Grand Chess Tour - Paris Express: Magnus Carlsen beats Vachier-Lagrave in playoff

by ChessBase
6/25/2017 – It was a thrilling finish on day five, with everyone expecting it to come down to a race between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, but the chess gods had other plans. In an amazing last day surge, showing nothing was decided, French player Maxime Vachier-Lagrave surged, while both Carlsen and Nakamura faded, and ended tied with the World Champion in the overall standings. Once again Magnus Carlsen showed his pressure play chops and won the playoff and title. Express report.

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The Paris tournament of the Grand Chess Tour is running from June 21-25. It is a combination of Rapid and Blitz games. The ten participants are Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Grischuk, Sergey Karjakin, Veselin Topalov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Etienne Bacrot. They will play nine rapid games, three a day, from June 21–23. The games start at 14:00h, 15:30h and 17:00h European Standard Summer Time. The Blitz tournament is on June 24 and 25, with nine rounds on each day, starting at 14:00h. The total prize fund is $150,000!

Note that the event is using the Bronstein mode: the players have 25 minutes for all the moves of a rapid game, and a ten second delay per move. This means that the clock does not run for ten seconds – the point is that you cannot accumulate time by playing very quickly in the Bronstein Mode.

Day five

Full report with grandmaster analysis to follow...

Replay blitz games

 
Live: Champions Showdown Kings 2025
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Result:
1–0
Robson-Dominguez Perez
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Position not in LiveBook
1.d4 13 Nf6 13 2.c4 3 e6 3 3.Nc3 3 Bb4 3 4.g3 4 d5 21 5.Bg2 3 0-0 6 6.Nf3 10 dxc4 5 7.0-0 9 Nc6 13 8.a3 3 8.Re1 is the fancy move. Be7 17 9.e4 3 E20: Nimzo-Indian: 4 g3 and 4 f3. 9.Be3= 9...Na5 53 10.Be3 36 Nb3 29 11.Rb1 13 White sacrificed a pawn. The position is equal. c5 3 12.dxc5 18 Bxc5 3 13.Bxc5 2 Nxc5 3 14.Qe2!?N 1 An interesting novelty. Predecessor: 14.Ne5 b6 15.Nc6 Qxd1 16.Rbxd1 Bb7 17.e5 Bxc6 18.Bxc6 Rac8 19.exf6 Rxc6 20.fxg7 Kxg7 14...b6 23 15.Rfd1 7:25 Qe8 18:47 16.Qxc4 17:37 Ba6 1:56 17.Qd4 1:51 Rd8 3:42 Prevents e5 18.Qe3 11 Rxd1+ 12:05 18...Bd3 feels hotter. 19.Rbc1 Ng4 20.Qg5 Nh6 19.Rxd1 17 Na4 3 20.e5 1:20 Nxc3 4:57 21.exf6 10:46 Qa4! 2 21...Nxd1 22.Qg5 g6 23.Qh6 Nxb2 24.Qg7# 22.Rd2 11:45 22.Rd4!? Ne2+ 23.Qxe2 Qxd4 24.Qxa6 24.Nxd4 Bxe2 25.Nxe2 Rd8= 24...Qd1+ 25.Qf1± 22...Nd5 4:44 23.Qd4 7 Reject 23.Rd4 Qc2 24.Qd2 Rc8 23...Qxd4 48 24.Nxd4 15 Nxf6 1:52 25.Nc6 10 Dodges Rd8 Bc4 6 26.Nxa7 33 Bd5 23 27.Rc2 1:42 Bxg2 4:55 28.Kxg2 3 Endgame KRN-KRN Rb8 13 29.Kf3 4:27 Kf8 47 30.Rc8+ 28 Rxc8 2 31.Nxc8 3 KN-KN Nd5 9 32.Ke4 21 f6 2:10 33.Nd6 2:46 g6 57 34.f4 3:02 Ke7 13 35.Nb5 59 Kd7 16 36.Kd4 18 Ne7 1:48 37.Kc4 41 Nf5 3:38 38.Kd3 18 Against Ne3 h5 32 38...Nh6= 39.Nd4 13 e5 38 40.fxe5 19 fxe5 1 41.Ne2 14 Ke6 47 41...Nd6= 42.a4± 11 Black is on the road to losing. g5 16
42...Nd6± 43.b4!+- 13 g4? 21 43...Nd6 was worth a try. 44.Nc3 Kf5 44.a5 10 bxa5 2 45.bxa5 1 Kd5? 9 45...Ne7 46.a6 37 White is clearly winning. e4+ 45 47.Kc3 1 Nd6 4 48.Nf4+ 17 Kc5 34 49.Nxh5 2 Nb5+ 11 50.Kd2 1 Kd4 6 51.Nf6 14 e3+ 1 52.Ke2 28 Nc3+ 11 53.Ke1 3 Threatening mate with a7!. Nb5 2 54.Nxg4 9 Hoping for h4. Ke4 6 55.h4 12 Kf3 7
56.Nxe3! 6 Kxe3 2 56...Ke4 57.Kf2 57.h5 1 Weighted Error Value: White=0.03 (flawless) /Black=0.76 Mistake: --- Black=5 Inaccurate: White=1 Black=4 OK: White=15 Black=10 Best: White=5 Black=3 Strong: White=1 Black=1
1–0
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StWhiteEloWBlackEloBResRndid
Nakamura,H2802Caruana,F28031.36944003
Aronian,L2745So,W27471.36944002
Robson,R2689Dominguez Perez,L27411.36944004
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Replay playoff games

