Preview on the Candidates: Daniel King on Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

by Arne Kaehler
3/11/2020 – In his candidates preview on YouTube, Daniel King takes a close look at all eight candidates who are fighting for a chance to challenge Magnus Carlsen in December. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave wasn't even supposed to play in the "Candidates Tournament 2020" in Yekaterinburg, but he jumped in for Teimour Radjabov who surprisingly withdrew from the tournament a few days ago. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess
Grandmaster Daniel King presents ten exemplary attacking performances. At key moments he stops and asks you to play a move. King then gives feedback on the most plausible continuations. It’s the next best thing to having your own personal trainer!

The most surprising player? 

Until recently we might have called Kirill Alekseenko the most surprising candidate, but that changed of late. You see Daniel King had planned to only make eight videos on his YouTube channel for his preview on the candidate tournament 2020, but things took a different turn, due to the unforeseen withdrawal by fellow candidate Teimour Radjabov. Now the spotlight is on Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Daniel King is checking out if he is a worthy contestant. (Spoiler alert: He is!)

Vachier-Lagrave was the first reserve due to his current Elo rating of 2767. He also is one of a rare few to top the magical 2800 Elo level in 2016 and 2017. Plus, he is the second and third best rapid and blitz player in the world respectively.

Daniel King points out that 'MVL' can play with less much pressure, because of his unexpected entry, which makes him a fearsome opponent. He is good in endgames, has well-prepared openings and a lot of experience. Surprisingly enough, this is actually his very first appearance in a Candidates tournament.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Vachier-Lagrave training with this second, GM Étienne Bacrot

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Arne Kaehler, a creative mind who is passionate about board games in general, was born in Hamburg and learned to play chess at a young age. By teaching chess to youth teams and creating chess-related videos on YouTube, Arne was able to expand this passion and has even created an online course for anyone who wants to learn how to play chess. Arne writes for the English and German news sites, but focuses mainly on content for the ChessBase media channels.

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