WR Masters: Five draws, Aronian leads

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
2/19/2023 – Levon Aronian continues to lead the standings at the WR Chess Masters, as all five games ended drawn in Sunday’s fourth round. A few of the encounters featured double-edged openings, but accurate defensive responses prevented any of them from finishing decisively. Monday is a rest day in Düsseldorf. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

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“The tournament is great, my play is not”

Less than two months from now, the World Championship match facing Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi will kick off in Astana. Wadim Rosentsein, the main sponsor of the WR Chess Masters and a supporter of Nepo, decided to use the same time control in the German event as in the coming match. Rosenstein told Sagar Shah:

This time control should add to Ian Nepomniachtchi’s practical preparation before the most important match of his life while not hurting any of the other participants, as I’m sure some of them will play in the world championships in the nearest future.

This factor will surely serve Nepo well, although he is also dealing with the usual restriction of not being able to show his opening preparation in full before the match. For now, Nepo has drawn all four of his games in Düsseldorf. After splitting the point with Wesley So from the black side of a Catalan, the Russian quipped:

The tournament is great, my play is not.

After the rest day, Nepo will get two whites in a row — against Gukesh and Andrey Esipenko — before meeting current sole leader Levon Aronian in round 7. To reach the top of the standings, Aronian won twice with white and drew twice with black on the first four days of action. The 40-year-old is set to face an in-form Anish Giri on Tuesday.

As for round 4, all games finished drawn for the first time in the event. A couple of hours into the day, this outcome did not seem all that likely, though, as Gukesh and Vincent Keymer had a double-edged position on the board, while Giri had obtained a long-term advantage against Esipenko out of the opening.

Frederic Friedel, ChessBase

Frederic Friedel has been keeping an eye on prodigious players for years now (find here the latest update) | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Gukesh ½ - ½ Keymer

 
Gukesh D2718½–½Keymer, Vincent2690
WR Chess Masters 2023
Duesseldorf18.02.2023[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Be3 Nbd7 9.g4 h6 10.Qd3 Nc5 11.Nxc5 dxc5 12.Qe2 Be7 13.Bg2 0-0 14.0-0 Qb6 15.Nd5
This knight jumpt to d5 was the only trump White had at his disposal. 15...Nxd5 And of course Keymer gets rid of this piece immediately. 15...Bxd5 16.exd5 e4 17.c4 Bd6= was not bad either. 16.exd5 Bd7 17.b4 Black has kept the bishop pair, but now has to deal with sharp attacking attempts by White. Qxb4 17...Qc7 was also good. 18.d6 Opening the diagonal for the g2-bishop. Bg5! This exchange of the bad bishop is also known from other Sicilian setups with this structure. 19.Bxg5 Bb5! Keymer finds strong moves. 19...hxg5 20.Qxe5 Rae8 21.Qxg5± is less convincing. 20.c3 Or 20.Qxe5 Bxf1 21.Be7 Bxg2 22.Bxf8 Rxf8 23.Kxg2 Qd2 24.Qxc5 Rd8= 20...Qa4 21.Qxe5 Bxf1 22.Bxh6 gxh6 23.Rxf1 Rae8 24.Qxc5 Re6! A versatile move: the occupation of the sixth rank protects the black king, the d6-pawn is under attack, and the rook might contribute from g6 in a potential attack. 25.Bd5 25.Bxb7 Rd8 26.Bd5 Rexd6 27.c4 Qxa2 28.Rd1 Re6! 25...Rg6 26.Rb1 h5 27.d7 The pawn sacrifice distracts the queen, which will no longer protect e4. Qxd7 28.Be4 hxg4 Keymer wraps things up. 28...Rg7 29.Qxh5 also worked, but he probably didn't like it as much. 29.Bxg6 fxg6 30.Qc4+ Qf7 31.Qxf7+ Rxf7 32.hxg4 b5 33.Kg2 Rc7 34.Rd1 Rxc3 35.Rd6 Kf7 36.Rxa6 b4 37.g5 b3 38.axb3 Rxb3 This endgame is drawn. 39.Rf6+ Kg7 40.f3
½–½

Jan Gustafsson, Dommaraju Gukesh

Jan Gustafsson, Anish Giri’s second, looks on as Gukesh analyses | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Giri ½ - ½ Esipenko

 
Giri, Anish2780½–½Esipenko, Andrey2675
WR Chess Masters 2023
Duesseldorf18.02.2023[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 d5 3.e3 c5 4.dxc5
This capture results in a completely different setup than the typical London system with the familiar c3/d4/e3 pawn triangle. 4...e6 Common here is 4...Nc6 5.Nf3 Or 5.Bb5 Qa5+ 6.Nc3 a6 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.Nf3 Ne4 9.Qd4 Nxc3 10.Qxc3 Qxc3+ 11.bxc3 f6 12.Bc7 e5 13.Bb6= 5...e6 White cannot play b2-b4 here. 4...Qa5+ was of course also an option. 5.b4 a5 6.c3 Nc6 6...axb4 7.cxb4 Bd7 was the alternative 8.Nd2 b6 9.cxb6 Bxb4 10.Bc7 Qe7 11.Ngf3 0-0 12.Be2 Ne4 13.0-0 Nc3 14.Qe1 Bb5 15.Bxb5 Nxb5 16.Bg3 Nd7 Retrieving the sacrificed pawn is a lengthy affair, but if you know your way around this system, you succeed. 7.Bb5 Bd7 8.Qb3
White has kept the pawn, but is on the defensive. 8...Nh5 9.Ne2 Nxf4 10.Nxf4 g6 10...g5! is more energetic: 11.Nh5 Ohterwise Bg7 would follow. g4 12.Nd2 Qg5 11.a4 Bg7 12.Ra2 0-0 13.0-0
This has been played out a few times in the past. 13...Ne5 This move, on the other hand, is new - and perhaps not entirely convincing. 13...Qc7 14.Nd2 d4 is perhaps the better alternative. 14.Bxd7 Qxd7 15.Rd1 Qc6 16.Nd3 Nxd3 17.Rxd3 Rfc8 18.Nd2 axb4 19.cxb4 b6 20.cxb6 Qxb6
White still has the extra pawn, but has not yet managed to coordinate his pieces. 21.b5?! This secures the pawn, but allows the black rook to come to c1 and create a pin on the first rank. Better was 21.g3! which leads to Rc1+ 22.Kg2± 21...Rc1+ 22.Nf1 Qa5
Black has full compensation for the pawn. 23.Rd1 Rc3 24.Qb1 Rc4 25.Rd3 Rb8 26.Rb3 Rxa4 27.Rxa4 Qxa4 28.g3 Rb6 29.h4 h5 30.Kg2 Bf6 31.Nd2 Kg7 32.Qd3 Bxh4 33.gxh4 Black gives perpetual check.
½–½

Andrey Esipenko, Anish Giri

Two stylish grandmasters — Andrey Esipenko and Anish Giri | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Results - Round 4

 

Standings - Round 4

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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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