6/5/2019 – The experiment has started. If two players draw their classical game at the Altibox Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger they have to go into Armageddon-overtime: White has ten minutes, Black has seven, no increment before move 60, and White has to win. Round 1 of the Altibox tournament brought five fine draws in classical chess, five exciting Armageddon games and a wild blitz battle. | Picture: Alexander Grischuk | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Altibox Norway Chess, Round 1
In chess, three results are possible: White wins, Black wins or the game is a draw. In today's top tournaments the last result is the most common but it is also the most unpopular because games without winners and losers are often considered to be uninteresting and boring. Thus, there have always been attempts to reduce the number of draws and the wish to have a decision in each and every encounter led the organisers of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament in Stavanger resort to Armageddon, blitz games in which Black has less time on the clock but only needs to draw the game to win the encounter.
Traditionally, in chess a win is rewarded with a full point, after a draw the point is split, and losing a game brings you zero points. At the Altibox tournament the winner of the classical game is rewarded with two points while the loser still gets nothing. However, a draw yields half a point – and chances for more. Thanks to Armageddon.
The new mode can be troubling. | Picture: Fabiano Caruana | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Because the winner of the Armageddon game that follows after a draw in the classical games chalks up another point. That is, drawing the classical game and winning the Armageddon game gives you 1½ of possible 2 points.
Time will tell whether this mode of play will become popular, whether it is fair or whether the Armageddon mode (10 minutes for White, 7 for Black) they chose in Norway favours White or Black, and how the Armageddon tiebreak will affect strategy and game plans in the classical games. But in round 1 of Norway Chess 2019 the Armageddon mode led to interesting classical and exciting blitz games. The five classical offered a lot of fine positional and tactical nucances but brought no decisive results. The Armageddon games were more robust.
The Romanian Grandmaster Constantin Lupulescu, winner of the strong Reykjavik Open 2019, took a closer look at four of the classical games.
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1.c4c52.g3g63.Bg2Bg74.Nc3Nc65.d3d66.Qd2This strange move
already occurred in 38 games according to my database. It is the kind of move
you can explain to kids by saying "super grandmasters can do it." White's idea
is to prepare the development of his dark squared B on b2 while keeping
options on the kingside.Qd7Black reckons that if White can play like this
he is also allowed to do the same7.b3b68.Bb2Bb7continuing the
"imitation game"9.Nd5White has probably had enough of Black's mirroring
his moves and he dares him to continue ite59...Nd4would not end well
for Black after the ridiculous variation10.e3e611.Nf4Nf512.g4±10.f4a sensible plan to disturb the balance10.e4Nd4and we are back into
copycat mode10...Nge711.e4Nxd512.cxd5Nd413.Nf3Nxf3+14.Bxf3
after 12.cd5 White has at least managed to place a foot soldier in the enemy's
territory. However, considering the all N swap Black doesn't have problems
with space.Qe715.h4White is eager to open the h file15.0-0was
another sensible plan0-016.f5looks a bit dangerous for Black alhough he
has his resourcesgxf516...a517.Bg4a418.Qf2Qe819.f6Bh8with a
"complex" evaluation it's one of the lines where you still feel there could
still be some hopes in a human vs machine fight17.exf5Qf618.Be4Bh619.Qe2Kh820.Rf2Rg8White seems easier to play but also Black is quite solid15...f5!although Black had other options I like this principled approach16.h5continuing his idea but it seems like White overplayed his hand16.0-0-0was more natural with a likely transposition to the game after0-0-017.h516...0-0-016...exf4!could have tried to take advantage of
White's innacuracy17.gxf417.0-0-0fxg318.hxg618.exf5?Bxb2+19.Qxb20-0-0-+18...0-0-019.gxh7Rxh720.Rxh7Bxb2+21.Qxb2Qxh7and again White needs to be careful17...fxe418.Bxe4!
