Niemann v. Bacrot: Another day, another win with white

An insurmountable lead?

After gaining an extra 4 rating points on Thursday by scoring 1½/2 points against Etienne Bacrot, Hans Niemann reached his peak rating in classical chess: 2733 Elo points. In the live ratings list, he now stands ahead of a few very well-known names such as Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Richard Rapport.

The 2 games on Thursday were the last 2 classical games of the trio of matches that Niemann set out to play in August at the "Hans Niemann versus the world" series. Not one to mince words, Niemann shared his achievement on X, inviting organisers to take notice of his success. This mention seems to be connected to the ban imposed by the Saint Louis Chess Club earlier this year - the club cited Niemann's inappropriate behaviour, including damaging private property and rude comments, as justification for their decision. Niemann wrote:

Middlegame Secrets Vol.1 + Vol.2

Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!

Classical portion of the "Hans Niemann against the World" Paris match has come to an end. I am at my peak rating of 2733, #19 in the world. The next match will be against a top 5 player in the world with an even bigger prize fund. I hope that organisers take notice of my success, and give me an opportunity to compete in prestigious invitationals.

In the match against Bacrot, Niemann now has a 9-point lead after scoring 3 wins (all with white) and 3 draws in the classical portion of the confrontation. In his third game with black, Bacrot repeated the line of the Sicilian he had employed the previous day, and was once again defeated by his younger opponent.

The rapid section of the match will take place on Friday (starting at 18.00 CEST). It will consist of 6 rapid games with a 15+10 time control - each win in this section grants 2 points for the overall score in the match.

Hans Niemann playing white against Etienne Bacrot | Photo: Frans Peeters

Niemann 1 - 0 Bacrot

Niemann, Hans Moke2711

1–0

Bacrot, Etienne2677

Hans Niemann vs The World 3 Paris22.08.2024[CC]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Qf3 b5 8.Nxc6 Qxc6 9.Bd3 h5

Bacrot repeats the line he had used in game 4. Niemann, who won that game, happily follows suit. 10.a4 b4 11.Nb1 Nf6 12.Nd2 Bb7 The Frenchman finally deviates from the aforementioned encounter. Game 4 of the match had continued with 12...Ng4 13.Nc4 Nxe3 14.fxe3 and now Black erred with d6 13.0-0 Qc7 14.h3 d5 15.Bd4 e5 16.Qg3 Niemann spent almost a half hour before playing this strong queen move. The US youngster has been the one with the time advantage over his opponent almost exclusively throughout the match - this was the exception. Also playable is 16.Be3 Be7 and the battle is just beginning - given the match situation (Niemann had a 6-point lead before this game), this cautious approach might have been attractive for the 21-year-old. 16...Bd6 17.Qxg7 Ke7 18.Qg5

This is what Niemann had been calculating - it was all correct but engines evaluate the position as close to equal still. 18...h4 The first critical inaccuracy by Bacrot, giving White a slight edge - and, what is more important, a chance to take advantage of the initiative. Black should play 18...Rag8 19.Qh4 then capture first on e4... dxe4 20.Bxe4 ...and only then on d4: exd4 21.Rae1 with a sharp position (though White still has an edge). Losing is 18...exd4 19.e5 Bxe5 20.Rae1 and Black's position will soon collapse. 19.f4 The one move that keeps White's advantage. A remarkable find by Niemann who, given the time spent, had already calculated all this before playing Qf3-g3! Rag8 Bacrot transfers his rook to the g-file one move too late. This was a decisive mistake. Correct is 19...Rh5 and White's best continuation goes: 20.Qxf6+ Kxf6 21.fxe5+ Discovered check with the rook! Ke7 22.exd6+ Qxd6 23.e5 Qh6 24.Rf2 White has two minor pieces and a pawn for the queen, but still has a small edge. A tough struggle would have ensued had the players entered this line. 20.Qf5 Rh5 Once again, the rook manoeuvre comes a move too late - granted, in this already inferior position, it was a correct move. 21.fxe5 Rxf5 22.exd6+ Qxd6 23.Rxf5 Rxg2+

The tactical recourse that Bacrot had probably considered to be enough to get a draw. 24.Kxg2 Qg3+ 25.Kf1 Qxh3+ White is winning, but Niemann had to find the correct way to escape with the king - and he did not manage to do it. 26.Ke1 This move gives away a big portion of White's advantage. Much stronger is 26.Ke2 and after Nh5 White activates his rook from a1 27.Rg1 Ng3+ 28.Ke1 Nxf5 29.exf5 with a winning position - don't forget that Black sacrificed a rook on g2 a few moves ago. 26...Nxe4 Bacrot misses his chance to stay in the game. Very strong, under the circumstances, is 26...dxe4 27.Bxf6+ Kd7 28.Bxe4 Bxe4 29.Rf2 Qe3+ and White cannot escape to the kingside with... 30.Kd1 ...due to Correct is 30.Re2 Qg1+ 31.Nf1 Bg2 32.Rd1+ Kc6 and White cannot defend the knight on f1, e.g.: 33.Rxg2 Qxg2 and the queen should be able to hold a draw on the open board. 30...Qxf2 27.Bxe4 dxe4 28.Re5+

Bacrot resigned. 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