Crowded at the top
Anish Giri finished day 1 of the FTX Crypto Cup as the sole leader, and after 8 rounds it seemed like he was en route to also finish the second day of action atop the standings. In fact, the Dutch star had a 1-point lead after scoring his first win of the day over Alireza Firouzja. However, back-to-back losses in rounds 9 and 10 allowed three players to leapfrog him in the standings going into the last five rounds of the preliminaries.
Fabiano Caruana, who was the one inflicting Giri’s second consecutive loss, was the top scorer on day 2, getting three wins and two draws to climb to shared first place. Two players have as many points as him — Hikaru Nakamura and Teimour Radjabov, who have yet to lose a game in the tournament.
Giri stands a half point behind, much like Wesley So, who kicked off the event with two wins and is currently on an 8-game streak of draws. With four players a half point back on 5½/10 even these two players need to tread lightly on day 3 if they want to reach the quarterfinals.
Magnus Carlsen is one of those four players on +1, as he finished the day with a loss against Levon Aronian after having gained some momentum by beating Daniil Dubov and Alexander Grischuk in rounds 8 and 9.
The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.
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Caruana kicked off the day with a victory over Ian Nepomniachtchi. The Russian tried to muddy the waters from a lost position, but to no avail — Caruanadid not falter in the last stage of the game.
Caruana vs. Nepomniachtchi - Round 6
26...Nh3+ 27.gxh3 Rxf3 28.Rxd4 cxd4 29.Nxf3 Rxd6 and White has emerged from the sequence with a piece for a pawn.
It’s a problem every player encounters when he stands better in a game: how to convert his plus into a full point? In this DVD the author answers this difficult question of chess strategy, considering both the psychological aspects of the realisation of an advantage and the technical methods.The rest is easy for Caruana: 30.Re7+ Kh6 31.h4 d3 32.Ne5 Rd8 and Nepo resigned after 33.Bg8. This was the first of two consecutive losses for the World Championship challenger, who will need a strong performance on Tuesday to finish at the top half of the leaderboard.
| Replay and check the LiveBook here |
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1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nbd2 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 0-0 7.0-0 cxd4 8.cxd4 e5 9.d5 Nbd7 10.b4N 10.Nb3 a5 11.a4 b6 12.Re1 Nc5 13.Nxc5 bxc5 14.Bd2 Ne8 15.Bc3 f5 16.Nd2 10...a5 11.Ba3 axb4 12.Bxb4 Nc5 13.Bxc5 dxc5 14.Nc4 14.Rc1± 14...Nh5 14...b5 15.Ncxe5 c4 15.a4 15.Nfxe5 Nf4 15.Ncxe5? Re8 15...Nf4 16.Bc2! 16.Ncxe5? Qe7-+ 16...f5 17.Rb1 17.Ncxe5? fxe4 18.Bxe4 Re8-+ 17.Re1! 17...Ra6 17...fxe4 18.Bxe4 Qd7 18.Re1 18.Ncxe5? fxe4 19.Bxe4 Bxe5-+ 18...fxe4 19.Bxe4 Qd7 19...b6± 20.Nfxe5+- Bxe5 21.Nxe5 Qxa4 22.d6 Rd8 22...Qxd1 23.Rbxd1 Bf5 24.Bxb7 Ra7 23.Qf3 Rf8 24.Bd5+ Kg7 24...Be6 25.Bxe6+ Nxe6 25.Bb3 Qd4 26.Rbd1 Nh3+ 27.gxh3 Rxf3 28.Rxd4 28.Nxf3 Qxd6 29.Rxd6 Rxd6+- 28...cxd4 29.Nxf3 Rxd6 30.Re7+ Kh6 31.h4 d3? 31...Bf5 32.Kf1 d3 32.Ne5 Rd4 33.Bg8 1–0 - Start an analysis engine:
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- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
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| Caruana,F | 2773 | Nepomniachtchi,I | 2778 | 1–0 | 2021 | | FTX Crypto Cup Prelims 2021 | 6.7 |
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The clash between Giri and Carlsen was also played in round 6. Carlsen had the white pieces and reached an ending with opposite-coloured bishops, rooks and an extra pawn, but could not convert his advantage into a win.
Carlsen vs. Giri - Round 6
Endgame specialist Karsten Müller looked deeper into this position, noting that the world champion could have put more pressure on his opponent. Müller also analysed the endgame which Shakhriyar Mamedyarov did convert into a full point against Aronian in round 7. Replay both instructive endgames below.
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1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 Bxb4 3.Bxe5 Nf6 4.c3 Be7 5.g3 d6 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.Bg2 0-0 8.e3 d5 9.Ne2 c6 10.d4 Bf5 11.Nd2 Nd7 12.0-0 Re8 13.c4 dxc4 14.Nxc4 Qc7 15.Rc1 Rad8 16.Nf4 Nb6 17.Nxb6 Qxb6 18.Qa4 g6 19.Rc3 Bg5 20.Rb3 Qc7 21.Qxa7 Re7 22.Nd3 Bxd3 23.Rxd3 c5 24.Rc3 b6 25.Qxc7 Rxc7 26.Rb1 Rd6 27.a4 Bf6 28.Bf1 Rcd7 29.dxc5 Bxc3 30.cxd6 Rxd6 31.Rc1 Rc6 32.Rd1 Rc7 33.Rd6 Ba5 34.Bb5 Kg7 35.e4?! 35.g4!? 35...Rc1+ 36.Kg2 Rc2 37.e5 Bb4! 38.Rf6 Be7! 39.Rxb6 Rxf2+ 40.Kxf2 Bc5+ 41.Kf3 Bxb6 42.Ke4 Kf8 43.Kd5 Ke7 44.g4 h5!? 45.h3 45.g5!? Ba5= 45...Be3? 46.a5 Bxg5 47.Ke4 Bh4 48.Kf3 Kd8 49.Be8+- 45...hxg4 46.hxg4 Ba5 47.Bd3 Bd2 48.Bc2 Be1 49.Bd3 Bd2 50.Ba6 Be1 51.Bc8 Kd8 52.e6 fxe6+ 53.Bxe6 Kc7 ½–½
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
- Create an account to access the games cloud.
| Carlsen,M | 2881 | Giri,A | 2731 | ½–½ | 2021 | A00 | FTX Crypto Cup Prelims 2021 | 6.3 |
| Mamedyarov,S | 2761 | Aronian,L | 2778 | 1–0 | 2021 | E39 | FTX Crypto Cup Prelims 2021 | 7.1 |
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In over 4 hours in front of the camera, Karsten Müller presents to you sensations from the world of endgames - partly reaching far beyond standard techniques and rules of thumb - and rounds off with some cases of with own examples.
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