Zagreb GCT: Top-notch draws

by Antonio Pereira
7/6/2019 – Magnus Carlsen still leads the Croatian leg of the Grand Chess Tour, as both he and his only chaser Wesley So got half points in round nine. Carlsen and Levon Aronian played a remarkable, precise 49-move draw while Wesley So was on the brink of defeat but miraculously survived against Ian Nepomniachtchi. The only winner of the day was Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who defeated Vishy Anand with the white pieces. Round ten will see the deciding match-up between Carlsen and So. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

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Might-have-beens

At some point during round nine of the Zagreb GCT, it seemed like Magnus Carlsen was making headway towards another early tournament victory — he had the initiative in a complex position against Levon Aronian while Wesley So was in dire straits against Ian Nepomniachtchi. Had Carlsen won and So lost at the end of the day, the world champion would have arrived in Saturday's penultimate round one and a half points ahead of his pursuer (a draw would have been enough to secure first place in that scenario).

But none of that happened, as both ended up signing draws. Nevertheless, if Carlsen beats So in their round ten direct encounter, he will get the title with a round to spare.

Meanwhile, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov left the cellar of the standings table by defeating Vishy Anand with the white pieces, after the Indian was overpowered in the middlegame and could not find a precise defensive manoeuvre later on. In all three remaining draws (as well as So's safe against Nepomniachtchi), coincidentally, the games finished with one of the players finding a way to give perpetual check with the queen.

Results of Round 9
 

Ian Nepomniachtchi

Ian Nepomniachtchi decided to wear a more casual outfit on Friday's ninth round | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

As stated so many times by a host of chess experts, if first-level players simply decide to show their best skills while fighting to get wins, it is almost certain that the fans will enjoy a fine show. And that is precisely what happened in the encounter between Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian. The world champion went for a sharp line of the Vienna Variation and, on move 15, decided to raise the stakes with an audacious novelty:

 
Carlsen vs. Aronian
Position after 14...Bd7

The players had been following theory up to this point and there were over forty predecessor games that had reached this position. Nobody, however, had opted for Carlsen's 15.0-0-0, undoubtedly a call to arms by the world champion. 

Aronian started taking his time but did not seem overly fazed by his opponent's bold play. The Armenian, in fact, reacted appropriately, looking for counterplay on the queenside:

 
Position after 19.Rh3

Carlsen had just lifted his h-file rook, a key piece in the subsequent battle, but Aronian fearlessly responded with 19...b5, with the idea of undermining White's king position. The game continued 20.g3+ h8 21.g4 a5 22.f4 g7 23.xd8+ xd8:

 
Position after 23...Rxd8

Both players continued to expand on "their" flanks, as there followed 24.g4 b4 25.g5. Black needed to create threats against the white monarch to avoid simply being steamrolled on the kingside. Aronian kept finding resources to maintain the balance — by the time he got to activate his rook, it already seemed like a draw was a likely outcome:

 
Position after 33.fxg5

White's pieces and kingside pawns are certainly menacing, but Black brought another piece to the defence with 33...c4. Aronian did not falter in the subsequent fifteen moves and signed what can only be described as a first-class draw.

Magnus Carlsen

World champion Magnus Carlsen looking for the hidden win | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

