St. Louis Rapid: Aronian and Harikrishna lead

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
9/16/2020 – The 2020 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz Tournament, this year played online, kicked off on Tuesday. After three rounds of rapid play, Levon Aronian and Pentala Harikrishna are leading on 5 out of 6 (each win is worth two points in the rapid section). Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi are currently a point behind, with the latter having got a win in round 2 after his opponent, world champion Magnus Carlsen, disconnected in an equal position. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

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Carlsen disconnects

Usually the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament is played as one of several events that make up the Grand Chess Tour. Given this year’s crisis, however, it is taking place as a separate online tournament. As has been the case in previous online competitions, disconnection-related issues were not absent during the first day of action, with world champion Magnus Carlsen the one losing a game from an equal position in round 2.

The organizer of a five-month tour, Carlsen knew this is the kind of thing that can happen under this format. Although he looked upset once he realized he had lost on time, he accepted defeat, as there is little anyone can do when this situation arises. The commentators rightfully pointed out, however, that organizers are learning from their mistakes, and that better regulations and technical measures might be put forth in the future, if online tournaments remain in the calendar once the crisis is over.

Carlsen lost that game after having beaten Hikaru Nakamura in round 1. The world champion could not bounce back from the unfortunate loss and drew with Wesley So in the third game of the day. Meanwhile, Levon Aronian and Pentala Harikrishna each scored two wins and a draw to take the lead in the standings table.

Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2020

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Round 1: Four decisive results

What at some point looked like a rather peaceful opening round ended up with four out of five games finishing decisively. In the most anticipated matchup of the round, Carlsen defeated Nakamura with the black pieces. The American lost the thread on move 24:

 
Nakamura vs. Carlsen - Round 1
Position after 23...Nd5

Black has the better structure and a passer on the c-file, but White still has chances to create something on the kingside. Here Nakamura needed to go for 24.Rxc4, giving up the exchange — 24...Ne3 25.Qxe3 Qxc4 26.Ne4 — but getting a very active queen and knight duo as compensation. Instead, he played 24.Kh1 and after 24...c3 was unable to stop Carlsen’s passed pawn. Black got the win ten moves later. 

Meanwhile, Alireza Firouzja and Aronian, unsurprisingly, were in the midst of a sharp fight. The youngster, playing white, had his king on f6, when a mistake suddenly gave up the game:

 
Firouzja vs. Aronian - Round 1
Position after 39.h6

By playing 39.h6 in the previous move, Firouzja missed that 39...g2 wins for Black. After 40.h7, Aronian had the intermediate check 40...Nd7+, when the white king needs to go to the g-file allowing Black to queen with check. Firouzja resigned.

So and Harikrishna also got off to a winning start, beating Jeffery Xiong and Leinier Dominguez respectively.

 
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1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g3 d5 5.d4 e6 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Bg2 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 Qxd4 11.cxd4 Bd6 12.a4 D41: Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch with 5 cxd5. Rb8 13.a5 Ke7 14.0-0
White is slightly better. 14...Rd8N Predecessor: 14...Bd7 15.e4 f6 16.Be3 Rhc8 17.Rfb1 Bc7 18.Bf1 b5 19.a6 Bd6 20.Rb3 Kf7 1/2-1/2 (31) Gazi,M (2382)-Pekin,T (2370) GER email 2018 15.e4 Kf8 16.Be3 b6 17.Rfb1 Bd7 17...bxa5= remains equal. 18.Rxb8 Bxb8 18.axb6± axb6 19.Ra6 Bc7 20.d5 20.Ra7± Bd6 21.Ra6 20...exd5 21.exd5 Bf5 22.Rc1 Rdc8 23.h3 Hoping for g4. h5 24.d6 24.Bf1 keeps more tension. Bd6 25.Rxc8+ Bxc8 26.Rxb6 Rxb6 27.Bxb6 Bf5 28.Bd4 24...Bxd6 The position is equal. 25.Rxc8+ Bxc8 26.Rxb6 Rxb6 27.Bxb6= Endgame KBB-KBB Be6 28.h4 g6 29.Be3 Kg8 30.Bd4 Bf8 31.Be3 Bd6 32.Bd4 Bf8 33.Be3 Bd6 Accuracy: White = 90%, Black = 95%.
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Grischuk,A2777Nepomniachtchi,I2784½–½2020Saint Louis Rapid 20201
So,W2770Xiong,J27091–02020Saint Louis Rapid 20201
Dominguez Perez,L2758Harikrishna,P27320–12020Saint Louis Rapid 20201
Nakamura,H2736Carlsen,M28630–12020Saint Louis Rapid 20201
Firouzja,A2728Aronian,L27730–12020Saint Louis Rapid 20201

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Round 2: Aronian survives, and then wins

Two eventful decisive results were seen in round 2.

