Hamburg GP: Grischuk scores crucial win

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
11/13/2019 – Alexander Grischuk knocked Maxime Vachier-Lagrave out of the Grand Prix in Hamburg by beating him in the second classical game of the semi-finals. Grischuk thus massively increased his chances to reach the 2020 Candidates Tournament through the series. Meanwhile, Daniil Dubov got a slight edge against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, but could not make much of it — their semi-final match-up will be decided in tiebreaks. | Photo: Valeria Gordienko
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Zugzwang

The third leg of the FIDE Grand Prix is being played in Hamburg, Germany. The 16-player knockout has a €130,000 prize fund, with the series as a whole having an additional prize fund of €280,000 plus two qualifying spots for the 2020 Candidates Tournament. The tournament takes place in the Kehrwieder Haus from November 5th to 17th. You can find more info here.

The key match-up in the race to get one of the Candidates spots in Hamburg ended up favouring Alexander Grischuk. During the previous leg in Riga, the Russian had lost against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the semi-finals, but now he was the one knocking out the French to reach the final. 

Grischuk is one of six players that are playing their third and last tournament of the Grand Prix series. Depending on his result in the final, he will end up with anything in the range of 17 to 21 points in the overall standings table. Vachier-Lagrave (13 points), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (10) and Ian Nepomniachtchi (9) will all be playing in Jerusalem. A perfect run at a GP event gives the winner 12 points, in which case the maximum amount of points the runner-up can get is 8. Thus the relevance of Grischuk's win over 'MVL' — beating a direct rival left him with very good odds to finish in the top two.  

Match results

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Grischuk 1½:½ Vachier-Lagrave

With the white pieces, Grischuk decided to avoid a highly theoretical battle, a decision that worked out well against one of the strongest Najdorf/Grünfeld experts. Perhaps noticing that he was not getting much of the opening, Vachier-Lagrave gave up the bishop pair on move 17, giving his rival a small but important strategical edge. A little later, Grischuk made a critical pawn push:

 
Grischuk vs. Vachier-Lagrave
Position after 20...Qe7

Engines do not think Grischuk's 21.h5 is the very best alternative, but this human move had a strong impact during the ending that would eventually ensue in the game. When all that was left on the board were queens, a white bishop, a black knight and four pawns per side, Black had nothing better than to fracture his structure:

 
Position after 37.Qd7

After 37...g5 38.hxg6 ♚xg6, the isolated h-pawn became a new target for White. 

When Grischuk attacked Black's f7-pawn with his queen and bishop, Vachier-Lagrave decided to swap the queens and go into a pure knight v bishop endgame. Grischuk transferred his king to h5, which meant Black needed to keep his monarch on g7, passively defending the h-pawn, while his knight was alone stopping the a-pawn from advancing on the other flank. It was high time for White to use some zugzwang manoeuvres in order to make progress:

 
Position after 50.Bg2

Grischuk had patiently reached this setup by moving his bishop along the f1-a6 diagonal, while Black had less flexibility with his knight. Now after 50...d4 White can start thinking about using his king to attack the d-pawn. Grischuk continued to calmly manoeuvre his bishop until getting the all-important 63-move win.  

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e3 e6 6.Bc4 A17: English Opening: 1...Nf6 with ...Bb4 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Qe2 The position is equal. Nc6 9.Rd1 b6N Predecessor: 9...Nb6 10.Bb5 Bd7 11.d4 cxd4 12.exd4 Nb4 13.Bxd7 Qxd7 1/2-1/2 (42) Eljanov,P (2755)-Harikrishna, P (2766) Wijk aan Zee 2017 10.d4 With the idea Nxd5. Nxc3 11.bxc3 Qc7 12.e4 Rd8 13.Be3 13.d5!? Na5 14.Bd3= 13...Na5 14.Bd3 Bb7 15.h4 b5 15...Rac8 looks sharper. 16.Rac1 h6 17.Bb1 Kf8 18.Bd3 Kg8 16.Bxb5 Bxe4 17.dxc5 17.Ng5!? a6 18.Bxa6= 18.Nxe4 axb5 19.Qxb5 cxd4= 17...Bxf3 17...Bd5= keeps the balance. 18.Qxf3± Bxc5 19.Bf4 Qb7 20.Qe2 Qe7 21.h5 Bd6 22.Bxd6 Rxd6 23.Rxd6 Qxd6 24.Rd1 Qc5 24...Qb6! 25.Rd7 Black must now prevent Qe4. Qxc3 26.Qd1 White should try 26.Qe4!± Rc8 27.Qf4 26...h6 27.g3 Rf8 28.Rxa7 Nc6 29.Rd7 Ne5 30.Rd8 Qc7 31.Rxf8+ Kxf8 32.a4 Hoping for a5! Ke7 33.Be2 Qc3 34.Qb1! Nc6 34...Kf6 35.Qb7+! Kf6 36.Bf1 Na5 37.Qd7 Threatens to win with Qd8+. g5 38.hxg6! Kxg6 39.Kg2 Kg7 40.Bb5 Qe5 41.Qd3 Qc5 42.Qf3 Qd4 43.Be8 Qd5 44.Qxd5 exd5 Endgame KB-KN 45.Kf3 Kf6
46.Kg4! Ke7 Black should play 46...Ke6 47.Bb5 Kf6? 47...Kd6± is a better chance. 48.Kh5+- Kg7 49.Bf1 Nb3 50.Bg2 d4 51.Bf1 Nd2 52.Bd3 And now a5 would win. Nb3 53.Bf1 Nd2! 54.Bd3 Strongly threatening a5. Nb3! 55.Bb5 f6? 55...Kf8 56.Kxh6 Ke7 56.Bf1 Na5 57.Ba6 Nb3 58.Bb5 Na5 59.Kg4 Nb7 60.Kf4 Nc5? 60...Nd6 61.Bc6 Nc4 61.a5 White is clearly winning. d3 62.Ke3 d2
63.Be2! Accuracy: White = 75%, Black = 38%. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Grischuk,A2764Vachier-Lagrave,M27771–02019Grand Prix Hamburg 20193.2

