Ding is the sole leader at the Sinquefield Cup

Carlsen ends his draw streak

We have an exciting final round on the cards on Wednesday, with Ding Liren on six points trailed by Carlsen, Nepomniachtchi, Anand and Karjakin all on 5½ points, followed by Caruana, MVL and Mamedyarov all on five each. It is going to be an epic clash!

Online viewers of the tenth round had the pleasure of hearing from none other than Garry Kasparov, who always delights the audience with his frank views. Terming the Sinquefield Cup as a 'very exciting event', he wondered,

I am appalled to hear the comments (online) that the event is the end of classical chess...There are many draws...but it's high quality, and a lot of excitement...You can hardly call (anyone) for lack of fighting spirit.

As Garry described, immediately off the blocks, chess lovers who enjoy the historical aspects of the game were delighted to a heartwarming sight.

Aronian vs Ding Liren - from the yesteryears of Two Knights folklore | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour 

The modern Two Knights

The Two Knights Defence is one of the oldest opening lines in chess history. This DVD is aimed at players of both sides, giving an objective overview of all relevant theoretical lines.

This old romantic spectacle of the Two Knights gambit variation from a bygone era, revisited with a curious twist in recent times: 10.♗d3!?

The established way to play the position is 10.♗e2 h6 11.♘f3 e4 and the knights gets hounded. The text aims to solve the problem in a simple way, to retreat 10...h6 11.♘e4. Simple.

How do such an obscure forgotten gambit suddenly gains notoriety and comes to the fore?! Typically, a top grandmaster would notice such a variation revisited by amateurs or correspondence players, and adopt it in a serious game. If the idea is worth its salt, it gets picked up by his colleague and played around. When it is played at the highest level by a player of Aronian's calibre against Ding, that's when it gains immortality. Prediction: we can all expect an article soon in a magazine or opening manual on this move analysed to its barest details and filed with conclusions. (If it hasn't been done already.)

When Ding didn't even blink an eye and made his moves rapidly, that is when we understand that, at this level of chess, nothing is unexpected. “I forgot my preparation. I knew that this was a slightly worse variation, but I forgot how to equalize”, were the curious words of Ding after the game.

15...♞b4

Ding confessed, “I knew (this to be) not a good move. May be I misplayed before, I (have forgotten) the correct line. So I went for this”.

Aronian enjoyed a slight advantage with 16.♗xb4 cxb4 17.♖e1 ♝b8 18.♘g3 ♛xd3 19.♖xe5, but misplayed the position later on.

24.h4

One of those 'creative' moves of contemporary chess which invariably gets praised for its ambiguity, but in this particular position it's not worth it. White could have retained a token edge with the simple 24.♘g3 ♜fd8 25.♖d3 and he has a reasonably important pawn on d4 to emphasize his advantage. In the game, Ding equalized with a nice manoeuvre: 24...♜fd8 25.♕d2 a4 26.♖d1 axb3 27.axb3 ♜a5! taking care of the d5-square and the kingside in one go and nullifying White's advantage. Building on yesterday's praise for Ding's nuanced positional play against Caruana, such clarity of concepts is the strength of the Chinese ace.

Another short draw featured not much of a fight, but an amusing finale. 

The Ragozin Defense

The Ragozin is being played by every top grandmaster in the world - it is time you also add it to your repertoire to get interesting and dynamic positions against 1. d4!
GM Alejandro Ramirez analyses every single move that White can play once the Ragozin is reached, but due to several transpositional possibilities he always emphasises strategic goals to keep in mind.

This resembles one of those Queens Gambit Ragozin positions where, to prevent white's e3-e4 break, black keeps his pawns secure on f5 and d5 and a terrible looking bishop on b7. Now the trick for White is to activate his pieces while Black would want to use his queenside pawn majority.

19.♗e1 ♞g6 This move makes sense, to counter 20.♗g3 with 20...f4.

20.♗a5 Makes sense — now that white's dark bishop is not able to enter into the kingside, it tries the queenside.

20...♞e7 Almost makes sense to counter 21.♕d2 with 21...♞c6 thus preventing 22.♗b4.

21.♗e1?! This, however, doesn't make much sense! If White wanted to make headway, he could have simply continued 21.♕d2 ♞c6 22.♗b6! with the idea of 23.♗c5 and he would have a slight advantage.

21...♞g6 Aha! This made perfect sense again. If two chess players want to end a game in which an agreed draw is not allowed, they will find a way to repeat moves thrice, even if the reasoning is not entirely logical!!

