Riga GP: Topalov's shocking decision

by Antonio Pereira
7/16/2019 – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave has already secured his spot in the semi-finals of the FIDE Grand Prix in Riga, as Veselin Topalov shocked everyone by offering a draw after merely twelve moves in a must-win situation. The rest of the match-ups are still tied and will be decided on tiebreaks — while Wesley So, Sergey Karjakin, Yu Yangyi and Alexander Grischuk played it safe, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Jan-Krzyztof Duda got into a real fight in Tuesday's round. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

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The non-game of the day

The knock-out format in chess provides the fans with particularly exciting fights, like the ones seen on opening day in Riga or during the first round tiebreaks, but it also leaves everyone bamboozled with close-to-inexplicable draw offers. On Tuesday, Veselin Topalov needed a win to stay in contention against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and, instead of looking for — perhaps unsubstantiated — chances to complicate, he cut the day short and offered his opponent a truce after twelve moves.

The Bulgarian was indeed in an unenviable situation — even if he did manage to win in game two he would remain a big underdog in the tiebreaks (Vachier-Lagrave is number four and number one in the rapid and blitz ratings lists, respectively). Moreover, reducing the suffering is not an unprecedented strategy among the chess elite, as Peter Svidler, for example, is known for resigning positions in which other players would certainly choose to keep going.

Topalov was not the only one agreeing a quick draw on Tuesday, however, as So v Karjakin and Yu Yangyi v Grischuk lasted 19 and 22 moves. Mamedyarov, on the other hand, got some chances against Jan-Krzysztof Duda but ended up splitting the point after 39 moves nonetheless.


Match results

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FIDE Grand Prix Riga 2019

Seven players are still in contention in Riga | Photo: World Chess

Vachier-Lagrave 1½:½ Topalov

Black naturally went for the Sicilian Defence, but already on move 5 spent some time deciding on how to proceed — the Bulgarian ended up going for a closed structure with 5...e5. Vachier-Lagrave was prepared to face this structure, however, and when given the chance released the tension in the centre with 9.dxe5. Three moves later, it became clear that Black would only be able to create imbalances by giving some considerable concessions in a position with symmetrical pawn structures.

Topalov did not turn away from talking to press officer Yannick Pelletier afterwards, and explained what had gone through his mind:

I don't see any risk for White, because it's a symmetrical position. [...] White has many simple moves, developing moves, and he doesn't need to win. I mean, if he sees a draw he can force [it], and if I play some bad moves then it can become critically bad. [...] I didn't see any realistic chance.

Nevertheless, this means Maxime Vachier-Lagrave reached the semi-finals of the Riga GP without needing tiebreaks in neither of the first two rounds. Thus, he has already collected five points for the overall standings (3 for reaching round three and 2 extra points for having won two match-ups on the classical phase).

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.Ba4 4.0-0 a6 5.Bd3 Ngf6 6.c3 b5 7.a4 c4 8.Be2 Bb7 9.axb5 axb5 10.Rxa8 Bxa8 11.Na3 Bxe4 12.Nxb5 d5 1/2-1/2 (65) Harikrishna,P (2723) -Giri,A (2797) Shenzhen 2019 4...Ngf6 5.0-0 e5 6.c3N B51: Sicilian: Moscow Variation (3 Bb5+) without 3...Bd7 Predecessor: 6.d3 Be7 7.c4 0-0 8.h3 Nb6 9.Bc2 h6 10.Nc3 Nh7 11.a3 f5 1-0 (48) Dragun,K (2594)-Iniyan,P (2451) Biel 2018 6...Be7 7.Re1 0-0 8.d4 White has an edge. Qc7 9.dxe5 White is slightly better. Nxe5 10.Nxe5 dxe5 11.c4! Be6 12.Qe2 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Vachier-Lagrave,M2775Topalov,V2740½–½2019Grand Prix Riga 20192.4

Veselin Topalov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Veselin Topalov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave discussing after their short encounter | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess  


