Superbet Poland: Anand leads, Caruana scores 8 out of 9

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
5/23/2022 – Vishy Anand kept the sole lead at the Superbet tournament in Warsaw after scoring 5 points in the first nine rounds of blitz, which were played on Sunday. The Indian has a 1½-point lead over Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who finished the day with three wins in a row. A half point back stand Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian, the day’s top scorers — Caruana collected 8 points, while Aronian added 7 points to his tally. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

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Aronian and Caruana impress

Grand Chess TourTwo US representatives had a great first day of blitz at the Superbet tournament in Warsaw. Fabiano Caruana (8/9 points on Sunday) and Levon Aronian (7/9) not only climbed to shared third place in the event but also surpassed Magnus Carlsen in the live ratings list for blitz chess. Caruana, who tends to underperform in blitz (compared to his usual level in classical), gained no fewer than twelve spots in the live rankings.

Aronian and Caruana now stand behind only Hikaru Nakamura in said ranking. Of course, this is a highly volatile measurement, which could vastly change in either direction during the last day of action in Poland.

Despite their impressive undefeated runs, the pair of Americans did not manage to overcome Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the tournament’s standings table. The Polish star kicked off the blitz with two straight losses, but managed to first get things under control and then score three victories in a row to go into the final nine rounds in sole second place.

Which takes us to the man of the hour: Vishy Anand. The former world champion grabbed the sole lead in round 2 of the rapid section and has not let go of it ever since. Anand collected three wins and suffered two losses on Sunday, which has left him 1½ points ahead of Duda.

Anish Giri, who is having a great performance at the Chessable Masters, wittily tweeted:

Vishy Anand, Jan-Krzysztof Duda

Vishy Anand beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the first round of blitz | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Caruana got the better of Anand with the white pieces in round 7. The Italian-American grandmaster faced the Petroff Defence, a system he used brilliantly during the run-up to the 2018 World Championship match in London (and also at the match itself).

White had been putting pressure on his opponent for a while, but failed to find a killer blow on move 45.

 
Caruana vs. Anand - Round 7

Here 45.Rd5+ wins easily, while 45.a6, as played by Caruana, only makes the task of converting the advantage more difficult. But, of course, this was a blitz game, so by move 45 the clock is as much a factor as the position. Anand, who had been defending throughout, had fewer seconds available than his opponent, and in fact lost on time at this point.

This was Caruana’s fourth (out of five) straight victory. He would go on to beat Wesley So with black before ending the day with a draw against Aronian.

You can replay all games from the blitz section at the end of the article.

Fabiano Caruana, Vishy Anand

Fabiano Caruana facing Vishy Anand | Photo: Lennart Ootes

As for Aronian, he needed to work hard to get a few of his wins on Sunday, especially in the third round, when he had two connected passers in a queen endgame against Kirill Shevchenko. This is how the position looked after 61 moves.

 
Shevchenko vs. Aronian - Round 3

According to the tablebases, this is a draw, but of course it is White who needs to be precise in order to keep the balance. In a blitz game, Black can shuffle his queen, creating all kinds of threats while attempting to provoke a mistake by the defending player.

In this case, Aronian needed to continue playing until move 126 to get the full point!

 

Shevchenko resigned.

Richard Rapport, Levon Aronian

Upbeat — Richard Rapport and Levon Aronian | Photo: Lennart Ootes

As pointed out by Sahil Tickoo on Twitter, one of Anand’s three wins on Sunday featured a good-looking configuration. The Indian, who is known for his predilection of knights, got to place his minor piece in a perfect defensive position during his round-6 game against So.

 
Anand vs. So - Round 6

The knight protects all four pawns at the same time! Anand needed only four more moves to secure a victory in this game.


