Superbet: Aronian escapes, still shares the lead

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
5/14/2022 – Wesley So and Levon Aronian top the standings table with one round to go at the Superbet Chess Classic in Romania. While So had little trouble drawing Alireza Firouzja in round 8, Aronian was inches away from losing against Ian Nepomniachtchi. In the one decisive result of the day, Leinier Dominguez got the better of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

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Two leaders going into the final round

Grand Chess TourThe inaugural event of the Grand Chess Tour is about to finish. With one round to go, Levon Aronian and Wesley So are tied for first place on 5/8 points, and are followed closely by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who stands a half point back. Given the ninth-round pairings, even the four players standing a half point behind MVL can still theoretically win the tournament. Of course, the likelihood of that happening is extremely low.

In case of a tie for first, the regulations of the Grand Chess Tour indicate that a playoff will decide who is declared the winner of the event. The tour points, however, will be evenly distributed according to the points obtained ‘in regulation’.

Saturday’s deciding round will see Aronian playing white against an out-of-form Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, while So will get the black pieces against Leinier Dominguez, who comes from playing three decisive games in rounds 6 to 8 (two wins and a loss). Vachier-Lagrave will play black against top seed Alireza Firouzja.

Round 9 pairings

Name Result Name
Aronian Levon   Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Rapport Richard   Nepomniachtchi Ian
Deac Bogdan-Daniel   Caruana Fabiano
Firouzja Alireza   Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
Dominguez Perez Leinier   So Wesley

Aronian salvages a half point

Out of a theoretical line of the fashionable Giuoco Piano, Ian Nepomniachtchi blitzed out all but one of his first 21 moves. Aronian, who had the black pieces, took some more time on a few of his decisions. The US grandmaster agreed to enter an imbalanced endgame with a rook and a pawn against two minor pieces.

 
Nepomniachtchi vs. Aronian

The idea behind 21...Nb4 is that after 22.cxb4 Bxb2 White cannot prevent his opponent from gaining the exchange. The problem for Black is that, if his opponent manages to coordinate his bishop pair, he will be the one fighting for equality in the ensuing struggle.

Inaccuracies in the final moves before the time control left Aronian in an inferior position. However, the ever-resourceful Armenian never stopped creating problems for his opponent, as Nepo permanently needed to find precise continuations to keep his advantage. 

White’s final mistake, which led to a draw instead of a win, came on move 75.

 

Nepo erred with 75.Ne5, when 75.Nh4+ was the way to go — of course, it is always difficult to choose the non-centralizing move.

After giving a check from h4, Black has nothing better than 75...Kg4, since 75...Kxg5 fails to 76.Nf3+, forking. Then comes 76.Ng2, attacking the rook, and thus White gains a few tempi to reroute his knight to the centre after having pushed the opposite king away from the action.

 
Analysis diagram

In the game, on the other hand, White’s continuation allowed the black king to grab the pawn on g5 and, more importantly, to be in time to transfer the monarch to the queenside. Aronian’s tenacious defensive effort was eventually rewarded with a half point, one that might turn out to be crucial in the fight for first place.