During the post-game interview, Carlsen showed some disappointment as he thought there should have been some way to break through with White. Perhaps he could have found some nuanced manoeuvre that would have given him more chances, but the truth of the matter is that it simply was a well-played game by two formidable professionals.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 c5 7.e5 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Qa5 10.exf6 Qxg5 11.fxg7 Qxg7 12.Qd2 D39: Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defence with 5 Bg5 dxc4 0-0 13.Bxc4 Rd8 Not 13...Qxg2? 14.0-0-0+- 14.Qe3 Bd7
But not 14...Qxg2? 15.0-0-0+- 15.0-0-0N Predecessor: 15.0-0 Nc6 16.Nf3 Ne7 17.Ne5 Ng6 18.f4 Rac8 19.Be2 Be8 1/2-1/2 (64) Van Wely,L (2675)-Burg,T (2518) Amsterdam 2017 15...Nc6 16.Bb3 Be8 17.Nxc6 Bxc6 18.h4 Qf6 19.Rh3 b5 20.Rg3+ Kh8 21.Rg4 a5 22.Rf4
Rxd8+ would kill now. 22...Qg7 23.Rxd8+ Rxd8 24.g4 b4 25.g5 bxc3 26.Bc2 Bd5 27.Rf6 Qf8!
( -> .. .Qa3+) 28.Qxc3 And now Rxf7+ would win. Rc8 29.Qd3 Qg7! The position is equal. Black is not holding back 30.f4 Kg8! 31.Kd2 h6 32.a3 hxg5 33.fxg5 Rc4 34.Qg3 Be4! 35.Bb3 Rd4+ 36.Ke1 Bf5 37.h5 Black must now prevent h6. Rd3 38.Qb8+ Qf8 39.Qxf8+ Kxf8= Endgame KRB-KRB 40.Bc2 Rh3 41.Bxf5 exf5 KR-KR 42.h6 Threatens to win with a4. Kg8 43.a4 Rh4 44.Rxf5 Rxa4 45.Kf2 Rg4 46.Kf3 Rg1 47.Kf2 Rg4 48.Kf3 Rg1 49.Kf2 Accuracy: White = 74%, Black = 84%.
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2875Aronian,L2752½–½2019GCT Zagreb 20199.1

Levon Aronian

Levon Aronian prevented Carlsen from winning a fourth game in a row | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

In the other big match-up of the day, Ian Nepomniachtchi went for an Anti-Berlin structure with 4.d3 against Wesley So. Both players showed good preparation and reached a dynamically balanced middlegame position — however, White's passed d-pawn looked more dangerous than Black's potential counterplay on the queenside:

 
Nepomniachtchi vs. So
Position after 21...Bg4

22.d6 d7 23.e5 followed, and Black then decided to exchange the minor pieces with 23...xf3. Only heavy pieces were left on the board, with White having the initiative thanks to his advanced central passer. More exchanges followed: 24.gxf3 fxe5 25.xe5 xe5 26.xe5.

 
Position after 26.Qxe5

So did not think much before going for the natural 26...e8, but this was actually a crucial imprecision, as 26...♛f7, preventing White from putting his queen on d5 was called for. Nepomniachtchi found 27.d5+ and went on to improve his position until getting a winning advantage.

But when queens are still on the board there is always a looming danger — the losing side finding a perpetual check. And that is exactly what happened on move 36:

 
Position after 35...Qh3

Instead of 36.♕e2, Nepomniachtchi needed to opt for 36.♕d5. After the text, there was no way to escape the checks, with the game finishing  after 36...h2+ 37.Ke3 g1+ 38.d3 b1+, etcetera.

Wesley So

Wesley So still has chances to take the title | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Mamedyarov gets the better of Anand

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov has not been having a good year so far, as he has fallen to the 14th place in the live ratings list after a 'minus three' performance in the first eight rounds of this tournament. Against Vishy Anand, however, he got a good centralized position out of the opening, with both bishops pointing to Black's king position. By move 26, Anand had a wrecked pawn structure, and Mamedyarov decided it was high time to give up an exchange to open more lines for his bishops:

 
Mamedyarov vs. Anand
Position after 26...e5

27.xd5 was a stunning shot. Anand accepted the challenge with 27...xd5 28.exd5 and White's onslaught continued. The attack was bearing fruit, with one of Black's rooks far from the action, but suddenly Anand was given a chance to save the half point:

 
Position after 38.Bxe5

Mamedyarov had just captured on e5, banking on the pin along the sixth rank. There followed 38...xe5 39.xe5 fxe5 40.xa6 f2 and resignation came five moves later. However, Anand could have gone for an immediate 38...♛f2, when Black manages to keep things under control with 39.♕xf4+ ♛e1 40.♔h2 ♜xe5 41.♖xf6 ♜xf6 42.♕xf6 h4:

