 18...Rxd4, and saw his opponent confidently improving his position. Once the queens and a pair of rooks left the board, Firouzja found himself in the driver’s seat.

The players had passed the control, and the youngster knew this was his chance to strike — on move 42, he used the time advantage he had amassed, as he spent over an hour thinking about a way to increase his winning chances.

 

Firouzja was considering moves like 42.Bg5 or 42.Bh4, but finally chose the more forcing 42.bxc3. From this point on, it was Naka’s turn to blitz out his moves — a great calculator, he had seen the line that granted him equality after his opponent’s capture.

A draw was agreed eleven moves later.

 
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1.d4 4 Nf6 8 2.c4 8 e6 7 3.Nc3 0 Bb4 6 4.Qc2 10 0-0 16 5.a3 11 Bxc3+ 6 6.Qxc3 5 d5 0 7.Bg5 15 dxc4 36 E36: Nimzo-Indian: Classical: 4...d5 5 a3. 8.Qxc4 17 b6 12 9.Rd1 0 Ba6 1:39 10.Qa4 23 h6 35 10...h6 scores better than 10...Qd7. 11.Bh4 15 Qe7 1:08 12.Nf3 27 Rd8 2:20 13.Qc2 17 c5 0 14.e4 49 Bxf1 2:56 15.Rxf1 32 Hoping for e5. g5 6:20
16.Nxg5N 22 Predecessor: 16.Bg3 Nc6 17.dxc5 Rxd1+ 18.Kxd1 Rd8+ 19.Kc1 Nd4 20.Nxd4 Rxd4 21.Bd6 Qd7 22.Be5 Nxe4 23.Bxd4 Qxd4 1-0 (51) Bach,N (2192)-Johnson,B (2061) Chess.com INT 2022 16...hxg5 28 17.Bxg5 0 Black must now prevent e5. Nc6 25 Don't do 17...Rxd4 18.e5 18.Qc1 1:16 aiming for e5. Rxd4 42:04 19.Rxd4 1:19 Nxd4 24 20.Qf4 44 Nc2+ 15:22 21.Kd1 1:13 Qd7+ 5 22.Kxc2 36 Qa4+ 3 22...Qb5? 23.Bxf6! Qxf1 24.Qh4 Qc4+ 25.Kd2 Rd8+ 26.Bxd8+- 23.Kb1 0 Qxe4+ 1:08 24.Qxe4 17 Nxe4= 2 Endgame KRB-KRN 25.Bf4 13 Nf6 54 26.h4 7:36 Nd5 50 27.Bd2 2:52 f5 0 28.g3 2:37 Kf7 1:03 29.f3 6:45 Rh8 1:25 30.Bg5 4:00 c4 1:56 31.g4 10:52 b5 1:44 32.Rd1 7:20 fxg4 0 33.fxg4 15 a5 2 34.h5 5:12 Rg8 1:38 35.Rf1+ 15 Ke8 3
36.h6! 11 Rf8 4 36...Rxg5? 37.h7 Rxg4 38.h8Q++- 37.Rxf8+ 13:26 37.Rh1± 37...Kxf8± 0 KB-KN 38.Bd8 32 a4 9:59 39.g5 22 Kf7! 29 40.h7 0 Kg7 0 41.g6 2:22 Strongly threatening Ba5. c3! 53 42.bxc3 1:01:52 Nxc3+ 16 43.Kc2 2:43 Nd5 6 44.Bg5 12:57 Threatens to win with Bc1. e5 22 45.Kd2 1:31 Kh8! 8 46.Ke1 8:37 White wants to mate with Kf2. b4 39 The position is equal. 47.axb4 1:28 White threatens b5 and mate. a3 4 48.Bc1 9 Nxb4 4 ( -> ...a2) 48...a2? 49.Bb2 Kg7 50.Bxe5+ Kxg6 51.h8Q+- 49.Kd2 1:25 Nd5! 29 49...a2 50.Bb2 Nc6 51.Kd3 Nb4+ 52.Ke4 Nc6 53.Kf5 Kg7 54.Ke6 Kxg6 55.h8Q 50.Bxa3 7 Intending Bb2 and mate. Nf4 6 51.Bb2 3 51.g7+!? Kxg7 52.Ke3= 51...Nxg6 4 52.Bxe5+ 5 Nxe5 0 53.Kc3 7 Kxh7 5 Weighted Error Value: White=0.04 (flawless) /Black=0.02 (flawless)
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Firouzja,A2804Nakamura,H2760½–½2022FIDE Candidates Tournament 20223.4

Hikaru Nakamura

A long day at the office | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

Rapport escapes again

Much like Firouzja, Richard Rapport is playing his first Candidates Tournament, and similarly to his young colleague, he struggled the two times he had the black pieces so far in the event. On Sunday, he faced rating favourite Ding Liren, who surely considered this a major chance to bounce back from his first-round loss.

