St. Louis Rapid & Blitz: Firouzja leads, Naka climbs to third place

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
8/30/2022 – Alireza Firouzja has a 3-point lead over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave going into the final nine rounds of blitz at the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz tournament. A half point behind MVL stands Hikaru Nakamura, who finished the rapid section in last place and climbed to sole third place by scoring 7½/9 points on Monday. | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

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From last to third

With online chess events gaining prevalence among elite players, official ratings for rapid and blitz chess are not updated as often as it had probably been predicted when the lists were presented by the International Chess Federation.

Moreover, Hikaru Nakamura, who now works full time as a streamer, plays less frequently than some of his colleagues. The last time he played a rated blitz game was in December 2021, while he played a total of six rapid games this year, at the FIDE Grand Prix series. Before the start of the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament, Naka was the highest-rated rapid player in the world and was ranked second in the blitz ratings list.

The rapid-play specialist had a subpar performance in the rapid, losing four games and winning two for a 3½/9 score. Naka’s result prompted him to fall to fourth place in the live ratings list for rapid, but he has more than made up for it by scoring a massive 7½/9 in the first half of the blitz section. He now has a 40-point advantage over Levon Aronian in the daily updated world blitz ranking.

Of course, nine more games are left to play in Saint Louis and anything can happen in blitz but, for now, momentum is on the side of Naka, who noted in his latest YouTube recap:

One thing I like to do in blitz is that you want to play for the ‘flow’. And what I mean by flow is that the moves flow very naturally, and you can make moves without spending much time thinking, and therefore it helps you develop a rhythm and some tempo for the first 15 to 20 moves of the game.

Certainly great advice by the world number one in blitz, who flowed his way to an excellent performance on Monday, which allowed him to climb from tenth to third place in the tournament standings.

Naka’s first win came after Fabiano Caruana blundered in a minor-piece endgame.

 
Nakamura vs. Caruana - Round 1

45...Ke5 loses on the spot to 46.Nxg4+. Caruana resigned instead of going through the motions after 46...Bxg4 47.Kxg4 Kf6 48.h3, and the black king must move, allowing White to grab the all-important g-pawn.

Fabiano Caruana, Chris Bird, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave sharing a laugh with arbiter Chris Bird | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

Gaining an early advantage on the clock is critical in blitz, as explained by Nakamura, since it allows you to find good moves in crucial positions.

In his game against Ian Nepomniachtchi, the US grandmaster had almost a half minute advantage over his opponent (Nepo had 15 seconds to Naka’s 43, an eternity in blitz), and he had a winning position to boot. However, instead of simply ‘going with the flow’, he spent thirty seconds thinking and ended up blundering.

 
Nakamura vs. Nepomniachtchi - Round 8

Nepo’s 24...c5 is a typical move that attempts to muddy the waters in a losing position. Probably 9 out of 10 times Naka, even while low on time, would respond to this provocation with 25.Ng3, forcing a queen swap after 25...Qh6 26.Qxh6, and White only needs to show good technique to convert the ensuing position into a win.

Instead, the American went for 25.Nxc5, taking the bait by allowing Black to play 25...Rac8 with an annoying pin along the c-file. Nepo went on to get a winning position, but failed to find a killer blow in zeitnot. A draw by repetition was reached on move 43.

This was one of two games that saw Naka surviving a losing position (the other was against Leinier Dominguez). The fact that he got lucky a couple of times, however, does not take away from his outstanding performance on the first day of blitz in Saint Louis.

Ian Nepomniachtchi, Levon Aronian

Taking a look at the computer evaluations?! | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

