Anish Giri wins Magnus Carlsen Invitational

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
3/22/2021 – Anish Giri defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi in tiebreaks to win the second edition of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational. In the second set of the match, Nepomniachtchi had kept the score tied by winning the fourth game on demand. Magnus Carlsen beat Wesley So in the match for third place.

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The last event before the Candidates

Anish GiriNext month, the second half of the Candidates Tournament will be played in Yekaterinburg. With seven rounds left to play, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are sharing the lead, a full point ahead of four players currently on fifty percent. Anish Giri, the winner of the second edition of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational, is one of these four chasers.

Giri defeated Nepomniachtchi in blitz tiebreakers after the players drew both sets of the final. In Sunday’s second set, Giri took the lead by winning the second game of the day, but Nepo bounced back on demand in game 4. In the first 5-minute game, the Russian had a considerable advantage but a single blunder gave his opponent a crucial win. After playing Sicilians in every single game of the match, Nepomniachtchi opted for 1.b3 the second time he found himself in a must-win situation. The Russian could not bounce back twice in a day and also lost game 2 of the playoff.

This is Giri’s second consecutive remarkable result, as he tied for first place at the strong Tata Steel Tournament in January and was the most stable player throughout at the third event of the Champions Chess Tour series.

Talking to Sagar Shah, Amruta Mokal and Vidit after winning the tournament, Giri noted that, since the Candidates are coming, it is likely that people will “read much into [these results]”. The Dutchman rightly pointed out that Nepomniachtchi is probably the favourite to win the event in Yekaterinburg, since he is both playing well and is sharing the lead in the tournament.

Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen had little trouble securing third place by beating Wesley So in a surprisingly lopsided confrontation. So, nevertheless, is still leading the overall standings of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, with Carlsen climbing to second place thanks to his performance in the third tournament of the series.

[Photo: Maria Emelianova / FIDE]


Full interview with the tournament winner


Giri* 2 : 2 Nepomniachtchi

*Won the tiebreaker 2 : 0

Excellent preparation gave Giri a smooth win with white in game 2 of the second set. The engines consider Nepo’s 16th move to have been the turning point in the game:

 
Giri vs. Nepomniachtchi - Game #2
Position after 18.f4

Black’s 18...Nc6 gave way to the strong 19.g6, massively weakening Black’s structure. The engines give 18...Ng6 as the correct way to defend for Black, but for a human, the move seems to simply lose a tempo after 19.f5. Giri himself later pointed out that it is really difficult to sort out why that knight manoeuvre is better, especially in a rapid game. The Dutchman described this win as mostly having to do with his good opening preparation.

White had a safe king and a strong initiative throughout:

 
Position after 35...Qxe5

36.Nf7 Qh2 37.Qxc5+ Kb8 38.Qxd4 Rf8 39.Bf4 Bg3 40.Bxg3 Qxg3 41.Qb4 and Black resigned.

Going into the last rapid game of the day, Giri only needed a draw with the white pieces to win the tournament, but decided to play a rather sharp opening nonetheless. Vidit later asked his friend why he had done that, and Giri explained that, against some players, it is easier to play for a win than to play for a draw. This time around, however, the approach backfired, as Nepo won the game and took the match to tiebreaks.

Playing black for a second game in a row, the Russian grandmaster had a big edge in the first encounter of the playoff, but a single blunder gave away the game:

 
Giri vs. Nepomniachtchi - Blitz game #1
Position after 25.Bf6

25...Rh7 fails to 26.Qd7+:

 

Black is busted. After 26...Nge7 27.Bxe7, capturing with the bishop or with the knight are both bad alternatives — 27...Bxe7 28.Rxc8; 27...Nxe7 28.Rf4+. Nepomniachtchi opted for 27...Qxe7 allowing 28.Qxc8. Resignation came four moves later.

There was no second win on demand for the Russian, who also lost the second 5-minute game of the day.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Nb3 Nbd7 9.Qe2 Qc7 10.0-0-0 b5 11.a3 Rb8 12.Kb1 Be7 13.Qe1 0-0 14.Bd3 Bb7 15.Qg3 Rfc8 16.Rhf1 e5 17.fxe5 dxe5 18.Nd5 Nxd5 19.exd5 Bxg5 20.Qxg5 Bxd5 21.Bxh7+ Kxh7 22.Rxd5 Qxc2+ 23.Ka2 Nf6 24.Rxe5 Rc3 25.Qf5+ Kg8 26.Nc5 b4 27.axb4 Rxb4 28.Re8+ Nxe8 29.Qxf7+ Kh7 30.Qh5+ Kg8 31.Qxe8+ Kh7 32.Qh5+ Kg8 33.Qd5+ Kh7 34.Qh5+ Kg8 35.Qf7+ Kh7 36.Qh5+ ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nepomniachtchi,I2789Giri,A2776½–½2021B97Magnus Carlsen Inv KO2.1
Giri,A2776Nepomniachtchi,I27891–02021B48Magnus Carlsen Inv KO2.2
Nepomniachtchi,I2789Giri,A2776½–½2021B97Magnus Carlsen Inv KO2.3
Giri,A2776Nepomniachtchi,I27890–12021B30Magnus Carlsen Inv KO2.4
Giri,A2776Nepomniachtchi,I27891–02021C02Magnus Carlsen Inv KO2.5
Nepomniachtchi,I2789Giri,A27760–12021A01Magnus Carlsen Inv KO2.6

