Grenke Classic: Rapport beats Carlsen, leads

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
3/27/2024 – The first two rounds of the Grenke Chess Classic were played on Tuesday at the Congress Centre in Karlsruhe. Richard Rapport emerged as the sole leader after beating Magnus Carlsen and drawing Ding Liren. Carlsen bounced back from his loss in round 1 by beating the tournament’s underdog, Daniel Fridman. | Photos: Grenke Chess

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Two renowned opponents

Richard Rapport, one of the most creative players in the elite chess circuit, emerged as sole leader after the first day of action at the Grenke Chess Classic in Karlsruhe. Rapport was paired up against the two biggest stars that made their way to the German southwestern city: Magnus Carlsen and Ding Liren.

In the first round, Rapport got to put pressure on Carlsen right from the get-go. Carlsen, who was playing black, managed to equalise the position but at the cost of entering deep time trouble — which led to him blundering the game away on move 40, in a drawn endgame.

Carlsen also played black in the second round, when he faced underdog Daniel Fridman, who qualified to participate by winning the Grenke Chess Open in 2019 (the last time the festival took place). The world number one correctly sacrificed a piece for two pawns and a strong attack, getting big winning chances in the middlegame. A rollercoaster battle ensued, with both players making a number of mistakes. It was Carlsen who prevailed, though, as he showed his great technical ability to make the most of his rival’s errors in the endgame.

All remaining games ended drawn, with Vincent Keymer failing to convert a clearly advantageous position in his round-2 encounter against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Rapport 1 - 0 Carlsen

Rapport, who worked as Ding’s second in the 2023 World Championship match, got the upper hand in the opening struggle. He did not get a massive advantage but had his opponent thinking from the start while improving his pieces in a coordinated manner.

Despite engines evaluating this position as equal, White is for choice here, with more active pieces and a spatial advantage.

Carlsen handled the position proficiently though, as he found good counter-chances to keep the balance throughout. After surviving the most difficult stage of the game, however, Carlsen suddenly blundered in a drawn bishop-and-rook versus knight-and-rook endgame.

40...Nd2+ loses at once to 41.Rxd2. Carlsen resigned, as 41...Rxd2 fails to 42.Be3+, and White would emerge a piece up in a trivially winning endgame.

Fridman 0 - 1 Carlsen

Carlsen played enterprisingly with black, as he clearly intended to bounce back from the loss by beating the tournament’s underdog. The strategy worked out well — he got to open up the position in front of his opponent’s king with a knight sacrifice.

22...Nxg4 23.fxg4 Bxg4 followed, and after 24.Bh3 Qd7 25.Bxg4 Qxg4+ Black had two connected passers protected by his queen and f8-rook — albeit with a rather passive bishop standing behind a dark-squared pawn wall.

Black increased his advantage by bringing the other rook and advancing his passed pawns. However, a mistake on move 32 gave Fridman a sudden chance to balance the position. And the German grandmaster quickly found the unlikely recourse!

33.Ra8 breaks Black’s coordination — there followed 33...Rxa8 34.Qxf3 Qh3 35.Rh1 Rf8, and White managed to regain control, though Black still had more than enough compensation for the piece.

Both sides erred in the ensuing battle, but it was Fridman who made the last mistake, as he faltered in a materially imbalanced yet drawn endgame.

Defending this position two pawns down was never going to be easy against Carlsen. 49.Kc4 or 49.Rc2 would have kept the balance, though, while Fridman’s 49.Ra7+ allowed his famed opponent to make progress by giving up his d6-pawn.

Carlsen showed his usual, remarkable technique until securing a 68-move victory.

Keymer ½ - ½ Vachier-Lagrave

Even elite players struggle to convert what engines consider to be completely winning positions in tricky knight endgames. Keymer had an extra pawn in a pure knight ending while facing MVL in round 2.

Out of the four most natural continuations here, three are winning for White (41.g5+, 41.Nc3 or 41.Nc7), while Keymer’s 41.h5 allows 41...g5+, and the setup is suddenly drawn.

More mistakes followed, but MVL’s fighting spirit ended up prevailing, as the Frenchman managed to escape with a 71-move draw, leaving both contenders with fifty-percent scores after the first day of action.

Standings after round 2

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.