London Classic: Volokitin co-leader, Bartel and Tabatabaei bounce back

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
12/3/2023 – Three decisive results in round 2 of the London Chess Classic left three players tied for first place with 1½ points each. Andrei Volokitin joined round-1 winners Dommaraju Gukesh and Michael Adams in the lead of the event after beating underdog Shreyas Royal with the white pieces. Meanwhile, Mateusz Bartel and Amin Tabatabaei bounced back from their losses on Friday and returned to a fifty-percent score. Gukesh barely escaped with a draw in his game against Nikita Vitiugov. | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
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Three co-leaders

Five out of ten games have so far finished decisively at the London Chess Classic, all favouring the player with the white pieces. After Gukesh D. and Michael Adams got off to winning starts on Friday, Andrei Volokitin joined them in the lead by beating underdog Shreyas Royal in the second round.

The two players who suffered defeats on opening day, meanwhile, bounced back and returned to a fifty-percent score, as Mateusz Bartel beat Jules Moussard and Amin Tabatabaei got the better of Luke McShane.

Co-leaders Gukesh and Volokitin will face each other in round 3, while Adams will play white against Hans Niemann. Niemann, who arrived in London right after dominating a round-robin event in Zagreb, drew his first two encounters of the event. As for the distrusting posts on social media regarding his performance in Croatia, the 20-year-old replied true to his style:

Bartel had replied to a post on social media in which Anish Giri joked about his mishandling of the French Defence in round 1 by reflecting, “Life is not about the result, it’s about [having] an adventure”. In line with this approach, he entered a line with an early 6.g4 in his round-2 encounter against Jules Moussard.

Bartel vs. Moussard

This g2-g4 push has been tried before, but only in a few grandmaster games. Moussard castled kingside, while Bartel kept his king in the centre throughout the struggle.

Bartel played for a kingside attack from start to finish, and found a good-looking bishop sacrifice to break through on move 28.

After playing 28.Bxe5 White was left with only five minutes on the clock, but the move is winning — the idea is that 28...fxe5 fails to 29.Rxe6, when 29...Rxf3 quickly loses to 30.Rxe8+ Kg7 31.Rg8+, queening the h-pawn.

Moussard replied by 28...Rxh7, and resigned the game after 29.Rxf6 Qh1+ 30.Ke2

Even after trading queens, White’s attack is devastating. The king in the centre remained much safer than its counterpart on the kingside throughout!

