Jerusalem GP: Candidates suspense continues

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
12/19/2019 – Ian Nepomniachtchi drew Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in their semi-final rematch encounter to reach the final of the Jerusalem Grand Prix. The Russian is now one match win away from securing a spot in the Candidates, as Vachier-Lagrave is still leading the overall standings of the Grand Prix by a single point. David Navara and Wei Yi signed another draw, which means the winner will be decided in tiebreaks. | Photo: Niki Riga

Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

Down to the wire


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.


The winner of the second ticket to the 2020 Candidates awarded by the Grand Prix will be decided either by Sunday or Monday, depending on whether the final match goes to tiebreaks or not. Ian Nepomniachtchi, who drew game two of the semis with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to knock him out of the competition, would need to win the event in Jerusalem to get the coveted prize. Otherwise, it would be 'MVL' the one who gets to qualify, as he is currently in second place behind Alexander Grischuk in the overall GP standings table, with 17 points. Nepomniachtchi is one point behind.

The other finalist will be decided in the match between David Navara and Wei Yi, who drew their second semi-final game and will settle the dispute in tiebreaks.

Ian Nepomniachtchi

Ian Nepomniachtchi still needs to win the final to secure a spot in the Candidates; otherwise, he will need to fight for the wildcard | Photo: Niki Riga

Vachier-Lagrave ½:½ Nepomniachtchi

When Sergey Karjakin joined Evgeny Miroshnichenko in the commentary booth, he mentioned how it is curious that both Vachier-Lagrave and Nepomniachtchi have the same primary repertoire with White and Black, choosing 1.e4 when moving first and going for either the Grünfeld or the Najdorf with Black. Apparently, according to the commentators, both players decided there was no way to get much against the Najdorf, which resulted in two games with 1.d4 — and, of course, the Grünfeld.

Pressured to win at all costs, Vachier-Lagrave responded to 1.d4 d5 2.c4 g6 with 3.h4, a move Grischuk had used against him this year in Riga — 'MVL' won that game. The Frenchman's aggressive approach was further confirmed some four moves later:

 
Vachier-Lagrave vs. Nepomniachtchi
Position after 6...e6

7.g4 is a novelty that was followed by 7...f6 8.dxe6 xe6 9.e4 xg4 10.f3, when White has a strong centre in what Karjakin described as a "crazy position".

Nepomniachtchi had also explored this Grünfeld with 3.h4 from the black side against Grischuk and, although he had looked into it this year, he could not remember his analysis. Given the sharpness of the position, this naturally led to Vachier-Lagrave getting the upper hand out of the opening. This was the setup on the board on move 18:

 
Position after 18.Kf2

There followed 18...g5 19.b4 and Black is clearly the one needing to find precise moves to keep the dynamic balance.

Throughout the game, engines show moves and plans to improve the play of both sides, but this is the kind of position that demonstrates how complex a middlegame struggle can be — and how sometimes 90 minutes for 40 moves seem not to suffice to explore all the intricacies. The tension kept on rising, until Vachier-Lagrave erred on move 25:

 
Position after 25.Ng3

White's 25.g3 allowed 25...f5, when Black manages to break open the position — notice that Nepomniachtchi could castle still, unlike his opponent. Vachier-Lagrave explained that he thought he could continue 26.e5, counting on 26…f4 27.♗xf4 gxf4 28.♘h5:

 
Analysis diagram
Position after 28.Nh5

What he realized all too late is that Black has 28...♝xe5 29.dxe5 0-0-0, when he cannot even capture the d6-knight due to the queen infiltration on e3. 

None of this happened though, as 'MVL' had to settle for 26.exf5, a move that relinquished his advantage. The game only lasted six more moves, as the Frenchman realized he could do nothing to continue fighting for a win in a position that slightly favoured Black.

 
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.h4 Bg7 4.Nc3 d5 5.h5 Nxh5 6.cxd5 e6 7.g4 Nf6 8.dxe6 Bxe6 9.e4 Bxg4 10.f3 Be6 11.Bg5 h6 12.Be3 c6 13.Nge2 Bc4 14.Qc2 Qa5 15.Nf4 Bxf1 16.Kxf1 Na6 17.a3 Nc7 18.Kf2 g5 19.b4 Qa6 20.Nd3 Qc4 21.Rac1 Nd7 22.Nb2 Qe6 23.Ne2 Nb5 24.a4 Nd6 25.Ng3 f5 26.exf5 Qd5 27.Nc4 Nxc4 28.Qxc4 Qxc4 29.Rxc4 Nb6 30.Rc5 0-0 31.a5 Nd5 32.a6 ½–½
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Vachier Lagrave,M2780Nepomniachtchi,I2767½–½2019E60Grand Prix Jerusalem 20193.2

