FTX Road to Miami: Xiong wins three in a row

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
7/11/2022 – Day 1 of the FTX Road to Miami online tournament saw Jeffery Xiong grabbing the sole lead after collecting three wins and a loss. The 21-year-old has a 1-point lead over four players sharing second place on 8/12 points. Some of the rating favourites, like Levon Aronian, Anish Giri and Teimour Radjabov, currently stand on the bottom half of the tournament table. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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No easy games

It is hard to talk about weak links at the FTX Road to Miami online tournament. Well-known names currently stand on the bottom half of the tournament table, as young rising stars are mixed in the fight for first place. The likes of Levon Aronian, Anish Giri and Teimour Radjabov did not have a good first day, while Jeffery Xiong emerged as the sole leader after four rounds of play.

Xiong kicked off with three wins in a row, and was only stopped by Sam Sevian in the last round of day 1. Sevian’s victory over his compatriot left him in shared second place on 8/12 points. Three other players also collected 8 points on Sunday: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Wei Yi and Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

The preliminaries, which run until Wednesday, see the 16 participants fighting to reach the knockout stage, as half the players will be eliminated in the single round-robin.

FTX Road to Miami 2022

Arjun out-calculates Aronian

One of the strong youngsters in the field is Arjun Erigaisi, currently the second-highest rated U20 player in the world, only behind Alireza Firouzja. The Indian defeated Teimour Radjabov and Levon Aronian on Sunday, before losing to Richard Rapport in round 4.

Arjun’s victory over Aronian was the highlight of the day in terms of excitement. Playing black, the 18-year-old transferred his king to the opposite side of the board. The monarch ended up helping the rook and bishops to create a mating net!

 
Aronian, Levon27750–1Erigaisi Arjun2689
FTX Road to Miami Prelims 2022
Online04.07.2022[CC]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 e6 5.0-0 Be7 6.a4 0-0 7.Nbd2 Nc6 8.Re1 a6 9.c3 Bd7 10.Bb3 b5 11.Nf1 Qc7 12.Ng3 Rfc8 13.Bf4 Qb7 14.axb5 axb5 15.Rxa8 Qxa8 16.d4 cxd4 17.cxd4 Nb4 18.h4 h6 19.h5 Bf8 20.Qd2 Nc6 21.Bc2 Qa5 22.Qd1 e5 23.Bd2 Qa2 24.d5 Nd4 25.Nxd4 exd4 26.Qb1 Qxb1 27.Bxb1 Bg4 28.f3 Bxh5 29.Nf5 Nd7 30.Rc1 Ra8 31.Nxd4 Ne5 32.Bf4 f6 33.Nxb5 Rb8 34.Bxe5 dxe5 35.Bd3 Be8 36.Nc7 Bd7 37.Ne6 Bd6 38.Rb1 Kf7 39.Bc4 g6 40.b3 Ra8 41.g4 Ra2 42.Rc1 Ke7 43.Rc3 Bb4 44.Rc1 h5 45.gxh5 gxh5 46.Kh1 h4 47.Rg1 Kd6 48.Rg7 Be1 49.Nd8 Bc8 50.Nf7+ Kc5
The black king will infiltrate along the dark squares, as the white king is stuck on the first rank. White, on the other hand, will push his d-pawn down the board! 51.Nxe5 Kd4 51...fxe5 52.Rc7+ Kd4 53.Rxc8 52.Nc6+ Ke3 53.d6 A losing mistake. 53.Rg1 53...Bh3 But Arjun fails to find the winning continuation. 53...Bg3 and there is no defence 54.d7 54.Rxg3 hxg3 55.Nb4 Bh3 There is no need to defend the rook! 56.Nxa2 Kf2 54...Kf2 55.Rxg3 hxg3 56.Bf1 Ra1 54.Bf1
The ever-creative Aronian finds the best defensive move in the position! Engines show zeros, but this was a rapid game - and this would be tough to deal with even in classical! 54...Bxf1 55.d7 Be2 56.d8Q Bxf3+ 57.Rg2
White survives by the skin of his teeth. But he cannot take a single wrong step to defend! 57.Kg1 Bf2+ 58.Kh2 Bg3+ 59.Kh3 Rh2# 57...Rxg2 58.Qd4+ This loses. 58.Qb6+ leads to perpetual check Kd2 58...Ke2?? The e2-square is taboo, as it allows 59.Nd4+ 59.Qd8+ Ke3 58...Ke2 Black can escape via e2 here, since the knight cannot give a check from d4. 59.Qc4+ Kf2 60.Qc5+ Kf1
61.Qc4+ Re2#, defeding from the check and giving mate! 0–1

