Superbet Poland: Anand keeps the lead, Rapport wins three in a row

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
5/21/2022 – Vishy Anand continued his winning streak at the Superbet Rapid & Blitz tournament in Warsaw, as he kicked off day 2 with two straight wins before signing his first draw of the event in round 6. Anand has a 2-point lead over Richard Rapport, who collected full points in all three rounds on Friday. | Photo: Bryan Adams

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There is no stopping the Tiger

Vishy Anand’s three straight wins on Thursday were no fluke. The multiple world champion kicked off the second day of action with two more victories, beating Kirill Shevchenko and Levon Aronian in consecutive rounds to extend his winning streak to five games. A draw with white against Jan-Krzysztof Duda left the Indian two points ahead of his closest chaser with three rounds of rapid left to go.

Hungarian star Richard Rapport, one of three Candidates playing in Poland, replicated Anand’s day-1 feat, as he scored three wins in a row to climb to sole second place. Anand and Rapport are set to face each other in round 9 of the rapid, before the eighteen rounds of blitz kick off on Sunday. A normal scoring system (1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw) will be used in the second phase of the tournament.

Wesley So and Jan-Krzysztof Duda are sharing third place on 7/12 points. The US grandmaster beat his Polish colleague in their round-5 direct confrontation.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek

Jan-Krzysztof Duda beat Radoslaw Wojtaszek with the black pieces in the all-Polish encounter | Photo: Lennart Ootes

After taking down Shevchenko with white to start the day on the right foot, Anand had the tough task of facing Aronian with the black pieces. Aronian, who was on a +1 score at that point, pushed his g-pawn on move 13 out of a Bishop’s Opening (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4). Soon after, the man from Yerevan faltered decisively.

 
Aronian vs. Anand - Round 4

16.Nc4 was already an imprecision by White, as allowing the knight to grab the pawn on e4 with 16...Nxe4 — attacking the weak pawn on f2 — is a massive concession. That was not the losing mistake, though.

The only way to keep the fight going was with 17.Bxe4, while Aronian’s 17.Nxb6 fails to the good-looking 17...Nxf2

 

Grabbing the knight is bad due to 18...Qh4+, while after 18.Qd2 Qxb6, capturing the knight is again taboo because of 19...Rxe1+.

Aronian went for 19.Rxe5, but 19...Nxg4+ 20.Kg2 Nxe5 fully consolidated Black’s position. Four moves later, Anand “had the material and the compensation”, as he had two extra pawns and was still attacking the hapless white king. Aronian resigned.

 
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1.e4 1 e5 1 2.Bc4 2 Nf6 0 3.d3 2 Bc5 8 4.Nf3 5 d6 2 5.0-0 3 0-0 4 6.c3 0 Bb6 30 7.Nbd2 18 C24: Bishop's Opening: 2... Nf6. c6 12 8.Bb3 1 Re8 35 9.Re1 4 The position is equal. Be6 21 9...Bg4 is more complex. 10.Nf1 Nbd7 11.h3 Bh5 10.Bc2 29 Nbd7 0
11.d4N 2 Predecessor: 11.h3 h6 12.d4 Qc7 13.Nf1 Nf8 14.Ng3 Ng6 15.Be3 Red8 16.Qc1 Qe7 17.a4 ½-½ (57) Ermenkov,E (2465)-Stefanov,K (2376) Borovetz 2008 11...Bg4 2:36 12.h3 26 Bh5 2 13.g4 29 Bg6 0 14.dxe5 38 Nxe5 1:11 15.Nxe5 2 Rxe5 33 16.Nc4 3:22 16.Kg2!= was the only way to keep the balance. d5 17.f4 Bxe4+ 18.Nxe4 Rxe4 19.Bxe4 Nxe4 20.Be3 16...Nxe4 38 17.Nxb6? 2:19
Loses the game. 17.Nxe5? Nxf2 18.Qe2 Bxc2-+ 17.Bxe4 is more resistant. Rxe4 18.Nxb6 Rxe1+ 19.Qxe1 Qxb6 20.b3 17...Nxf2!-+ 1:53 17...axb6 18.Bxe4 Rxe4 19.f3 Rxe1+ 20.Qxe1 18.Qd2 4 18.Kxf2 Qh4+ 19.Kg2 Rxe1-+ 18...Qxb6 1:04 18...Ne4 19.Rxe4 Qxb6+ 20.Rd4 18...Nxh3+ 19.Kh2 Qh4 20.Rxe5 dxe5 21.Nxa8 Bxc2 22.Qxc2 Ng5+ 23.Kg1 23.Kg2? Qh3+ 24.Kg1 Nf3+ 25.Kf2 Qh2+ 26.Kxf3 Qxc2-+ 23...Nf3+ 24.Kf1 Qh1+ 25.Kf2 25.Ke2? Qg2+ 26.Ke3 Qxc2-+ 25...Qh2+ 26.Kxf3 Qxc2 19.Rxe5 1:32 Re2 is the strong threat. Nxg4+ 12 Discovered Attack 19...dxe5? is the wrong capture. 20.Qxf2 Qxf2+ 21.Kxf2 Bxc2 22.Be3-+ Not 19...Nxh3+ 20.Kh2 dxe5 21.Kxh3 20.Kg2? 1:54 20.Re3 Nxe3 21.Qxe3 Bxc2 22.Qxb6 axb6 23.a3 20...Nxe5 4 Black is clearly winning. 21.Bxg6 1 hxg6 20 Don't blunder 21...fxg6? 22.Qe2-+ 22.Qxd6 4 Qb5 0
( -> ...Qe2+) 23.Qd1 11 Inhibits Qe2+. Nd3 0 24.b3 42 Qd5+ 11 Weighted Error Value: White=0.91/Black=0.17 (very precise)
0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Aronian,L2765Anand,V27510–12022Superbet Rapid Poland 20225.2

Levon Aronian, Viswanathan Anand

Levon Aronian facing Vishy Anand | Photo: Lennart Ootes

In round 4, Rapport grabbed his first win of the day by beating David Gavrilescu with the white pieces. The latter stepped in to replace Constantin Lupulescu. Born in 2003, the clear underdog has so far drawn Wojtaszek and So in Warsaw — a respectable performance given how heavily out-rated he is by his elite opponents.