Anish Giri reaching the tournament hall with his second Vladimir Chuchelov | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Two of the boldest players of the tournament decided to let their hair down and engage in a sharp clash. Mamedyarov was understandably proud of the fight, “Today we played a very interesting game. Fabiano and me, both want(ed) to win...(giving) chances to (each other)”. Caruana's views were surprising, for someone who has delighted in this tournament with his level of opening preparedness,

It was kind of silly that I forgot everything in the opening — I could not remember anything! It is a huge theoretical line known to be a forced draw. The one you play either to check your opponent's memory or you really don't feel like playing that day.

Mamedyarov reaching the tournament hall with his second Rauf Mamedov | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour 

Meet the Nimzo-Indian with 4.Qc2

Rustam Kasimdzhanov, the FIDE World Champion in 2004, has been extremely successful with the Nimzo-Indian with 4.Qc2 with White and with Black. In over 4 hours of video, Rustam Kasimdzhanov explains all the important ideas, strategies and tricks helped by sample games in which the white side is represented, e.g., by Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik and Ivanchuk as well as the author himself.

In a sharp position from the ♕c2 variation of the Nimzo-Indian defence, Caruana erred with 14...gxf4? Mamedyarov called this a mistake, but couldn't recollect the theory here in spite of consuming huge amounts of time. Indeed, the better alternative being 14...exd5.

15.dxe6 ♞xe5 16.♗xe4 ♞g4

17.exf7? Mamedyarov mentioned that Caruana considered this to be a mistake, preferring 17.♘f3. Indeed, possibly also 17.h4. The problem with the text is that, though winning a pawn, it opens up White's kingside for attack.

Black gained the upper hand with 17...♜xf7 18.h4 fxg3 19.fxg3 ♞e3 winning an exchange, but in a sharp tactical position, he fell for a 'cheapo'.

Black is an exchange up, but has to develop his queenside pieces. In his effort to be quick, Caruana hurried into a mistake with 23...♝h3? and fell for 24.♗f5! after which White managed to salvage a draw.

The point behind the trick is that, on 24...♝xf5 25.♘xf5+ ♛xf5 there follows 26.♕xb7 winning the rook. From this variation, it is obvious that Black should play the prophylactic 23...♚h8! from the diagram. A wild little skirmish, nevertheless.

Caruana reaching the tournament hall with Rustam Kasimdzhanov | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

It was curious to see how Anand would approach the game today. Even though he hasn't lost one in the tournament, the former world champion has had a mixed outing so far. He has been failing to convert winning or advantageous positions in about four games, and being obviously upset in post-game interviews about his play. It was interesting to see that in spite of that baggage, he continued with his brand of dynamic chess today too.

In fact, Kasparov talked about Vishy directly:

What I feel a bit sad is Vishy's performance. He is playing Robinhood! It is so painful watching him build... strong position(s), some games by force, and then age tells.

Anand's opponent Karjakin too joked after the game:

My plan was to make a solid draw (today) and afterwards tell Vishy, 'this was the first game in which you were not winning!', but I didn't manage!

Indeed, Anand's play was impressive, almost without traces of the bumpy road so far. 

Power Play 23: A Repertoire for black with the Queen's Gambit Declined

On this DVD Grandmaster Daniel King offers you a repertoire for Black with the QGD. The repertoire is demonstrated in 10 stem games, covering all White's major systems: 5 Bg5, 5 Bf4, and the Exchange Variation.

7...♝a6

A rare continuation, 7...♝b7 being the popular move here 8.cxd5 ♞xd5!? 9.♘xd5 Technically this was the new move. 9.0-0 c5 was an earlier game Keymer vs Matthiesen, Helsingor 2018, not capturing the offered pawn but play on the strength of the mildly better centre control 9...♛xd5 10.♗xc7 Karjakin captured this pawn after a five minutes thought, probably indicating he had not anticipated the pawn sacrifice here, but admirably deciding to accept the challenge.

10...♛a5+ 11.♔f1 The point. For the sacrificed pawn, Black gains the initiative in view of the uncastled white king and a lead in development.

White has tucked away his king to safety, which means that Black should act fast: 17...g5!? It was difficult to believe this, but Anand played the entire opening moves fast, indicating that the former world champion had come to the board with everything worked out. Incredible preparation! 18.♖hb1 h5!? True to his style, Anand throws his forces on the kingside, making his intention to have a full-fledged battle, in spite of the scar of missed moments in this tournament. Bravo!

21.♘e1? Facing Anand's initiative right from the opening, Sergey 'The Minister of Defence' Karjakin finally slips up. 21.♘e5 ♞xe5 22.dxe5 ♛d2 and though objectively White is better, it isn't easy to face Black's initiative over the board. 21...♜d2 22.♕e4 ♞f6 23.♕b7 ♜e8 and Black gained counterplay.

The game looked like getting very complicated and ended with a few electrifying moments. 