A double-edged Grünfeld appeared on the board, as the fearless Rapport challenged his famed opponent to a tactical battle. The Hungarian gave up an exchange on move 18, and soon after faltered in an extremely sharp position.

 
Ding vs. Rapport

Ding had spent 18 and 25 minutes on his two previous moves, as he showed his class by finding the critical continuations 21...a4 and 22...Kf1 to keep his advantage. Here, Rapport also needed close to 20 minutes to decide what to do next — and instead of holding tight with a queen manoeuvre like 22...Qe7, he went for 22...Nxe2, creating maximum tension on the board.

The Chinese star had naturally foreseen this move and quickly replied with 23.Qxe2, when 23.Qxd8 is winning for White (see diagram below).

 
Analysis diagram

Grabbing the rook with 23...Nxc1 fails to 24.Qg5, and Black’s initiative dies down quickly while White will not have difficulties consolidating his position by creating threats along the dark squares on the kingside.

The critical continuation here is 23...Qxe4, creating a dangerous battery on the light-squared long diagonal. But White has a forcing line that keeps things under control — 24.Bxe2 Qxg2+ 25.Ke1 Qh1+ 26.Kd2 Bf4+ 27.Kc3

 
Analysis diagram

The king escapes, and White is simply a rook up. Ding did not see this far — and we cannot blame him for it — as he captured the knight in the first-diagrammed position. He still was an exchange up, though, but could not make the most of his chances in the middlegame battle.

Rapport once again showed great resourcefulness to escape with a draw, as he is set to again get two blacks in the three rounds coming up after the first rest day of the event.

 
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1.d4 5 Nf6 1:00 2.c4 18 g6 14 3.Nc3 28 d5 24 4.cxd5 44 Nxd5 1:02 5.e4 6 Nxc3 7 6.bxc3 5 Bg7 5 7.Bc4 0 c5 16 8.Ne2 7 Nc6 4 9.Be3 12 0-0 7 10.0-0 6 b6 0 11.Rc1 2:25 D87: Exchange Grünfeld: Classical Line: Variations without ...cxd4. Bb7 38 12.Bb5! 2:50 is currently scoring better than 12.Qd2. Rc8 1:36 13.Qd2 8:45 cxd4 2:56 14.cxd4 6 Qd6 0 15.Rfd1 14:38 Qb4 15:59 16.Qd3 2:33 16.Qxb4 Nxb4 17.Bg5 Nxa2 18.Ra1 16...e6= 15:22 17.h4 1:26:08 Rfd8 13:09
Black should try 17...Bf6= 18.Bg5N 0 Predecessor: 18.a3 Qe7 19.Bg5 Bf6 20.Qe3 h6 21.Bxh6 Nxd4 22.Rxc8 Nxe2+ 23.Bxe2 Bxc8 24.h5 Rxd1+ 25.Bxd1 Qd8 26.Bc2 Qc7 27.Bd1 Qd8 28.Bc2 Qc7 29.Bd1 Qd8 ½-½ (29) Giri,A (2764)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2784) chess24.com INT 2020 18...Nxd4 1:14 Hoping for ...Rxc1. 19.Bxd8 0 Rxd8 0
20.h5! 0 Be5 10:03 20...Bf6 21.Nxd4 21.a4 0 Kg7 9:33
21...Rd6 22.Nxd4 Rxd4 22.Kf1!± 0 Nxe2 18:31 23.Qxe2? 0 Chess con chili. 23.Qxd8+- is the precise move to win. Threatens to win with Qg5. Qxe4 24.Bxe2 24.h6+ Kxh6 25.Bxe2 Qxg2+ 26.Ke1 Qh1+ 27.Kd2 Bf4+ 28.Kc3 Qc6+ 29.Kb2 Bxc1+ 30.Rxc1 Qe4± 24...Qxg2+ 25.Ke1 Qh1+ 26.Kd2 Bf4+ 27.Kc3 Qc6+ 28.Bc4 Qf3+ 29.Qd3 23...Rxd1+ 3:14 24.Rxd1 0 a6 22 24...Qxe4 25.Qxe4 Bxe4 26.Re1+- 24...Bxe4? 25.f3+- Black should play 24...Bd4 25.Bxa6 0 Bxa6 9 26.Qxa6 0 Qxe4 32 Endgame KQR-KQB 27.Re1 0 Don't do 27.Qxb6?! Qxa4 28.Re1 Bd4 27.hxg6+- is more deadly. hxg6 28.Qe2 28.Qxb6 Qxa4 29.Qd8 Bc3± 27...Qd4 1:50 28.Qe2 0 Bf6 2:04 29.hxg6 0 hxg6 24 30.Qe4 0 Black must now prevent Qxd4. Qd2 2:03 31.Re2 0 Qd1+ 57 32.Re1 0 Qd2 0 33.g3 0 Bd4 46 34.Qe2 0 Qc3 58 35.Rd1 0 Qc6 0 The position is equal. 36.Qg4 0 e5 0 37.Rxd4 0 exd4 5 38.Qxd4+ 0 Kg8 9 39.Qd8+ 0 Kg7 4 40.Qd4+ 0 Kg8 0 White really could win this. Weighted Error Value: White=0.19 (very precise) /Black=0.18 (very precise)
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ding,L2806Rapport,R2776½–½2022FIDE Candidates Tournament 20223.1

