St. Louis Rapid & Blitz: Excitement galore

Caruana and Dominguez in the lead

Six out of the ten participants at the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz Tournament are representing the United States. After three rounds of rapid chess, two of them are sharing the lead on 5/6 points: Fabiano Caruana and Leinier Dominguez. They are followed by two other Americans, Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura, who both won in round 3 to remain well within touching distance of the leaders.

The day kicked off with wins for Dominguez and Richard Rapport. The latter made the most of an early mistake by Sam Shankland.

A Black Repertoire against Offbeat Openings

Many club players have their favourite pet opening variations which aren’t necessarily main lines. It’s important to know how to handle these variations as your opponent will likely know his systems well. In this DVD, GM Nicholas Pert provides a detailed Black repertoire against many of these Offbeat Opening choices.

White carelessly played 14.a3, failing to foresee that Black could give up a piece with 14...axb3 15.axb4 Qxb4 to get a strong initiative on the queenside.

The queens left the board on move 19, and by move 23 it was clear that Black’s passed pawns were much stronger than White’s extra piece.

After 23...b4, Rapport did not take long to convince his opponent that there was no way to save a draw from this position. 

All games from round 1

As sharp as ever — Richard Rapport | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The second round also saw two decisive results, albeit in two games of markedly different nature. While Caruana showcased phenomenal preparation and great strategic understanding to beat Le Quang Liem’s London System with the black pieces, Peter Svidler suffered a painful loss against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

Chess Endgames 9 - Rook and Minor Piece

Endings with rook and minor piece against rook and minor piece occur very frequently, even more often than rook endings, yet there's not much literature on them. This endgame DVD fills this gap. The four different material constellations rook and knight vs rook and knight, rooks and opposite coloured (and same coloured ) bishops and rook and bishop vs rook and knight are dealt with. In view of the different material constellations Karsten Mueller explains many guidelines like e.g. "With knights even a small initiative weighs heavily".

After a double-edged struggle in the opening and middlegame, White found himself two pawns to the good in a rook and knight endgame. Svidler had succeeded to outplay a great tactician, but still needed to convert this position while low on time. The Russian star began to lose the thread shortly after, and the following setup eventually appeared on the board.

Black has managed to create enough obstacles for his opponent, and now White only has a slim chance to actually get the win.

Suddenly, Mamedyarov’s resilience was further rewarded, as Svidler lost on time after grabbing his king — planning to place it on f3 (which would be responded by 54...Ne5+, forking king and rook) — only to realize his time had run out while he attempted to find the right square for his monarch.

The dramatic conclusion of the game:

All games from round 2

Experienced fighters — Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Peter Svidler | Photo: Lennart Ootes

All five games of the third round had decisive results. Dominguez showed excellent technique to beat Rapport with white; So castled queenside to create a sharp battle against Shankland and obtained a nice 41-move win; Caruana punished Jeffery Xiong’s blunder; Nakamura beat a shell-shocked Svidler; and Le got the better of Mamedyarov with the black pieces.

This was the picturesque final position in Mamedyarov v Le.

Mating Patterns

On this DVD, Grandmaster and worldrenowned commentator Maurice Ashley reviews some of the most interesting patterns with examples meant to educate and entertain.

White’s blunder came on move 9, when he played 9.Nb1. Le made sure to demonstrate why placing the knight next to the king in these kinds of positions can badly backfire.

All games from round 3

Le Quang Liem | Photo: Bryan Adams

Standings after round 3 (Win = 2 points; Draw = 1 point)

Links

• Official site
• Preview