Superbet Rapid & Blitz: Day 1 Recap
The second leg of the Grand Chess Tour, Superbet Rapid and Blitz in Poland, kicked off yesterday, May 18th in the Museum of History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland. The opening ceremony was kicked-off with a solo violin performance followed by a drawing of lots, where each player picked up his starting numbers (one for Rapid and the other for Blitz) by choosing two large demo pawns with either color. The day ended with an enthusiastic simultaneous exhibition in a relaxing environment where each player played the moves in tandem. The players at the Opening Ceremony of the Superbet Rapid and Blitz Poland | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Round 1 The day couldn’t begin any better with four out of five games ending decisively. The first two decisive outcomes came shortly one after the other with GM Levon Aronian beating GM Fabiano Caruana in a heavyweight fight where Caruana’s opening plan went awry after he didn’t manage to put a dent into White’s well-structured center. Although the engines gave Black good enough chances the game was practically too hard to play and Caruana soon stumbled into a tactical error. The Romanian wildcard GM David Gavrilescu seemed to be off to a good start against the local hero GM Jan-Krzystof Duda. In a relatively uncommon line in the French defense, the Romanian underdog achieved a good setup but the position was difficult from a practical standpoint and its complexity proved too much to handle after Gavrilescu blundered an exchange a few moves after the existing theory of this line ended. The game quickly came to an end with Duda’s accurate play. French defense proved to work well for Candidate-participant GM Richard Rapport. After a risky line in advanced French the Ukrainian young talent, GM Kirill Shevchenko, essayed a sound piece sacrifice for the initiative. However, somewhere along the line Shevchenko overestimated his chances and did not redeem the sacrificed material, after which Rapport had no problem converting his advantage. It was a great treat for the chess fans to see GM Vishy Anand back at the Grand Chess Tour. The legendary five-time World Champion outplayed and got better of GM Radek Wojtaszek, a long-time member of Anand’s World Championship preparation team, in a complex Ruy Lopez. After the players went down some well-known opening labyrinths, Anand took control over the e-file before his opponent. The Polish champion had his chances in the ensuing battle but the practical difficulty proved too much to handle in time pressure and Anand emerged victorious by winning a piece. The round concluded with a draw between GM Wesley So and GM Anton Korobov where the latter showed great tenacity after ending up in a much worse position out of the opening. While low on time, Korobov found an intuitive exchange sacrifice that brought his a-pawn on the verge of promotion. Wesley So couldn’t improve his position despite material advantage and the game ended in a draw where White had to give perpetual checks. Jan-Krzystof Duda feels the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. For now, the Polish man is in a tie for second place | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Round 2 The game between So and Anand was the defining point of this round and the entire day. Wesley So once again employed the same aggressive setup he had used twice in the past two events against GM Sam Sevian in The American Cup and the Superbet Classic of Grand Chess Tour against GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in Romania. Although Anand later said that he couldn’t exactly remember his preparation, he was prepared to face this setup. Wesley’s choice to castle queen-side proved dubious after Annad launched an attack immediately with simple sensible moves. After entering a much worse position, the current U.S. Chess Champion provided some resistance with a number of good defensive moves. However, the difficulty caused by having a weak king wasn’t going away and So finally succumbed to a blunder. The result moved Anand into a sole lead, as early as Round 2. Shevchenko’s Benko Gambit may be dubious in the eyes of the chess engines or hardly recommendable for a classical game but proved good for his game against Wojtaszek. While neither side had a substantial advantage at any point Wojtaszek ended up defending a Rook vs Rook and knight ending. The draw between GM’s Rapport and Aronian, however, had a completely different thing. Rapport responded with a non-theoretical slow play to Aronian’s Sicilian. The Hungarian’s pawn moves on the king-side were weakening but Aronian did not take advantage of them immediately. Once the center opened up, the game entered a topsy-turvy mode where Aronian blundered into a losing position. However, this turned out not to be the last blunder in the game as Rapport’s blunder a few moves later evened things out and players ended up exchanging their pieces into a position where neither side had sufficient material to play, and the game dully ended in a draw. Korobov didn’t gain much out of his opening against Gavrilescu, however, in the ensuing endgame, Korobov managed to