 
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1.e4 2 e5 7 2.Nf3 3 Nc6 0 3.Bc4 4:20 Bc5 19 4.c3 4 Nf6 8 5.d3 3 0-0 14 6.0-0 0 d5 6 7.exd5 3 Nxd5 6 8.Re1 4 Bg4 9 9.Nbd2 4 C54: Giuoco Piano: 4 c3 Nf6, main lines with 5 d4 and 5 d3. Nb6 10 10.h3 3 Bh5 10 11.Bb3! 32 outshines the older 11.Bb5. Qxd3 8 11...Kh8 12.Ne4 Nd7 13.Bd5 Bb6 14.Ng3 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 f5 16.d4 f4 17.Ne4 exd4 18.Bxc6 bxc6 19.Bxf4 dxc3 20.bxc3 Ne5 21.Qg3 Nd3 22.Rad1 Nxe1 23.Rxd8 Raxd8 1-0 (59) Nepomniachtchi,I (2784)-Aronian,L (2781) chess24.com INT 2020 12.Nxe5 11 Qf5 5 13.Nef3! 5 13.Ndf3? Nxe5 14.Rxe5 Qxe5 15.Nxe5 Bxd1 16.Bxd1 Rfe8-+ 13...Rad8 6 14.Qe2 14 Nd5 7 15.Qe4 7:58 Qxe4 3:46 16.Nxe4 17
16...Be7N 7:25 Predecessor: 16...Bb6 17.Bg5 f6 18.Rad1 Bf7 19.Bc1 Nde7 20.Bc2 Rxd1 21.Rxd1 Rd8 22.Re1 Ng6 1-0 (46) Vachier Lagrave,M (2774)-Jakovenko,D (2681) Khanty-Mansiysk 2019 17.Rd1 41 Nf6 3:56 18.Nxf6+ 31 Bxf6 9 19.g4 21 Rxd1+ 0 20.Bxd1 47 Bg6 6 21.Bf4 6 Nb4 4:04 22.cxb4 11:15 Bxb2 43
23.Rc1 3:12 Bxc1 38 24.Bxc1 5 Rd8 1:58 25.Be2 12:48 Bd3 31 26.Kf1 0 Rd5 32 27.Be3 2:17 a5 1:48 28.a3! 4 axb4 0 29.axb4 2 Bxe2+ 56 30.Kxe2 1 f6 9 31.Nd4 1:37 Kf7 57 32.Kd3 42 h5 1:00 33.Kc4 46 c6 5 34.b5 41 hxg4 10 34...Re5 35.hxg4+- 4 35.bxc6?! bxc6 36.hxg4 Re5± 35...Ke8 6:27 36.b6 4:06 Kd7 11 37.Nb3 2:17 Rd1 1:21 38.Nc5+ 14 Kc8 6 39.Bf4 44 39.Ne4+- 39...Rg1! 9:51 40.Bg3 0 Rc1+! 0 41.Kd4 1:47 Rd1+! 11:08 42.Nd3 3:36 Ra1 1:18 43.Bd6 0 Ra6 11:52 44.Bf8 19 White is more active. Ra4+ 29 45.Bb4 23 Ra6 4 46.Kc5 6:30 Ra1 1:27 47.Kd4 1:19 Ra6! 0 48.Bf8 1:14 48.Bc5!? 48...Ra4+ 59 49.Nb4! 3 Kd7 1:13 50.f3 1:04 g6 3:02 51.Bc5 1:19 Ke6 0 52.Kc4 2:00 f5 1:34 53.g5 3:15 Threatens to win with f4. f4! 7 54.Bd4 57 Kd6 7:23 54...Kf5= might be stronger. 55.Bg7 31 Kd7 10:02 55...Ra5 56.Be5± 2:49 c5 0 57.Kxc5 32 Ra3 10 Inhibits Nd3. 58.Nd5! 2:31 58.Bxf4 Rxf3 59.Bd2 Rf2± 58...Rxf3? 1:47 58...Ke6 59.Bc3 Rb3 60.Nxf4+ Kf7 59.Nxf4+- 24 Rf1 8:43 60.Kd5! 12 Less strong is 60.Nxg6 Rf5± 60...Rf3 5:14 61.Bc7 5:31 Not 61.Nxg6 Rf5 62.Nf4 Rxg5± 61...Rg3 28 62.Ne6! 6 Rg1 0 63.Nc5+ 40 63.Be5 Rb1 64.Nc5+ Kc8 65.Ke6 63...Kc8 1 64.Ne4 7 64.Bf4+- 64...Rd1+± 2:27 65.Ke5 51 Re1 7 66.Kf4 0 White should try 66.Bd6!± 66...Kd7? 39 66...Rf1+ 67.Kg4 Rg1+ 68.Bg3 Rb1 67.Nd6+- 1:09 Kc6 46
68.Nc4! 1:19 Rf1+ 38 69.Ke4 22 69.Kg4 aiming for Ne5+. Rg1+ 70.Kf4 69...Re1+ 3:11 69...Kd7 70.Ne5+ Ke6 71.Nxg6 Re1+ 72.Kf4 Rg1 70.Kd4 1:47 Kb5 14 71.Nd6+ 0 Kc6 1:17
72.Nf7! 39 Kd7 0 73.Ne5+ 3:25 Ke6 2 74.Nxg6 17 Kf5 4 75.Ne5? 1:34 75.Nh4++- Kg4 76.Ng2 76.g6 Kxh4 77.g7 Rg1= 76...Rd1+ 77.Ke4 Kxg5 78.Be5 75...Rd1+= 47 The position is equal. 76.Kc5 1:53 Kxg5 0 77.Nf7+ 20 Kf6 8 78.Nd6 4 Rc1+ 25 79.Kb5 16 Rb1+ 35 80.Ka4 13 Ra1+ 58 81.Kb3 1:07 Ke6 0 82.Nxb7 9 Rc1! 9 Inhibits Nc5+. 83.Kb4 7:37 Rxc7! 7 84.Nc5+ 1 Kd6 7 85.bxc7 1 Kxc7 11:41 Blacks defense is rewarded with a draw. Weighted Error Value: White=0.08 (flawless) /Black=0. 09 (flawless)
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nepomniachtchi,I2773Aronian,L2765½–½2022GCT Superbet Romania 20228.2

Levon Aronian

A draw worth celebrating | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Dominguez beats Mamedyarov

Defending champion Mamedyarov is not having a great tournament this year in Bucharest. The Azerbaijani has lost three games so far, and his only win — in round 7, over Nepomniachtchi — came after his opponent missed a chance to win and then erred in the endgame.

