FTX Road to Miami: Sevian wins prelims

Mamedyarov knocked out

Four 2700+ rated, experienced grandmasters were left out of contention at the end of the FTX Road to Miami preliminaries — including Teimour Radjabov, who withdrew from the event on the second day of action. Three young stars, on the other hand, not only made it through but also impressed with their strong performances: Sam Sevian, Arjun Erigaisi and Jeffery Xiong finished first, second and fifth respectively.

Winning Chess Strategies Vol.1 and 2

Throughout this video course, we will study how to master sacrifices and the initiative in several aspects: opposite-coloured bishops, the bishop pair, the exchange sacrifice, launching an attack, and the good moment to sacrifice will be covered.

Out of the players who did not make the cut, the most shocking case was that of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The Azerbaijani star lost all three of his games on Wednesday to finish in tenth place, only a point behind Wei Yi, who reached the quarterfinals despite losing his last-round game. Mamedyarov has mentioned more than once that he generally does not feel very comfortable playing online.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek did have a strong finish, winning his last two games in the prelims, but fell short nonetheless. The Polish grandmaster thanked the organizers on Twitter.

It is hard to talk about favourites in the quarterfinals, as lower-rated players have shown better performances than his higher-rated opponents so far in the event. An exciting knockout stage awaits us.

In the penultimate round, Levon Aronian scored a crucial win, as he beat Leinier Dominguez with the black pieces. Following a tough strategic fight, Aronian went for a kingside attack — one that engines do not approve but which, more importantly, is difficult to handle for the defender in a rapid game.

 

Dominguez Perez, Leinier2754

0–1

Aronian, Levon2775

FTX Road to Miami Prelims 2022 Online04.07.2022

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0-0 0-0 6.Re1 Ng4 7.Re2 Kh8 8.h3 f5 9.Bg5 Nf6 10.Nc3 d6 11.exf5 Bxf5 12.Na4 Bb6 13.Nxb6 axb6 14.d4 h6 15.dxe5 dxe5 16.Bh4 e4 17.Nh2 Qe7 18.Nf1 Bg6 19.Rd2 Qb4 20.Bxf6 Rxf6 21.Bb3 Ne5 22.Ne3 c6 23.Rd8+ Rf8 24.Rxa8 Rxa8 25.a3 Qc5 26.Be6 Rf8 27.Qd2 Qe7 28.Qb4 Qf6 29.Rf1 b5 30.Bg4 Kh7 31.Be2 Rd8 32.Rd1 Rf8 33.Rf1 Rd8 34.Qc3 Rf8 35.Qa5 Qg5 36.Kh1 Qh4 37.Kg1 Nf3+

Aronian goes for it! 38.Kh1 Dominguez rejects grabbing the knight, but accepting the sacrifice was the way to go. 38.gxf3 exf3 39.Bd3 and White defends, with the excellent knight on e3. 38...Ng5 39.Kg1 Rf3

Aronian ups the bet! 40.Qc7 The losing mistake. 40.gxf3 fails to Nxh3+ But 40.Bxf3 exf3 41.Qb4 is good for White. 40...Rxh3 41.gxh3 Nxh3+ 42.Kg2 Nf4+ 43.Kg1 Nxe2+ 44.Kg2 Nf4+ 45.Kg1 Qg5+ 46.Kh2 Bh5

Black's queen and minor pieces are too strong. Dominguez resigned. 0–1

Richard Rapport lost twice in the first five rounds, but since then collected six wins and four draws to finish in fourth place. The Hungarian star outplayed Wei Yi in round 15 in a materially balanced knight endgame.

GM Karsten Müller took a closer look.

 

Rapport, Richard2764

1–0

Wei, Yi2727

FTX Road to Miami Prelims 2022 Online04.07.2022[Mueller,Karsten]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 a6 6.Bxd7+ Bxd7 7.c4 Nf6 8.Bg5 e6 9.Nc3 Bc6 10.0-0 Be7 11.a4 0-0 12.Rfe1 h6 13.Bh4 Qa5 14.Nd5 Bxd5 15.cxd5 exd5 16.exd5 Rae8 17.b4 Qd8 18.Rac1 Qd7 19.a5 Bd8 20.h3 Rxe1+ 21.Rxe1 Re8 22.Rxe8+ Nxe8 23.Bxd8 Qxd8 24.Nd2 Nf6 25.Nc4 Qe7 26.Ne3 g6 27.Qc4 Kg7 28.b5 axb5 29.Qxb5 Ne4 30.Qb4 Nc5 31.Nc4 Qf6 32.Qd2 Nb3 33.Qb4 Nc5 34.Qd2 Nb3 35.Qe1 Kh7 36.h4 h5 37.g3 Nc5 38.Qe3 Kg7 39.Kg2 Kf8 40.Qf3 Qxf3+ 41.Kxf3 Ke7 42.Ke3 f6 43.Nd2 g5 44.Ne4 gxh4 45.gxh4 Nb3 46.Kd3 Nxa5 47.Kc3 b6 48.Ng3 Nb7 49.Nxh5 f5 50.Kc4 Nc5 51.Kb5