Ian Nepomniachtchi played enterprisingly in the opening against Carlsen, advancing his h-pawn down the board while marshalling the black pieces. In return, the world champion got strong piece play with Black’s king still in the centre. Eventually, Carlsen gained a pawn in a heavy-piece endgame; Nepomniachtchi was resourceful in defence and recovered material equality. Soon after, the game suddenly came to an end:

 
Carlsen vs. Nepomniachtchi - Round 2
Position after 38...Rf8

An exciting fight that was about to finish peacefully ended up favouring the Russian grandmaster, as Carlsen disconnected and lost on time in this position.

Meanwhile, Aronian had been suffering for quite a while after having misplayed the opening:

 
Aronian vs. Grischuk - Round 2
Position after 14.bxa6

White’s 14.bxa6 allowed Alexander Grischuk to go for 14...Qh4+, when 15.Qf2 is not possible due to 15...Nc2+ (14.Bd3 would have prevented this idea). Thus, the Armenian had to leave his king in the centre with 15.Kd1.

Grischuk continued to improve his position and seemed to be en route to scoring a memorable win. However, as Yasser Seirawan explained, this is when things get tricky for the Russian, who usually gets these advantages and spends way too much time calculating the precise way to finish off his opponent — sometimes he gets incredible victories, but other times he finds himself with little time on the clock and an increasingly difficult task ahead.

The ever-resourceful Aronian not only defended against Grischuk’s threats but went on to get a 68-move win after his colleague misplayed the endgame. The Armenian was the only player on a perfect score after two rounds.

 
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1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 h5 4.Nc3 h4 5.e3 Nf6 6.Nge2
A20: English Opening: 1... e5. 6...h3N Predecessor: 6...d6 7.d4 Bf5 8.e4 Bd7 9.d5 Ne7 10.Bg5 Ng6 11.Qd2 Be7 12.f4 hxg3 13.hxg3 Rxh1+ 14.Bxh1 exf4 15.gxf4 0-1 (43) Radovic,L (2065)-Zlatanovic,B (2416) Paracin 2013 7.Bf3 e4 8.Nxe4 White is slightly better. Ne5 9.N2c3 Nxc4 Black should try 9...Nxe4 10.Bxe4 Nxc4 10.Nxf6+± Qxf6 11.Nd5 Qd6! 12.d4
aiming for e4. 12...c6 13.Nc3 Qb4 14.a3 Qa5 15.0-0 d5 16.e4 dxe4 17.Bxe4 Better is 17.Re1± 17...Be6!= 18.d5 cxd5 19.Bxd5 Rd8! Strongly threatening ...Nb6. 20.Qe2! Not 20.Re1? Nb6 20...Rxd5 21.Qxc4
Hoping for b4. 21...Re5 22.Qd3 Qc5 23.Qf3 Qc8 24.Bf4 White has good play. Rc5 25.Ne4 Rc6 26.Ng5 Be7 27.Nxe6 fxe6 28.Be5 And now Qg4 would win. Bf6! 29.Bxf6 0-0 30.Qg4 Rxf6 31.Qxh3 Rc2 32.b4 Qc6 33.Rad1 Qb6 34.Qg2 Rc3 34...a6 35.Qe4± Rxa3 36.Rd2 36.Rd7± 36...Raf3 37.Kg2 a6 38.Rc2 Rf8 Accuracy: White = 84%, Black = 82%. . Loss on time!?
0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2863Nepomniachtchi,I27840–12020Saint Louis Rapid 20202
Aronian,L2773Grischuk,A27771–02020Saint Louis Rapid 20202
Nakamura,H2736So,W2770½–½2020Saint Louis Rapid 20202
Harikrishna,P2732Firouzja,A2728½–½2020Saint Louis Rapid 20202
Xiong,J2709Dominguez Perez,L2758½–½2020Saint Louis Rapid 20202

