Grand Swiss: McShane lets Caruana off the hook

A Houdini-like escape

The FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss is an eleven-round event that serves as qualifier to the 2020 Candidates Tournament. It takes place from the 10^th to the 21^st of October, with a rest day on the 16^th. You can find more info here. 

Having such an embarrassment of riches in terms of players' strength at a Swiss event makes it all but impossible to have a boring time as a spectator. Or at least that is how the first five days of the Grand Swiss have felt for the fans. Despite the fact that only five from the twenty top games ended decisively on Monday, there was no lack of drama in Douglas, as seven players now share the lead on 4 out of 5.

The four players that were atop the standings on 'plus three' faced each other on boards one and two. In both cases, the point was split, but not without a brawl. In fact, after the  fights we have seen so far, it is very likely that exhaustion will become a major factor already in Tuesday's sixth round, the last one before the rest day.

Vladimir Fedoseev and Alexander Grischuk won on parallel boards in round five | Photo: Maria Emelianova / chess.com 

The top game of the day had Luke McShane playing White against Fabiano Caruana. The Englishman came from winning three in a row after signing a 121-draw against Mustafa Yilmaz in round one, when he kept trying to convert a rook and knight versus rook endgame. 

Known for his bravery while facing strong opponents (or anyone for that matter), McShane launched his g and h-pawns up the board out of a Ruy Lopez. Caruana's reaction was rather feeble and left him two pawns down by move 30. McShane was winning but in deep time trouble — while hurried by the clock, he almost gave away his advantage:

The Ruy Lopez Breyer Variation

Pavel Eljanov explains in depth what Gyula Breyer already saw in 1911 and what became an opening choice of the likes of Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand or Carlsen. The Breyer Variation, which is characterised by the knight retreat to b8.

White's army certainly looks potent, but here it was time to breathe twice and play the quiet 39.h4. However, McShane had only seconds on the clock and followed his original plan of breaking through at once with 39.e6. Caruana was apparently caught in the moment and quickly responded 39...fxe6, instead of going for the equalizing 39...♛xg5 — not an easy find by any means, especially with those central pawns rolling down the board.

Fabiano Caruana v Luke McShane | Photo: John Saunders

The time control was reached and the contenders received 50 minutes on their clocks. McShane knew he had a large edge and found some great manoeuvres to increase the pressure — 41.d6, 42.♘c7, 43.♖d7 — but he also failed to find an astounding shot that would have greatly eased his task:

The Englishman played the second suggestion of the engines, 44.♕f4, when 44.♘f6 was much more forcing — White can transfer the queen to h4 with decisive effect, as the only pawn that was shielding the black king is forced to leave its post. 

This miss has been included here mostly for how spectacular it looks, and by no means to devalue McShane's play. To the contrary, he handled his advantage with admirable proficiency. By move 56, the commentators thought the fight was coming to an end, as White was an exchange up and had a clear plan to continue:

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The plan is simple: to pin the bishop. But which rook is better suited for the task? McShane chose the alternative that gave Caruana more chances to muddy the waters, as after 57.♖e1 ♜e5 58.♔h2 ♜d5 59.♖xd5 ♝xd5, White needs to permanently defend the b-pawn, unfortunately stuck on a light square. 

Had McShane opted for 57.♖e2, Black cannot use the same idea, as a rook trade on f5 would not leave the bishop on the same diagonal as the b3-pawn — and other variations allow White to capture either the b or the h-pawn for free. After the text, on the contrary, McShane found himself trying to break Black's fortress:

A fighter at heart, the Londoner kept looking for chances until move 85, but after 6 hours and 45 minutes of play he was forced to accept the inevitable and sign a very distasteful draw. Caruana, on the other hand, had escaped miraculously, much like world champion Magnus Carlsen the day before.

World number two Fabiano Caruana barely escaped | Photo: John Saunders

The other clash of co-leaders was more of a roller-coaster, as both Wang Hao and Parham Maghsoodloo missed chances at different stages of the game. The Chinese was playing White and gave up an exchange on move 24. His pieces were much more active though, and he dangerously infiltrated into enemy camp:

ChessBase Magazine 191

Analyses by Caruana, Giri, So, Vidit, Wojtaszek, Gelfand, McShane, Yu Yangyi, Nielsen, the Muzychuk sisters and many more. Plus videos by King, Sokolov and Williams. 11 opening articles with new ideas for your repertoire plus lots of training sessions!