The rook's pawn is the worst enemy of the knight. Knight endings are like pawn endings according to Botvinnik's law. Zugzwang. Outside passed pawns and king activity play a large role and the drawish margin is quite small: 51...Ne4? The wrong knight road. 51...Nd3! defends, e.g. 52.f3 52.Ng3 Kf6 53.Kxb6 Nxf2 54.Kc6 Ne4 55.Ne2 Kg6 56.Nd4 f4 57.Kd7 Kh5 58.Ke6 Kxh4 59.Kf5 Nc3 60.Kxf4 Nxd5+= 52...Ne5 53.f4 Ng6 54.Kxb6 Nxh4 55.Ng3 Kf6 56.Kc6 Ng6 57.Ne2 Ke7 58.Kc7 Nh4 59.Nd4 Ng6 60.Nxf5+ Kf6 61.Nxd6 Nxf4 62.Ne8+ Ke7 63.d6+ Kxe8 64.d7+ Kf7 65.d8Q Ne6+= 52.Ng3! Nxf2 52...Nxg3 53.fxg3 Kf6 54.Kxb6 Kg6 55.Kc6 Kh5 56.Kxd6 Kg4 57.Ke5 Kxg3 58.Kxf5+- 53.Nxf5+ Kd7 54.h5 Ng4 55.h6 Nf6 56.Ne3 Kc7 57.Ng4

A strong deflection. 57...Nh7 57...Nxd5 58.h7 Nc3+ 59.Kc4 Ne4 60.h8Q+- 57...Nxg4 58.h7+- 58.Ka6 Zugzwang is the sharpest endgame weapon. Ng5 59.Nf6 Nf7 60.h7 Nh8 61.Ne4 Ng6 62.Ng5 Nh8 63.Kb5 Kd7 63...Ng6 64.Nf7+- 64.Kxb6 Ke7 65.Kc7 Ng6 66.Ne6 Nh8 67.Nd8 Ng6 68.Ne6 Nh8 Knight in the corner is a forlorner. 69.Nf4 Kf6 70.Kxd6 Nf7+ 71.Kd7! The right king road. 71.Kc7? is met by Kg7 72.Nh3 Kxh7 73.Ng5+ Nxg5 74.d6 Nf7 75.d7 Kg6= 71...Ne5+ 72.Ke8 Kg7 73.d6 Kxh7 74.Nd3

The decisive deflection. 74.Nd3 Nxd3 75.d7 Ne5 76.d8Q+- 1–0

Crosstable

Rk.		Name	Rtg.	Nt.	Pts.	n	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	TB	Perf.
1		Sevian,S	2684		32.0	15		½	0	½	1	½	1	1	1	1	½	½	1	1	1	1	0.00	2919
2		Erigaisi Arjun	2689		31.0	15	½		0	0	1	½	1	½	½	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0.00	2883
3		Duda,J	2750		28.0	15	1	1		½	½	½	½	1	0	½	½	½	1	1	1	1	0.00	2853
4		Rapport,R	2727		27.0	15	½	1	½		1	½	½	1	1	0	½	½	0	1	1	1	0.00	2830
5		Xiong,J	2691		24.0	15	0	0	½	0		1	1	½	1	1	½	½	½	1	½	1	1.00	2780
6		Giri,A	2760		24.0	15	½	½	½	½	0		½	½	½	½	1	½	1	1	1	1	0.00	2798
7		Aronian,L	2748		22.0	15	0	0	½	½	0	½		½	1	0	1	1	1	1	0	1	0.00	2725
8		Wei,Y	2729		19.0	15	0	½	0	0	½	½	½		½	1	1	1	0	½	½	1	0.00	2705
9		Tari,A	2650		18.0	15	0	½	1	0	0	½	0	½		1	1	0	1	0	0	1	2.00	2660
10		Mamedyarov,S	2759		18.0	15	0	0	½	1	0	½	1	0	0		½	½	1	½	½	1	0.50	2682
11		Wojtaszek,R	2708		18.0	15	½	0	½	½	½	0	0	0	0	½		½	1	1	1	1	0.50	2686
12		Dominguez Perez,L	2754		17.0	15	½	0	½	½	½	½	0	0	1	½	½		1	0	½	1	0.00	2683
13		Ju,W	2560		16.0	15	0	0	0	1	½	0	0	1	0	0	0	0		1	1	1	0.00	2621
14		Niemann,H	2651		14.0	15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	1	½	0	1	0		1	1	0.00	2585
15		Shankland,S	2709		13.0	15	0	0	0	0	½	0	1	½	1	½	0	½	0	0		1	0.00	2582
16		Radjabov,T	2738		0.0	15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0.00	1905
TBs: Direct encounter, Wins, Koya

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