Grenke Classic: Carlsen and Rapport to fight for first place

Carlsen beats Keymer, Keymer beats Ding

Magnus Carlsen secured a spot in the final match of the Grenke Chess Classic by beating Vincent Keymer in the penultimate round of the all-play-all section. Carlsen drew Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the next game to end the stage in sole first place with 7/10 points.

Clear second place went to Richard Rapport, who drew both his games on Sunday. Thus, Rapport gained the right to face Carlsen in Monday’s match for tournament victory.

The match will consist of two ‘fast-classical’ games (45 minutes for the game with 10-second increments), which will be followed by blitz encounters in case of a tie — first with a 10+2 time control and then with a 5+2 time control. If the tie remains, an Armageddon encounter will decide the outcome of the match.

Similar matches will decide who gets third and fifth places, with Vachier-Lagrave facing Keymer for third, and Ding Liren facing Daniel Fridman for fifth.

In the final standings of the round-robin, Carlsen (7 points), Rapport (6) and Vachier-Lagrave (5) finished in clear first, second and third places, respectively. However, a tie for fourth place between Ding, Keymer and Fridman (all with 4 points) meant a blitz double round-robin between the three would decide MVL’s rival in the match for third place.

Keymer, who only qualified to the tiebreaker after beating Ding in round 10, outscored his colleagues to become MVL’s opponent in Monday’s final confrontation.

Final standings

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Carlsen 1 - 0 Keymer

Analysis by Klaus Besenthal

Carlsen, Magnus2830

1–0

Keymer, Vincent2738

GRENKE Chess Classic 2024 Karlsruhe31.03.2024[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 d6 5.g3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 b6 7.Nd2 Bb7 8.f3 e5 9.e4 0-0 10.Bd3 Nc6 11.Nb3 Ne7 12.0-0 h6 13.Rb1 Ba6 14.f4 Nh7 15.f5 Kh8 16.Na1 Ng8 17.Nc2 g5 18.Ne3 Ngf6 19.Rb2 Re8 20.Qf3 c5 21.d5 Rg8 22.h3 Kg7 23.a4 Bc8 24.Ra2 Bd7 25.Qd1 Rb8 26.Bd2 Rb7 27.Be1 Kf8 28.Rff2 Ke7 29.Rfb2 Qc7 30.g4 a6 31.Qe2 a5 32.Qf3 Qd8 33.Rh2 Qe8 34.Bc2 Qf8 35.Kf1 Kd8 36.Bd1 Kc7 37.Ke2 Rb8 38.Kd2 Qg7 39.Kc1 Rh8 40.Rh1 Rbg8 41.Rah2 Qf8 42.Kb2 Qe8 43.Ka3 Qf8 44.Bd2 Qe8 45.Bc1 Qf8 46.Nf1 Qe7 47.Ng3 Qf8

You hardly ever see anything like this at the world-class level. After just under 50 moves, just one minor piece has disappeared from the board - all eight pawns are still alive for both sides. Carlsen, who always wants to win, now reaches for the only remaining lever. 48.h4 It's interesting to see how Carlsen calmly prepared for this advance. The game will be played almost exclusively on the kingside for a while. Consequently, the king is on the queenside, while all the pieces, including the bishops, are on the kingside or are attacking that side. Keymer acted in a very similar way, but had to make do with less space. However, the computers see no real advantage for either side here. Qg7 49.Qg2 Bc8 Better was 49...gxh4 50.Rxh4 Ng5 White simply can't get any further because he must always keep an eye on his pawns on e4 and g4. The same approach as in the game would not be as effective here due to a small difference: 51.Nh5 Nxh5 52.Rxh5 f6 53.Qh2 Be8!= 50.hxg5 Nxg5 51.Nh5 Nxh5 52.Rxh5 f6 53.Qh2 Carlsen gives up his e-pawn. Nxe4? Better was 53...Bd7 54.Bxg5 fxg5 55.Rxh6 Rxh6 56.Qxh6 Qxh6 57.Rxh6 Be8 White is a pawn up and the computers see a big advantage for him, but it's not immediately clear how this can be realised. 54.Bxh6 Qe7 55.Kb2 Bd7 56.Rh4 Be8 57.Bc2 Rxh6 Obviously this is the only way to save the e4-knight. 58.Rxh6 Ng5 59.Rh8 Rxh8 60.Qxh8

A hopeless position for Black - at least against Carlsen! Nevertheless, it's impressive how everything subsequently falls into place perfectly for White. 60...e4 61.Qh2 Nf3 62.Qf4 Ng5 63.Kb3 Bd7 64.Re1 Qf8 65.Ka3 Qh8 66.Bxe4 Qh3 67.Kb2 Qh7 Rh1 was the threat. 68.Bc2 Qg7 69.Re6! Nf7 69...Bxe6 70.dxe6 Qh6 71.Be4 Qh4 72.Ba8 Qe1 73.Qh2+- 70.g5! Qxg5 71.Qxg5 fxg5 72.f6 Ne5 73.Rxe5 1–0

Vincent Keymer | Photo: Angelika Valkova

Keymer 1 - 0 Ding

Analysis by Klaus Besenthal

Keymer, Vincent2738

1–0

Ding, Liren2762

GRENKE Chess Classic 2024 Karlsruhe31.03.2024[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.c4 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nfd7 6.h4 Nc6 7.Qxc4 Bg7 8.Nc3 Nb6 9.Qb3 h6 10.d3 0-0 11.0-0 e5 12.Ne4 a5 13.Bd2 Bg4 14.Qd1 Nd5 15.Rc1 Nd4 16.Nxd4 exd4

After a rather quiet opening phase, in which they got out of theory early on, a tactical sequence now begins - which doesn't really stop until the end. 17.Qb3 The queen threatens the b7-pawn, but the knight on d5 is also endangered by this move. c6 17...Bxe2? 18.Rfe1 Bg4 19.Nc5 would be good for White. However, it was possible to go for 17...a4 18.Qxb7 Rb8 19.Qc6 Rxb2 20.Rc2 Rxc2 21.Qxc2= 18.Qxb7 Bxe2? Necessary was 18...Rb8 19.Qxc6 Rxb2 20.Rc2 Bd7 21.Qc4 Rxc2 22.Qxc2 Nc3 Black has counterplay for the pawn. 19.Rfe1 Bxd3 20.Nc5 Rb8 21.Qxc6 Rxb2 22.Bxd5 Bb5 22...Rxd2 fails due to 23.Nd7 The f8-rook cannot move, and once it is captured, one of the white rooks threatens to infiltrate on the back rank. 23.Qb7 d3 24.Ne6! fxe6 25.Rxe6 Kh8 25...Kh7 26.Rxg6 Kxg6 27.Be4+ Kf6 28.Bc3++- 26.Rxg6 Bd7 27.Rxh6+! Bxh6 28.Qxb2+ Bg7 29.Bc3 Bxc3 30.Qxc3+ Qf6 31.Be4 1–0

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Ding Liren | Photo: Angelika Valkova

All games

All games - Tiebreaks

Links

• Official website
• Grenke Classic: Magnus caps grand performance with a win (2019)
• Grenke Classic: Caruana clear first after clutch win (2018)
• Grenke Classic: Aronian misses win in exciting finale (2017)