Time is running out
Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian, Anish Giri, Leinier Dominguez and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave entered the third stage of the Grand Prix with the best chances of getting a spot in the Candidates Tournament — with Belgrade-leg winner Richard Rapport almost certain to get the other ticket granted by the series. Halfway through the preliminary stage in Berlin, where most games have ended in draws, the situation has not been much clarified.
Aronian is leading pool A, but has Grigoriy Oparin and Andrey Esipenko standing a half point back, while Dominguez is now sharing first place with Vincent Keymer in pool B. Vachier-Lagrave is the one most in need of getting good results as quickly as possible, as he lost to Alexandr Predke in the first round of the event.
In this DVD, Erwin l'Ami guides you through the fascinating Benko Gambit. As early as move three Black starts a fight for the initiative, a strategy that has proved to be successful in countless amateur and master level games.
After all eight games finished drawn in round 2, we got to see one decisive result in Thursday’s third round. Keymer, who came for defending stubbornly to salvage a half point against Dominguez, got the better of Daniil Dubov. The German grandmaster had the white pieces and outplayed his opponent in a complex middlegame position. True to his style, Dubov had entered a suspicious, double-edged line.
The other highlight of the day was seen in pool A, where Oparin got a clearly better position against Nakamura. The Russian played enterprising chess in the early middlegame, but failed to find an effective way to finish off his opponent amid the complications. Naka not only survived the first onslaught against his king, but also kept his cool to hold the balance while still in an inferior position once the dust had settled.

Grigoriy Oparin
Pool A: A sharp King’s Indian
In a risky attempt, Hikaru Nakamura tried the King’s Indian Defence against Grigoriy Oparin after years of not having played the double-edged opening as his main weapon with the black pieces. The plan backfired, as the Russian proved to be well-prepared and got a strong initiative on the kingside.
White has pushed his h-pawn down the board, and can now create strong threats against the opposite king by permanently damaging Black’s pawn structure via 19.Bxg6. The idea is that after 19...fxg6, which is the strongest reply in the position, White can infiltrate with 20.Qe7, when Black will need to return some material to deal with the deadly threat of Bf6.
Nakamura’s 19...Nxd5 seems to tackle the problem head on, but is in fact a blunder. As the US grandmaster later confessed, had Oparin found 20.Bb1 he would have probably resigned, since Black’s position is completely lost.
The Russian opted for 20.Bxh7 instead, when 20.Bf5 is even stronger than Naka’s suggestion.
Of course, going for yet another sacrifice while further damaging Black’s kingside is very tempting, but both suggested retreating moves were called for at this point.
Nakamura quickly grabbed the piece with 20...Kxh7, and somewhat stabilized his position via 21.Qc2+ f5 22.cxd5 Be5
White is still a pawn up, but Black has the bishop pair and has successfully dealt with his opponent’s initiative on the kingside.
As he has shown throughout the series, after a long hiatus from over-the-board classical games, Nakamura is still a proficient defender. In the following phase of the game, he played precise moves until reaching a position in which his opponent correctly agreed to enter a repetition and split the point.
It was a narrow escape, but one that keeps Naka well in the fight for first place in this group.