Mateusz Bartel, Jules Moussard

Mateusz Bartel and Jules Moussard | Photo: Tao Bhokanandh

Vitiugov ½ - ½ Gukesh

Analysis by GM Karsten Müller

Standings - Round 2

Rk.NameRtg.Nt.Pts.n
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
TBPerf.
1
Gukesh D
2746
1.5
2
½
1
1.50
2875
2
Adams,M
2670
1.5
2
½
1
1.50
2870
3
Volokitin,A
2660
1.5
2
½
1
1.00
2751
4
Vitiugov,N
2712
1.0
2
½
½
1.50
2703
5
Niemann,H
2659
1.0
2
½
½
1.00
2655
6
Tabatabaei,M
2694
1.0
2
0
1
0.50
2648
7
Bartel,M
2651
1.0
2
0
1
0.50
2693
8
Moussard,J
2639
0.5
2
½
0
0.50
2462
9
McShane,L
2626
0.5
2
0
½
0.25
2356
10
Royal,S
2404
0.5
2
0
½
0.25
2450
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
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1.Nf3 31 Nf6 23 2.b3 57 g6 6:56 3.Bb2 36 Bg7 7 4.g3 29 c5 1:51 5.c4 32 d6 7:55 6.Bg2 3:30 e5 3:38 7.0-0 42 Nc6 50 8.Nc3 56 0-0 1:03 9.d3 2:10 Ne8 20:45 10.a3 5:00 A38: Symmetrical English vs ...g6: 4 Bg2 Bg7 5 Nf3 Nf6. a5 5:38
11.Ne1N 9:46 Predecessor: 11.Nd2 Nc7 12.e3 Be6 13.Nd5 Rb8 14.Nxc7 Qxc7 15.Ne4 b5 16.Nc3 Na7 17.Rb1 a4 ½-½ Kazakouski,V (2499)-Brazdzionis,A (2321) Panevezys Kveinys Memorial op 2021 (5) 11...Nc7 2:29 12.Nc2 1:05 Rb8 11:40 13.Ne3 16:47 Bd7 6:04 14.Ned5 3:14 Nxd5 2:21 15.Nxd5 2:31 Ne7 12:47 16.Nxe7+ 2:22 Qxe7 2 17.Bc3 12 b6 6:12 18.b4 1:39 axb4 2:10 19.axb4 3 b5 5 20.Ra7 14:14 Threatens to win with Bc6. cxb4 13 21.Bxb4 11:08 Black must now prevent Bc6. bxc4 2 22.Ba5 4 aiming for Bc6. e4 4:17
23.dxc4 3:38 And not 23.Bxe4 Bd4 24.Rc7 Rfc8 White has to play 23.Bh3!± f5 24.dxe4 23...Ra8= 26 The position is equal. 24.Rxa8 3:02 Rxa8 2 25.Bb4 1:06 Ra6 2:04 26.c5 4:26 dxc5 1:10 27.Bxc5 2 Qe8 1:53 28.Qd2 7:50 Bc6 29 29.Rd1 44 Ra1 31 30.Rxa1 12 Bxa1 1 31.h4 2:04 h5 13 32.Bd4 43 Qd7 1:09 33.e3 22 Bxd4 29 34.Qxd4 40       Endgame KQB-KQB Qe6 55 35.Bf1 29 Bd5 21 36.Bb5 46 Kh7 14 37.Qc5 39 Kg7 11 38.Kg2 11 Qf5 30 39.Qd6 2:41 Qf3+ 54 40.Kg1 0 Qd1+ 0 41.Kh2 5:20 Qb3 10:27 Prevents Bc4. 42.Qe5+ 58 Kh7 28 43.Bd7 2:20 Be6 4:00 44.Bxe6 6:20 Weighted Error Value: White=0.07 (flawless) /Black=0.06 (flawless) ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Vitiugov,N2712Volokitin,A2660½–½2023A3813th London Chess Classic 20231.1
Gukesh D2746Bartel,M26511–02023C1113th London Chess Classic 20231.2
Moussard,J2639Niemann,H2659½–½2023C6713th London Chess Classic 20231.3
Adams,M2670Tabatabaei,M26941–02023C5013th London Chess Classic 20231.4
McShane,L2626Royal,S2404½–½2023B5113th London Chess Classic 20231.5
Volokitin,A2660Royal,S24041–02023C7813th London Chess Classic 20232.1
Tabatabaei,M2694McShane,L26261–02023C5413th London Chess Classic 20232.2
Niemann,H2659Adams,M2670½–½2023A2013th London Chess Classic 20232.3
Bartel,M2651Moussard,J26391–02023A1713th London Chess Classic 20232.4
Vitiugov,N2712Gukesh D2746½–½2023D1413th London Chess Classic 20232.5
Gukesh D2746Volokitin,A26601–02023A3413th London Chess Classic 20233.1
Moussard,J2639Vitiugov,N27121–02023C8813th London Chess Classic 20233.2
Adams,M2670Bartel,M26511–02023B1213th London Chess Classic 20233.3
McShane,L2626Niemann,H2659½–½2023C6713th London Chess Classic 20233.4
Royal,S2404Tabatabaei,M26941–02023D3813th London Chess Classic 20233.5
Volokitin,A2660Tabatabaei,M26940–12023C7713th London Chess Classic 20234.1
Niemann,H2659Royal,S24041–02023C5413th London Chess Classic 20234.2
Bartel,M2651McShane,L26261–02023C6513th London Chess Classic 20234.3
Vitiugov,N2712Adams,M2670½–½2023D3713th London Chess Classic 20234.4
Gukesh D2746Moussard,J26390–12023C4213th London Chess Classic 20234.5
Moussard,J2639Volokitin,A2660½–½2023A2913th London Chess Classic 20235.1
Adams,M2670Gukesh D2746½–½2023B3013th London Chess Classic 20235.2
McShane,L2626Vitiugov,N2712½–½2023B5113th London Chess Classic 20235.3
Royal,S2404Bartel,M26510–12023D9413th London Chess Classic 20235.4
Tabatabaei,M2694Niemann,H2659½–½2023E3213th London Chess Classic 20235.5
Volokitin,A2660Niemann,H26591–02023C6713th London Chess Classic 20236.1
Bartel,M2651Tabatabaei,M26940–12023A1913th London Chess Classic 20236.2
Vitiugov,N2712Royal,S2404½–½2023B6713th London Chess Classic 20236.3
Gukesh D2746McShane,L26261–02023D3513th London Chess Classic 20236.4
Moussard,J2639Adams,M26700–12023C8813th London Chess Classic 20236.5
Adams,M2670Volokitin,A2660½–½2023B5113th London Chess Classic 20237.1
McShane,L2626Moussard,J2639½–½2023B5513th London Chess Classic 20237.2
Royal,S2404Gukesh D2746½–½2023E5313th London Chess Classic 20237.3
Tabatabaei,M2694Vitiugov,N27121–02023B9313th London Chess Classic 20237.4
Niemann,H2659Bartel,M26510–12023C5513th London Chess Classic 20237.5
Volokitin,A2660Bartel,M26511–02023C1813th London Chess Classic 20238.1
Vitiugov,N2712Niemann,H2659½–½2023C6713th London Chess Classic 20238.2
Gukesh D2746Tabatabaei,M2694½–½2023C5413th London Chess Classic 20238.3
Moussard,J2639Royal,S24040–12023D0213th London Chess Classic 20238.4
Adams,M2670McShane,L2626½–½2023C6513th London Chess Classic 20238.5
McShane,L2626Volokitin,A2660½–½2023B5113th London Chess Classic 20239.1
Royal,S2404Adams,M2670½–½2023D3513th London Chess Classic 20239.2
Tabatabaei,M2694Moussard,J2639½–½2023B4813th London Chess Classic 20239.3
Niemann,H2659Gukesh D27461–02023C5413th London Chess Classic 20239.4
Bartel,M2651Vitiugov,N2712½–½2023B3013th London Chess Classic 20239.5

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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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