Niemann goes into rapid section with a 3-point lead over Vitiugov

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
8/17/2024 – After 6 classical games, Hans Niemann has a 3-point lead over Nikita Vitiugov in their 5-day match taking place in London. Niemann won the first game and the remaining 5 encounters finished drawn - though there was no lack of fighting spirit. Saturday will see the protagonists playing 6 rapid games, while the event will end with 12 blitz games set to take place on Sunday. | Photo: Frans Peeters
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A small edge in the endgame

Hans Niemann has a 3-point lead going into the final weekend of his match against Nikita Vitiugov taking place at the Gem Fitzrovia Hotel in London. Classical games with a 90+30 games were played from Wednesday to Friday (2 per day), with Niemann prevailing in the one encounter that ended decisively.

The classical games in this series grant 3 points for a win, while each rapid game grants 2 points and each blitz game grants a single point. The rapid section (6 games) will be played on Saturday, starting at 19.00 CEST, while the blitz segment (12 games) will take place on Sunday, starting at the same time.

After getting ahead on the scoreboard on Wednesday, Niemann went on to keep his lead by drawing the remaining 5 encounters. On two occasions, though, he was the one with an extra pawn in technical endgames. In game 3, he had a 3 v. 2 advantage in an endgame with knight and bishop against two bishops.

Vitiugov v. Niemann - Game 3
Position after 54...Kd6

Niemann kept trying to provoke a mistake by his opponent, but Vitiugov did not falter, and the draw was signed on move 67.

Game 6 was much longer. The following position was reached by move 44...

Niemann v. Vitiugov
Position after 44.Bxf5

...and the contenders only signed the draw after Niemann - who kept looking for chances to break through with his extra pawn - played his 107th move!

Nikita Vitiugov

Nikita Vitiugov | Photo: Frans Peeters

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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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