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qa4 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2 Be4 11.Qc1 c6 12.a4 Nbd7 13.Nc3 Bg6 14.Nh4 Bh5 15.h3 15...Rc8N 15...Nd5 16.Nf3 Bg6 17.axb5 axb5 18.Nxd5 cxd5 19.Rxa8 Qxa8 20.Qc7 Rd8 21.Rc1 h6 16.axb5 cxb5 17.Qd1 17.Rxa6 b4 18.g4 Ne8! 19.gxh5 Bxh4 17...b4 18.Na4 Rc4 19.Bc1 Nb6 20.Nxb6 Qxb6 20...Rxd4 21.Qe1 Qxb6 22.Be3± 21.g4 Bg6 22.Nxg6 hxg6 23.Qd3 Qxd4 24.Qxd4 Rxd4 25.Rxa6 Rc8 26.g5 Nh7 27.Be3 Rdc4 28.b3 Rc3 29.h4 Rxb3 30.Ra7 Bd6 31.Rd1 Be5 32.Rb7 Nf8 33.Rb5 f6 34.Bc5 Rc3 35.Bxb4 Rb3 36.Rc5 Rb8 36...Bc7 37.Rb5 37.Ba5 Rb1 38.Rxb1 Rxb1+ 39.Bf1 Nd7 40.Rc6 Kf7 41.e3 Ra1 42.Bd2 Ra2 43.Bc1 Ra7 44.f4 Rc7 45.Bb5 Rxc6 46.Bxc6± Nb8 47.Bb5 Bd6 48.Kg2 Ke7 49.Kf3 Nd7 50.e4 Bb4 51.Bb2 Nc5 52.Bc4 Nb7 53.Bd3 Kf7 54.Bd4 Nd6 55.Bf2 f5 56.exf5 ½–½ - Start an analysis engine:
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Esipenko,A | 2714 | Oparin,G | 2681 | ½–½ | 2022 | E05 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-A 2022 | 1.1 |
Aronian,L | 2772 | Nakamura,H | 2736 | 1–0 | 2022 | D20 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-A 2022 | 1.2 |
Aronian,L | 2772 | Oparin,G | 2681 | ½–½ | 2022 | C54 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-A 2022 | 2.1 |
Nakamura,H | 2736 | Esipenko,A | 2714 | ½–½ | 2022 | E51 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-A 2022 | 2.2 |
Oparin,G | 2681 | Nakamura,H | 2736 | ½–½ | 2022 | E73 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-A 2022 | 3.1 |
Esipenko,A | 2714 | Aronian,L | 2772 | ½–½ | 2022 | C65 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-A 2022 | 3.2 |
Oparin,G | 2681 | Esipenko,A | 2714 | 1–0 | 2022 | E48 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-A 2022 | 4.1 |
Nakamura,H | 2736 | Aronian,L | 2772 | 1–0 | 2022 | C65 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-A 2022 | 4.2 |
Nakamura,H | 2736 | Oparin,G | 2681 | 1–0 | 2022 | E36 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-A 2022 | 5.1 |
Aronian,L | 2772 | Esipenko,A | 2714 | 1–0 | 2022 | E52 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-A 2022 | 5.2 |
Oparin,G | 2681 | Aronian,L | 2772 | 1–0 | 2022 | E04 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-A 2022 | 6.1 |
Esipenko,A | 2714 | Nakamura,H | 2736 | 0–1 | 2022 | C28 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-A 2022 | 6.2 |
Please, wait...
Rk. | | Name | Rtg. | Nt. | Pts. | n | | | | | TB | Perf. |
---|
1 | | | 2772 | | 2.0 | 3 | | | | | 2.50 | 2835 |
2 | | | 2714 | | 1.5 | 3 | | | | | 2.25 | 2730 |
3 | | | 2681 | | 1.5 | 3 | | | | | 2.25 | 2741 |
4 | | | 2736 | | 1.0 | 3 | | | | | 1.50 | 2597 |
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger |
Pool B: Keymer strikes
In the one group that has seen two decisive results in the first half of the preliminary stage, Vincent Keymer and Leinier Dominguez have both defeated Daniil Dubov to share the lead on 2/3 points.
Out of a Queen’s Gambit Accepted, Keymer and Dubov both spent relatively large amounts of time in the opening phase. The ever-creative Russian riskily placed his knight deep into his opponent’s camp.
On this 60 Minutes video course Robert Ris will show you an aggressive way of playing the Queen's Gambit Accepted after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 b5 4.a4 c6 5.axb5 cxb5 6.Nc3 Qb6 for Black. The ensuing positions are fresh and may put your opponent off-guard.
18...Nd3 is bound to create a sharp struggle in the middlegame. White will try to undermine Black’s far-advanced piece, but to do so he will need to manoeuvre around the knight’s massive sphere of influence in his own camp. Needless to say, Dubov could have gone for more ‘sensible’ moves, such as 18...Bxe4 or 18...cxd4, but the 25-year-old Muscovite is not one to take the safer routes very often.
After 19.Ned2 Bxf3 (19...Ba6 is better) 20.Nxf3 Nb6 21.b3, Black faltered with 21...Nd5
Again Dubov went for a tactical solution, when 21.cxd4 or 21...Nb4, retreating, were better alternatives in the position.
Keymer’s 22.bxc4 meant both knights were simultaneously under attack. Dubov counted on 22...N3f4, but the manoeuvre failed to 23.Bd3
A strong reply. Now 23...Nxd3 is bad due to 24.cxd5, threatening d6, while Dubov’s 23...Rb8 was responded by the zwischenzug 24.Bxh7+ — Keymer had seen further in his calculations!
Black’s adventurous play had been refuted by the young German, who went on to show good technique to convert his advantage into a well-deserved 37-move win.