Post-game interview with Vachier-Lagrave and Topalov


Mamedyarov 1:1 Duda

Jan-Krzysztof Duda, with Black, explored a setup used twice in the past by the recent winner of the Women's Candidates Tournament, Aleksandra Goryachkina. In response, Mamedyarov — true to his style — decided to respond with an unorthodox plan:

 
Mamedyarov vs. Duda
Position after 11...Na6

The Azeri grandmaster isolated his own doubled pawns on the b-file with 12.cxd5, and showed what he had in mind after 12...cxd5 13.a5. This unexpected sequence prompted Duda to spend over half an hour on 13...c7.  The game continued 14.f4 b6 15.aa1 fe8, in sync with the unconventional nature of the position. 

Mamedyarov's strategy worked out well, as his young opponent found himself in an inferior position out of the opening. A battle of manoeuvres in the ensuing closed position almost led to a threefold repetition, but that was not Mamedyarov's plan, who dealt with Black's queenside initiative by pushing his b-pawn:

 
Position after 34...Rb6

There followed 35.b3 axb3 36.xb3 a8 37.xa8 xa8 38.d2 ec7:

 
Position after 38...Nec7

Here the computer considers 39.♞a5 to be the best continuation (planning on cementing the knight on b7), but Mamedyarov opted for 39.a5, which was followed by a draw agreement — apparently the players assessed that the passers on the b and c-files neutralize each other. 

The most exciting match of the quarter-finals will be decided on Wednesday's tiebreaks.

 
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1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Qb3 Qb6 8.Nc3 Rd8 9.Rd1 D78: Fianchetto Grünfeld: 6 0-0 c6 9.Bd2 dxc4 10.Qxc4 Be6 11.Qa4 Bf5 12.Rfe1 Ne4 13.Nxe4 Bxe4 14.Ba5 Qa6 15.Qa3 Re8 16.Bf1 c5 17.dxc5 Bxb2 1/2-1/2 (17) Ding,L (2813)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2763) Wijk aan Zee 2019 9...Bf5 10.Ne1 Qxb3 11.axb3 Na6 12.cxd5 cxd5 13.Ra5 Nc7N Predecessor: 13...Be4 14.f3 Bf5 15.g4 Bc8 16.g5 Ne8 17.Rxd5 Rxd5 18.Nxd5 1-0 (66) Martirosyan,H (2470)-Tabatabaei,M (2493) Khanty-Mansiysk 2016 14.Bf4 b6 15.Raa1 Nfe8 16.Nd3 Bc8 17.e4 Bb7 18.e5 Ne6 19.Be3 f5 19...N8c7 20.b4± Bf8 21.b5 N6c7 22.Nb4 e6 23.Nc6 23.Nd3 with more complications. Rdb8 24.Rdc1 a6 25.bxa6 Bc8 26.Bf1 23...Bxc6! 24.bxc6 b5 25.Rdc1 Rdb8 26.Ne2 Black should prevent Nf4. a5! 27.Nf4
Strongly threatening Nxe6. White has good play. 27...Kf7 28.Nd3 a4 29.Nc5 Be7 30.Nd7 Rd8 31.Bf1 Ra6 32.Nc5 Rb6 33.Nd7 Ra6 34.Nc5 Rb6! 35.b3 axb3
Threatens to win with ...b2. 36.Nxb3 Ra8 White is slightly better. 37.Rxa8 Nxa8 38.Bd2 Nec7! 39.Ba5 Accuracy: White = 68%, Black = 62%.
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Mamedyarov,S2765Duda,J2729½–½2019Grand Prix Riga 20192.2

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Jan-Krzysztof Duda

Jan-Krzysztof Duda thinking hard while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov checks out what is going on elsewhere | Photo: World Chess


Post-game interview with Jan-Krzysztof Duda


Yu Yangyi 1:1 Grischuk

By now it seems clear that Yu Yangyi has chosen a safety-first strategy for this tournament. The Chinese grandmaster has overcome the rating shortage in comparison to his opponents by showing good preparation with both colours. In his second classical game against Alexander Grischuk, he reached a draw after 22 moves, while sitting in front of a position with good potential. 

