Düsseldorf: WR Chess beats direct contenders, leads

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
8/28/2023 – Two thirds into the first edition of the World Rapid Team Championship, WR Chess continues its dominating run. The team has a perfect 16/16 score after eight rounds, with Ian Nepomniachtchi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Praggnanandhaa and Hou Yifan (pictured) excelling on their respective boards. Freedom, the squad with the highest average rating, stands in sole second place 3 match points behind the leaders. | Photo: Mark Livshitz
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Pragg, Hou, Nepo and Duda shine

The sponsor of the World Rapid Team Championship, Wadim Rosenstein, put together a strong squad, captained by Jan Gustafsson and with Wesley So on the top board. Rosenstein himself, playing on the amateur board, has so far scored 5 out of 8 points. WR Chess has a perfect 16/16 score and has a 3-point lead over second-placed Freedom.

While So and Rosenstein could have done better on their respective boards, there are four players in the team that have more than made up for any shortcoming in the roster — i.e. Praggnanandhaa, Hou Yifan, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

Importantly, the leading team got to beat its two strongest contenders in rounds 5 and 6. First, they got the better of top seeds Freedom by a whopping 5-1 score, with wins for Duda, Pragg, Hou and Rosenstein. Immediately afterwards, they beat the all-Indian MGD1 squad. Losses by So and Rosenstein were compensated by the full points scored by Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Duda and Pragg for a final 3½-2½ score.

Freedom, led by Vishy Anand (5/7 so far in Düsseldorf), bounced back in style from the painful defeat in round 5 by winning its three remaining matches of the day. MGD1, on the other hand, beat Armenia in round 7 and lost to Ashdod Elit Chess Club in the final round of the day.

With four rounds to go, Freedom stands 3 match points behind WR Chess, while MGD1 is one of three teams sharing third place with 11/16 points — the Indian team is tied with Ashdod Elit Chess Club (Pavel Eljanov, Andrei Volokitin, Mariya Muzychuk) and Six-pack (Aravindh Chithambaram, Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh, Priyanka Nutakki).

The 5-team group standing just behind on 10/16 match points includes the over-performing Chess Pensioners (28th seeds according to rating averages). The top scorers in the Pensioners’ squad are Vladimir Kramnik (6/8, 48 y.o.), Peter Svidler (5½/8, 47 y.o.) and Darmen Sadvakasov (5½/8, 44 y.o.).

Pavel Eljanov

Pavel Eljanov plays on the top board for Ashdod Elit Chess Club | Photo: Niki Riga

Jovanka Houska

Commentator extraordinaire Jovanka Houska is representing the Chess Pensioners | Photo: Niki Riga

Alexander Grischuk

The ever-photogenic Alexander Grischuk has so far scored 6/8 for the ASV AlphaEchecs Linz | Photo: Niki Riga

World Rapid Team Chess Championship 2023

Players of all ages in Düsseldorf | Photo: Niki Riga

Assorted highlights

by Klaus Besenthal

Caruana, Fabiano27821–0Adly, Ahmed2596
FIDE World Rapid Team-ch 2023
Duesseldorf27.08.2023[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 d6 3.Nc3 Nbd7 4.Nf3 Nh5 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 g5 7.Bg3 Good was 7.g4! and after Nhf6 8.Bg3 Nxg4 9.h4 White has given up a pawn, but has also gained the initiative. 7...Bg7 8.e4 c5 9.d5 Qa5 10.Nd2 Bxc3 11.bxc3 Qxc3
At this point in the game Caruana was not losing, but he is somewhat in trouble. 12.Be2 Ndf6 13.0-0 Nxg3 14.hxg3 g4 15.Rb1 h5 16.Rb3 Qe5 17.Nc4
17...Qd4 Not 17...Qxe4?? 18.Nxd6+ exd6 19.Re3 18.e5 Ne4?! After 18...dxe5 19.Qc1 Qxd5 20.Rd1 Qe6 21.Qd2= White would have compensation for no less than three sacrificed pawns - but only that. The best alternative was 18...Qxd1 19.Rxd1 dxe5 19.Bd3?! 19.Re3!± 19...h4 Good was 19...dxe5! The queen on d4 cannot be attacked, and useful lines for White cannot be opened up either. 20.Qe1 Bf5 21.Bxe4? This is quite bad. 21.Qe3= 21...Bxe4 22.Nd2 Bxc2 23.exd6
Here Caruana had a losing position. 23...e5? After 23...0-0-0! 24.dxe7 Rde8-+ the black king is safe and White loses material, since Bd3 is also a threat. 24.Re3?! 24.dxe6= 24...0-0-0 25.Ne4? 25.Qc1 looks good and was good. 25...Bd3? Black thinks materialistically and thus goes from having a winning position to being lost. After 25...hxg3 26.Nxg3 the move Bd3 now works, since the dangerous knight is now on g3: 26.Qa5! Kb8 27.Qc7+ Ka8 28.Nxc5 Ba6 29.Nxa6 Qb6 30.Qxb6 axb6 31.Nc7+ Kb8 32.Ra3 The extra piece is enough to win. 1–0

