Grand Chess Tour - Paris: Magnus Carlsen wins Rapid phase

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 three

All photos by Lennart Ootes

I'm wrong about everything. Yesterday I predicted Magnus Carlsen would run away from the rest of the field in the last three rounds of the rapid, and it turned out to be anything but.

It all started with another Carlsen-Karjakin game that would fit nicely in their World Championship match pattern. Once again, Magnus Carlsen was better, then he won a pawn, but Sergey Karjakin's trademark defensive resilience helped him save a draw in the ensuing knight endgame.

The game between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin was a loud echo of their world championship match in 2016

It wasn't much of a setback, since Magnus actually increased his lead to two points thanks to the following game by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Veselin Topalov gives Maxime Vachier-Lagrave some last minute advice... Tell us what you think that advice was in the feedback below!

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs Hikaru Nakamura

Alexander Grischuk kept pace by downing the poor Fabiano Caruana. Those French defense structures can be very deceiving.

Swiss GM Romain Edouard, who has also been a key commentator in French, is fluent in English as well, and appears beside GM Maurice Ashley in the English commentary

Alexander Grischuk vs Fabiano Caruana

The same pattern repeated in round eight. Magnus again tried to convert an extra pawn in, which this time was in a rook endgame, but it was Fabiano's turn to refuse to lose, and the game was drawn. Worse for Magnus was to see his pursuers, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Alexander Grischuk and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, all win to cut down his lead to a minimum.

Azeri GM Shakriyar Mamedyarov is famous for his dynamic play and speed chess expertise

Before the last round Magnus was just one point (remember: rapid games count for double) ahead of Alexander and Shakhriar, who were to face each other. The game turned out to be one-sided and surprisingly easy for Grischuk.

Alexander Grischuk vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

That suddenly put a lot of pressure on Carlsen to deliver the goods against the very stubborn Etienne Bacrot. At stake was a clear first place, which of course doesn't yet equate to overall tournament success, but still, Magnus wanted it badly.

Magnus Carlsen vs Etienne Bacrot

So this is where they stand before a double round-robin blitz that runs Saturday and Sunday. Carlsen's lead of one point over Grischuk, two ahead of Nakamura and three points over Mamedyarov and top Frenchman MVL, can hardly be called insurmountable with 18 games to play.

A lot can happen this weekend, but we should also remember that for Alexander and Shak this tournament is just a one shot deal. Their plan is to take the money and run, while Nakamura and Vachier-Lagrave have to think in terms of the Tour standings. Considering Carlsen's overwhelming performance at the Norway Chess pre-tournament blitz, it is hard to bet against Magnus taking the whole 13 Tour points haul with him, but as they say, stranger things have happened.

Providing French commentary live, and later in the summary

The blitz will have its dark horse in Karjakin, who holds the title of World Blitz Champion from Doha at the end of 2016.

Am I forgetting anyone? Where's Wesley So? After an encouraging start – he was level with Carlsen after Wednesday – Wesley was not able to win a single game out of the remaining six. His play was flat and uninspiring, on par with his recent performance at Norway Chess. I cannot see So suddenly shaking the cobwebs off and coming back strong in the blitz. His last game in the rapid showed no indication of that coming, and worse.

Wesley So vs Sergey Karjakin

You read my predictions today, tomorrow I might have to eat crow. Sometimes I think my words have the twisted power to jinx the favorite and rejuvenate the underdog at the same time. Remember, I'm wrong about everything.

Final rapid standings

Links

• Official tournament site
• All Rapid games in PGN or Replay them directly here (many analyzed)

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.