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Hans Niemann obtained his peak rating in classical chess in the latest official list published by FIDE. After performing strongly at the French Top 16 tournament and the Turkish League, he achieved a 2711 Elo rating, surpassing his previous record of 2708, achieved in May 2023. Now, at the first match of the "Hans Niemann against the world" series, the 21-year-old has scored 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss against Anish Giri (rated 2746) to gain 7 Elo points and climb to world number 24 in the live ratings list.
The match consists of 12 blitz games (1 pt. per game), 6 classical games (3 pts.) and 12 rapid games (2 pts.), and is taking place from Wednesday to Sunday with a rather demanding schedule. Niemann won the blitz section by a 7½-4½ score, then saw Giri tying the score by winning once and drawing once on Thursday, and now got a 6-point lead after grabbing consecutive wins on the third day of action.
With 18 points up for grabs in the last two days of the contest, Giri still has chances of winning the match, though Niemann is now the clear favourite to start his series of confrontations against strong GMs with a win - later this month, the US grandmaster will face Nikita Vitiugov and Etienne Bacrot.
The two games played on Friday featured a fierce tactical struggle in the middlegame and required Niemann to show proper technique in the endgame to convert his advantage.
Playing white in the first game of the day, Niemann correctly sacrificed an exchange to take advantage of Giri's undermined king position.
Giri's 27...g6, weakening the dark squares on the kingside, invited Niemann to go for 28.Rxg5, the strongest move in the position.
After 28...hxg5 29.Nf6+ Kh8 30.Nd7+ (a discovered check), White quickly recovered the material and got a clear positional advantage.
30...f6 31.Nxf8 Rxf8 32.Bc4 Qe7 33.Bd5
White is clearly in the driver's seat, but the conversion was not at all trivial. At some point, after move 46, Niemann correctly simplified into a position with four pawns for a rook - surely not a frequently seen material imbalance.
Black's rook and knight will not be able to stop the three connected passers on the queenside. Niemann needed 16 more moves to force his opponent's resignation.
The second game of the day also saw Niemann getting a clear positional edge in the middlegame, but he needed to work much harder to convert his advantage into a win. In a tricky endgame which saw Giri making the decisive mistake on move 97, Niemann ended up prevailing only after playing his 117th move.
The beautiful playing hall at the Utrecth City Hall | Photo: Harry Gielen
Blitz
| Rk. | Name | RtgI | TB1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Niemann, Hans Moke | 2611 | 7,5 | |
| 2 | GM | Giri, Anish | 2686 | 4,5 |
Classical
| Rk. | Name | RtgI | TB1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Giri, Anish | 2746 | 4,5 | |
| 2 | GM | Niemann, Hans Moke | 2711 | 7,5 |
