Grenke Classic: Magnus grinds a second win

Decisively strong

We named the last report from this year's Shamkir supertournament "Magnus makes it five", referring to the amount of wins he had obtained in Azerbaijan. By that time, his last round win over Alexander Grischuk was his third straight victory. Now, after having won his first two encounters in Karlsruhe, Magnus has "made it five" again...despite having started the single round robin with two Blacks.

The games from Shamkir have not been officially reported yet, but his 9 out of 11 so far in April has resulted in him gaining exactly twenty rating points, reaching an exorbitant 2865 mark, twenty-four points short of his historical record. Norwegian journalist Tarjei J. Svensen keeps track of all relevant stats about Carlsen and, before the event began, he pointed out the score Magnus would need to surpass his rating record...which now seems slightly less unreachable, given the fact that the world champion has four games with White left.

The new — more ambitious — version of Magnus surely welcomed the fact that his record against Paco Vallejo in classical chess does not include any draws. Before their Sunday encounter, the world champion had defeated Vallejo four times and lost on two occasions. As you might have already noticed, his win in round two, again, "made it five" for Magnus...

After twelve moves of a Ruy Lopez, the Norwegian decided to challenge Paco's setup by harassing White's bishop with a somewhat surprising advance:

Tactic Toolbox Ruy Lopez / Spanish Opening

Starting with Black's alternatives on move 3 and working through until the main lines of the Closed Lopez and the Marshall and Anti-Marshall, the viewer will find his knowledge of the opening developing in tandem with an improvement in his tactical ability.

Typical manoeuvres like 12...♜e8 or 12...♝g4 are perfectly playable in this position, but Magnus decided to go for the more challenging 12...g5, weakening his king indefinitely. Vallejo gave up the bishop pair with 13.♗xd6 ♛xd6 and the queens were immediately exchanged. Black had a shattered pawn structure, but the initiative was also on his side.

No draws in this match-up | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Carlsen played actively, advancing his d-pawn as quickly as possible to get rid of his position's structural issues, while creating problems for his rival. Vallejo, meanwhile, was having trouble dealing with the complexities of the position, which pushed him to spend way too much time from his clock. Each side had a rook, a knight, a bishop and two pawns, when Paco made a slight yet costly mistake:

The computer gives 37.♘a3 as the most accurate. From a human point of view, this choice also would have given White counterplay on the queenside after capturing Black's b-pawn, which, in hindsight, would have been very helpful. Instead, after 37.♘e3 ♜d2+ 38.♔h3 ♜d3, Magnus has a free hand to put pressure on White's position.

Paco managed to get rid of all the pawns left on the board, increasing his drawing chances, but needed to give up an exchange in order to do so:

White's only choice is to give up the rook for the knight with 50.♖xf4+ ♝xf4 and the tablebases dictate that, with perfect play, Black can give mate...in 54 moves! Defending such a position against an endgame virtuoso is not easy, however. Paco failed to find the most stubborn defensive resources and gave up the point after 73 moves. A second lengthy victory for the world champion. 

Endgame analysis with Magnus Carlsen and Jan Gustafsson

Chess Endgames 14 - The golden guidelines of endgame play

Rules of thumb are the key to everything when you are having to set the correct course in a complex endgame. In this final DVD of his series on the endgame, our endgame specialist introduces you to the most important of these rules of thumb.

Anand and Svidler score

While Carlsen needed over six hours to get both his wins so far, Vishy Anand and Peter Svidler managed to score on Sunday in around forty moves each. Anand inflicted Vincent Keymer his second loss of the event and Svidler got the better off the always ambitious Arkadij Naiditsch.

Keymer bravely played the Najdorf against Vishy, despite the fact that the former world champion has always been one of the strongest practitioners of the Sicilian. Thus, the opening did not go well for the German youngster, as White was the one with all the positional trumps in the middlegame. In the post-game interview, Vishy pointed out that after 24...♞f4 he had a clear advantage:

Play the Sicilian Najdorf

In 60 minutes you will get a crash course how to play such a complicated opening like the Sicilian Najdorf by the hands of GM van Wely who knows by experience how the dangers look like! The contents:
• Video 1, 2, 3: how to survive versus whites most aggressive approach: 6. Bc4, 6. Be3 and 6 Bg5
• Video 4: how to deal with the latest fashion in the Najdorf 6. h3 and last but not least
• Video 5: how to play vs the more classical set ups 6. Be2 and 6. g3

After 25.♗xf4 exf4 Anand had 26.♖e6, a concrete manoeuvre that clearly showed who was on top. From that point on, it was all Vishy, who obtained a strong pawn phalanx on the queenside, which provoked Vincent to give up shortly after the time control:

There is no way anybody can survive this against Vishy.

A Sicilian expert from Madras | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Meanwhile, Svidler was facing Naiditsch's Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez. As noted by Peter afterwards, Arkadij does not play this — or any other — opening looking for a quick way to split the point, but instead as an attempt to get a game and go all in for the win. This time, however, the Azeri did not handle his position precisely and faced a ruthless Svidler, who kept putting pressure on his opponent's weak e4-pawn:

How to exchange pieces

Learn to master the right exchange! Let the German WGM Elisabeth Pähtz show you how to gain a strategic winning position by exchanging pieces of equal value or to safely convert material advantage into a win.

The player from Saint Petersburg calmly rerouted his knight to d6 with 30...♞d8, 31...♞b7 and 32...♞d6, creating more threats against White's vulnerable central structure. With all the positional advantages on his side, Black went on to push his h-pawn and calculate a precise way to break his opponent's defences. 

Black's knight and queen are attacked, but 37...♛b5 is enough to keep all the material advantage, and some more. Naiditsch resigned after 38.♕c2 ♞c4 39.e6 ♞xe3.

Peter Svidler | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Round-up show

Anti-London System

On this DVD GM Yannick Pelletier offers Black a repertoire against the London System that you can employ no matter which opening (Systems with d5, systems with g6, Queen's Indian, Queen's Gambit, Benoni, Benko, Dutch) you usually play against 1.d4 followed by 2.c4. Thematic games explain and illustrate the theory and ideas of the repertoire Pelletier proposes.

GM Yannick Pelletier takes a look at the highlights of Round 2
(Due to a technical hiccup, this video breaks after 26 minutes)

All games

Links

• Official site
• GRENKE Chess Classic with Carlsen, Caruana and Keymer
• Round 1: Carlsen wins marathon