the compliant18.dxe4gives Black an advantageBxb219.Qxb2Rf820.hxg6hxg621.Qd221.0-0-0Rxf422.Rh8+Kd721...0-0-022.0-0-0Qf623.Kc2Qxf424.Qxf4Rxf418...Bxd519.0-0-0Bxe420.dxe40-0-021.hxg6hxg622.Rxh8Bxh823.Bxh8Rxh824.Qxd6Qxe425.Qd7+Kb826.Qd6+Kb727.Qd5+with a teoretical draw after the g and f pawns are swapped17.0-0-0
Bb7 looks like a clumsy piece but at least is keeping the Black K protectedexf418.gxf4Bxb2+19.Qxb2Rhf8White has more pawns in the centre but also
more potential weaknesses20.Rde1Qf721.Rh4Qe721...fxe4!?22.dxe4Qe723.Qf2luring the White Q away from the queenside was worth mentioning23.Reh1?g5is Black's point22.Rhh1Qf723.Ref1the position is
level but Aronian decides to play onKb823...fxe4?24.Bg4+Kb825.Be6
would be playing into White's hands24.Rhg1fxe4forcing simplifications25.Bxe4Bxd526.hxg6hxg627.Bxg6Qf628.f5Rd729.Qxf6Rxf630.Bh5Kc7
White has no way to remove Black's blockade on f631.Rg6Rdf732.Rxf6Rxf633.Bg6Kd734.Kd2Rf835.d4A very original game that still couldn't help
the players from reaching the 5th Armageddon of the round.½–½
These five draws led to five Armageddon games in round 1. The colours did not change, that is, Carlsen had White against Anand in the classical game and he also had White in the Armageddon game. And he played a fine strategic game in which an advance on the queenside culminated in a mating attack on the kingside.
Magnus Carlsen vs Vishy Anand | Photo: Lennart Ootes
S. Mamedyarov 1-0 F. Caruana
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Fabiano Caruana played an interesting game filled with tactical and positional ideas. Right from the opening Mamedyarov put his hopes on the attack and this strategy turned out to be a success.
Yu Yangyi, the youngest participant in the field, was the only player who could win with Black. The day before Vachier-Lagrave had convincingly won the blitz tournament but against Yu Yangyi he failed to find the right squares for his pieces and was punished swiftly.
Levon Aronian and Alexander Grischuk played the most exciting game of the round. The Armageddon games are played without increment and in Aronian vs Grischuk this led to a wild blitz battle which one would rather expect at a club evening late at night than at a world class tournament.
Levon Aronian | Photo: Lennart Ootes
After about 40 moves an exciting game led to an equal though complicated double-rook ending in which the clock was more important than the position and both sides had only a few seconds left to make it to move 60 and the increment. Now both players became more and more hectic and could no longer execute their moves properly, and kings, rooks and pawns started to fly around until Grischuk finally lost on time. The video below shows the end of the game, the real time-trouble battle begins after about three minutes.
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1.c4e52.g3Nf63.Bg2d54.cxd5Nxd55.Nc3Nb66.d3Bc57.Bd20-08.Rc1Re89.Nb5Bd610.h4Nc611.Bxc6bxc612.Nc3a513.Nf3a414.Qc2h615.Rg1f516.Nd1c517.Ne3Be618.Bc3Nd719.Nd2Qe720.Ndc4Qf721.f4Bxc422.Nxc4e423.Rd1Ra624.Kf2Bf825.e3Rae626.Qe2exd327.Qxd3Re428.Qxd7Qxc429.Rge1a330.Rd2R4e631.Qd5Qxd532.Rxd5axb233.Bxb2Ra634.a3c435.Rxf5Rb836.Re2Rb337.Rc2c338.Bc1Rb139.Kf3Rc640.Rd5Ra141.Rd3Bxa342.Bxa3Rxa343.e4Kf744.e5h545.f5Rc546.Ke4Raa547.e6+Kf648.Rd7Rxf549.Rf7+Kxe650.Rxc7Rfe5+Black lost on time.1–0
White won four of the five Armageddon games and this might be an indicator that White's 10 to 7 minutes time advantage is of more importance than White's need to win. But who knows? Maybe Black is more lucky in round 2 of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament. It starts Wednesday, June 5, 17:00 CEST.
Standings after round 1
M. Carlsen
1,5
S. Mamedyarov
1,5
Ding Liren
1,5
L. Aronian
1,5
Yu Yangyi
1,5
V. Anand
0,5
F. Caruana
0,5
M. Vachier-Lagrave
0,5
W. So
0,5
A. Grischuk
0,5
Live commentary of round 1 by Judit Polgar and Anna Rudolf
Johannes FischerJohannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".
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