Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz: Karjakin ascendent

Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz

Day 4

In Saint Louis, a minor difference in time control has made the Blitz event more interesting for spectators, and tenser for the players. It's not uncommon in international blitz tournaments to give both the players five minutes each for the whole game, plus an additional three seconds added to the clock after each move. Thus, for example, after making 10 moves on the board, the players would have used not only the initial five minutes, but also a cumulative gain of 30 seconds added to their clock.

(Above) What you see is what you get! | (Below) Kasparov gesturing to keep things quiet | Photos: Lennart Ootes

But in the current event, instead of adding of three seconds, there is a Bronstein time delay of three seconds added back after each move. This means that when a player plays every move fast, he gains no additional time as a consequence. Rather, to opmtimise available time it would make sense to fully use all three seconds available for him for each move, which is difficult to do in practice.

The advantage for spectators is that the time you see on any player's clock is the maximum he will ever have in the game, whereas in other international events, a few quick moves can easily change the clock situation for a player dramatically. This is one reason why we have in fact seen several time forfeits occur in the event so far.

Overall, the quality of games remained very high for blitz, as the field contains specialists in the shortest form of the game (Nakamura, Nepomniachtchi, Le and Aronian).

There were two curious incidents, both involving Vishy Anand. In his game against Nakamura in the third round, a draw was agreed on the 27th move, unitl International Arbiter Chris Bird reminded the players about the 30 move minimum rule. As the matter was being clarified at the board, the commotion disturbed Kasparov, playing on the adjacent board, and he was visibly annoyed.

Here's the moment, as it happened:

Kasparov annoyed by noise | CCSCSL on YouTube

Incidentally, a similar occurrance in the Rapid event in the game between Anand and Kasparov has made Chris Bird a bit notorious. 

The other incident involving Anand happened in his game against Karjakin in the last round, when the following position was reached:

Now, Black’s Rook moving to a4 would mean a three-fold repetition. Instead of stopping the clock and making his claim to the arbiter, as the rules require, Anand executed the move 57...Ra4 on the board and then claimed a draw. The position already had been repeated three times, but it was now White to move. His claim was therefore rejected by the arbiter.

Karjakin continued with 58.Kb3 after which Anand had yet another opportunity for threefold repetition as the position after 58...Ra1 too would have been repeated three times. However, a flummoxed Anand instead varied with 58...Rxh4? afer which Karjakin’s passed pawn on a5 proved to be the pivotal factor of the position. Anand lost the game in five more moves.

Anand with his second, Grzegorz Gajewski | Photo: Austin Fuller

The former world champion was understandably dejected with his form and pronounced, “It's a catastrophe but there's not much you can do about it. You have to play tomorrow”.

Standings after Blitz Round 9

Blitz only

Combined

Games and commentary

Commentary by GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Maurice Ashley, and WGM Jennifer Shahade

Links

• Official site
• Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
• Goodbye Sinquefield Cup, hello Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz
• Day 1 & 2: Nepomniachtchi first to clear lead
• Day 3: Kasparov was "too democratic"