Nepomniachtchi defeats Ding in the second game of the World Championship match
Ian Nepomniachtchi seized an early advantage in the race to be crowned the 17th World Chess Champion after beating Ding Liren withblack pieces in the second game of the match in Astana In the second game of the match to determine the 17th WorldChampion in chess, Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated Ding Liren with black pieces in a game that lasted just 29 moves and three and a half hours. Ding Liren surprised his opponent early in the opening, throwing Nepomniachtchi off his theoretical preparation. Despite the element of surprise, a slight edge in the position and a more significant one on the clock, Ding Liren did not find the best way forward in the middlegame and allowed Black to take the initiative and dominate on the board. Ding had to sacrifice a bishop and two pawns for a rook to ease off some pressure, but that wasn’t enough to save the game. Nepomniachtchi was confidently building up the pressure. Ding also ended in desperate time trouble – with just three minutes to make 15 moves to reach the first time control. White struggled but ultimately had to resign. A serious blow to Ding in his first game as White and a very important victory for Nepomniachtchi with black pieces, giving him an early advantage in the match. Tomorrow is the first rest day, with the third game of the match set to take place on Wednesday, 12th April at 3 PM local time in Astana. Here follows a closer look at the second game of the match. In this game, Ding Liren was White while Ian Nepomniachtchi was playing as Black. The honour of the first ceremonial move in the second game of the match went to Timur Turlov, the Founder and CEO of Freedom Holding Corporation, the General Partner of the FIDE World Championship. Ding started with 1.d4 and after standard moves 1..Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 the Chinese GM played 4.h3!? stood up and walked away from the board. A surprising choice, going immediately for the sideline in the Queen’s Gambit. This was played in a blitz game between Ding and Levon Aronian in the 2021 Speed Chess Championships. The goal was to get Nepomniachtchi out of his preparation. Grandmaster Irina Krush immediately noted that this move was a sign of Richard Rapport’s influence on Ding. Vishy Anand noticed that when Nepomniachtchi saw this move, he smiled. In the post-game interview, Nepomniachtchi was also asked to comment on the move 4.h3, which was a surprise. “I thought it was a move influenced by Richard [Rapport, who is Ding’s second in the match]… I’m not sure if this move is good or bad. The move clearly has its own idea, and it worked.” Ding Liren also commented on this move: “This is a rare move, and it was a good idea of my seconds. I know a lot of ideas after 4.h3, but today’s game was a disaster.” Anish Giri noted that 4.h3 means that Ding is happy to accept a slightly inferior move in the opening, but none of them are openings that Ian feels at home in. After about eight minutes of thinking, Nepo decided to play the principle move and take on c4, going into the Queen’s gambit accepted where h2-h3 might not be a useful move for White. After a series of natural moves, the opponents reached the position that became the first big crossroad for Ding. The Chinese GM had to decide between taking on c5 and f6. He spent a lot of time thinking about the move in his lounge. After a 33-minute-long reflection, Ding walked back to the board and made his move. 12.Nxf6+ This choice will ultimately prove to be the start of Ding’s downfall, whereas after 12.Nxc5 Bxc5 13.dxc5 Nd7 White is slightly better. Also, by this point, the advantage he had on the clock over Black evaporated. Instead of taking with the queen, Nepo opted for a much more aggressive 12…gxf6, manifesting his intention to castle long and use the open g-file for an attack on White’s king. Apparently, this turn of events came as an unpleasant surprise for Ding as just five moves down the road, he made a mistake. 17.Bd3? this move turned out to be wasting a tempo as after 17… Kb8 Black emerged clearly better. Black’s queenside is advanced and protected enough, he has aligned his rooks for an attack, and his structure is overall stable. White, on the other hand, is struggling, with his pieces hitting the pawn wall on the fourth rank. The best option for White was to stick to his initial plan and play Qe1, to x-ray the Black’s b4-pawn and support the white pawn on e4, and then play Kh1. Instead… 18.Re1? f5! Played quickly by Ian. Black has a strong advantage now: White’s centre is collapsing, his king is pinned, and Black’s advantage on the queenside is dominant. The point is that that 19.exf5 fails to 19…Rxd4! 20.Nxd4 Rxg2+ 21.Kf1 Rxf2+! and checkmate in two. 19.Bc2 was played after 20 minutes of thinking, but White already had no way out. To make things even worse for Ding, he had just 20 minutes against Ian’s 50. In the subsequent play, Black increased his domination in the centre by sacrificing an exchange and getting an overwhelming position. Black has two pawns for the exchange and a pair of powerful bishops. White is doomed, as Black’s c-passer will cost him a rook. The rest was a smooth sail for Nepo. 25.Rd2 Bd6 26.Kh1 c3 27.bxc3 bxc3 28.Rd4 c2 29.Qh6 e5 and with only a few seconds left on the clock, White resigned. Ding Liren had this comment about the game: “To lose like this… I cannot understand what’s happening. After 18…f5 the position is very difficult for me. I missed nearly everything in the game.” In the post-interview, Ian Nepomniachtchi confirmed that after 18…f5 he felt that he was winning. Asked about why he was spending so much time in the rest room, Ding said that it reminds him more of playing online and it makes him more comfortable.