Two sharp rook endgames

GM Karsten Müller highlights two rook endgames from the first four rounds. Sam Sevian’s victory over Jeffery Xiong came after the latter grabbed a pawn instead of activating his rook in an imbalanced position.

 
Sevian vs. Xiong - Round 4

Xiong’s 45...Rxa4 allowed White to stop all counterplay. Sevian did not take long to secure the all-important full point against the tournament’s leader.

Also in round 4, Sam Shankland erred in an endgame with connected passers for both sides. His opponent was Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

 
Shankland vs. Duda - Round 4

The prophylactic 45.Rg1 defends for White, while 45.d6, as played in the game, allowed Black to quickly push his h-pawn down the board.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.e5 Ne4 5.Qxd4 d5 6.exd6 Nxd6 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.Qf4 g6 9.Bb5 Bg7 10.Bxc6+ bxc6 11.Be3 0-0 12.0-0-0 Qd7 13.Bd4 Qg4 14.Qxg4 Bxg4 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.Rd3 Bxf3 17.Rxf3 Rfe8 18.Rd1 Re5 19.b3 Rae8 20.Na4 Re2 21.Nc3 R2e5 22.h4 h5 23.g3 R8e6 24.Na4 Rf6 25.Rxf6 Kxf6 26.Nc3 Rf5 27.f4 Ke7 28.Re1+ Kd7 29.Ne4 f6 30.c4 Nxe4 31.Rxe4 Ra5 32.Re2 c5 33.g4 Ra6 34.f5 gxf5 35.gxh5 f4 36.Kd1 f3 37.Rd2+ Ke6 38.Ke1 Kf5 39.h6 Kg6 40.Kf2 Ra3 41.Kxf3 a5 42.Ke4 a4 43.bxa4 c6 44.h5+ Kxh6 45.Kf5 Counterplay counts. Rook endings have a large drawish tendency, and often active counterplay by the rook is called for: Rxa4? Now White can stop all counterplay. 45...Rc3 46.Re2 Rxc4 47.Re4 Rc2= and 45...Rf3+ 46.Ke6 Rc3 draw, e. g. 47.Kd6 Rxc4 48.Kxc6 Rxa4 49.Rh2 f5 50.Kxc5 f4 51.Kb5 Ra3 52.Kb4 Ra8 53.a4 f3 54.a5 Rf8= 46.Rc2! White must keep the valuable c-pawn. 46.Kxf6? Rxc4 47.Ke6 Kxh5= 46...Kg7 47.h6+ Kxh6 47...Kf7 48.h7 Ra8 49.Rh2 Rh8 50.a4+- 48.Kxf6 Kh5 49.Ke5 Kg4 50.Kd6 Kf4 50...Ra6 does not defend due to 51.Rf2 Kg3 52.Rf5 Kg4 53.Rxc5 Kf4 54.Rxc6 Rxa2 55.c5 Rd2+ 56.Ke7+- 51.Kxc6 Ke4 52.Kb5 Ra8 53.Rd2!? Good technique. But 53.Kxc5 wins as well. 53...Rb8+ 54.Kxc5 Rc8+ 55.Kb4 Rb8+ 56.Kc3 Ra8 57.c5 Ke5 58.Kc4 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Sevian,S2684Xiong,J26911–02022C43FTX Road to Miami Prelims 20224.2
Shankland,S2720Duda,J27500–12022C43FTX Road to Miami Prelims 20224.7

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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.
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