All blitz games played by Hikaru Nakamura

 
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1.c4 1 e5 1 2.a3 0 Nc6 2 3.Nc3 2 f5 3 4.g3 2 Nf6 1 5.Bg2 1 a5 9 6.e3 5 A25: English Opening vs King's Indian with ...Nc6 but without early d3. d6 4 7.d4 2 Be7 0 8.Nge2 2 White is slightly better. 0-0 2 9.0-0 11 Kh8 5 10.Rb1 2
10...Qe8N 5 Predecessor: 10...Re8 11.b4 axb4 12.axb4 e4 13.Nf4 g5 14.Nfd5 g4 15.Qc2 Bf8 16.Nb5 Nxd5 17.cxd5 1-0 (28) Teloeken,D (1806)-Welp, M (1926) Germany 2013 11.b4 5 axb4 2 12.axb4 1 e4 23 13.f3 14 exf3 0 14.Bxf3 1 Nd8 3 15.Nf4 24 c6 30 16.b5 1 White is more active. Ne6 0 17.bxc6 17 bxc6 2 18.d5 33 Nxf4 19 19.exf4 1 c5 1:03 20.Re1 12 Qf7 2 21.Bb2 27 Bd7 0 22.Qd3 23 Rab8 18 23.Nb5 12 Ne4 23 23...Rb7= 24.Bxe4± 24 fxe4 1 25.Qxe4 1 Rfe8 12 25...Rbe8± 26.Qf3? 1
26.Nc7+- 26...Bf8= 13 27.Rxe8 38 Rxe8 1 28.Bc3 2 Qg6 11 Prevents g4. 29.Re1 47 Rxe1+ 1 30.Bxe1 1 Qc2 12 31.Nc3 1 Be7 16 32.Qd1 30 Qxd1 6 33.Nxd1 1 Endgame KBB-KBN Kg8 9 34.Bc3 1 h5 5 35.Ne3 2 Kf7 0 36.Kg2 0 g5 4 37.Kf3 4 Bc8 5 38.Ke4 7 Bh3 1 39.Kf3 4 Bd8 2 40.Bd2 1 Bd7 0 41.Bc3 3 Bh3 1 42.f5 1 Bf6 4 43.Bxf6 12 Kxf6 44.g4 hxg4+ 5 45.Kg3 1 Ke5? 3
45...Ke7= 46.Nxg4+ 1 Weighted Error Value: White=0.16 (very precise) / Black=0.35
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nakamura,H2760Caruana,F27831–02022Saint Louis Blitz 20221.1
Nakamura,H2760Aronian,L27751–02022Saint Louis Blitz 20222.4
Firouzja,A2793Nakamura,H2760½–½2022Saint Louis Blitz 20223.5
Nakamura,H2760Shankland,S27201–02022Saint Louis Blitz 20224.1
Mamedyarov,S2759Nakamura,H2760½–½2022Saint Louis Blitz 20225.3
Nakamura,H2760Vachier-Lagrave,M27601–02022Saint Louis Blitz 20226.2
Dominguez Perez,L2754Nakamura,H27600–12022Saint Louis Blitz 20227.1
Nakamura,H2760Nepomniachtchi,I2766½–½2022Saint Louis Blitz 20228.4
Xiong,J2691Nakamura,H27600–12022Saint Louis Blitz 20229.5

Firouzja keeps it up

While Naka’s recovery was certainly commendable, the player who has consistently impressed throughout the event has been 19-year-old French GM Alireza Firouzja. The youngster has a 3-point lead over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave going into the last day of action after scoring 7/9 points on Monday.

Firouzja kicked off the day with a win over Nepomniachtchi, drew four games in a row and finished the day with four consecutive wins to keep the sole lead in the tournament table.

His secret? To be in a good mood! As he told Cristian Chirila at the end of the day.

Colourful shirts worked wonders for Naka and Firouzja. The former used his well-known pineapple design, while the latter went for flowers with yellow, white and purple tones. 

For those wondering, Levon Aronian wore a comparatively sober pink shirt. Perhaps, after seeing the strong performances by Naka and Firouzja, he will opt for one of his trademark vibrant garments on the final day of action.

Alireza Firouzja

In a good mood — Alireza Firouzja | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

All blitz games played by Alireza Firouzja

 
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1.c4 0 e5 1 2.d3 1 Nf6 2 3.Nf3 2 Nc6 0 4.a3 0 d5 2 5.cxd5 2 Nxd5 0 6.e4 1 A20: English Opening: 1...e5. Nb6 2 7.Be2 2 Be7 1 8.0-0 2 The position is equal. 0-0 6 9.Be3 2 f5 0 10.b4 13
10...f4N 3 Predecessor: 10...a6 11.Nbd2 f4 12.Bc5 Bxc5 13.bxc5 Nd7 14.Rc1 Qe7 15.Nb3 Rd8 16.Re1 Nf8 0-1 (55) Kokarev,D (2621)-Loskutova,V (2110) Khanty-Mansiysk 2020 11.Bc1 6 a6 6 12.Bb2 3 Bf6 0 13.Nbd2 9 g5 3 White stays focused until the end. 13...Be6 14.h3 7 Be6 3 15.Rc1 6 Qd6 13
15...Nd7± 16.Nb3 0 16.d4!+- and the rest is easy. 16...Rad8 0 16...Bxb3± was necessary. 17.Qxb3+ Kh8 17.Nc5+- 0 Bc8 1 18.Re1 15 h6 18 18...Rde8± 19.Qc2 a5 19.Qc2 12 a5 2:54 19...Rf7 20.Nd2 Nd4 21.Bxd4 exd4 20.bxa5 52 Nxa5 0 21.d4 1 Nc6 1 22.d5 53 Ne7 3 23.Nd3 1 c6 41 24.dxc6 6 Be6 16 Inhibits Qb3. 24...Qxc6 25.Bxe5 Qxc2 26.Rxc2 Na8 25.Ndxe5 6
Black must now prevent c7. 25...bxc6 5 26.Bd4 10 Prevents c5. Qc7 12 27.Nxc6 18 Bxd4? 14 27...Qxc6 28.Qxc6 Nxc6 28.Nfxd4 9 White is clearly winning. Rd6 1 29.e5 17 Rxc6 4 30.Nxc6 2 Nf5 0 31.Qc5 8 Kg7 4 32.Nd4 4 Qd7 3 33.Nxf5+ 3 Weighted Error Value: White=0. 29 (precise) /Black=0.56
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Firouzja,A2793Nepomniachtchi,I27661–02022Saint Louis Blitz 20221.3
Xiong,J2691Firouzja,A2793½–½2022Saint Louis Blitz 20222.1
Firouzja,A2793Nakamura,H2760½–½2022Saint Louis Blitz 20223.5
Aronian,L2775Firouzja,A2793½–½2022Saint Louis Blitz 20224.2
Firouzja,A2793Caruana,F2783½–½2022Saint Louis Blitz 20225.4
Firouzja,A2793Shankland,S27201–02022Saint Louis Blitz 20226.3
Mamedyarov,S2759Firouzja,A27930–12022Saint Louis Blitz 20227.4
Firouzja,A2793Vachier-Lagrave,M27601–02022Saint Louis Blitz 20228.2
Dominguez Perez,L2754Firouzja,A27930–12022Saint Louis Blitz 20229.1

