World Blitz Ch: Carlsen and Lagno prevail

Stable and strong

Quicker time controls tend to provoke more mistakes, making it much more difficult to avoid losing...especially during a 21-round tournament. This weekend, Magnus Carlsen and Kateryna Lagno demonstrated that there are exceptions to every rule, including this one. During their +13 and +10 dazzling performances they did not resign or get checkmated even once. Carlsen defended the title he had won last year (with 16/21) and repeated the 17/21 score that gave him the title in 2014 — four years ago, he did lose one game, however. Lagno, on the other hand, obtained her second gold medal in this event, as she had also won the 2010 edition.

Carlsen joins Dubov as the World Blitz and Rapid Champions, with Lagno (right) and Ju (not shown) the women's champions, while Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (left) was the top performer in the combined events, along with Magnus | Photo: Lennart Ootes

In the open section, Carlsen was paired in round thirteen — the first one on Sunday — against his former nemesis (the Norwegian could not defeat him in classical chess for quite a while) and Twitter-rant enemy Anish Giri. Magnus showed great preparation with the white pieces and obtained an advantageous position out of the opening. The final mistake by Giri came on move 23:

English 1.c4 e5 for Black

"Occupy the centre!" Let GM Bologan show you move by move why 1...e5 against English (1.c4) is a rock solid and excellent choice.

The Dutchman erred with 23...Qd6 and resigned after 24.Qe4 Rd8, as 25.Rb8+ is a deadly and unavoidable threat — a sample line is 25...Kd7 26.Qa4+ Rc6 27.Bxc6 Qxc6 28.Rb7+ Ke8 29.Qxc6+, losing the queen.

Anish finished the tournament on 13½/21, a result he was not expecting in his least favourite format. He also congratulated 'team Magnus' on their triple victory:

Alexader Zhukov, First Deputy Chairman of Duma, made the honorary first move | Photo: Lennart Ootes

In an interview afterwards, Magnus singled out his win over Mamedyarov in round nineteen as a key moment in his run for first. By that time, Jan-Krzysztof Duda was a point behind the leader and it looked like his great momentum could easily allow him to catch up with the Norwegian. Against Shak, however, Magnus was a pawn up in a queen endgame — in blitz, it is hard to be precise and avoid all potential perpetual checks, but on move 59 Mamedyarov erred decisively:

Master Class Vol.8: Magnus Carlsen

Scarcely any world champion has managed to captivate chess lovers to the extent Carlsen has. The enormously talented Norwegian hasn't been systematically trained within the structures of a major chess-playing nation such as Russia, the Ukraine or China.

The 59...Qc5+ check forced the exchange of queens and Carlsen won the game.

Shak finished on 13½/21 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

As mentioned, Duda was the player that kept the champion alert on Sunday. The Polish grandmaster had finished the first day of blitz with three straight wins and continued his run with four consecutive victories on day two. The guy that stopped him was Sergey Karjakin, who had a clear advantage with White in their game of round seventeen:

Sergey's three connected passed pawns should be enough to win, as 47.b5 was called for in the diagram position. Instead, Karjakin played 47.Qd4 and gave Duda more defensive resources in a seemingly hopeless position. The 20-year-old Polish grandmaster ended up getting the half point after 79 moves.

It was a great final day for Duda | Photo: Maria Emelianova

The difficult opponents kept on coming for Jan-Krzysztof — he had already played Magnus on day one, however — as he was paired against Hikaru Nakamura in the next round. Playing Black from a second game in a row, Duda could not avoid a defeat this time:

The Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack

On this DVD Davies arms the viewer with insights into how to handle 1.b3 and demonstrates how he thinks White should meet Black’s main defences. Using examples taken from the practice of leading exponents of this opening he explains the strategies clearly and concisely.

It was necessary to include 25...Qe7 to avoid the further weakening of the black king after the knight takes the bishop on e6. Instead, 25.Bd4 followed and Hikaru took full advantage of this strategic mistake with 26.Qh4 h5 27.Nxe6 fxe6 28.Qg5 Kf7 29.Be4 Rg8 30.Rd3, when all the white pieces are in attacking positions. On move 51, resignation finally arrived.

Nakamura is number three in the blitz ratings list | Photo: Lennart Ootes

After that bad two-game run, Duda went on to win his remaining three encounters to finish the tournament on 16½/21, a score that would have been enough to get clear first in last year's edition. His great performance increased his blitz rating no less than 123 points, allowing him to climb to seventh place in the live list. 

Meanwhile, Nakamura had an undefeated final day in Saint Petersburg and obtained another bronze medal — he also finished third in the rapid. It was yet another stable and strong performance in rapid and blitz by the American.

Time to celebrate | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Final standings - Open section (top 25)

All available games

Lagno tops the women's section

The women's tournament was slightly shorter, as nine rounds were played on Saturday and eight on Sunday for a total of seventeen games. Kateryna Lagno climbed from board two to board one in round four and never allowed the lead to slip away from her hands. She started day two with a draw against co-leader Khademalsharieh, but then went on to defeat Tan Zhongyi and Ju Wenjun in consecutive white games. Ju blundered and found it necessary to give up her queen:

The Reliable Petroff

The Petroff (or Russian) Defence which is characterised by the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 has been popular at the highest levels for many years and enjoys the reputation of being an extremely solid defence.

The Chinese mistakenly played 21...c6, which allowed White to go 22.Bc5 Bd6 23.Rd1, when Black's best alternative is to continue with 23...Bxc5 giving way to 24.Rxd8. Kateryna took full advantage of the material gain and won the game in 33 moves.

An incredible tournament for Kateryna | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The big sensation in Saint Petersburg was Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, the 21-year-old Iranian who got silver in both events — she eventually received a trophy as the best performer in the two tournaments combined (Magnus was the other winner). On day two of the blitz, she only lost against Lei Tingjie, who finished in clear third despite losing her last game. In round thirteen, Sarasadat defeated Alisa Galliamova with a devastating attack:

Winning against the Classical Slav

The videos on this DVD give White a repertoire with concrete variations against all main lines Black can play and also show the typical strategic and tactical ideas of the Slav and the hidden subtleties of the position.

The black king is doomed. The game finished with 23...Qc7 24.Qh6+ Ke8 25.Qh8+ Bf8 26.Rxe6+ and the Russian resigned with mate-in-five on the board.

The young Iranian has reasons to smile | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Final standings - Women's section (top 25)

All available games

Links

• Official site
• St. Petersburg: World Rapid Championship 2018 opens
• Day 1: Firouzja stuns while Carlsen suffers
• Day 2: A tight race
• Day 3: Daniil Dubov and Ju Wenjun are the champions
• Day 4: Carlsen and Artemiev command the standings