St. Louis Rapid & Blitz: Firouzja starts off on the right foot

by Klaus Besenthal
8/27/2022 – The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, part of the Grand Chess Tour, kicked off on Friday. On the first three days of the event, the ten participating world-class players battle it out in a round-robin tournament of 25+10 rapid games. After the first day, on which three rounds were played, Alireza Firouzja is topping the standings with 5 points (a win is worth two points in the rapid). | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes
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An American tradition

The tournament is the fourth event on the Grand Chess Tour. Three tournaments, all of which were held in Europe, have already been included in the overall tour ranking: the Superbet Chess Classic Romania, the Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland and the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia. Immediately after the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, the last event of the Grand Chess Tour will start, also at the Saint Louis Chess Club: the Sinquefield Cup.

Dr. Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield during the opening ceremony | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

At the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, three rounds of 25+10 Rapid Chess are played on each of the first three tournament days. With two points per win, a maximum of 18 points can be gained for the overall standings of the event. On day 4 and day 5, nine rounds of 5+2 blitz per day will follow, with one point per win.

Sportingly, the first day of the tournament was not a success for Levon Aronian, but in terms of shirt selection he was clearly the number one | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

For Alireza Firouzja the tournament began with a victory over the Azerbaijani Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. A single white rook, which strolled death-defyingly through the opponent’s position, did most of the work:

 
Firouzja, Alireza27931–0Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar2759
Saint Louis Rapid 2022
26.08.2022[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.c4 e5 2.g3 Be7 3.Nc3 d6 4.d4 f5 5.Bh3 exd4 6.Qxd4 Nc6 7.Qd3 Bf6
8.Bxf5 Capturing this pawn leads to a position in which White certainly has no advantage. Other moves, like 8.Nf3 promised more, since the bishop on c8 and the pawn on f5 are not ideally placed. 8...Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Ne5 10.Qc2 Bxf5 11.Qxf5 Qd7 12.Qxd7+ Kxd7 13.c5 dxc5 14.Bf4 Ng6 15.Rd1+ Kc6 16.Nf3 Re8 17.h4 h5 18.Ng5 Nf6 19.f3 Nd5 20.Bd2 Nb6 21.e4 Nc4 22.Ke2
Finally White has also connected his rooks. The unusual distribution of the pawns suggests that the rest of the game will be exciting. 22...b5 23.Be1 Nb2 24.Rd5 Na4 25.Bd2 Ne7?! After this move, the white rook, which at first sight seems rather lonely, begins an amazing journey. The alternative was 25...Ne5 26.Rxe5 Rxe5 27.Nf7 Rhe8 28.Nxe5+ Rxe5= The position would have remained exciting because of the majorities on both flanks. 26.Re5 Nc8 27.Re6+ Nd6 28.Rg6 Rh6 29.Rxg7 Nf5 30.Nh3
30...Rf6? That is not a good move. Nach 30...Nxg7 31.Bxh6 Nf5 32.Bf4 Nxc3+ 33.Kd3 Nxe4 34.fxe4 c4+ 35.Kd2 Rxe4 Black has only two pawns for the bishop, but perhaps his c4-pawn is already worth a little more than usual. 31.Rg5 b4 32.Rc1 Good for White: this rook finally gets active. a5 33.Nf4 Now Black is really struggling. bxc3 34.Bxc3 Nxg3+ 35.Rxg3 Rxf4 36.Be1 Deckt indirekt den Bh4. Rf6 37.Rg5 Ref8 38.Rg3 Rd6 39.Bxa5 Nb2 40.Rc2 Nd3 41.Bd2 Nf4+ 42.Bxf4 Rxf4 43.Rg5
Now it is obvious that White will win the game. 43...Rxh4 44.Rgxc5+ Kb6 45.Rxc7 Rh1 46.R7c3 1–0

 

Alireza Firouzja also won his second game, against Hikaru Nakamura | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

The highlight in round 3 was Alireza Firouzja’s game against Sam Shankland. GM Karsten Müller analysed the most important variations:

 
Firouzja, Alireza2793½–½Shankland, Sam2720
Saint Louis Rapid 2022
26.08.2022[Mueller,Karsten]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nbd2 Bd6 7.Nc4 Qe7 8.h3 Nd7 9.0-0 Nb6 10.Ne3 f6 11.a4 Be6 12.a5 Nd7 13.d4 g6 14.a6 b6 15.c4 c5 16.dxc5 Nxc5 17.Nd5 Qf7 18.Re1 0-0 19.b4 Nd7 20.b5 Nc5 21.Qc2 Rac8 22.Bh6 Rfd8 23.Rad1 c6 24.bxc6 Nxa6 25.Nxf6+ Qxf6 26.Bg5 Qg7 27.Bxd8 Rxd8 28.Rd2 Qc7 29.Qb2 Be7 30.Rxd8+ Bxd8 31.Qxe5 Qxe5 32.Nxe5 Nb4 33.c5 b5 34.Rd1 Bc7 35.Rd6 Bxd6 36.cxd6 Kf8 37.f4 a5 38.g4 Nxc6 39.Nxc6 a4 40.f5 gxf5 41.gxf5 a3 42.fxe6 a2 43.d7 a1Q+ 44.Kg2 Qb2+ 45.Kf3
The rain of queen checks. Usually a queen wins easily against a knight and pawns. But when the pawns are dangerous matters can be different: 45...Qc3+? The wrong way. Black should immediately give perpetual check with 45...Qf6+ 46.Ke3 Qc3+ 47.Kf4 Qf6+= 46.Kg4 h5+!? A good try. 47.Kxh5? 47.Kf5! wins as White's king can hide sooner or later, e.g. Qc5+ 48.e5 Kg7 48...Qf2+ 49.Kg6 49.Kg5 Qg3+ 50.Kf6 Qf4+ 51.Kg6 Qe4+ 52.Kh6 Qf4+ 53.Kh7 Qf5+ 54.Kh8 49...Qg3+ 50.Kh7 Qd3+ 51.Kh8 49.d8Q Qc2+ 50.Kg5 Qc1+ 51.Kxh5 Qh6+ 52.Kg4 Qxe6+ 53.Kf4 Qxc6 54.Qe7+ Kh8 55.e6+- 47...Qxh3+? 47...Qxc6!
wins as after 48.d8Q+ Qe8+ 49.Qxe8+ Kxe8 50.Kg4 b4-+ White's king cannot move into the square of Black's passed b-pawn. 48.Kg5 Qg3+ 49.Kf5 Qf2+! The right check. Now there is no hiding place from the rain of queen checks. 49...Qh3+? is refuted by 50.Ke5 Qg3+ 51.Kd5 Qd3+ 52.Kc5 Qe3+ 53.Kd6 Qd2+ 54.Kc7 Qf4+ 55.e5+- 50.Kg4 Qg2+ 51.Kf5 Qf2+ 52.Kg4 Qg2+ 53.Kf5 Qf2+ ½–½

 

If Black would immediately continue to give checks in the variation after 47.Kf5 Qc5+ 48.e5, then White would reach the curious position shown below, in which the white king cannot be attacked any more:

Commentator Cristian Chirila | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

That was tough! | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 3

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Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.
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