Overall standings

Grand Chess Tour 2022

All games

 
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1.d4 4 Nf6 3 2.c4 4 e6 2 3.Nf3 6 d5 1 4.Nc3 4 c5 1 5.cxd5 7 cxd4 2 6.Qxd4 6 exd5 2 7.e4 11 D41: Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch with 5 cxd5. dxe4 5 8.Qxd8+ 4 Kxd8 2 9.Ng5 3 White has an edge. Be6 3 10.Nxe6+ 29 fxe6 2 11.Bg5 5 Nc6! 28       now scores much better than the old 11...Ke8. 12.Bc4 35 Ke7! 21 13.Nxe4 6 Kf7 8 14.Bxf6 24 gxf6 2 15.0-0-0 3 Rd8 11 Prevents Rd7+. Much less strong is 15...Ne5 16.Bb3± 16.Rxd8 6 Nxd8 2 17.Rd1 3 Be7 15
18.Nd6+N 12 Predecessor: 18.Rd7 f5 19.Nd6+ Kf6 20.Nxb7 Nxb7 21.Rxb7 Bc5 22.Rc7 Bxf2 23.Rc6 Re8 24.b4 ½-½ (46) Ding,L (2799)-Wei,Y (2729) Hangzhou 2022 18...Kg6 1:19 The position is equal. 19.a3 25 f5 51 20.b4 21 Kf6 45 21.Kb2 3:33 h5 6 22.Nb5 2:41 Nc6 1:45 23.Nc7 3:13 Rd8 2 24.Rxd8 2:23 Nxd8= 12       Endgame KBN-KBN 25.g3 35 Kf7 2:19 26.Kc2 4:21 Bf6 19 27.Nb5 56 a6 3 28.Nc3 2 Nc6 16 29.Ne2 8 b5 1:52 30.Ba2 2 Be5 15 31.Nc1 17 Nd4+ 18 32.Kd1 3 Nf3 13 33.Nd3 10 Bd6 5 34.Ke2 2:04 Nd4+ 23 35.Ke3 2 Nc2+ 16 36.Kd2! 1 Nxa3 11 37.Kc3 2 Against Nc4 Kf6 1:45 38.f4 3 Bc7 15 39.Nc5 20 a5 11 40.Nxe6 1:07 axb4+ 3 41.Kxb4 53 Bd6+ 2 42.Kc3 2 b4+ 6       43.Kd3 4 Nb5 6 44.Nd4 1:00 Nc3 11 45.Be6 1:39 Bc5 2
And now ...Bxd4 would win. 46.Bd7 4 Ne4 2:11 Threatens to win with ...Bxd4. 47.Nxf5 1:48 b3 5 48.Nh4 1 Don't blunder 48.Kxe4? b2 49.Kd5 Ba7-+ 48...Bg1 1:34 49.Nf3 28 Avoid the trap 49.Kxe4? b2 50.Nf5 b1Q+-+ 49...Nc5+ 2:01 50.Kc3 2 Bxh2 39 51.Nxh2 3 Nxd7 1 52.Kxb3 19 KN-KN Nc5+ 4 53.Kc4 25 Ne4 1 54.Nf1 33 Kf5 2 55.Kd4 16 aiming for Ne3+. Nxg3 2      
Remove Defender 56.Nxg3+ 3 Kxf4 1 57.Nxh5+ 2 Weighted Error Value: White=0.01 (flawless) /Black=0.00 (flawless)
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Xiong,J2691Nepomniachtchi,I2766½–½2022D41Saint Louis Rapid 20221.1
Caruana,F2783Shankland,S2720½–½2022C54Saint Louis Rapid 20221.2
Dominguez Perez,L2754Nakamura,H27601–02022C54Saint Louis Rapid 20221.3
Firouzja,A2793Mamedyarov,S27591–02022A21Saint Louis Rapid 20221.4
Aronian,L2775Vachier-Lagrave,M2760½–½2022D27Saint Louis Rapid 20221.5
Nakamura,H2760Firouzja,A27930–12022A14Saint Louis Rapid 20222.1
Nepomniachtchi,I2766Vachier-Lagrave,M2760½–½2022D87Saint Louis Rapid 20222.2
Mamedyarov,S2759Aronian,L2775½–½2022D00Saint Louis Rapid 20222.3
Xiong,J2691Caruana,F27831–02022A22Saint Louis Rapid 20222.4
Shankland,S2720Dominguez Perez,L2754½–½2022A33Saint Louis Rapid 20222.5