Bernardo Roselli wins 2023 Uruguayan Championship
IM Bernardo Roselli emerged as the winner of the 94th Uruguayan Chess Championship. The 12-player round robin took place in the city of Montevideo in the first decade of April. The champion scored 8½ points out of 11 and reached the record mark of 21 national titles in 40 years of competition. Bernardo won his first crown back in 1984 at the age of 19 and now holds the double record of being the youngest and the oldest champion of Uruguay. As the national champion, Roselli qualified for the Uruguayan team to represent the country in the next World Chess Olympiad in Hungary in 2024. 19-year-old FM Facundo Vazquez Furtado finished second just a half-point behind Roselli and became the vice-champion for the third time in a row. Undoubtedly, Facundo instilled a fresh spirit in Uruguayan chess and sent a great message to other young players: dedication, determination and commitment can work miracles. FM Nicolas Lopez Azambuja netted 7½/11 and took bronze. The runner-up and the bronze winner completed the event undefeated. The event was broadcast on chess.com, live.followchess.com, lichess.org and playchess.com. Final standings: 1 IM Roselli Mailhe, Bernardo 2376 8½ 2 FM Vazquez, Facundo 2357 8 3 FM Lopez Azambuja, Nicolas 2225 7½ 4 GM Hoffman, Alejandro 2359 7 5 FM Carbone, Diego 2336 6½ 6 CM Carvalho, Guillermo 2101 5½ 7 IM Coppola, Claudio 2296 5 8 Elena, Eduardo 1915 4½ 9 FM Curi, Gabriel 2113 4½ 10 Ressia, Lorenzo 1928 3½ 11 FM Granara Barreto, Sebastian 2146 3 12 NM Saralegui, Mario 1992 2½ Text: Edgardo Campora Photos: Federación Uruguaya De Ajedrez Facebook
Vahap Sanal wins Fagernes International
GM Vahap Sanal of Turkey came out on top in the Fagernes International GM tournament (Norway). A small town of about 2000 inhabitants located 185 km from Oslo, Fagerness hosted a traditional tournament held in two sections: GM and Open. The event, supported by the FIDE Aid Package, took place in the Scandic Valdres Hotel from April 2-9. The 2023 edition of GM tournament is included in the new FIDE Circuit. All games in both the GM Group and the Open Group, 9-round Swiss tournaments with classical time control, were played together in a big venue in the basement of the hotel. Coffee and ice water were available free of charge outside the playing venue during the playing sessions. The GM tournament was a close race of several top seed participants, with GM Abhimanyu Puranik of India coming into the final round half a point ahead of GM Vahap Sanal. The highest-rated GM Samvel The-Sahakyan (Armenia), Eduardas Rozentalis (Lithuania) another Indian, IM Adittya Mittal, trailed the leader by a full point. In the final round, Puranik made a quick draw with Rozentalis, whereas Sanal scored a crucial victory over Mittal. As a result, both Sanal and Puranik finished on 7½ /9 rounds, with the former taking first place thanks to better rating performance (first tiebreaker). GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan of Armenia was third with 7 points, half a point ahead of GM Eduardas Rozentalis and GM S.P. Sethuraman (India) on 6½. Rozentalis took both the veteran prizes, for the highest number of points and rating performance. Final standings Fagernes GM: 1 GM Vahap Sanal 2582 7½ 2 GM Abhimanyu Puranik 2599 7½ 3 GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan 2613 7 4 GM Eduardas Rozentalis 2504 6½ 5 GM S.P. Sethuraman 2639 6½ 6 IM Tor Fredrik Kaasen 2462 6 7 IM Chatterjee Koustav 2520 6 8 IM Mittal Aditya 2505 6 9 IM Elham Abdrlauf 2519 6 10 FM Benny Aizenberg 2366 6 The best woman prize goes to GM Monica Socko of Poland, ahead of the two Indians, WGM Vantika Agrawal and WIM Savitha Shri Baskar (pictured below). Agrawal, in addition, got the prize for the highest rating performance among the women. The Open was won by Sondre Stai of Norway with 7 points. Rune Kleiven Rynning of Norway on 6½ took second place, while Tim R. Spanton of England was third with the best tiebreak of several players on 6 points. Spanton was best veteran (60+) and Ida Lahlum (sister of the organizer) was the best woman. Photo: Tom Eriksen Official website: fagerneschess2023.blogspot.com/