outplay his young opponent and eventually won the double-rook ending when his opponent didn’t use his chances due to the time pressure. Caruana and Duda played an Exchange variation of Queen’s Gambit Declined, where Black gets the Bishop pair but concedes permanent damage to his pawn structure. Caruana’s positional play put Duda in a difficult spot and he subsequently sacrificed a piece for a couple of pawns and piece activity. Duda’s play was subpar and Caruana neutralized Black’s play but then it was Caruana’s turn to make inaccuracies under severe time pressure in the endgame. Once it began to feel that Duda had the worst behind him a couple of inaccuracies turned the table on Caruana’s table and this time the American did not let go of his advantage and converted comfortably. Age is just a number! Five-time World Champion Vishy Anand is in the lead
Fast-start to the Chessable Masters as youngsters impress
Two young rookie stars took centre stage as the elite Chessable Masters e-sports chess event kicked off today. The world’s youngest grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra scored his first win over a top 10 player on the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour aged just 13 as he racked up an impressive 6/12. Mishra is ranked just 459 in the world and is by far the lowest placed player in the event. But that won’t last long. The teenager’s victory over world No.7 Shakhiryar Mamedyarov with a nasty mating attack at the end was an ominous indication of what he’s capable of. Mishra, playing from New Jersey, was overjoyed with his start. “It was a very crazy day, of course,” he said. But it was China’s Wei Yi, the prodigiously talented 22-year-old, who stormed into the lead on day 1 on his debut with a scintillating 10/12, that included three wins and a draw. Yi defeated India’s Pentala Harikrishna, England’s Gawain Jones and David Anton of Spain to take a two-point lead into the second day. It puts him firmly in the driving seat to make it to the Knockout stage. Mishra, meanwhile, had a tough introduction to the event losing first to Anton and then in Round 2 against world No.2 Ding Liren. However, Mishra pushed the Chinese star hard and looked to be heading for an unlikely draw before a miscalculation in a pawn race at the end let it slip. Instead of playing 44. Ng2+, the youngster missed a bishop check that came after 44. bxa5 dxe3 45. axb6 g2 46. b7 Bc4+. From that point on the teenager went into overdrive winning back-to-back games against the Canadian streamer Eric Hansen and then his landmark win against Mamedyarov. Sixteen of the world’s best chess stars have gathered to compete for a prize pot of up to $150,000 in the Chessable Masters. World Champion Magnus Carlsen leads the Tour overall having won two of the first three events. The Norwegian sits equal second in the Chessable Masters having scored 8/12 but was more than happy with his day’s work as he rounded it off with a win over Jorden van Foreest. Carlsen said: “The score is good and to end on a high with two wins is nice. I think I didn’t play so well, but as long as I win it’s fine.” For further comments contact: Leon Watson leon@championschesstour.com About the Chessable Masters The eight-day Chessable Masters started on May 19 and coverage will focus on the study of chess openings. A prize pot of up to $150,000 is up for grabs and two qualifying spots for the next Tour Major. For the first stage of the event, all 16 players will compete in a round-robin with the top 8 progressing to a knockout. The final will be staged on May 25 and 26. The Chessable Masters is leg 4 of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. The overall Tour winner in November will be crowned the world’s best online chess player. Action will be broadcast live with commentary from chess24’s studio in Oslo via chess24.com’s YouTube and Twitch channels, also available at chess24.com/tour. Play begins at 18:00 CEST / 16:00 UTC. About the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour The Champions Chess Tour is the leading online chess Tour worldwide determining the world’s best chess player over a full competitive season of online chess. The 2022 season begins in February 2022 and features monthly tournaments culminating in a Final in November 2022. The best chess players in the world are competing in rapid chess. All games take place online on chess24.com with players competing for a total prize pool of over USD 1.5 million. For more information visit championschesstour.com. About Play Magnus Group Play Magnus Group is a global leader in the chess industry focused on providing premier digital experiences for millions of chess players and students. The company offers e-learning and entertainment services via its market leading brands: chess24, Chessable, iChess, New In Chess, Everyman Chess, Silver Knights, Aimchess, the Play Magnus App Suite, and the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. The Group’s mission is to grow chess to make the world a smarter place by encouraging more people to play, watch, study, and earn a living from chess. Play Magnus Group is listed on Euronext Growth Oslo under the ticker PMG. www.pmg.me