Wang went for the immediate 29.♕xe6+, when he counted with the more tactical 29.♘f6+ — the forced line after the knight check goes 29...♜xf6 30.♕xe8+ ♜f8 31.♕xe6+ ♚g7 (the best way to get out of check) 32.♘d6 and Black needs to defend from a cramped position. 

After the text, Maghsoodloo took over. The Iranian gave back the exchange but was a pawn up and had a better structure. On move 44, however, he was too greedy and gave his opponent counter-chances by capturing a second pawn. Moreover, the very next move, it was Wang Hao the one who let a golden chance slip away:

Maghsoodloo's 45...♚g7 was inexplicable. It gave way to 46.♖d7+, which was played in the game, but also to the lethal 46.♕c3+. After the backward queen move, Black needs to block the check with 46...♜f6, as otherwise 47.♖a1 traps the queen on a2, while after the mentioned 46...♜f6 White can end up a piece to the good against Black's passers on the queenside. 

None of this happened though. Instead, Wang Hao forced a draw by repetition five moves later.

Parham Maghsoodloo from Iran | Photo: Maria Emelianova / chess.com

Co-leaders, old and new

Boards three to ten all had players fighting to catch up with the leaders. And three of them managed. Russians Alexander Grischuk and Vladimir Fedoseev defeated Ivan Cheparinov and Radoslaw Wojtaszek respectively and joined the leading pack for the first time in the tournament. Both won with White and both took advantage of positional deficiencies in their opponents' positions. 

Later on, Grischuk attended a post-game interview. Fiona Steil-Antoni asked him about his playing both the Grand Prix series and this tournament, a rare occurrence among those fighting to reach the Candidates. Grischuk explained that he simply decided to participate because he enjoyed his experience at the Isle of Man last year. He also joked while referring to the fact that Anish Giri withdrew from the event after knowing he will most likely get the rating spot in the Candidates:

First of all I decided a long time ago, as you should. I mean, not everyone is allowed to decide first to play and then decide not to play. I'm not a special one, not a chosen one...

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King's Indian: A modern approach

Bologan: "If you study this DVD carefully and solve the interactive exercises you will also enrich your chess vocabulary, your King's Indian vocabulary, build up confidence in the King's Indian and your chess and win more games."

Alexander Grischuk is now a co-leader | Photo: Maria Emelianova / chess.com

The third player joining the lead is none other than Alexei Shirov. The 47-year-old from Riga has yet to draw at this event. His latest victim in Douglas was Gabriel Sargissian, who lost a pawn in the late middlegame and was duly punished by the former world number two. 

Shirov was sharing first place after round two but went on to lose against Caruana in a thrilling encounter. Coincidentally, after winning two in a row once again, he has been paired against the only player rated higher than the American — a certain Magnus Carlsen — except that now he will play with the black pieces.

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Magnus Carlsen will play White against living legend Alexei Shirov | Photo: John Saunders

And yes, after having survived amazingly from a loss in round four, Carlsen is returning to the top boards, as he had no trouble defeating Ganguly with the white pieces on Monday (replay the game in the viewer above). The world champion thus tied Mikhail Tal's unbeaten streak in classical chess — 95 games — and talked about it in the post-game interview. The world champion was modest while acknowledging he has not been on top form the last few days:

For sure I'm thinking about [the undefeated streak]. It's been so many games that you cannot help to want to get that record, but from the way I'm playing [it] doesn't seem like that's what I care about 'cause every game it's been so crazy. I mean, it was so easy to see yesterday that I was lost, and even today it was a very very tricky position.

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Powerplay 22: A Repertoire for Black with the French Defence

On this DVD Grandmaster Daniel King offers you a repertoire for Black with the French. Based around ten stem games, all White's major lines against the French are covered.

Commentary by GM Daniel King and IM Anna Rudolf

Pairings for Round 6 (top 20 boards)

...77 boards

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Links

• Official site
• Full results (Chess-Results)
• Preview: Start of the "Grand Swiss"
• Round 1: Najer upsets Anand
• Round 2: Five-player leading pack
• Round 3: Caruana and Wang Hao still perfect
• Round 4: Maghsoodloo and McShane join the leaders