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Vachier-Lagrave will be rooting against Nepomniachtchi this weekend | Photo: Niki Riga

Navara ½:½ Wei Yi

The other semi-final saw another Grünfeld, except that the one setting the tone in this case was the player with the black pieces — Chinese prodigy Wei Yi:

 
Navara vs. Wei Yi
Position after 10.dxc5

While 10...♝b7 or 10...♝e6 are viable alternatives here, the less frequent 10...bd7 was chosen by Wei Yi. Navara seemed surprised, as he spent close to fifteen minutes before responding with 11.e3. The players then followed a Volkov v Riazantsev game until move 16, when Navara decided to go for simplifications. 

From that point on, Black had a slightly superior position, but Navara managed to keep things under control. More material left the board on move 22:

 
Position after 22.Rh2

By this point, Miroshnichenko — now joined by Ernesto Inarkiev — already thought there was no way for Black to push for a win much longer, and after Wei Yi's 22...xc3 White only needed to show good technique to keep the balance. That did not prevent the players from exchanging all but one piece before signing the draw:

 
Position after 60.Kg2

Instead of pushing the game to last one more move, Wei Yi put an end to the encounter at once with 60...h1♞.

 
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
1.c4 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 0-0 7.e4 a6 8.Be2 b5 9.Qb3 c5 10.dxc5 Nbd7 11.Be3 Ng4 12.c6 Nxe3 13.cxd7 Nxg2+ 14.Kf1 Qxd7 15.Kxg2 Qh3+ 16.Kg1 Be6
17.Ng5N Eine Verbesserung gegenüber der Vorgängerpartie. Dort spielte Weiß 17.Qc2 und verlor schnell: Rac8 18.Ng5 Qh4 19.Qd2 Rc5 20.f4 b4 21.Nd5 Rc2 22.Qe1 Bd4+ 23.Kg2 Qg4+ 24.Kf1 Qh3+ 0-1 (24) Volkov,S (2645)-Riazantsev,A (2650) St Petersburg 2017 17...Qh4 18.Nxe6 fxe6 19.Qxe6+ Kh8 20.Rf1 Rf4 Schwarz hat eine Figur weniger, aber der Angriff gegen f2 und die gefährdete Lage des weißen Königs bieten ihm ausreichend Kompensation. 21.h3 Raf8 22.Rh2 Bxc3 23.bxc3 Rxe4 24.Qxa6 Rxe2 25.Qxb5 Qe4 Schwarz hat die Figur zurückgewonnen und steht in dem Schwerfigurenendspiel etwas besser. Im Moment hat er zwar noch einen Bauern weniger, aber die weißen Figuren können den a- und den c-Bauern nicht ausreichend schützen. 26.Qb4 Qa8 27.c4 Qxa2 28.Qc3+ Kg8 29.Ra1 Rc2 30.Rxa2 Rxc3 31.Re2 Kf7 32.Re4 Rc8 33.Kg2 R8xc4 34.Rxc4 Rxc4 35.Rh1 Kf6 36.Ra1 h5 37.Ra6+ Kf5 38.Ra5+ e5 39.Ra8 Rc6 40.Rf8+ Rf6 41.Ra8 Kf4 42.Ra4+ Kg5 43.Ra5 Rf5 44.Ra6 Rf4 45.Re6 Kf5 46.Re8 e4 47.Re7 Kf6 48.Re8 g5 49.Rh8 h4 50.f3 exf3+ 51.Kf2 Ke7 52.Ra8 Rf5 53.Ra3 Kf6 54.Rxf3 g4 55.hxg4 Rxf3+ 56.Kxf3 Kg5 57.Kg2 Kxg4 58.Kh2 h3 59.Kh1 h2 60.Kg2 h1N
½–½
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Navara,D2707Wei,Y2725½–½2019D97Grand Prix Jerusalem 20193.2

Wei Yi, David Navara

Wei Yi and David Navara will play rapid and, if necessary, blitz tiebreakers | Photo: Niki Riga


Match results

Loading Table...

All games

 
Loading...
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.

Commentary webcast

Official broadcast with GM Evgeny Miroshnichenko via worldchess.com


Links

Previous reports:


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.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.