 
Analysis diagram
Position after 42...h4

White cannot make progress without allowing a perpetual check.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov got a nice win over former world champion Vishy Anand | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Checking thrice with the queen

Interestingly, the three remaining games finished with a player finding a perpetual check with the queen. Perhaps the most interesting one was Fabiano Caruana v Ding Liren, in which the Chinese grandmaster was two pawns to the good, but had all his pawns 'blocking' his dark-squared bishop mobility:

 
Caruana vs. Ding Liren
Position after 43.dxe4

Ding opened up the position with 43...d5 but could never break through. The game finished after 58 moves.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 b4 9.a5 d6 10.c3 Rb8 11.Bc4 Bg4 C90: Closed Ruy Lopez with 7. ..d6: Early deviations 11...Nxe4 12.Bd5 Nxf2 13.Kxf2 Nxa5 14.cxb4 Rxb4 15.d4 c6 16.Ba2 exd4 17.Kg1 d5 18.Na3 Bf6 19.Nc2 1-0 (48) Dominguez Perez,L (2750)-Nozdrachev,V (2489) Sochi 2019 12.h3 Bh5 13.Qa4N Predecessor: 13.g4 Bg6 14.d3 d5 1/2-1/2 (14) Sion Castro,M (2375)-Gomez,M (2425) Elgoibar 1995 13...Na7 14.g4 Bg6 15.d3 Nb5 16.Bg5 h5 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.Kg2 bxc3 19.Nxc3 c6 20.Bxb5! axb5 21.Qd1 b4 22.Ne2 hxg4 23.hxg4 Qd7 24.Kh3 Rb5 25.Ng3 Ra8 26.Qb3 Bd8 27.a6 Bb6 Black should play 27...Rb6 28.Rf1 28.Kg2 28...Kf8 28...Qe6 29.Qxe6 fxe6 29.Nh4 Bh7 30.Qc2 Bd8 31.Nhf5 Bg5 White is under pressure. 32.Ra4 f6 33.Ne2 Rb6 34.a7 34.d4= remains equal. 34...Rb7 But not 34...Rxa7?! 35.Rxa7 Qxa7 36.Nxd6= Black should try 34...c5 35.Raa1 Rb7 35.Ra6! Bxf5 36.gxf5 c5 37.Rfa1 next Qa4 is good for White. Rbxa7 38.Qc4 Rxa6 39.Rxa6 Rxa6 40.Qxa6 g6 41.Kg2 gxf5
aiming for ...f4. 42.Ng3 fxe4 43.dxe4 d5 Threatens to win with ...Kg7. 44.Qb6 dxe4 Hoping for ...Qd5. 45.Qxc5+ Kg7 46.Qxb4 e3 47.fxe3 Bxe3 48.Qe4 Bf4 ...Qg4 is the strong threat. 49.Nh5+ The position is equal. Kh6 50.Nxf4 Qg4+
Double Attack, Pin 51.Kf2 exf4= Endgame KQ-KQ 52.Qh1+ Kg5 Strongly threatening ...Qg3+. 53.Qd5+ f5 54.Qg8+ Kf6 55.Qf8+ Ke6 56.Qe8+ Kf6 57.Qf8+! Ke6 58.Qe8+ Accuracy: White = 59%, Black = 37%.
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2819Ding,L2805½–½2019GCT Zagreb 20199.3

Fabiano Caruana, Ding Liren

Numbers two and three in the world, Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Round ten will see the crucial match-up of the tournament, with Wesley So having the white pieces against Magnus Carlsen. By now, only a miracle would allow Caruana, Nepomniachtchi or Aronian to catch up with the Norwegian or the American, so we can already call this a two-horse race.

Standings after Round 9

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Commentary webcast

Commentary by GM Yasser Seirawan, IM Jovanka Houska and GM Alejandro Ramirez


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Final rounds

Round 10 - Saturday, July 6th (14:30 UT = your local time)
 
Round 11 - Sunday, July 7th (14:30 UT = your local time)
 

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Antonio is a freelance writer and a philologist. He is mainly interested in the links between chess and culture, primarily literature. In chess games, he skews towards endgames and positional play.

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