Paris match: Niemann wins again, widens the gap

Up to world number 20

For a second day in a row, Hans Niemann signed a draw (with black) and a win (with white) in his match against Etienne Bacrot in Paris. The 21-year-old now has a 6-point lead over the experienced Frenchman in the 5-day match. Two more classical games will be played on Thursday, while the rapid and blitz sections will take place on Friday and Saturday.

Niemann has so far played 16 classical games in August, with 5 wins, 10 draws and 1 loss to his name. These results gained him 18 rating points - Giri is higher-rated than him, while Vitiugov and Bacrot stand below him in the ranking, though they are both players belonging to the world top 100. These 18 rating points allowed Niemann to climb to the 20th spot in the live ratings list. He is now tied with Levon Aronian, as both have a 2729 Elo rating now.

A Supergrandmaster's Guide to Openings Vol.1 & 2

This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.

The ascent came a bit too late for Niemann to make it to the United States team in the upcoming Chess Olympiad, but given the form he has shown this month, it is likely that he will get a chance to represent his country in the future.

Despite playing two games per day, Niemann got to enjoy France's capital, as he shared in his latest post on X.

Niemann 1 - 0 Bacrot

Niemann, Hans Moke2711

1–0

Bacrot, Etienne2677

Hans Niemann vs The World 3 Paris21.08.2024[CC]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Qf3 Niemann goes for somewhat of a sideline, entering a variation played recently by So, Firouzja and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Bacrot had faced this line in November last year, against David Navara. Of course, the typical plan in the Sicilian is 7.Qd2 Nf6 8.0-0-0 Bb4 9.f3 Ne5 as often played by the ever-principled Leinier Dominguez. 7...b5 8.Nxc6 Niemann deviates from the aforementioned Navara-Bacrot game. Navara had gone for 8.Qg3 Qxg3 9.hxg3 Bb7 10.f3 with a rich positional struggle coming. 8...Qxc6 9.Bd3 h5

A surprising choice by Bacrot, who neglects development to expand on the kingside. This risky approach had been employed in the past by the ever-creative Nils Grandelius. 10.a4 Niemann replays with a sort of "mirror move" on the opposite flank. The pawn push is a novelty as well. b4 11.Nb1 Nf6 12.Nd2 Ng4 13.Nc4 Engines give White a slight edge here. Nxe3 14.fxe3 Niemann - like in his two previous matches - had already gained an advantage on the clock by this point. He had also foreseen (correctly) that capturing with the f-pawn is stronger than capturing with the queen or knight. Remarkable. d6 A natural move, which is inaccurate. With the pawn on h5, Black can play the more unorthodox 14...f6 and now White needs to find a plan to justify his having opened up the f-file while damaging his structure, e.g.: 15.Qg3 Rh6 16.0-0-0 etcetera. 15.0-0 Ra7 16.a5 A key move, creating a strong outpost for the knight on b6. Rc7 17.Nb6 Bb7 18.c3

Another remarkable, precise pawn push by Niemann, creating paths for the white pieces to find more active squares. 18...b3 18...bxc3 is bad due to 19.Rac1 19.Ra4 d5 20.exd5 exd5 21.Rf4 The rook has been efficiently transferred from a1 to f4 - excellent technique! Qe6 22.Bf5 After having played a number of precise manoeuvres, Niemann falters with this move. The bishop had to go in the opposite direction: 22.Bxa6 Bxa6 23.Nxd5 threatening Rf4-e4 grabbing the queen, thus Re7 24.Nxe7 Bxe7 25.Re4 Qg6 26.c4 and White is clearly better. 22...Qe5 23.Bg6 Bd6 24.Bxf7+

The position is now balanced - but Bacrot fails to find the forcing line that would have allowed him to save a draw. 24...Kd8 Correct is 24...Rxf7 25.Rxf7 Qxh2+ 26.Kf2 and now the crucial idea is d4 27.Qxb7 27.Nd5 Bxd5 28.Qxd5 Qg3+ is the same. 27...Qg3+ 28.Kg1 28.Ke2 Qxe3+ 29.Kd1 Qd3+ with a perpetual check. 28...Qh2+ 29.Kf2 Qg3+ and White cannot escape the checks. 25.Bxd5 White prevents Black from playing the aforementioned idea (i.e. going for a perpetual check along the dark squares), and is now clearly winning. g5 26.Rf6 Qxh2+ 27.Kf2 g4 28.Qf5 Re7

29.Ke2 An elegant final move, gaining a tempo to escape the potential perpetual check. Game over. 1–0

All games

Master Class Vol.17 - Boris Spassky

In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh, examine the games of Boris Spassky. Let them show you which openings Spassky chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were and much more.

Links

• Official website
• Chess-Results page