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Vincent Keymer returned to the 2700-club by beating Wesley So in round 8 of the WR Chess Masters. The German prodigy had lost two of his three first games in Düsseldorf, but remarkable wins over Nodirbek Abdusattorov and now So allowed him to bounce back to a fifty-percent score.
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.
Keymer’s round-8 win affected the fight for first place in the standings, as So was one of two players closely chasing co-leaders Levon Aronian and Gukesh. Going into the final round, So and now Keymer stand a full point behind the shared leaders, but since Aronian and Gukesh face each other, it is impossible for them to reach a play-off for tournament victory. On the other hand, Ian Nepomniachtchi is still in the race, as he is a half point behind the leaders after drawing Praggnanandhaa on Friday.
Round 8 also saw Aronian surviving an opening mishap against Andrey Esipenko. Aronian later said he felt “over the moon” after saving the half point from a really unfavourable position. The 40-year-old will have the white pieces in the all-important confrontation against Gukesh, while Nepo will play black against Keymer.
In good spirits — Gukesh and Levon Aronian | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Annotations by Shahid Ahmed
Wesley So won his first classical game against Vincent Keymer at the Tata Steel Chess Masters last month. The German got the rematch with the same colour. So opted for the Italian Opening this time, unlike what he went for on the previous occasion, when he played the Spanish Opening.
21.N3d4 was a positional mistake. White needed to trade the knights via 21.N3h4 as the knights can become menacing, and after 21...Re8, the d4-knight is under attack. It does not have a decent square to go to, moreover he lost a couple of tempi without gaining anything.
Sicilian Dragon: The Real Deal! Part 1-3
In this first part, the emphasis is on themes and ideas whereas Part 2 and 3 focus on theoretical knowledge!
There followed 21...Ree8 22.Nb3 Qd7 23.Nd6 Re6 and the knight at d6 cannot stay there for long as ...Bb8 will eject it. Black kept increasing his positional advantage and eventually liquidated into a minor piece endgame, bishop vs knight, exactly the way So won in Wijk aan Zee. Only this time it was the German who was on the winning side.
Yasser Seirawan and Vincent Keymer | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Annotations by Shahid Ahmed
Levon Aronian’s mind played tricks on him as he misplayed 22...Nd4 against Andrey Esipenko, instead of 22...Ne7.
Aronian later explained: “If you remember something, you normally play it and then the details kind of become evident. After he played 24.Rd3 it became evident that I didn’t — my memory failed me this time”.
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The Semi-Slav, Chebanenko system and the Slav triangle are solid and flexible weapons for Black. The repertoire examined on this DVD meets them all in a provocative way.
The tournament co-leader managed to exchange the queens and a bishop to go into rook, bishop and knight vs double rook endgame. A well-timed draw offer, when his opponent had three minutes for five moves, showed that one can recover after playing an incorrect move.
Andrey Esipenko and Levon Aronian | Photo: Lennart Ootes