The magic of chess tactics

Chess Tactics are the art of combat command. When tactics dominate concrete action is required immediately in order to put a plan into practice or to grab an opportunity. However in complicated positions and with determined resistance basic tactics are often insufficient and intuition, imagination and precision are necessary.

A wild position where both the kings are hunted down!

28...♜f2 29.♘d2 ♛xd3! 30.♔xf2 ♞e4+ 31.♔g1 ♛xe3+ 32.♔h1 ♛h6+ with a draw.

Karjakin vs Anand - an electrifying finish | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Magnus Carlsen finally won a game, outplaying Wesley So in a familiar way.

The centre is quite a picture! White's fractured pawn-structure actually does him a lot of favours — keeping Black's knights from reaching b4 and g4 with the d5-square being the ultimate destination for the white knight. Carlsen's next few moves are simple and beautiful.

24.♗c1! Attacking h6. But beyond that, can you see where the bishop is headed? And why?!

24...♚g7 25.♗e3

A cosy square for the bishop, but can you see the point?

25...♜xd1 26.♖xd1 ♜d8

27.♖b1! ♜b8 and both the ♞-c6 and ♜-b8 are fixed, as they have to defend against threats of ♗xc5 and ♜xb6. Now white proceeded with 28.♘g2! Can you now see where the knight is headed? 28...♞f6 29.♔e2 Making way for the bishop 29...♞e8

30.♗f2! The point — the White knight on g2 is headed to d5! 30...♞d6 31.♘e3 ♞e7 32.♘d5! and White is overwhelmingly better.

The final beauty of the position was demonstrated by Carlsen in the post-game analysis.

35...fxe4 36.fxe4 and the position is already lost for Black, as he has no defence against ♗f2-e1-c3 here. There was a picturesque finish shown by Carlsen: 35...♚f6 36.g4 f4 37.♗e1 g5 and now...

38.♗c3! Zugzwang! A beautiful example of why we all love chess!

Magnus Carlsen — when the going gets tough, we produce zugzwangs | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Now to the game which provided the ultimate drama of the day.

After a complicated opening struggle, the game equalized and reached this position, and Nepomniachtchi came up with a howler.

21.♘d7??

As MVL declared in the confession booth,“...If he goes 21.♘c6 instead of 21.♘e7 we (could) shake hands already probably...”. The blunder was committed after a thought of just 26 seconds. After Black's reply with 21...♝d6, Nepomniachtchi went into the players' lounge adjacent to the tournament hall, and didn't reappear for another fifteen minutes probably contemplating what he had done. The players table was empty, without both the players for the duration.

The playerless board being examined by curious spectators | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Later, MVL would admit that he 'was a bit surprised' with the blunder.

It was a bit of payback for him playing so fast in every game and today it cost him... He has been putting pressure on time on all his opponents...Yesterday I was pretty pissed about my play, and looking at Ian, all his wins, his playing so fast... I thought, let us not be confused by his quick play, let's punish his mistakes!

MVL reaching the tournament hall | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Round up show by IM Lawrence Trent

Games analysed by V. Saravanan

Standings after round 10

Rk.		Name	Rtg.	Nt.	Pts.	n	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	TB	Perf.
1		Ding,L	2805		9.5	15		3.5	½	½	½	½	1	1	½	½	½	½	58.25	2903
2		Carlsen,M	2882		7.5	15	1.5		½	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	45.50	2782
3		Anand,V	2756		6.0	11	½	½		½	½	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	34.75	2821
4		Karjakin,S	2750		6.0	11	½	½	½		½	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	34.50	2821
5		Mamedyarov,S	2764		5.5	11	½	½	½	½		½	½	½	½	½	½	½	32.25	2784
6		Nepomniachtchi,I	2774		5.5	11	½	½	0	½	½		0	½	1	0	1	1	31.00	2783
7		Giri,A	2779		5.5	11	0	½	½	½	½	1		½	½	½	½	½	30.25	2783
8		Caruana,F	2818		5.5	11	0	½	½	½	½	½	½		½	½	1	½	29.75	2779
9		Nakamura,H	2743		5.0	11	½	½	½	½	½	0	½	½		½	½	½	29.75	2750
10		Vachier-Lagrave,M	2778		5.0	11	½	0	½	0	½	1	½	½	½		½	½	28.50	2747
11		Aronian,L	2765		4.5	11	½	½	½	½	½	0	½	0	½	½		½	27.25	2719
12		So,W	2776		4.5	11	½	0	½	½	½	0	½	½	½	½	½		26.25	2718
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

All games

Commentary webcast

Commentary by WGM Jennifer Shahade and GMs Yasser Seirawan and Maurice Ashley

Links

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• Official site