Current standings

Superbet Grand Chess Tour Poland 2022


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1.e4 2 c5 1 2.Nf3 2 d6 1 3.Bb5+ 2 Nd7 2 4.d4 2 cxd4 3 5.Qxd4 2 a6 1 6.Be2 2 B51: Sicilian: Moscow Variation (3 Bb5+) without 3...Bd7. Ngf6 6 7.0-0 3 g6 9 7...e5!? 8.Qe3 Be7= 8.Nc3 2 The position is equal. Bg7 2       9.Rd1 2 0-0 8 10.e5 1 Nxe5!? 49       10...dxe5 gains popularity. Exploring less charted territory. 10...Nh5= feels stronger. 11.Nxe5 4       And now Qb4 would win. Pin Nd7 2      
Pin 12.Nxf7 11 Bxd4 2 12...Rxf7 13.Qe3 13.Nxd8 3 Pair of Knights! Bxf2+ 1 14.Kh1 15 Rxd8 4 15.Nd5 1:21 15.Bg5 15...Bh4= 1 16.Bc4 34
16...Ne5N 26 Predecessor: 16...Kh8 17.Bf4 b5 18.Bb3 Nc5 19.g3 Nxb3 20.axb3 Bf6 21.Nxf6 exf6 22.Rxd6 Rxd6 23.Bxd6 0-1 (63) Suarez Gomez,J (2449)-Rostovtsev,D (2163) Chess.com INT 2021 17.Nxe7+ 39 Better is 17.Rd4 Bf2 18.Rf4 17...Kg7 1:16 18.Nxc8 2 18.Nd5!= 18...Nxc4 2 19.Rd4 2
19...Bf6! 2 20.Rxc4 2 Raxc8 1 21.Rxc8 5 Rxc8 1       Endgame KRB-KRB 22.c3 2       d5 1 23.Be3 20 Inhibits d4. d4 3 24.Bxd4 9 Bxd4 1 25.cxd4= 2 KR-KR Rc2 1 26.b3 6 Kf6 21 27.h3 7 b5 21 28.b4 56 Rc4 28 29.a3 15 Rxd4 4 30.Rc1 1 Rc4 6 Against Rc6+ 31.Rd1 2 Ke5 6 Prevents Rd6. Threatens to win with ...Rc3. 32.Rd3 9 Prevents Rc3. Rc6 30 33.Kh2 5 Ke4 1 34.Rd7 10 h5 5 35.h4 4 Ke5 17 ...Rc3 is the strong threat. 36.g3? 2       36.Rd3= and White stays safe. 36...Rc3-+ 8 37.Re7+ 4 Kf6 4 38.Rb7 1 38.Ra7 Rxa3 39.Rb7 38...Rxa3 2 39.Rb6+ 1 Kf5 1 40.Kh3 1 Ra4 6 41.Kg2 2 Rxb4 2 42.Rxa6 1 Rb3? 3 Black should play 42...Re4-+ 43.Ra5 Re5 43.Kf2 1 43.Rb6 43...b4 2       44.Rb6 2
44...Ke4? 8 44...Rb1!-+ White must now prevent ...Kg4. 45.Ke3 b3 45.Rxg6 1 45.Re6+!= Kd3 46.Rxg6 45...Rb2+! 3 46.Kg1? 3       46.Ke1 46...Kf3 3 46...b3 47.Rb6 Kf3 47.Kh1 3 b3 2 Black mates. 48.Rg5 1 Rc2 2 49.Rf5+ 2 Kg4 2 50.Rb5 2 b2 2 Weighted Error Value: White=0.66/Black=0.35
0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Gavrilescu,D2518Aronian,L27650–12022B51Superbet Blitz Poland 20221.1
Shevchenko,K2644Korobov,A26711–02022B48Superbet Blitz Poland 20221.2
Anand,V2751Duda,J27501–02022C48Superbet Blitz Poland 20221.3
So,W2766Wojtaszek,R26960–12022E53Superbet Blitz Poland 20221.4
Caruana,F2786Rapport,R27761–02022E73Superbet Blitz Poland 20221.5
Aronian,L2765Rapport,R27761–02022E94Superbet Blitz Poland 20222.1
Wojtaszek,R2696Caruana,F27860–12022E61Superbet Blitz Poland 20222.2
Duda,J2750So,W27660–12022C65Superbet Blitz Poland 20222.3
Korobov,A2671Anand,V2751½–½2022A33Superbet Blitz Poland 20222.4
Gavrilescu,D2518Shevchenko,K2644½–½2022B31Superbet Blitz Poland 20222.5
Shevchenko,K2644Aronian,L27650–12022A18Superbet Blitz Poland 20223.1