Against Dominguez, Shakh faltered in a sharp endgame with queen and bishop against queen and knight.

 
Mamedyarov vs. Dominguez

White needs to be extremely careful here. In fact, the only move that keeps the balance is 43.Qg3, focusing on the defence of the vulnerable king on h1. 

Mamedyarov instead went for 43.Qg8, though, and resigned after 43...Qe5

 

Any attempt to give a perpetual check fails, as the black king can find shelter on h4, which incidentally is a dark square (i.e. it cannot be attacked by the white bishop). Furthermore, playing 44.Qg3 at this point no longer works due to 44...Qxf5, while 44.Be6 fails to 44...Qe4+ when the queen and knight duo is perfectly placed to either give mate or provoke massive material concessions.

Dominguez thus bounced right back to a fifty-percent score after his loss on Thursday.

 
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1.d4 3 d5 0 2.c4 5 dxc4 6 3.Nf3 6 Nf6 6 4.e3 4 e6 6 5.Bxc4 0 a6 6 6.0-0 6 c5 4 7.b3 24 b5 23 8.Be2 15 Nbd7 0 9.Bb2 1:01 Bb7 6 10.Nbd2 5 Be7 12 11.a4 29 b4 16 12.Rc1 0 D27: Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical main line: 7 e4!? and 7 a4. Rc8 7 13.Ne5 6:36 cxd4 8:24
14.Rxc8N 9:50 The position is equal. Predecessor: 14.Bxd4 Nxe5 15.Bxe5 0-0 16.Rxc8 Qxc8 17.Nc4 Ne4 18.Qc2 Rd8 19.Bf3 f5 20.Qb2 1-0 (45) Kovalenko,I (2651)-Tomczak,M (2435) Szklarska Poreba 2021 14...Qxc8 6 15.Nxd7 4 Nxd7 6:06 16.Bxd4 18 0-0 1:10 17.Qa1 8:26 Bf6 0 18.Nc4 1:58 Qc7 2:16 19.Rd1 1:41 Bd5 39:39 20.Bxf6 9:56 Nxf6 2 21.f3 5 Prevents Ne4. Nd7 35 22.e4 6:55 Bxc4 2:36 23.Bxc4 3 a5 4:16 24.Qd4 57 Ne5 9 25.Be2 8:04 h6 11 26.g3 3:04 g5 0 27.Qe3 6:25 Rc8 3:02 28.f4 1:39 gxf4 1:53 29.gxf4 4 Ng6 12 30.f5 36 exf5 4:46 31.exf5 49 Nf4 0 32.Bc4 2:33 Black must now prevent Rf1. Kh7 0 Threatens to win with ...Rg8+. 33.Qf3 4:15 aiming for Rf1. Rg8+ 53 34.Kh1 19 h5 47 35.h3 3:15 Rg5 2:25 36.Rf1! 6:44 Ng2 1 Hoping for ...f6. Black attacks. 36...Rxf5? 37.Bd3 Kh6 38.Bxf5+- 37.Qe4 52
37.Bd5!= Qd6 38.Bxf7 37...Rg3 1:52 Black should try 37...Nh4! 38.f6+ 38.Rf4 Qb6 38...Kh6 38.Rf3= 10:30 Inhibits Qg3. Rxf3! 16 39.Qxf3 44 Nf4 3 40.Qe4? 0 40.Qg3= 40...Kg7? 0 40...Nxh3-+ ( -> ...Nf2+) 41.Qf3 41.f6+ Kh6 41...Nf4 42.Bxf7 Kh6 41.Qd4+ 12:50 f6 4:55 42.Qg1+ 8:06 Kh6 0 And now ...Qe5 would win. 43.Qg8? 5:28 43.Qg3!= and White stays safe. 43...Qe5 2:58 Weighted Error Value: White=0.30/Black=0.10 (very precise)
0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Mamedyarov,S2770Dominguez Perez,L27530–12022GCT Superbet Romania 20228.5

Leinier Dominguez, Cristian Chirila

Leinier Dominguez showing his game to Cristian Chirila | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Round 8 results

 

Standings after round 8

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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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