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The most dominant chess player of this era is a draw away from being knocked out of the FIDE World Cup. Magnus Carlsen lost his first game of round 4 against German prodigy Vincent Keymer and needs a win (with white) on Thursday to remain in contention. Famously, the Norwegian ace has yet to win the World Cup, one of the few achievements that have escaped him during his illustrious career.
Keymer achieved a minimal strategic edge out of a Queen’s Gambit Declined with an early exchange on d5, and later saw his famed opponent erring in a technical endgame. Each side had a rook, a knight and four pawns when Carlsen failed to defend his queenside weakened pawns properly.
Black’s pawns on the queenside are somewhat vulnerable, albeit defensible. If given this position as a puzzle, Carlsen will surely notice that 36...Nd6 or 36...g6 are both good defensive moves — and, more importantly, moves that are completely necessary under the circumstances.
On the contrary, 36...Nc7, as played in the game, leaves Black in deep trouble after the natural 37.Nd6, which Keymer played almost instantly.
From the resulting position, White only needs good technique to convert his extra pawn into a win. Peter Leko, who has coached Keymer in the past and is working as a commentator, noted that only nerves could stop the 17-year-old from winning, since he had never defeated Carlsen in the past.
The prodigy from Mainz did not falter, though, as he found the correct continuations at every turn, even when natural-looking alternatives could have thwarted his plan.
Only 54.Ne5, as played by Keymer after a bit over a minute, wins for White here. The ‘automatic’ 54.Kc3 would have spoiled the win due to 54...Nxe4+ 55.Kxb3 Kc5, and Black holds!
A Complete Black Repertoire against 1.d4, 1.Nf3 & 1.c4
These video courses feature a black repertoire against 1.d4, 1.Nf3 and 1.c4. The recommended variations are easy to learn and not difficult to remember, but also pose White serious challenges.
This was Keymer’s fourth victory in Baku (in five games), as he scored 1½/2 against Daniel Dardha in the first round and then beat Amin Tabatabaei 2-0 in round 2. The youngster has gained 19.4 rating points in the event, and has climbed to number 24 in the live ratings list.
The man of the hour | Photo: chess.com / Maria Emelianova
Check out IM Robert Ris’ excellent analysis of the game!
Wesley So has not been able to display his usual — solid yet remarkably effective — style in this event. After surviving a few times in the previous rounds, the US grandmaster was unable to escape against an inspired Alexey Sarana on Wednesday.
Sarana, now representing Serbia, played a novelty with black as early as on move 9, creating a double-edged battle from the get go. So had been surprised and played an imprecision in the early middlegame. In the ensuing position, Black had a dangerous bishop on the long diagonal and strong chances of creating an attack against the short-castled white king.
Both players erred a few times in the struggle leading to this position, but as it often happens in such situations, the player with the initiative nevertheless emerged in the driver’s seat.
Understanding Middlegame Strategies Vol.1-6
In this Videocourse we deal with different aspects of the middlegame which are important to study and improve your general understanding of chess structures.
Here, Sarana could have gone for the good-looking 29...Bxg2, when 30.Kxg2 fails to 30...Qd5+ and the queen is creating all kind of nasty threats (including Qg5, with a potential double-attack against the rook on c1).
Sarana played the more reasonable 29...Nh5 and went on to score an outstanding 34-move victory. The 23-year-old knocked out the up-and-coming Kirill Shevchenko in round 3.
Alexey Sarana is a draw away from knocking out Wesley So | Photo: chess.com / Maria Emelianova
An exciting day of chess also saw Vidit Gujrathi obtaining a great attacking win over Etienne Bacrot. Out of a Taimanov Sicilian, the Indian’s 16.f6 created havoc on Black’s position.
Engines point out that 16...Bxf6, intending to respond to 17.Rxf6 with 17...Nxd3, is the correct way to defend with Black. The ensuing lines are very sharp, though, and Bacrot failed to find all the manoeuvres that would have allowed him to escape, and thus went for 16...gxf6 instead.
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The Indian chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi with an ELO of over 2700 (June 2023) is one of the best 20 players in the world. For the first time, the sympathetic top player presents himself in a video course. Let a world-class player show you tactical moti
After the text, 17.Bf4 pins the knight and prevents Black from getting rid of the all-important light-squared bishop. Shortly after, Vidit got to play 19.Bxh7+, and proficiently proved that White’s attack is winning. Bacrot resigned on move 30.
It is worth noting that Vidit obtained this win after needing seven tiebreak games to knock out Matthias Bluebaum on Tuesday.
Etienne Bacrot (standing) needs to win in the rematch against Vidit to remain in contention | Photo: chess.com / Maria Emelianova
There were five players who got ahead on the scoreboard in round-3’s first day of action. Besides the aforementioned games:
Meanwhile, one of the most exciting pairings of the round saw Praggnanandhaa holding Hikaru Nakamura with black in what turned out to be a tense, double-edged battle.
Pragg accepted Nakamura’s draw offer here, in a position with dangerous passers for both sides. Engines show that Naka got an advantage earlier in the game, but extreme precision would have been needed to make the most of it.
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
Replay games from all round at Live.ChessBase.com
The contenders in the women’s section are already fighting to reach the quarterfinals, as 12 out of the 16 participants still in contention were the favourites to reach this stage in each of their sections.
Out of the eight games played on Wendesday, only one finished decisively. Bella Khotenashvili defeated third seed Humpy Koneru with black. The Indian star chose not to grab Black’s pawn on b5 early in the encounter.
Evidently, Khotenashvili’s 6...b5 surprised Humpy, who spent over 13 minutes before replying with 7.a4 instead of the natural 7.Nxb5 — most likely fearing to enter a sharp line which had been heavily prepared by her opponent.
Attacking with the Jobava London System
The Jobava London System is a minor form of the London System. White tries to play Lf4 quickly followed by Nc3.
Choosing to avoid the most critical line backfired, though, as Khotenashvili later gained the initiative and went on to get a valuable 42-move victory.
Bella Khotenashvili | Photo: chess.com / Maria Emelianova
Meanwhile, Eline Roebers almost obtained her seventh straight full point in Baku. However, she failed to find the correct path forward in a pawn endgame with six pawns per side.
50.f4 instead of Roeber’s 50.Kd3 is winning for white. Harika Dronavalli demonstrated that the ensuing position, which led to a pawn race, was drawn by force.
Eline Roebers | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman
Replay games from all round at Live.ChessBase.com
Full schedule | Pairings and results
All games with computer analysis: Open | Women’s
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