There is nothing like a great win for boosting the morale of a chess player. Malcolm Pein examines such a scenario in today’s Daily Telegraph column, with Anish Giri (unsoundly!) sacrificing this way to success.
Malcolm Pein on…Boosting the Morale
Anish Giri scored a morale-boosting victory ahead of the resumption of the Candidates, as he won the Magnus Carlsen Invitational with a 2-0 victory over Ian Nepomniachtchi in a Blitz play-off, online at Chess24. The world number seven won $60,000 (£43,000) and, as the tournament was one of the three Majors in the Meltwater Tour, he joins Teimour Radjabov as a confirmed participant in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour finals in San Francisco in September.
The first set ended 2-2 after four draws, although Giri had the better of game one. The second set saw some drama. Giri held his nerve after Nepo made a dramatic comeback, playing black in the fourth game of the second set, having lost game one.
As Giri said afterwards, Nepo had been the victim of a second-set comeback by Magnus Carlsen and still prevailed, so he felt confident going into the tie-break. Perhaps it was this self-belief that led Giri to make an unsound piece sacrifice, which was rewarded with a blunder by his opponent.
A Sharp French Defense
A. Giri – I. Nepomniachtchi
Sicilian c3 to French
5+3
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c3 d5 4.e5 Nc6 5.d4 Bd7 6.Be2 Nge7 7.Na3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Ng6 (8…Nf5 is standard, now perhaps 9.h4!?) 9.Nc2 f6 10.exf6 gxf6!? (10…Qxf6 11.0–0 Bd6 looks well playable) 11.0–0 Bd6 12.g3 h5!? (After 12…0–0 13.b4 a6 14.Bh6 Rf7 and later …Nce7 is met by Nc2–e3 and may be a little better for White) 13.Bd3 Nce7 14.Ne3 h4 15.Ng4 Kf7 (Threatening to load some ammo on the h-file) 16.Re1 Qf8 (16…Qg8? 17.Nh6+)
17.Nfe5+? (17.Bg5!? fxg5 18.Nxg5+ Kg8 19.Nxe6 Qf7 20.Ng5 Qf8 21.Ne6 with a repetition was one option; 17.Qb3 b6 18.Bb5! nibbles at e6 and if 18…Bc8 19.Bd2 intending Bb4; or 17.Qb3 Rb8 18.Bd2 hxg3 19.hxg3 Qg7 is unclear with one wild possibility being 20.Bg5 fxg5 21.Rxe6 Bxe6 22.Nxg5+ Kg8 23.Nxe6 Qf7 24.Ng5 Qg7= or 25.Be4) 17…fxe5 18.dxe5 Bc5 19.Bg5 hxg3 20.hxg3 Bc6 21.Rc1 d4 22.Be4 Bxe4 23.Rxe4 Nf5 24.Qa4 Rc8 (Black appears to be consolidating with Rc8-c6 and Rh8-g8, but there is a twist) 25.Bf6 Rh7?
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