Vachier-Lagrave,M2760Mamedyarov,S27591–02022C83Saint Louis Rapid 20223.1
Dominguez Perez,L2754Xiong,J2691½–½2022B33Saint Louis Rapid 20223.2
Firouzja,A2793Shankland,S2720½–½2022C65Saint Louis Rapid 20223.3
Aronian,L2775Nakamura,H27600–12022A28Saint Louis Rapid 20223.4
Caruana,F2783Nepomniachtchi,I2766½–½2022E41Saint Louis Rapid 20223.5
Shankland,S2720Aronian,L2775½–½2022E51Saint Louis Rapid 20224.1
Nepomniachtchi,I2766Mamedyarov,S27591–02022E11Saint Louis Rapid 20224.2
Nakamura,H2760Vachier-Lagrave,M2760½–½2022B56Saint Louis Rapid 20224.3
Caruana,F2783Dominguez Perez,L2754½–½2022C42Saint Louis Rapid 20224.4
Xiong,J2691Firouzja,A2793½–½2022C47Saint Louis Rapid 20224.5
Dominguez Perez,L2754Nepomniachtchi,I2766½–½2022C42Saint Louis Rapid 20225.1
Firouzja,A2793Caruana,F27830–12022C65Saint Louis Rapid 20225.2
Aronian,L2775Xiong,J2691½–½2022C42Saint Louis Rapid 20225.3
Vachier-Lagrave,M2760Shankland,S2720½–½2022C67Saint Louis Rapid 20225.4
Mamedyarov,S2759Nakamura,H2760½–½2022D41Saint Louis Rapid 20225.5
Xiong,J2691Vachier-Lagrave,M2760½–½2022D85Saint Louis Rapid 20226.1
Shankland,S2720Mamedyarov,S2759½–½2022D45Saint Louis Rapid 20226.2
Dominguez Perez,L2754Firouzja,A27930–12022B12Saint Louis Rapid 20226.3
Nepomniachtchi,I2766Nakamura,H2760½–½2022E05Saint Louis Rapid 20226.4
Caruana,F2783Aronian,L2775½–½2022E46Saint Louis Rapid 20226.5
Mamedyarov,S2759Xiong,J26911–02022D41Saint Louis Rapid 20227.1
Vachier-Lagrave,M2760Caruana,F27831–02022C67Saint Louis Rapid 20227.2
Firouzja,A2793Nepomniachtchi,I2766½–½2022D40Saint Louis Rapid 20227.3
Nakamura,H2760Shankland,S27200–12022C65Saint Louis Rapid 20227.4
Aronian,L2775Dominguez Perez,L2754½–½2022D02Saint Louis Rapid 20227.5
Firouzja,A2793Aronian,L2775½–½2022C65Saint Louis Rapid 20228.1
Nepomniachtchi,I2766Shankland,S27200–12022E11Saint Louis Rapid 20228.2
Xiong,J2691Nakamura,H27600–12022E92Saint Louis Rapid 20228.3
Dominguez Perez,L2754Vachier-Lagrave,M2760½–½2022B90Saint Louis Rapid 20228.4
Caruana,F2783Mamedyarov,S27590–12022C50Saint Louis Rapid 20228.5
Nakamura,H2760Caruana,F27830–12022A20Saint Louis Rapid 20229.1
Vachier-Lagrave,M2760Firouzja,A2793½–½2022C67Saint Louis Rapid 20229.2
Mamedyarov,S2759Dominguez Perez,L27541–02022D20Saint Louis Rapid 20229.3
Aronian,L2775Nepomniachtchi,I2766½–½2022D02Saint Louis Rapid 20229.4
Shankland,S2720Xiong,J26910–12022E13Saint Louis Rapid 20229.5

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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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