World Rapid Ch: Firouzja stuns while Carlsen suffers

Nobody said it would be easy

A big talking point after the World Championship match in London had finished with a dazzling tie-break win by Carlsen was whether chess players' strength should be assessed and differentiated according to the time control used. Some, like Nakamura, argued that the World Champion should prove he is the best player under different time constraints, while others would prefer to keep the prevalence of classical chess.

The fact that a big part of Magnus' strategy in said match was to give way to a rapid tie-break, confident that he would defeat Caruana, only demonstrates how strong the Norwegian is in accelerated time controls. His over-the-top rating record in rapid and blitz during the last few years is a testament to his high standards.

But in rapid or blitz everybody can have a bad day. Even Magnus...

Adam Tukhaev was probably as surprised as all the rest | Photo: Lennart Ootes

In the first round, he faced 30-year-old Ukrainian GM Adam Tukhaev. The 104th seed held his own with the white pieces despite having to play against Carlsen's pair of bishops. It seemed like the World Champion would eventually manage to squeeze a win in an endgame with two rooks against a queen, but when his time was running out he missed the fact that his opponent could give a perpetual check…sadly for Tukhaev, he missed it too: 

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 Ukrainian played 72.Kh3, instead of going for a perpetual check scheme with 72.Qe4+. And here is when the shocker came, as Magnus did not manage to play 72...Rfd7 before his time ran out, despite the fact that a 10-second increment is being used in the tournament.

Signing the scoresheets | Photo: Lennart Ootes

This was not a first for Magnus, however, as he also lost his opening game last year in Riyadh — against Bu Xiangzhi.

Carlsen's next rival was 16-year-old Shamsiddin Vokhidov from Uzbekistan. A gap of almost 600 rating points did not prevent young Vokhidov from trapping Carlsen's queen in the middle of the board:  

The path to tactical strength

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The Norwegian had left the opening with a better position but did not find a convincing plan to take down his opponent. Shortly afterwards, he omitted the fact that Shamsiddin could trap his queen with 22...Bf8. Magnus played on despite the overwhelming material disadvantage but had to give up after 36 moves.

Vokhidov kept it cool and trapped Magnus' queen | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The clear rating favourite recovered some hope by winning all his three remaining games, but later declared that he "had not played this bad ever", at least as far as he can remember:

Another player known for his skills in accelerated time controls is 2012 World Rapid Champion Sergey Karjakin. The Russian finished the first day of action in Saint Petersburg half a point above Carlsen (with 3½/5), but could have easily gone into Thursday's round tied with Magnus had he not found a miracle save in round four.

First Steps in Endgames

If you want to become a strong player you have to study the endgame. That's just the way it is. Andrew Martin's DVD 'First Steps in Endgames' offers a superb introduction for players rated below 1600.

Maxim Matlakov obtained a massive advantage with the white pieces but missed the one trick that saved Black in the queen endgame: 86...Qe5+! — Maxim knew there was no way to avoid either a perpetual or stalemate and chose the latter by playing 87.Qxe5. Stalemate.

Alireza shows his magic

A few weeks ago, Thorsten Cmiel published an article that focuses on 15-year-old Iranian prodigy Alireza Firouzja. While Cmiel compares him with Mikhail Tal, Ivan Sokolov talks about how the youngster reminds him of Vishy Anand. It is not for us to decide who he resembles the most, but there is no doubt that we will hear his name frequently in the future.

Alireza played five enterprising games on Wednesday. First, he showed great nerves and got lucky against Denis Khsimatulin to get his first win with Black. Then, he used the pair of bishops effectively to defeat Boris Grachev. In the next round, he incidentally faced another Russian — and another 'magician' at that — as he signed his only draw of the day after 41 moves against Alexander Morozevich.

Firouzja facing Grachev while Shirov played against Hovhannisyan | Photo: Maria Emelianova

In round four, he played White against his first non-Russian, Bulgarian GM (now representing Georgia) Ivan Cheparinov and finished the game in style:

Attacking the King — for Experts

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Cheparinov resigned in view of 59.Nc5+ next — the black king is trapped in the centre and the Georgian would be forced to at least sacrifice an exchange to survive.

To finish a memorable day, Firouzja defeated third seed Vladislav Artemiev with Black. The youngster will start day two facing co-leader Dmitry Andreikin — yet another Russian.

Dmitry Andreikin flew in from Sitges | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Andreikin and Alireza are joined in the lead by Ian Nepomniachtchi, who, like Andreikin, started the tournament with four straight wins, including a victory over Hikaru Nakamura — who comes from getting an outstanding triumph at the Grand Chess Tour after precisely dominating the rapid and blitz events.

Below the three co-leaders, fifteen players are on 4/5 — the lowest rated player in this group is Croatian grandmaster Marin Bosiocic, who took down Maxim Matlakov in the final round of day one.

Nepo was in a good mood | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Standings - Open section (top 25)

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