Levon Aronian wins Superbet Rapid & Blitz
The 2019 Superbet Rapid and Blitz concluded in a dramatic fashion. At the end of an exciting day of blitz, Levon Aronian and Sergey Karjakin were tied for first place. While the tour points and prize money were split, there was a playoff to crown the champion of the inaugural event. The tiebreak consisted of two 10-minute games. After drawing the first game, Levon Aronian won the second game in a 27-move tactical battle. This marked the second tour win of the year for the Armenian superstar and puts him in an optimal spot to qualify for the London finals. The newly crowned champion was greeted by the Armenian Ambassador to Romania Sergey Minasian and a member of the Romanian Parliament Varujan Pambuccian. The next and final stop of the tour is the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz beginning November 22. The longtime leader of the tournament wildcard Anton Korobov completely collapsed today, losing his first five games. Former World Blitz Champion Le Quang Liem, who made waves yesterday with his phenomenal performance of 7/9, also showed a lackluster performance in day 2 of blitz by scoring only 4 points. The struggles of these players allowed for two new leaders to emerge. Levon Aronian climbed to the top by defeating both Korobov and Liem in the first two games, giving him a comfortable two-point lead over the field. The rest of his day, however, was tumultuous, to say the least. He lost three out of his next four games against Sergey Karjakin, Vladislav Artemiev, and Wesley So while drawing the rest. While Aronian was having a topsy-turvy day, Karjakin slowly crept up to the top with wins over Aronian himself, Le Quang Liem and Caruana. Going into the last round, both players were tied for first. Aronian drew his game, leaving the fate of the tournament in Karjakin’s hands. The fateful game between Karjakin and Korobov was a rollercoaster ride that could have sealed the deal for either Aronian or Karjakin. The Russian was winning for most of the game, but allowed a lot of counterplay and even blundered a checkmate closer to the end of the game. Luckily for him, Korobov failed to capitalize on his opportunities, and the game was eventually drawn. The first encounter of the Aronian-Karjakin playoff was a quiet Spanish which ended in a 20-move draw. The second game was a much sharper fight, but Armenian eventually triumphed after Karjakin failed to respond accurately in the tactical skirmish. Viswanathan Anand had the second-best score of the day along with Karjakin and Wesley So. After defeating Fabiano Caruana, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Anton Korobov in the first three games, the former World Champion went on to draw the rest of his games, most of them without a fight. It felt as though his strategy was to preserve energy and earn as many GCT points as possible to improve his qualifying chances to London. He finished in third place, earning 8 tour points and $20,000. The two wildcards were on top of the leaderboard throughout day one of blitz, but ultimately finished in the middle of the pack. Both Korobov and Liem struggled throughout the day and ended up scoring totals of 2 and 4 points respectively. Even so, the two players delighted the fans with their ferocious play and tenacity against the very best in the world. The third wildcard, Vladislav Artemiev, had the best result of the day. He scored an impressive 7/9, including an upset over Aronian. Unfortunately for him, his poor start prevented his impressive result on the final day from having a large impact on his final position in the standings. Anish Giri had dreams of qualifying to the London finals, but they ended with his 6th place finish. Wesley So had a strong performance with 6/9, while his countryman Fabiano Caruana never found his form, scoring only 2 points.
FIDE Grand Prix Hamburg: Three players advance, one tiebreak to follow
The rematches of the second round at the FIDE Grand Prix brought several decisive outcomes. Three grandmasters qualified for the semi-finals whereas the fourth one will be determined on the tiebreak on Sunday. After his loss in the first game of the second round, Veselin Topalov needed a win to equal the score against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. He chose the French Defence, and after some thought, the French grandmaster opted for the Exchange Variation to avoid any theoretical battles. Nevertheless, the game became quite sharp with both sides installing strong knights in the center. As the game developed, White started an attack on the queenside, whereas Black had no realistic chances to attack the white king on the other side of the board. After some exchanges before move 30, Topalov realized that his position was worse and offered a draw. Vachier-Lagrave saw no reason to play on as a half-point was enough to promote him into the next round and enjoy another free day before the semi-finals. David Navara and Alexander Grischuk followed a critical line of the Queen’s Gambit Declined which the Czech grandmaster had used in the past year in the German Bundesliga. After Grischuk deviated on move 15, both players spent a lot of time evaluating a sharp position with kings castled on opposite sides of the board. Navara went astray when he prematurely pushed his h-pawn that allowed Grischuk to deliver a deadly counter punch on the other side of the board. The Russian grandmaster timely sacrificed an exchange and ripped big rewards. Navara had to choose between entering an inferior rook endgame or playing a piece down but having some threats to the black king. He picked the second option but the risk did not pay off. Navara fought on for several moves, but Grischuk confidently fended off all the threats and advanced to the semis. Blunder decides in favor of Duda Jan-Krzysztof Duda also qualified for the semi-finals. His game against Yu Yangyi was more or less decided by one terrible blunder. After an equal opening, the players exchanged queens on move 14 and soon reached an almost equal endgame. The encounter was heading towards a peaceful finish despite the Chinese grandmaster being down a pawn. However, Yu Yangyi went for a deadly walk with his king to the h3-square. Duda surprisingly captured the black pawn on g4 with a check and it turned out it was immune because