Speed Chess Championship, Quarterfinals: 'MVL' wins against Levon Aronian

by Johannes Fischer
12/3/2020 – In the second match of the quarterfinals of the Speed Chess Championship 2020 on chess.com, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave narrowly won 14.5-12.5 against Levon Aronian. Despite some errors, the level of the match was high and the match itself was close until the very end.

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Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs Levon Aronian, 14.5-12.5

The Speed Chess Championship 2020 consists of matches with three differenz time controls in blitz. The players play 90 minutes with a time-limit 5+1, 60 minutes with a time-limit of 3+1, and 30 minutes bullet chess with a time-limit of 1+1. For each win – no matter whether it is 5+1 blitz or bullet – the players get 1 point, a draw gives half a point.

With an Elo-rating of 2784 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is currently number 5 the world, three points ahead of Levon Aronian, who is currently the world's number 6 with a rating of 2781.

The blitz match between the two was also balanced. In the 5+1 games, Vachier-Lagrave secured a slight lead with 4.5-3.5, which Aronian was able to make up for with a 5.5:4.5 victory in the 3+1 mini-match.

But in the bullet games "MVL" had more luck. He won the first two games of the mini-match and defended this lead until the end of the match.

In the semi-finals Vachier-Lagrave meets the winner of the match between Magnus Carlsen and Vladislav Artemiev.

All in all, the level of the match was high, though the time-control led to some curious mistakes and blunders, e.g. in the very first game of the match.

 
M. Vachier-Lagrave vs L. Aronian
Position after 29.Nxe4

In this position Aronian played 29...Ne8, and now Vachier-Lagrave, who had only seconds remaining on the clock, did not hesitate and played 30.Rc7?? to attack Black's weak pawn on c6. But Aronian, who also had only a few seconds left, did not take White's rook on c7 but played 30...Nf8??, which led to an endgame in which he had to fight for a while until the players agreed to a draw.

But all in all both players were tactically alert in most of the games and surprised again and again with interesting ideas.

The following position occurred in game six:

 
L. Aronian vs M. Vachier-Lagrave
Position after 44.Ng3

White is winning but Vachier-Lagrave tried a last trick and played 44...Rxf3!?. White cannot take the rook but Aronian kept his calm and won after 45.b5 axb5 46.cxb5 Be8 47.Qd5+ Rf7 48.Re4 1–0

Vachier-Lagrave also showed tactical ingenuity and cool nerves, particularly in the bullet games.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 a5 8.Nbd2 Be6 9.Bb5 Qb8 10.Nf1 Qa7 11.Be3 Bxe3 12.Nxe3 a4 13.Qc2 Ne7 14.Bc4 Bxc4 15.dxc4 Qa6 16.c5 Ng6 17.cxd6 Qxd6 18.Rad1 Qe6 19.Nd5 Rfc8 20.g3 h6 21.Re3 Ra6 22.c4 c6 23.Nxf6+ Qxf6 24.c5 Rd8 25.Rxd8+ Qxd8 26.Rd3 Qe7 27.Rd6 Nf8 28.Qc3 Nd7 29.Nh4 g6 30.Qe3 Kh7 White now tried a typical knight sacrifice: 31.Nf5!? gxf5 32.Qxh6+ Kg8 33.exf5 f6 Black cannot take on c5: 33...Nxc5?? 34.f6 Qf8 35.Rd8! and White mates. 34.Qg6+ Kf8 35.Qh6+ Kg8 36.Qd2!? White wants more than a perpetual and a draw. Nf8 37.g4 White has two pawns and active play for the piece but the engines think that Black is slight better. However, in a bullet game, with only one minute for the entire game and one second increment per move, Black's position is very difficult to defend. Ra8 38.h4 Qg7 39.g5 fxg5 40.hxg5 Qf7 41.Qd3 Re8? The engines recommend 41...e4! 42.Qxe4 Re8 with a complicated and dynamically balanced position. 42.g6 Qg7 43.Qc4+ Kh8 44.Rd3! This rook retreat decides the game. Qh6 45.Kg2! e4 46.Rh3 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Vachier-Lagrave,M2784Aronian,L27811–02020C54chess.com Speed 20202.31

The decisive bullet game also showed that it is often better in games with shortened time-control to risk a dubious attack than to try to find the objectively "best" moves.

 
M. Vachier-Lagrave vs L. Aronian
Position after 34.Re8

White had failed to get any advantage in the opening and gradually got under pressure. To get counterplay, Vachier-Lagrave had decided to sacrifice a pawn. A successful strategy.

In this position Black played 34...Rd8? After 34...Qf7 White still has to prove that he has enough compensation for the pawn. But after the text-move White immediately won with 35.Nxf6+. Aronian played 35...Kf7 (after 35...Kh8 White mates with 36.Qh7#), but resigned after 36.Nxd5. 1-0

This was the 25th game of the match, and after this win "MVL" led with 13.5-11.5 and practically decided the match in his favour.