Ding Liren, Richard Rapport

It is always great to see top chess players sharing their thoughts (and sometimes a laugh) even after tough battles | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

Problems with the dress code?

According to a tweet shared by Hikaru Nakamura, FIDE has complained to the players regarding the dress code. The famous streamer wrote, explaining to his audience why he had spent longer than usual to upload his recap:

The video is a tiny bit late — I had to draft a response to FIDE complaining to us about the dress code. They want us all to look like it’s 1970s at the IBM headquarters. It’s hot, we’re all neat, tidy and comfortable for long games. Trivialities like this are boring...

Perhaps FIDE wants the players to wear ties?

Coincidentally, AntonSquaredMe — who made a name for himself by creating quirky chess-related memes — reappeared on Twitter, depicting the sharply dressed Richard Rapport as a member of the Reservoir Dogs gang.

Round 3 results

 

Standings after round 3

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

mc1483 mc1483 6/23/2022 07:18
@lajosarpad: I'd like to see the match, too, but we all know what Carlsen said. Maybe it's not 100% true he will resign the title if the challenger he's not Firouzja (something that seems very unlikely at the moment), but I think that's almost sure if he's either Nepo or Caruana, two players that have already tried.
Of course I agree such a thing would be a shame for chess, with unpleasant consequences, but I'm afraid nothing can be done in the current political situation, with a weak FIDE leadership, also a leadership that could easily change soon.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 6/22/2022 11:53
@mc1483 you may be right, but it would hurt chess. If the chess world is healthy, then everyone interested in chess is also interested to see the world championship match, the main chess event. If the world champion himself is uninterested in the main chess event, that would be a huge blow to chess. So, I really hope Carlsen decides to play the match and I do hope that the challenger will beat him, so we will get a world champion who is happy to play chess (world championships).
arzi arzi 6/22/2022 06:08
No, I don´t think that Carlsen would resign the title before the WCC -match. The consequences would follow until the end of his career and even beyond. All of his previous wins would be void by some chess players when they claim Carlsen surrendered for fear of a future opponent in a 2022 match. If Carlsen wants to end this World Chess Championship match business, he will announce in the upcoming match: "I win or lose in this match I will not be playing WCC matches anymore."
mc1483 mc1483 6/21/2022 11:12
We are slowly heading towards a match Nepo-Caruana for the new Wordl Champion. Carlsen will probably retire soon, after realizing he's not going to reach 2900. He's not that strong.
Firouzja will get his chance in the next cycle. He's too young; not even Fischer succeeded at that age.
arzi arzi 6/21/2022 08:11
Not at all boring chess. Rapport may be in trouble with black, but as long as there is no loss and maybe a couple of wins on that color, no worries. Also Nakamura`s win against Radjabov put him back to the business. Caruana has played quite impressive chess. Against Nepo he could have won if found a difficult exchange move. It is so easy to analyze and play with the help of computer. Nepo has also played good chess.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 6/20/2022 10:47
Great games, great chess! Rapport once again found himself in trouble with Black after the opening, but he managed to escape.
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