Select an entry from the list to switch between games

Carlsen 2 : 1 So

The world champion kicked off the day with a black win over So, which meant two more draws — which he got — were enough to secure third place in the tournament. Carlsen was on point when he described his match against the American star:

Third is better than fourth. It’s good to get one over Wesley, that’s for sure. Clearly he was not a hundred percent motivated, and not in his best shape. It’s a lot better than to have lost the last match.

The Norwegian now trails So by merely 5 points in the overall tour standings table:

Meltwater Champions Chess Tour


Expert analysis by GM Karsten Müller

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 Nc6 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 b6 7.e4 Ba6 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 Qc8 10.Bd3 Na5 11.Qe2 d6 12.f4 Qd7 13.Nf3 Nh5 14.g3 "Mighty Magnus" - When the World Champion gets his kind of position he is extremely strong: g5‼ A mighty blow, which shatters the walls of White's house to the core. 15.fxg5 hxg5 16.Nxg5 16.Bxg5? Nxg3-+ 16...Nf4! 17.gxf4 17.Qf1? Nxd3+ 18.Qxd3 0-0-0 19.Nf3 Bxc4 20.Qe3 Rdg8-+ 17...Rxh4 18.Qf2?! 18.Rg1 limits the damage. 18...Rh8 19.f5?! This heads for a lost endgame, but good advice is already hard to give. 0-0-0 20.fxe6 fxe6 21.Qf7 Rdg8 22.Qxd7+ Kxd7 23.Nf3 23.h4? runs into Rxg5-+ 23...Rh3!? Magnus increases the pressure strongly. The prosaic 23...Bxc4 wins as well. 24.Kf2 Rf8 25.Be2 Bxc4 26.Raf1 Rf4 26...Rfxf3+ 27.Bxf3 Bxf1 28.Rxf1 Rxh2+ wins as well. 27.Ke3? White's king is not safer here. It had to take the other direction with 27.Kg2! but in the long run Black wins as well due to Bxe2 28.Kxh3 Rxf3+ 29.Rxf3 Bxf3 30.Re1 Nc4 31.Kg3 Bh5-+ 27...e5! 28.dxe5 dxe5 29.Rhg1 Bxe2 30.Kxe2 Rxe4+ 31.Kf2 Nc4 32.Rg3 Rh6!? Carlsen keeps the valuable winning and attacking potential on the board of course. 33.a4 a5 34.Rfg1 Rf4 35.Kg2 Ne3+ 36.Kh1 Nf5 37.Nxe5+ Ke6 38.Rg4 Rf2 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
So,W-Carlsen,M-0–12021E24Magnus Carlsen Invitational-KO 20213.5

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 Nc6 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 b6 7.e4 Ba6 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 Qc8 10.Bd3 Na5 11.Qe2 d6 12.f4 Qd7 13.Nf3 Nh5 14.g3 g5 15.fxg5 hxg5 16.Nxg5 Nf4 17.gxf4 Rxh4 18.Qf2 Rh8 19.f5 0-0-0 20.fxe6 fxe6 21.Qf7 Rdg8 22.Qxd7+ Kxd7 23.Nf3 Rh3 24.Kf2 Rf8 25.Be2 Bxc4 26.Raf1 Rf4 27.Ke3 e5 28.dxe5 dxe5 29.Rhg1 Bxe2 30.Kxe2 Rxe4+ 31.Kf2 Nc4 32.Rg3 Rh6 33.a4 a5 34.Rfg1 Rf4 35.Kg2 Ne3+ 36.Kh1 Nf5 37.Nxe5+ Ke6 38.Rg4 Rf2 0–1
  • Start an analysis engine:
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
So,W2770Carlsen,M28470–12021E20Magnus Carlsen Inv KO2.1
Carlsen,M2847So,W2770½–½2021B52Magnus Carlsen Inv KO2.2
So,W2770Carlsen,M2847½–½2021A20Magnus Carlsen Inv KO2.3

Final standings

Magnus Carlsen Invitational 2021


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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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