Fabiano Caruana

Fabiano Caruana (Kompetenzakademie Allstars) beat Ahmed Adly (Africa) in the fifth round | Photo: Niki Riga

Kosteniuk, Alexandra25321–0Bashylina, Luisa2152
FIDE World Rapid Team-ch 2023
Duesseldorf27.08.2023[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nf3 d6 5.Bb5+ Bd7 6.Bc4 Nb6 7.Bb3 e6 8.0-0 Nc6 9.d4 dxe5 10.dxe5 Be7 11.Bc2
In this position, the Qc7 followed by the 0-0-0 was a good alternative for Black: the king would have been secured and the pawns could have advanced on the kingside. 11...0-0? That was too dangerous - even if it is known that there is calm in the eye of the hurricane. 12.Qd3 g6 13.Bh6 Re8 14.Nbd2 Nd5
15.Ne4?! 15.Rfe1 was a better move here. 15...b5? With 15...Qb8 Black could have reached a defensible position: White could not have covered her e5-pawn. 16.Bg5 Bxg5 17.Nexg5 Qc7 18.Qe4
The e5 and e6 pawns form a barrier that makes it massively difficult for Black to bring in forces to defend the kingside. 18...f5 This radical solution to the problem creates weaknesses that make White's job easier. 19.exf6 Nxf6 20.Qh4 e5 21.Ne4 Nxe4 22.Bxe4 Rad8? Tougher was 22...Kg7 but it is not enough to save Black's position. 23.Ng5 Bf5 24.Bxc6 If the attacked rook moves away, then Bxb5 and Bc4+ would follow, etc. 1–0

Alexandra Kosteniuk

Alexandra Kosteniuk | Photo: Niki Riga

Anand, Viswanathan27541–0Donchenko, Alexander2684
FIDE World Rapid Team-ch 2023
Duesseldorf27.08.2023[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.h3 g6 6.Be2 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 Nc6 9.Qe3 Be6 10.Nc3 Nd7 11.Rb1 Qb6 12.Nd5 Qxe3 13.Bxe3 Rac8 14.b3 h6 15.b4 Rfe8 16.Nf4 b6 17.Rfc1 Nf8 18.a3 g5 19.Nxe6 Nxe6 20.Rd1 Rc7 21.g3 Ne5 22.Nxe5 Bxe5 23.Kg2 Kg7 24.a4 Rec8 25.Rd5 Rc6 26.a5 Nc7 27.Rd2 bxa5 28.bxa5 a6 29.Rb7 Kf8 30.Rd1 Ne6 31.Bb6 Nc5 32.Ra7 Nxe4 33.Rxa6 Nc3 34.Rd2 Nxe2 35.Rxe2 Rxc4 36.Ra2 Bd4 37.Bxd4 Rxd4 38.Rb6 Rcc4 39.a6 Ra4 40.Rc2 Rd5 41.Rc7 Ra2 42.a7
In this complicated endgame Donchenko blunders. 42...Rf5?? It could have ended in a draw here: 42...Rda5 43.Rbb7 Kg7 44.Rxe7 Rf5 45.Kg1 Ra1+ 46.Kg2 Ra2 43.Rb8+ 43.Rb2! would not only have been as effective as the move in the game, but also elegant. 43...Kg7 44.a8Q Raxf2+ 45.Kg1 Rf1+ 46.Kh2 R1f2+ 47.Qg2 Rxg2+ 48.Kxg2
There is no way to save a draw now. 48...Re5 49.Rb2 Kf8 50.Rf2 Re3 51.g4 Re5 52.Rcc2 Re3 53.Rfe2 Rxe2+ 54.Rxe2 e6 55.Kf3 Kg7 56.Ke4 h5 57.Rd2 hxg4 58.hxg4 d5+ 59.Ke5 Kg6 60.Ra2 1–0

Vishy Anand

Vishy Anand | Photo: Niki Riga

Standings after round 8

Rk. Team  TB1 
1 WR Chess 16
2 Freedom 13
3 Team MGD1 11
4 Ashdod Elit Chess Club 11
5 Six-pack 11
6 ASV AlphaEchecs Linz 10
7 Germany and Friends 10
8 Armenia 10
9 Kompetenzakademie Allstars 10
10 Chess Pensioners 10
11 Berlin Chess Federation 9
12 Rishon LeZion Chess Club 9
13 Düsseldorfer Schachklub 1914/25 e.V. 9
14 Team Chessemy.com 9
15 Columbus Energy KingsOfChess Kraków 8

...36 teams

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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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