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Vachier-Lagrave won both prior rounds without needing tiebreaks | Photo: Nadja Wittmann 

Dubov 1:1 Duda

Given Dubov's track record in the last couple of tournaments, it was slightly surprising to see him going for a line in which White gets a small edge after a queen trade that came as early as move 12. Dubov explained:

Maybe White is not better, but it's probably time to play a game that would consist of more than twelve moves or something. [...] I have to admit that Jan-Krzysztof probably defended reasonably well — even now, I don't see a point where I could win by force or anything.

The players will return to the Theater Kehrwieder on Wednesday, when a series of rapid games will decide who will be facing Grischuk in the final.

 
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1.e41,183,38754%2421---
1.d4958,44955%2434---
1.Nf3286,13156%2441---
1.c4184,60856%2443---
1.g319,87756%2427---
1.b314,59854%2428---
1.f45,95348%2377---
1.Nc33,90550%2384---
1.b41,79048%2378---
1.a31,24954%2406---
1.e31,08149%2409---
1.d396950%2378---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446654%2382---
1.c343951%2425---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a411860%2461---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39267%2511---
1.Na34762%2476---
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qb3 dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bf5 6.g3 e6 7.Bg2 Be7 8.0-0 D23: Queen's Gambit Accepted: 3 Nf3 Nf6 sidelines 0-0 9.Qb3 9.Nc3 Nbd7 10.Re1 Rc8 11.e4 Bg4 12.Qb3 b5 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Bxf3 e5 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Bg2 Bc5 17.Rd1 Qe7 1/2-1/2 (42) Mamedyarov,S (2820)-Borisek,J (2578) Batumi 2018 9...Qb6 10.Nbd2 Nbd7 11.Nc4 Qxb3 12.axb3 Be4 13.Bf4 c5N Predecessor: 13...Rfc8 14.Nd6 Bxd6 15.Bxd6 c5 1/2-1/2 (49) Pert,N (2475)-Haznedaroglu,K (2345) Patras 2001 14.Rfc1 Rfc8 15.Nd6 Bxd6! 16.Bxd6 cxd4 17.Nxd4 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 a6 19.f3 Ne8 20.Bb4 g6 21.e4 21.Rd1 keeps more tension. Nef6 22.Rd2 Nc5 23.e4 e5 24.Bxc5 Rxc5 25.Nc2 21...e5 22.Ne2 Rxc1 23.Rxc1 f6 24.Rd1 Nf8 25.f4 exf4 26.Nxf4 Rc8 27.Kh3 g5 28.Nh5 Ne6 29.Rf1 Nc5 30.Nxf6+ Nxf6 The position is equal. 31.Rxf6 Nxe4 32.Re6 Nf2+ 33.Kg2 Accuracy: White = 60%, Black = 48%. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Dubov,D2676Duda,J2748½–½2019Grand Prix Hamburg 20193.2

Daniil Dubov

Daniil Dubov on his way to the playing hall | Photo: Valeria Gordienko

Commentary webcast

Commentary by GM Evgeny Miroshnichenko

Schedule

Nov. 5–7 Round 1 + Tie-breaks
Nov. 8–10 Round 2 + Tie-breaks
Nov. 11-13 Semi-final + Tie-breaks
Nov. 14 Rest day
Nov. 15-17 Final + Tie-breaks

Links

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.

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