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 Be7 5.b3 0-0 6.Bb2 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Qc2 Nc6 9.a3 9...Bd7N 9...b6 10.h4 f5 11.d4 Bb7 12.Nxd5 exd5 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.Rd1 Kh8 15.Be2 Qd6 10.Be2 Rc8 11.0-0 Bf6 11...Nb6 12.Ne4 Nd5 13.Rfc1 f5 14.Nc3 Nc7 12.Nxd5 Bxb2 13.Qxb2 13...exd5 14.Qc3 b6 15.d4 Qf6 16.Rac1 cxd4 17.Nxd4 Nxd4 18.Qxd4 Qxd4 19.exd4 Rxc1 20.Rxc1 Rc8 21.Rxc8+ Bxc8= 22.h4 h6 23.Kh2 g5 24.Kg3 Kg7 25.f4 Kg6 26.Bd3+ f5 26...Kf6!? 27.hxg5 hxg5 28.Bb5 Be6 29.Be8+! Kf6 30.b4 Ke7 31.Bb5 Kf6 32.Bc6 Kg6 33.Be8+ Kf6 34.Bh5 g4 35.Be8 Bf7 36.Bc6 Kg6 37.Bb7 Kf6 38.Ba6 Be8 39.Kh4 Kg6 40.Kg3 Kf6 41.Kf2 Ke6 42.Bc8+ Kf6 43.Bb7 Bf7 44.Ba6 Be8 45.Bb7 ½–½ - Start an analysis engine:
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Keymer,V | 2655 | Mamedyarov,S | 2776 | ½–½ | 2022 | A13 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-B 2022 | 1.3 |
Dubov,D | 2711 | Dominguez Perez,L | 2756 | 0–1 | 2022 | E54 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-B 2022 | 1.4 |
Dubov,D | 2711 | Mamedyarov,S | 2776 | ½–½ | 2022 | C50 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-B 2022 | 2.3 |
Dominguez Perez,L | 2756 | Keymer,V | 2655 | ½–½ | 2022 | C78 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-B 2022 | 2.4 |
Mamedyarov,S | 2776 | Dominguez Perez,L | 2756 | ½–½ | 2022 | D38 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-B 2022 | 3.3 |
Keymer,V | 2655 | Dubov,D | 2711 | 1–0 | 2022 | D24 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-B 2022 | 3.4 |
Mamedyarov,S | 2776 | Keymer,V | 2655 | 1–0 | 2022 | A29 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-B 2022 | 4.3 |
Dominguez Perez,L | 2756 | Dubov,D | 2711 | ½–½ | 2022 | C55 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-B 2022 | 4.4 |
Dominguez Perez,L | 2756 | Mamedyarov,S | 2776 | ½–½ | 2022 | C83 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-B 2022 | 5.3 |
Dubov,D | 2711 | Keymer,V | 2655 | ½–½ | 2022 | C78 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-B 2022 | 5.4 |
Mamedyarov,S | 2776 | Dubov,D | 2711 | ½–½ | 2022 | E61 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-B 2022 | 6.3 |
Keymer,V | 2655 | Dominguez Perez,L | 2756 | 1–0 | 2022 | D27 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-B 2022 | 6.4 |
Please, wait...
Rk. | | Name | Rtg. | Nt. | Pts. | n | | | | | TB | Perf. |
---|
1 | | | 2756 | | 2.0 | 3 | | | | | 2.25 | 2839 |
2 | | | 2655 | | 2.0 | 3 | | | | | 2.25 | 2873 |
3 | | | 2776 | | 1.5 | 3 | | | | | 2.25 | 2707 |
4 | | | 2711 | | 0.5 | 3 | | | | | 0.75 | 2456 |
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger |

Daniil Dubov
Pool C: Shankland gets an extra pawn
In a group that has the lowest-rated player in the lead, US grandmasters Wesley So and Sam Shankland have yet to play a decisive result in the tournament. Shankland managed to gain a pawn against Alexandr Predke in round 3, but it was not enough to get a full point in the end.
Predke’s 36...Rc2 was not as accurate as 36...Rc4, but finding a way to win with White in these kinds of rook endgames is never easy. The players agreed to a draw on move 57.