Games

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.c3 d6 7.Re1 a5 8.Nbd2 Be6 9.Bb5 Qb8 10.Nf1 Qa7 11.Be3 Bxe3 12.Nxe3 Ne7 13.Ba4 Ng6 14.Bb3 Rfe8 15.g3 a4 16.Bxe6 Rxe6 17.b4 axb3 18.axb3 Qb8 19.b4 c6 20.Qb3 Re8 21.Rxa8 Qxa8 22.b5 h6 23.Nf5 Rd8 24.Rb1 d5 25.Nd2 Qc8 26.bxc6 bxc6 27.Qb7 Qxb7 28.Rxb7 dxe4 29.Nxe4 Ne8 30.Rc7 Nf8 31.Rxc6 Ne6 32.Nc5 N8c7 33.d4 exd4 34.cxd4 Nxc5 35.dxc5 Ne6 36.Rd6 Ra8 37.c6 Kf8 38.Rd7 Rc8 39.Rxf7+ Kxf7 40.Nd6+ Ke7 41.Nxc8+ Kd8 42.Nd6 Kc7 43.Nf5 Kxc6 44.f4 Kd5 45.Kf2 Ke4 46.Nd6+ Kd5 47.Ne8 Ke4 48.h4 h5 49.Nd6+ Kd5 50.Nf7 Ke4 51.Ng5+ Nxg5 52.fxg5 Kf5 53.Kf3 g6 54.g4+ hxg4+ 55.Kg3 Ke6 56.Kxg4 Kf7 57.Kf3 Ke6 58.Kf4 Kf7 59.Ke5 Ke7 60.Kf4 Kf7 61.Ke4 Ke6 62.Ke3 Ke5 63.Kf3 Kf5 64.Kg3 Ke6 65.Kf4 Kf7 ½–½
  • Start an analysis engine:
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Vachier-Lagrave,M2784Aronian,L2781½–½2020C50chess.com Speed 20202.11
Aronian,L2781Vachier-Lagrave,M27840–12020A01chess.com Speed 20202.12
Vachier-Lagrave,M2784Aronian,L2781½–½2020C50chess.com Speed 20202.13
Aronian,L2781Vachier-Lagrave,M2784½–½2020A01chess.com Speed 20202.14
Vachier-Lagrave,M2784Aronian,L2781½–½2020C67chess.com Speed 20202.15
Aronian,L2781Vachier-Lagrave,M27841–02020B50chess.com Speed 20202.16
Vachier-Lagrave,M2784Aronian,L2781½–½2020A18chess.com Speed 20202.17
Aronian,L2781Vachier-Lagrave,M27840–12020A48chess.com Speed 20202.18
Vachier-Lagrave,M2784Aronian,L2781½–½2020C53chess.com Speed 20202.21
Aronian,L2781Vachier-Lagrave,M2784½–½2020A48chess.com Speed 20202.22
Vachier-Lagrave,M2784Aronian,L27811–02020C50chess.com Speed 20202.23
Aronian,L2781Vachier-Lagrave,M27840–12020A01chess.com Speed 20202.24
Vachier-Lagrave,M2784Aronian,L2781½–½2020C53chess.com Speed 20202.25
Aronian,L2781Vachier-Lagrave,M27841–02020B50chess.com Speed 20202.26
Vachier-Lagrave,M2784Aronian,L2781½–½2020C67chess.com Speed 20202.27
Aronian,L2781Vachier-Lagrave,M27841–02020B50chess.com Speed 20202.28
Vachier-Lagrave,M2784Aronian,L2781½–½2020C53chess.com Speed 20202.29
Aronian,L2781Vachier-Lagrave,M27841–02020B50chess.com Speed 20202.210
Vachier-Lagrave,M2784Aronian,L27811–02020C53chess.com Speed 20202.31
Aronian,L2781Vachier-Lagrave,M27840–12020B50chess.com Speed 20202.32
Vachier-Lagrave,M2784Aronian,L27810–12020C50chess.com Speed 20202.33
Aronian,L2781Vachier-Lagrave,M27840–12020B50chess.com Speed 20202.34
Vachier-Lagrave,M2784Aronian,L2781½–½2020C67chess.com Speed 20202.35
Aronian,L2781Vachier-Lagrave,M27841–02020B50chess.com Speed 20202.36
Vachier-Lagrave,M2784Aronian,L27811–02020C50chess.com Speed 20202.37
Aronian,L2781Vachier-Lagrave,M27840–12020B50chess.com Speed 20202.38
Vachier-Lagrave,M2784Aronian,L27810–12020A45chess.com Speed 20202.39

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Johannes 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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