of the pinned black bishop on c8 and a deadly checkmate threat. As a result, Yu Yangyi losing two pawns and resigned shortly afterward. Evgeny Miroshnichenko, who is commentating on the games in the official live coverage, said: “It’s one of those moves which are easy to calculate but hard to come up with.” The day started with a quick draw between Peter Svidler and Daniil Dubov in a game that only lasted an hour. Svidler chose the Rossolimo Variation against Dubov’s Sicilian Defence and regretted it afterwards. “It was not the wisest choice to play this, but these things happen,” he admitted. After the opening, the younger of the two Russian players gave a pawn to free up his light-squared bishop, which he then exchanged for the white knight on f3 and ruined white’s pawn structure. After 21 moves, the players reached an endgame in which Svidler was a pawn up, but Dubov had active pieces and was still in his preparation. Svidler had seen enough and offered a draw which his compatriot accepted. In the end, Dubov had gained five minutes on the clock compared to his starting time, whereas Svidler burned over 50 minutes. These two grandmasters will meet again in the tiebreak on Sunday to determine the fourth player of the semi-final. Round 2, game 2 results: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – Veselin Topalov 1/2-1/2David Navara – Alexander Grischuk 0-1Peter Svidler – Daniil Dubov 1/2-1/2Jan-Krzysztof Duda – Yu Yangyi 1-0 Official website and LIVE broadcast: https://worldchess.com FIDE Press officer for the event: Georgios Souleidis Official Photographer: Valeria Gordienko World Chess contact: media@worldchess.com Photos are available for the press from the following link to Dropbox. Leading partners supporting the FIDE World Chess Grand Prix Series 2019 include: Algorand as the Exclusive Blockchain PartnerPhosAgro as the Official Strategic PartnerKaspersky as the Official Cybersecurity PartnerPella Sietas Shipyard as Official PartnerPrytek as the Technology Transfer Partner
Superbet Rapid & Blitz: Korobov maintains his lead
The rapid portion of the Superbet Rapid and Blitz concluded day 3 with wildcard Anton Korobov maintaining his lead of the event. The tournament is still wide open with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Levon Aronian and Anish Giri trailing the leader by only two points. There’s still time for a new leader to emerge with 18 exciting blitz games left to play over the weekend. Round 7 Anton Korobov started the day with a draw against Levon Aronian with the white pieces. Korobov’s position was slightly unpleasant but the transition to an opposite-colored bishop’s endgame ensured him half a point. After a successful day two, Fabiano Caruana decided to keep the momentum going by playing a sharp line in the Giuoco Piano against Vishy Anand. The former World Champion kept his cool in the chaotic position, and eventually punished his opponent for taking too many liberties with his position. Anish Giri suffered the same fate as Caruana, after playing a sharp line in the Nimzo-Indian against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov leaving his king in the center and compromising the kingside. Giri played too slowly at the critical moment thus allowing his opponent to develop and castle into safety, and was punished swiftly. Sergey Karjakin had a great day today, beginning with a win over Vladislav Artemiev. After his countryman blundered, Sergey quickly found a geometric sequence to win his opponent’s bishop with a queen and knight maneuver. Both Le Quang Liem and Wesley So are still struggling to find their form and consequently drew their game, after the Vietnamese player slowly let his advantage slide and finally missed a study-like win at the end. Round 8 Korobov extended his lead to two points after a miraculous draw against Giri. The Dutchman has been playing very dynamic chess as of late, and this game was no exception. After posing some problems to his opponent in the Najdorf, he emerged three pawns up in the middle game. The position still required some work and a few inaccuracies later, Giri found his king in real danger and had to force a draw with a perpetual. This result puts Giri in second place two points behind the leader. He was joined by Aronian, Mamedyarov, and Anand for a big tie for second place. Aronian’s dynamic play with black pieces in the Giuoco Piano paid off handsomely against the suffering So; the Armenian won his game with a direct kingside attack in 33 moves. The game between Caruana and Mamedyarov was a rollercoaster ride. In another Giuoco Piano, Caruana suffered with white pieces, going down a pawn and defending for most of the game. He managed to outplay his opponent and win a pawn in the endgame, only to blunder his knight in a time scramble. Karjakin continued his comeback by demonstrating his impressive endgame skills and winning a queen endgame against Anand. The game between Le Quang Liem and Artemiev was another rollercoaster ride with the interesting dynamic of queen vs three pieces on the board. The Vietnamese star keeps struggling in this event as his winning advantage turned into a losing position in a matter of moves. Thanks to his opponent’s inaccuracy, he was able to give up his queen for a rook and a bishop and force a draw in the resulting endgame. Round 9 The only decisive result of this round was between Anand and Le Quang Liem. In a messy tactical battle, the former Blitz World Champion achieved a winning position but blundered the advantage away. Anand found the best moves to keep the game going only to return the favor and allowing his opponent to score the first victory of the tournament. Korobov had the perfect opportunity to extend his lead to three points as he played an excellent game, putting enormous pressure on Caruana. However, this event keeps proving that converting winning positions is extremely difficult against strong players. Caruana created enough difficulties for his opponent to escape with half a point. Aronian had two dangerous connected passed pawns against Giri, but the opposite-colored bishops allowed a comfortable draw. Artemiev and Mamedyarov drew So and Karjakin respectively in quiet games. Official site Livestream:GrandChessTour.org Photos:Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum StudiosCredits available on Flickr.