 
Live: Champions Showdown Kings 2025
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Result:
1–0
Robson-Dominguez Perez
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Position not in LiveBook
1.d4 13 Nf6 13 2.c4 3 e6 3 3.Nc3 3 Bb4 3 4.g3 4 d5 21 5.Bg2 3 0-0 6 6.Nf3 10 dxc4 5 7.0-0 9 Nc6 13 8.a3 3 8.Re1 is the fancy move. Be7 17 9.e4 3 E20: Nimzo-Indian: 4 g3 and 4 f3. 9.Be3= 9...Na5 53 10.Be3 36 Nb3 29 11.Rb1 13 White sacrificed a pawn. The position is equal. c5 3 12.dxc5 18 Bxc5 3 13.Bxc5 2 Nxc5 3 14.Qe2!?N 1 An interesting novelty. Predecessor: 14.Ne5 b6 15.Nc6 Qxd1 16.Rbxd1 Bb7 17.e5 Bxc6 18.Bxc6 Rac8 19.exf6 Rxc6 20.fxg7 Kxg7 14...b6 23 15.Rfd1 7:25 Qe8 18:47 16.Qxc4 17:37 Ba6 1:56 17.Qd4 1:51 Rd8 3:42 Prevents e5 18.Qe3 11 Rxd1+ 12:05 18...Bd3 feels hotter. 19.Rbc1 Ng4 20.Qg5 Nh6 19.Rxd1 17 Na4 3 20.e5 1:20 Nxc3 4:57 21.exf6 10:46 Qa4! 2 21...Nxd1 22.Qg5 g6 23.Qh6 Nxb2 24.Qg7# 22.Rd2 11:45 22.Rd4!? Ne2+ 23.Qxe2 Qxd4 24.Qxa6 24.Nxd4 Bxe2 25.Nxe2 Rd8= 24...Qd1+ 25.Qf1± 22...Nd5 4:44 23.Qd4 7 Reject 23.Rd4 Qc2 24.Qd2 Rc8 23...Qxd4 48 24.Nxd4 15 Nxf6 1:52 25.Nc6 10 Dodges Rd8 Bc4 6 26.Nxa7 33 Bd5 23 27.Rc2 1:42 Bxg2 4:55 28.Kxg2 3 Endgame KRN-KRN Rb8 13 29.Kf3 4:27 Kf8 47 30.Rc8+ 28 Rxc8 2 31.Nxc8 3 KN-KN Nd5 9 32.Ke4 21 f6 2:10 33.Nd6 2:46 g6 57 34.f4 3:02 Ke7 13 35.Nb5 59 Kd7 16 36.Kd4 18 Ne7 1:48 37.Kc4 41 Nf5 3:38 38.Kd3 18 Against Ne3 h5 32 38...Nh6= 39.Nd4 13 e5 38 40.fxe5 19 fxe5 1 41.Ne2 14 Ke6 47 41...Nd6= 42.a4± 11 Black is on the road to losing. g5 16
42...Nd6± 43.b4!+- 13 g4? 21 43...Nd6 was worth a try. 44.Nc3 Kf5 44.a5 10 bxa5 2 45.bxa5 1 Kd5? 9 45...Ne7 46.a6 37 White is clearly winning. e4+ 45 47.Kc3 1 Nd6 4 48.Nf4+ 17 Kc5 34 49.Nxh5 2 Nb5+ 11 50.Kd2 1 Kd4 6 51.Nf6 14 e3+ 1 52.Ke2 28 Nc3+ 11 53.Ke1 3 Threatening mate with a7!. Nb5 2 54.Nxg4 9 Hoping for h4. Ke4 6 55.h4 12 Kf3 7
56.Nxe3! 6 Kxe3 2 56...Ke4 57.Kf2 57.h5 1 Weighted Error Value: White=0.03 (flawless) /Black=0.76 Mistake: --- Black=5 Inaccurate: White=1 Black=4 OK: White=15 Black=10 Best: White=5 Black=3 Strong: White=1 Black=1
1–0
  • 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.
StWhiteEloWBlackEloBResRndid
Nakamura,H2802Caruana,F28031.36944003
Aronian,L2745So,W27471.36944002
Robson,R2689Dominguez Perez,L27411.36944004
Load selected games
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Of particular interest in our Live Broadcast screen above (maximize for full enjoyment) is that the games of the round have been analysed and annotated by a very powerful computer – in real time. The machine analysis included didactic opening notes, tactical analysis, threats, better lines – all given in natural language. This is what our Live Broadcast page looked like at 5:20 p.m., with the second tiebreak game under way (click to enlarge):

At the bottom of the notation window on the right there is an evaluation bar which indicates how the game went for the two players. You can simply click on the bar to jump to the position where things came to a head. There are also buttons for editing (delete, promote, cut lines, unannotate, undo, redo) save, play out the position against Fritz or tweet it to others. Hovering the mouse over any button will show you its function. The Live Book section shows you the moves that have been played in the current position, by what level of players and with what results. The Live Book is the most comprehensive and up-to-date openings key in the world.

You can maximize the replayer, auto-play, flip the board and even change the piece style in the bar below the board. You can access the live games at any time during the round. To the right of our news page you have the live tournament navigation.

Final Rapid standings*

(click for full-size)

*Note: All rapid games count double in combined standings

Final Blitz standings

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Combined standings

Playoff

Links

You can use ChessBase 14 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.


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