Jerusalem GP: Navara ousts Jakovenko

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
12/16/2019 – David Navara was the first player to secure a spot in the semi-finals of the Jerusalem Grand Prix, as he got a clean 37-move victory over Dmitry Jakovenko. The rest of the games finished drawn, which means three match-ups will be decided in Monday's tiebreaker rounds: Vachier-Lagrave v Andreikin, So v Nepomniachtchi and Wei Yi v Karjakin. | Photo: Niki Riga

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"One of us has to win"


The fourth leg of the FIDE Grand Prix is being played in Jerusalem, Israel. 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 Notre Dame of Jerusalem Centre from December 11th to 23rd.


After day one of the quarter-finals finished with disappointingly short draws on all boards, FIDE Press Officer Anastasiya Karlovich made a point of asking the players about the controversial decision to choose pragmatism over combativeness. Wesley So responded impassively, pointing out that "one of us has to win" in the end. This is simply a logical consequence of using the knock-out format in events with so much at stake. Or, as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave put it:

I understand the frustration from the point of view of the spectators, but for me it's about something else, it's about qualifying for the Candidates, so for this one I cannot be entertaining, at least not if it diminishes my chances.

The Frenchman played with Black in the rematch against Dmitry Andreikin, and the players explored a line that was made famous in a game from the 90s, when Joel Lautier drew Garry Kasparov in Tilburg. This prompted 'MVL' to comment that this is now a sort of France v Russia battleground. Andreikin deviated from the famed game on move 20:

 
Andreikin vs. Vachier-Lagrave
Position after 19...Kf7

Lautier had played 20.♖c7 here, and a draw was agreed. Andreikin opted for 20.f1, but after 20...b8 21.c3 the queenside pawns were exchanged and the point was split soon after. 

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nb4 6.Bb5+ N8c6 7.d4 cxd4 8.a3 dxc3 9.Qxd8+ Kxd8 10.axb4 cxb2 11.Bxb2 e6 The position is equal. 12.0-0 A34: Symmetrical English: 2 Nc3, lines with ...d5 Bd7 13.Bxc6 13.Rfd1 keeps more tension. Ke8 14.Rd3 a6 15.Ba4 Bxb4 16.Rad1 13...Bxc6 14.Ne5 Ke8 15.Nxc6 bxc6 16.Ra4 16.Ra6 Bxb4 17.Bxg7 Rg8 18.Bf6 Kd7 19.Rfa1 Bc5 1/2-1/2 (31) Liu,Y (2516)-Xu,X (2588) Daqing 2018 16...f6 17.Rfa1 Be7N Predecessor: 17...Kf7 18.Rxa7+ Rxa7 19.Rxa7+ 1/2-1/2 (20) Gajarsky,J (2285)-Fenes,L (2398) Slovakia 2003 18.Rxa7 Rxa7 19.Rxa7= KRB-KRB Kf7 20.Kf1 Rb8 21.Bc3 Kf8 22.Rc7 Bxb4 23.Rxc6 Bxc3 24.Rxc3 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Andreikin,D2724Vachier-Lagrave,M2780½–½2019Grand Prix Jerusalem 20192.2

Dmitry Andreikin, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

The game attracted David Navara's attention | Photo: Niki Riga

The other match-up relevant to the Candidates race lasted 18 moves, as Wesley So showed good preparation with Black against Ian Nepomniachtchi. The American opted for a classical Ruy Lopez setup, explaining that Ding Liren had used it successfully against Vachier-Lagrave in London. Nepomniachtchi added:

This line with 12.xa2 is all about the 16...c8 move, so if Black knows ...♛c8 he's probably equalizing...and the game is not gonna be eventful, so I don't think the chess fans missed something.

So commented in turn:

Now we move on to the tiebreaks, where Ian is always very fast.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a3 0-0 9.Nc3 Na5 C77: Ruy Lopez: 3...a6 4 Ba4 Nf6, unusual lines 10.Ba2 Be6 11.b4 Bxa2 12.Nxa2N 12.Rxa2 Nc6 13.Bg5 Qd7 14.Bxf6 Bxf6 15.Nd5 Bd8 16.c4 Nd4 17.Ne3 Nxf3+ 18.Qxf3 1/2-1/2 (71) Motylev,A (2668)-Tomashevsky,E (2706) Izhevsk 2019 12...Nc6 The position is equal. 13.c4 Nd4 14.Nc3 c6 15.Be3 Nxf3+ 16.Qxf3 Qc8 17.h3 Qe6 18.Rfc1 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nepomniachtchi,I2767So,W2760½–½2019Grand Prix Jerusalem 20192.2

Ian Nepomniachtchi, Wesley So

Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi | Photo: Niki Riga

The one decisive game of the day saw David Navara get the upper hand out of the opening, when Dmitry Jakovenko played a bit too passively, especially with 17...h8. Navara moved his strong centre forward and eventually created a dangerous passer on the d-file:

 
Navara vs. Jakovenko
Position after 24...g5

The Russian grandmaster tried to destabilize White's pawn structure with 24...g5, but Navara had everything in place to plough ahead with 25.d6. The game continued 25...exd6 26.exd6 d7 27.xc5, and with the bishop protecting the strong pawn Jakovenko was left with an almost hopeless defensive task.

The pawn promoted to a queen on move 35, and resignation came two moves later. Navara will play either Wei Yi or Sergey Karjakin in the semis.  