Round 3: Harikrishna joins the lead

Grischuk’s woes continued in round 3, as he lost a second game in a row, this time against Harikrishna. The Russian faltered in a sharp ending:

 
Grischuk vs. Harikrishna - Round 3
Position after 35...Ke8

The natural-looking 36.Re7+ was White’s final mistake. After 36...Kf8 37.a7 Nxe2 38.Kf1, 38...Nd4 is a nice winning shot. 

 
Position after 38...Nd4

White defended the knight with 39.Rc7, but Black now has mate-in-3 — 39...Bd3+ 40.Ke1 Nxf3+, and Grischuk resigned before allowing 41.Kd1 Ra1# to appear on the board.

In the first diagrammed position, 36.Kf1 Rxe2 37.Rb7 is the way to defend for White.

The remaining four games finished drawn.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 c6 4.Nf3 d5 5.Bb3 Bb4+ 6.c3 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.exd5 cxd5 9.Bg5 Be6 10.Re1 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Qb8 12.Bh4 b5 13.Bg3 a5 14.a3 Re8 15.Nf1 Nh5 16.Nxe5 Bxe5 17.Qxh5 Bxg3 18.hxg3 1/2-1/2 (40) Nepomniachtchi,I (2774)-Aronian,L (2773) chess.com INT 2020 2...Nc6 3.g3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Nc3 Qd6 6.Bg2 C44: Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit. Bg4 7.h3 Bh5 8.g4 Bg6 9.d3
9...Nge7N Predecessor: 9...0-0-0 10.Be3 Nd4 11.0-0 c6 12.Ne4 Qc7 13.c3 Nxf3+ 14.Qxf3 Nf6 15.Rfd1 Nd5 1/2-1/2 (35) Zvjaginsev,V (2644)-Paravyan,D (2602) Douglas 2019 10.Be3 0-0-0 11.Nd2 f5 12.Nb3 Bf7 13.Qf3 Qg6 14.0-0-0 f4 15.Bd2 Nd5 16.Qe4 Qf6 17.Qe2 Nxc3 Black should play 17...Nd4 18.Nxd4 Nxc3 19.Bxc3 exd4 18.Bxc3= Nd4 19.Bxd4 exd4 20.Kb1 g5 21.Be4 h6 22.Qf3 c6 23.h4 gxh4 24.Qh3
g5+ is the strong threat. 24...Kc7 25.Qxh4 Qxh4 26.Rxh4 Be7 27.Rh2 Bxb3 28.axb3 a5 29.Kc1 Bg5 30.Kd2 f3+ 31.Ke1 Rhf8 32.Rh3 Rde8 33.Kf1 Re5 34.Rxf3 Rxf3 35.Bxf3 Endgame KRB-KRB Rc5 36.Re1 36.Ra1!= 36...Rxc2 37.Re2 Rxe2 38.Kxe2 KB-KB Bc1 39.Be4 Bxb2 40.Kd2 Ba3 41.Kc2 Bd6 42.Bf5 Bf4 43.Be6 Kd6 44.Bc8 b5 45.Kb2 c5 46.Ba6 Kc6 47.Kc2 Kb6 48.Bc8
48...c4! 49.dxc4 49.bxc4 bxc4 49...bxc4 50.bxc4 a4 51.Bd7 a3 White should prevent ...d3+! 52.Kb3 The position is equal. Bc1 53.Bf5 Kc5 54.Bd3 Kd6 55.f4 Bxf4 56.Kxa3 Accuracy: White = 89%, Black = 95%.
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nepomniachtchi,I2784Aronian,L2773½–½2020Saint Louis Rapid 20203
Grischuk,A2777Harikrishna,P27320–12020Saint Louis Rapid 20203
So,W2770Carlsen,M2863½–½2020Saint Louis Rapid 20203
Dominguez Perez,L2758Nakamura,H2736½–½2020Saint Louis Rapid 20203
Firouzja,A2728Xiong,J2709½–½2020Saint Louis Rapid 20203

Standings after Round 3

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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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