Out of a French Defence, the ever-creative Rapport pushed his army on the kingside.

 
Rapport vs. Gavrilescu - Round 4

Here Gavrilescu needed to play 29...gxh6, the only move that somewhat deals with White’s dangerous threats. The young Romanian instead activated his queen with 29...Qxc4, but soon realized he had erred, as Rapport continued pushing his pawns — 30.hxg7 Bxg7 31.Qc2 Nbd5 32.h6 Bh8. White was clearly in the driver’s seat, but converting the advantage into a win was no trivial task.

Ten moves later, Rapport broke through decisively.

 

43.R1a7+ Kd6 44.Bxd5 Kxd5 45.Rxc8 Nxc8 46.Qb7+ and the king hunt began.

 

46...Kc4 47.Ra4+ Kd3 48.Qb3+ Ke2 49.Ra2 Qd5 50.Ba5+ and only here, with mate-in-two on the board, Gavrilescu resigned.

In less than a month, Rapport, who is also among the participants of the Norway Chess tournament (May 31 to June 10), will play the Candidates Tournament in Madrid. He will face, among others, Fabiano Caruana and Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who are playing in Warsaw as well.

 
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1.e4 18 e6 9 2.d3 2 d5 4 3.Nd2 0 c5 13 4.g3 5 Nc6 7 5.Bg2 3 Nf6 11 6.Ngf3 5 Be7 0 7.0-0 5 0-0 23 8.a4 13 Qc7 3:13 C00: French: Unusual White 2nd moves. 9.Re1 2 h6 1:36 10.e5 1:12 Nd7 25 Black has an edge. 11.Qe2 3 b6 46 12.h4 15 Nb4 1:35 13.Nf1 50 Ba6 7
14.Qd1N 23 Predecessor: 14.Bf4 c4 15.dxc4 Bxc4 16.Qd2 Bxf1 17.Bxf1 Qxc2 18.Rec1 Qxd2 19.Bxd2 a5 20.Rc7 Nxe5 21.Nxe5 0-1 (32) Slavin,P (1078)-Henke,S (1526) LSS email 2010 14...Rfc8 1:26 15.N1h2 24 Qd8 31 16.Bf4 43 b5 1:03 16...Kh8= 17.c3 0 Nc6 11 18.axb5 1 Bxb5 3 19.Ng4 20 19.b3!? 19...Bf8! 0 20.Qe2 1:45 Hoping for c4. Ne7 1:40 21.h5 23 a5 1:31 22.Ne3 30 Qb6 0 23.g4 11 d4 1:21 24.Nc4 48 Bxc4 3 25.dxc4 2 Rab8 42 26.Bc1 4 Qa6 1:10 27.g5 0 27.cxd4?! cxd4 28.Nxd4 Qxc4 29.Qxc4 Rxc4= 27...dxc3 0 28.bxc3 10 Nb6 7 29.gxh6 1:30 White is more active. Qxc4? 1:19 29...gxh6± 30.Bf1 Nf5 30.hxg7+- 1:17 30.Rxa5 gxh6 31.Qxc4 Nxc4= 30...Bxg7 2 31.Qc2 12 Threatens to win with Re4. 31.Rxa5?! Nf5± 31...Nbd5 1:29 32.h6 1:16 32.Rxa5 Nf5 32...Bh8? 6 32...Qxc3 33.Qxc3 Nxc3 33.Re4? 2:54 33.Ra4+- is more deadly. Rb4 34.Ra3 33...Qxc3± 11 34.Rg4+ 7 Kf8 41
35.Qh7 4 Ke8 36 36.Rga4 1:01 White is really pushing. Dancing on a razor blade. Wrong is 36.Qxh8+? Kd7 37.Qxc8+ Rxc8-+ 36...Kd7? 1:34 36...Bxe5± is a better chance. 37.R4a3 Qxa1 38.Rxa1 Bxa1 37.Bd2+- 40 Skewer. This bishop pair is nice. Qb2 20 38.Rxa5 5 Bxe5 1:19 39.Nxe5+ 38 Qxe5 2 40.Qxf7 5 Ra7+ is the strong threat. Weaker is 40.Ra7+ Rc7 41.Qxf7 Qf5 42.Qxf5 exf5+- 40...Rc7 28 40...Qf5 41.Ra7+ Rc7 42.Qxf5 exf5 41.h7 31 Rh8 17 41...Qf6 42.Qxf6 Nxf6 42.Ra8 42 And now R1a6 would win. Rcc8 16 43.R1a7+ 48 White mates. Kd6 2 44.Bxd5 1:24 Kxd5 7 45.Rxc8 1:02 Nxc8 15 46.Qb7+ 4 Kc4 21 47.Ra4+ 13 Kd3 0 48.Qb3+ 1:05 Ke2 14 49.Ra2 25 Qd5 11 50.Ba5+ 21 Weighted Error Value: White=0.29 (precise) /Black=0.50
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Rapport,R2776Gavrilescu,D25181–02022Superbet Rapid Poland 20224.2

Richard Rapport

Richard Rapport | Photo: Bryan Adams


Standings after round 6 (2 pts for a win, 1 pt for a draw)

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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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