Anand,V2751Gavrilescu,D25180–12022C11Superbet Blitz Poland 20223.2
So,W2766Korobov,A26711–02022E99Superbet Blitz Poland 20223.3
Caruana,F2786Duda,J2750½–½2022C67Superbet Blitz Poland 20223.4
Rapport,R2776Wojtaszek,R26960–12022B20Superbet Blitz Poland 20223.5
Aronian,L2765Wojtaszek,R26961–02022B50Superbet Blitz Poland 20224.1
Duda,J2750Rapport,R2776½–½2022A61Superbet Blitz Poland 20224.2
Korobov,A2671Caruana,F27860–12022A21Superbet Blitz Poland 20224.3
Gavrilescu,D2518So,W2766½–½2022B51Superbet Blitz Poland 20224.4
Shevchenko,K2644Anand,V27510–12022C42Superbet Blitz Poland 20224.5
Anand,V2751Aronian,L2765½–½2022C67Superbet Blitz Poland 20225.1
So,W2766Shevchenko,K26441–02022B52Superbet Blitz Poland 20225.2
Caruana,F2786Gavrilescu,D25181–02022D38Superbet Blitz Poland 20225.3
Rapport,R2776Korobov,A26711–02022B23Superbet Blitz Poland 20225.4
Wojtaszek,R2696Duda,J27500–12022A38Superbet Blitz Poland 20225.5
Aronian,L2765Duda,J2750½–½2022C54Superbet Blitz Poland 20226.1
Korobov,A2671Wojtaszek,R2696½–½2022A28Superbet Blitz Poland 20226.2
Gavrilescu,D2518Rapport,R27760–12022B51Superbet Blitz Poland 20226.3
Shevchenko,K2644Caruana,F27860–12022C49Superbet Blitz Poland 20226.4
Anand,V2751So,W27661–02022C48Superbet Blitz Poland 20226.5
So,W2766Aronian,L2765½–½2022A06Superbet Blitz Poland 20227.1
Caruana,F2786Anand,V27511–02022C42Superbet Blitz Poland 20227.2
Rapport,R2776Shevchenko,K2644½–½2022B30Superbet Blitz Poland 20227.3
Wojtaszek,R2696Gavrilescu,D2518½–½2022D50Superbet Blitz Poland 20227.4
Duda,J2750Korobov,A26711–02022E12Superbet Blitz Poland 20227.5
Aronian,L2765Korobov,A26711–02022B50Superbet Blitz Poland 20228.1
Gavrilescu,D2518Duda,J27500–12022B29Superbet Blitz Poland 20228.2
Shevchenko,K2644Wojtaszek,R2696½–½2022B10Superbet Blitz Poland 20228.3
Anand,V2751Rapport,R2776½–½2022B51Superbet Blitz Poland 20228.4
So,W2766Caruana,F27860–12022C42Superbet Blitz Poland 20228.5
Caruana,F2786Aronian,L2765½–½2022A18Superbet Blitz Poland 20229.1
Rapport,R2776So,W27660–12022C47Superbet Blitz Poland 20229.2
Wojtaszek,R2696Anand,V2751½–½2022D38Superbet Blitz Poland 20229.3
Duda,J2750Shevchenko,K26441–02022D15Superbet Blitz Poland 20229.4
Korobov,A2671Gavrilescu,D25180–12022C11Superbet Blitz Poland 20229.5
Aronian,L2765Gavrilescu,D2518½–½2022B13Superbet Blitz Poland 202210.1
Korobov,A2671Shevchenko,K26441–02022A77Superbet Blitz Poland 202210.2
Duda,J2750Anand,V27511–02022C43Superbet Blitz Poland 202210.3
Wojtaszek,R2696So,W2766½–½2022E05Superbet Blitz Poland 202210.4
Rapport,R2776Caruana,F27860–12022B23Superbet Blitz Poland 202210.5
Rapport,R2776Aronian,L27650–12022B78Superbet Blitz Poland 202211.1
Caruana,F2786Wojtaszek,R26960–12022E29Superbet Blitz Poland 202211.2