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d5 7.Bg5 c5 8.dxc5 d4 9.Qf3! Nbd7 10.e3 h6 11.Bxf6 Nxf6 12.Ne2N 12.0-0-0!? 12.0-0-0 e5 13.Ne2 d3 14.Nc3 Bg4 15.Rxd3 Qa5 16.Qg3 Qxc5 17.Rd2 Be6 18.b4 12...d3 13.Nc3 e5 14.h3 14.0-0-0 14...Be6 15.Rd1 Bxc4 16.Bxd3! Bxd3 17.e4 Qa5 18.Rxd3 Qxc5 19.0-0 Rad8 20.Rfd1 Rxd3 21.Rxd3 Qb6 22.Qe2 Rd8 23.Nd5 Qe6 24.Qd1 Nxd5 25.Rxd5= Rc8 26.h4 Qc6 27.g3 Qc2 28.Qxc2 Rxc2 29.Rb5! b6 30.Rxe5 Rxb2 31.Re8+ Kh7 32.Re7 f6 33.Rxa7 h5 34.Kg2 b5 35.Ra5 Kg6 36.Kf3 b4 37.axb4 Rxb4 38.Kf4 Rb2 39.f3 Rb1 40.Rd5 Ra1 41.Rd6 Re1 42.Rd8 Ra1 43.Rh8 Rh1 44.g4 44.Rb8± 44...Rxh4= 45.Rxh5 Rxh5 46.gxh5+ Kxh5 47.Kf5 Kh4 48.f4 g5! 49.e5 49.Kxf6 gxf4 50.Kg6 f3 51.e5 f2 52.e6 f1Q 53.e7 Qb5 54.Kf7 Qf5+ 55.Kg8 Qe6+ 56.Kf8 Qf6+ 57.Ke8 Qf5 58.Kd8 Qd5+ 59.Kc8 Qe6+ 60.Kc7 Qxe7+ 61.Kb6 Qb4+ 62.Kc7 Kg4 63.Kd7 Kf5 64.Kc7 Kf6 65.Kc8 Ke7 66.Kc7 Qb5 67.Kc8 Kd6 68.Kd8 Qd7# 49...gxf4 50.Kxf4 fxe5+ 51.Kxe5 ½–½ - Start an analysis engine:
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Shankland,S | 2708 | So,W | 2772 | ½–½ | 2022 | E36 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-C 2022 | 1.5 |
Predke,A | 2682 | Vachier-Lagrave,M | 2761 | 1–0 | 2022 | A33 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-C 2022 | 1.6 |
Predke,A | 2682 | So,W | 2772 | ½–½ | 2022 | C54 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-C 2022 | 2.5 |
Vachier-Lagrave,M | 2761 | Shankland,S | 2708 | ½–½ | 2022 | C67 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-C 2022 | 2.6 |
So,W | 2772 | Vachier-Lagrave,M | 2761 | ½–½ | 2022 | D91 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-C 2022 | 3.5 |
Shankland,S | 2708 | Predke,A | 2682 | ½–½ | 2022 | D36 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-C 2022 | 3.6 |
So,W | 2772 | Shankland,S | 2708 | ½–½ | 2022 | D73 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-C 2022 | 4.5 |
Vachier-Lagrave,M | 2761 | Predke,A | 2682 | 1–0 | 2022 | C92 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-C 2022 | 4.6 |
Vachier-Lagrave,M | 2761 | So,W | 2772 | 0–1 | 2022 | E20 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-C 2022 | 5.5 |
Predke,A | 2682 | Shankland,S | 2708 | 0–1 | 2022 | A34 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-C 2022 | 5.6 |
So,W | 2772 | Predke,A | 2682 | ½–½ | 2022 | C92 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-C 2022 | 6.5 |
Shankland,S | 2708 | Vachier-Lagrave,M | 2761 | ½–½ | 2022 | D97 | FIDE Grand Prix-III Pool-C 2022 | 6.6 |
Please, wait...
Rk. | | Name | Rtg. | Nt. | Pts. | n | | | | | TB | Perf. |
---|
1 | | | 2682 | | 2.0 | 3 | | | | | 2.50 | 2872 |
2 | | | 2772 | | 1.5 | 3 | | | | | 2.25 | 2717 |
3 | | | 2708 | | 1.5 | 3 | | | | | 2.25 | 2738 |
4 | | | 2761 | | 1.0 | 3 | | | | | 1.50 | 2596 |
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger |
Pool D: Facing the same opponents
Remarkably, Anish Giri, Nikita Vitiugov and Amin Tabatabaei were all seeded in the same pool in two consecutive tournaments. In Belgrade, Giri beat both the Russian and the Iranian to get first place in the group, while this time around only Vitiugov has managed to score a full point in the first three rounds of the event.
Volume one of the DVD deals with 9.Bc4, White's sharpest option, and shows how Black can counter this ambitious try by White with the main lines of the Soltis variation (12...h5), which was played by Magnus Carlsen regularly as well.
On Thursday, out of a Sicilian, Vitiugov found a nice way to force a draw against the rating favourite in the pool.
26...Rxb2+ Kxb2 27.Qc3+ Kb1 28.Qc2+ Ka1, and the king cannot escape the checks. Draw.
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
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- Start an analysis engine:
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Anish Giri
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