 
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1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 g6 6.e4 Nxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 8.Be3 Bg7 9.f3 0-0 10.Qd2 Be6 11.Rc1 Qa5 12.b3 B36: Sicilian: Maroczy Bind: Gurgenidze System Rfc8 13.g4 13.Bd3 a6 14.Na4 Qxd2+ 15.Kxd2 Nd7 16.Nc3 b5 17.Nd5 Bxd5 18.cxd5 b4 19.Rxc8+ Rxc8 1/2-1/2 (60) So,W (2762)-Guseinov,G (2664) chess.com INT 2019 13...a6 14.Na4 White is slightly better. Qxd2+ 15.Kxd2 Nd7 16.Rg1 Rc6N Predecessor: 16...Rf8 17.Nc3 Kh8 18.Nd5 Bxd5 19.cxd5 Rac8 1-0 (40) Nguyen,P (2427)-Karacsonyi,G (2250) Budapest 2019 17.Be2 Kh8 18.f4 Hoping for f5. Nc5 19.Nxc5 dxc5 20.Bf3 Rc7 21.Ke2 b5 22.e5 Rac8 23.Bd5 Bxd5 24.cxd5 g5
24...c4± 25.d6!+- exd6 26.exd6 Rd7 27.Bxc5 27.fxg5 Rxd6 28.Rxc5 28.Bxc5 Re8+ 29.Kf1 Rd5= 28...Re8= 27.Rxc5?! Re8 27...gxf4 28.Kf3 Kg8 29.Bb4 Weaker is 29.Kxf4 Bb2= 29...Rcd8 29...Rxc1 30.Rxc1 Be5 30.Rge1 30.Kxf4 Bf8 30...Bf8 31.Rc7 f6 32.Rd1 Less strong is 32.Kxf4 Rxd6 33.Bc5 Bh6+ 34.Kf5 Rd5+ 35.Kxf6 Bg5+ 36.Ke6 Bf4 32...Kf7 33.Kxf4 White is clearly winning. Rxc7 34.dxc7
Discovered Attack 34...Rxd1 35.c8Q Double Attack Bxb4 36.Qxa6 Bd6+ 37.Ke4 Accuracy: White = 78%, Black = 36%.
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Navara,D2707Jakovenko,D26981–02019Grand Prix Jerusalem 20192.2

Dmitry Jakovenko

Dmitry Jakovenko had knocked out Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in round one | Photo: Niki Riga

While the focus of the race for the spot in the Candidates has been put mostly on Vachier-Lagrave and Nepomniachtchi, there is another player in the field who might end up joining one of them next May in Ekaterinburg.

It is impossible for Sergey Karjakin to finish in the top two of the GP overall standings, but he still has an outside chance of getting third place. Since the Russian Chess Federation announced that they will nominate a player from their country as a wildcard and that they will decide who to nominate after pitting the eligible players against each other, Karjakin might end up playing Kirill Alekseenko — who got third place in the Grand Swiss — for the wildcard spot. To do so, he would need to finish first in Jerusalem and wait for So to eliminate Nepomniachtchi on Monday. 

In game two of the quarter-finals, Karjakin faced an inspired Wei Yi:

 
Wei Yi vs. Karjakin
Position after 21...Bxb2

There followed 22.xc5 bxc5 23.b1 g7 24.xb7 h5 25.xf7 hxg4, and White was left with two pawns for the exchange. Wei Yi tried to make something of his initiative, but Karjakin defended accurately until reaching the draw on move 40.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 0-0 5.e3 d5 6.Bd2 b6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.Ne5 E52: Nimzo-Indian: Rubinstein: 4... 0-0 5 Nf3 d5 6 Bd3 b6 Bd6 10.0-0 c5 11.Rc1 Nc6 12.Ng4 Nd7N
Predecessor: 12...Nxg4 13.Qxg4 c4 14.Bb1 Ne7 15.Nb5 f5 16.Qe2 a6 17.Nxd6 Qxd6 18.f3 b5 19.Be1 Ng6 20.Ba5 Ne7 21.Be1 Ng6 22.Ba5 Ne7 23.Be1 1/2-1/2 (23) Nakamura,H (2743)-Giri,A (2779) Saint Louis 2019 13.Nh6+! gxh6 14.Qg4+ Kh8
Hoping for ...Rg8. 15.Qf5! Nf6 And now ...Bc8 would win. 16.Nxd5 Nxd4! Reject 16...Ba6?! 17.Bb1± 17.Bxa6 Nxd5 18.Bd3 Nf6± 17.Qxf6+ Qxf6 18.Nxf6 Nf3+ Not 18...Rg8? 19.f3+- 19.gxf3 aiming for Bc3. Rg8+! 20.Ng4 Be5! 21.Be2 Bxb2 22.Rxc5 bxc5 23.Rb1 Bg7 Threatens to win with ...Bc8. 24.Rxb7 h5 25.Rxf7 hxg4 26.fxg4 Rgf8 27.Rxf8+ Rxf8 Endgame KRB-KB 28.Kf1 Rb8 29.Bc4 Rb1+ 30.Ke2! Rh1 31.Bd5 Rxh2 The position is equal. 32.g5 Rh5 33.e4 Bd4 34.Bf4 Strongly threatening e5. Kg7 35.e5 e6 is the strong threat. Kf8 36.Bf3 Rh4 37.Bg3 Rh3 38.Bg2 Rxg3 39.fxg3 Bxe5 40.Be4 Accuracy: White = 75%, Black = 91%.
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Wei,Y2725Karjakin,S2754½–½2019Grand Prix Jerusalem 20192.2

Sergey Karjakin

Sergey Karjakin | Photo: Niki Riga


Match results - Jerusalem GP


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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.

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