So,W2766Duda,J27500–12022A25Superbet Blitz Poland 202211.3
Anand,V2751Korobov,A26710–12022B30Superbet Blitz Poland 202211.4
Shevchenko,K2644Gavrilescu,D25180–12022C02Superbet Blitz Poland 202211.5
Aronian,L2765Shevchenko,K26441–02022B50Superbet Blitz Poland 202212.1
Gavrilescu,D2518Anand,V2751½–½2022C47Superbet Blitz Poland 202212.2
Korobov,A2671So,W27660–12022A16Superbet Blitz Poland 202212.3
Duda,J2750Caruana,F27860–12022A21Superbet Blitz Poland 202212.4
Wojtaszek,R2696Rapport,R27760–12022A73Superbet Blitz Poland 202212.5
Wojtaszek,R2696Aronian,L2765½–½2022D27Superbet Blitz Poland 202213.1
Rapport,R2776Duda,J27500–12022C47Superbet Blitz Poland 202213.2
Caruana,F2786Korobov,A26711–02022E73Superbet Blitz Poland 202213.3
So,W2766Gavrilescu,D25181–02022D35Superbet Blitz Poland 202213.4
Anand,V2751Shevchenko,K26441–02022B50Superbet Blitz Poland 202213.5
Aronian,L2765Anand,V27511–02022C49Superbet Blitz Poland 202214.1
Shevchenko,K2644So,W2766½–½2022C78Superbet Blitz Poland 202214.2
Gavrilescu,D2518Caruana,F27860–12022B30Superbet Blitz Poland 202214.3
Korobov,A2671Rapport,R27761–02022A77Superbet Blitz Poland 202214.4
Duda,J2750Wojtaszek,R26961–02022B26Superbet Blitz Poland 202214.5
Duda,J2750Aronian,L2765½–½2022A13Superbet Blitz Poland 202215.1
Wojtaszek,R2696Korobov,A26710–12022E17Superbet Blitz Poland 202215.2
Rapport,R2776Gavrilescu,D25181–02022A06Superbet Blitz Poland 202215.3
Caruana,F2786Shevchenko,K26440–12022D12Superbet Blitz Poland 202215.4
So,W2766Anand,V2751½–½2022E04Superbet Blitz Poland 202215.5
Aronian,L2765So,W27661–02022C24Superbet Blitz Poland 202216.1
Anand,V2751Caruana,F2786½–½2022B52Superbet Blitz Poland 202216.2
Shevchenko,K2644Rapport,R27760–12022B22Superbet Blitz Poland 202216.3
Gavrilescu,D2518Wojtaszek,R26961–02022B11Superbet Blitz Poland 202216.4
Korobov,A2671Duda,J27501–02022A33Superbet Blitz Poland 202216.5
Korobov,A2671Aronian,L2765½–½2022C67Superbet Blitz Poland 202217.1
Duda,J2750Gavrilescu,D25181–02022D50Superbet Blitz Poland 202217.2
Wojtaszek,R2696Shevchenko,K2644½–½2022E67Superbet Blitz Poland 202217.3
Rapport,R2776Anand,V27510–12022C44Superbet Blitz Poland 202217.4
Caruana,F2786So,W27661–02022D27Superbet Blitz Poland 202217.5
Aronian,L2765Caruana,F2786½–½2022B90Superbet Blitz Poland 202218.1
So,W2766Rapport,R27761–02022A61Superbet Blitz Poland 202218.2
Anand,V2751Wojtaszek,R26961–02022B50Superbet Blitz Poland 202218.3
Shevchenko,K2644Duda,J27500–12022C02Superbet Blitz Poland 202218.4
Gavrilescu,D2518Korobov,A26710–12022B53Superbet Blitz Poland 202218.5

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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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