A curious exchange followed during the post-game interview:

Yannick Pelletier: Are you two looking forward to the tiebreak tomorrow?

Yu Yangyi: I don't know. I hope I play good games.

Alexander Grischuk: I guess, but what else are we supposed to do? [...] Given that I had two clearly worse positions, of course I could not dream about anything [better].

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 b5 8.a4 E05: Open Catalan: 5 Nf3 Be7 b4 9.Nbd2 9.Nfd2 c6 10.Nxc4 Qxd4 11.Rd1 Qc5 12.b3 Ba6 13.Nbd2 Nbd7 14.Bb2 Rad8 15.e3 Qh5 0-1 (38) Maghsoodloo,P (2688)-Nakamura,H (2746) St Petersburg 2018 9...Bb7 10.Nxc4 c5 11.Rd1 Be4 12.Qb3 Nc6 13.dxc5 Na5 14.Nxa5 Qxa5 15.Ne5 Rac8N Predecessor: 15...Bxg2 16.Kxg2 Bxc5 1-0 (41) Kirsanov, V (2240)-Allenby,E (1963) ICCF email 2015 16.Bf4 Bxc5
White must now prevent ...Bc2! 17.Rac1 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 Qa6 19.Rc2 Bd6 The position is equal. 20.Nd7 Rxc2 21.Qxc2
Strongly threatening Nxf6+. 21...Rc8 22.Nxf6+ Accuracy: White = 81%, Black = 69%.
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Yu,Y2736Grischuk,A2766½–½2019Grand Prix Riga 20192.3

Alexander Grischuk

Alexander Grischuk with a young fan | Photo: World Chess

So 1:1 Karjakin

Former World Championship challenger Sergey Karjakin has played 16,30, 17 and 19 moves in his four classical games of the tournament so far. At the same time, he has made use of his strong nerves and fighting spirit to knock out rating favourite Anish Giri after a lengthy seven-game tiebreaker on Sunday. He will try to repeat the trick against Wesley So in tomorrow's rapid (and blitz, if necessary) play-off.

Out of a Nimzo with 4.f3, So had some ideas to face Karjakin's treatment of the position, but the one giving a surprise was the Russian, who chose the slightly rare 7...c5. The battle was cut short though, so we will have to wait and see whether the contenders decide to explore this variation again on Wednesday.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 dxe4 E20: Nimzo-Indian: 4 g3 and 4 f3 7.fxe4 c5 8.d5 aiming for e5. 0-0 The position is equal. 8...exd5 9.exd5 0-0 10.Bf4 Re8 11.Be2 Bg4 12.Qd2 Nh5 13.Be3 Bd6 14.0-0-0 Rxe3 15.Bxg4 Rxc3+ 16.Qxc3 0-1 (32) Volkov,S (2645)-Vitiugov,N (2722) St Petersburg 2017 9.Bd3N Black must now prevent e5. Predecessor: 9.Nf3 a6 10.Bd3 Nbd7 11.e5 Ne8 12.d6 Nxd6 13.exd6 Bxd6 14.Bxh7+ Kxh7 15.Qxd6 b6 16.0-0 Nf6 17.Qg3 Nh5 18.Ng5+ Kg8 19.Qf3 Qc7 20.Qxh5 1-0 (20) Cutmore,D (1848)-Moore,K (1128) Telfort 2003 9...Bd6 10.Bg5 Nbd7 11.Nf3 exd5 12.Nxd5 h6 13.Bh4 Qa5+! 14.Qd2 Qxd2+ 15.Kxd2 Ng4 16.Be7 Bxe7 17.Nxe7+ Kh8 18.Rhe1 Nge5 19.Rad1 Accuracy: White = 60%, Black = 76%. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
So,W2763Karjakin,S2748½–½2019Grand Prix Riga 20192.1

Wesley So, Sergey Karjakin

Wesley So and Karjakin will settle the contest on tiebreaks | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess


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Antonio is a freelance writer and a philologist. He is mainly interested in the links between chess and culture, primarily literature. In chess games, he skews towards endgames and positional play.

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