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Malcolm Pein on…MVL Topping the Tour

Malcolm Pein

July 25, 2021

Malcolm Pein on…MVL Topping the Tour

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave overhauled Ian Nepomniachtchi on the fifth and final day to take first at the GCT Rapid & Blitz in Zagreb. MVL is one of the world’s best Blitz players and secured first with a round to spare to take home $37,500 (£27,000). He now leads the tour overall, half a point ahead of Wesley So.

Nepomniachtchi won the nine-round Rapid, staged over the first three days, scoring 11/18, a point ahead of MVL and Vishy Anand. With nine more points to play for on day five, MVL was just half a point behind and racked up 6.5/9 to finish with 23/36, comprising 11 wins and just two losses over 27 games.

Anand’s performance at the age of 51 was remarkable, as he had endured a long enforced absence from the board. The ‘Tiger from Madras’ ended second overall on 21/36, with Anish Giri third on 20.5/36. Garry Kasparov’s participation was a disaster, as he was evidently unprepared and rusty. He scored just 2.5/18.

V. Anand – J. K. Duda
Caro Kann 3+2

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.Bd3 Bxd3 6.Qxd3 e6 7.Nf3 Qa5+ 8.Nbd2 Nh6 9.0–0 Be7 (9…Nf5 is standard) 10.c4 Nf5 11.g3 Na6 12.b3 Rd8 13.Bb2 c5!? 14.cxd5 Nb4 15.Qe4 Nxd5 16.Nc4 Qa6 17.dxc5 Bxc5 18.Kh2 (Avoiding Nxg3!) 18…b5 (Black is fine after 18…Nb6 19.Nxb6 Bxb6, not 19…Qxb6?! 20.Qa4+ Qc6 21.Qxc6+ bxc6 22.Rac1) 19.Ncd2 Nb4 20.Qe2 Nc2?

(20…0–0 21.Ne4 Be7 22.Nf6+! gxf6? 23.exf6 Bd6 24.Ng5 wins; 20…Nd3 was playable. See board left) 21.Ne4! Nxa1 22.Nxc5 Qc6 23.Rc1 (The black knight is trapped in the corner) 23…0–0 24.Ne4 Qb6 25.Rxa1 Rc8 26.Nfg5 g6 27.Nf6+ Kg7 28.Nd7 1–0

A. Korobov – J. K. Duda
Slav Defence 3+2

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bg5 Ne4 6.Nxe4 dxe4 7.a3 (7.e3 Qa5+ picking up the loose bishop would be unfortunate) 7…Be6 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.e3 Qd5 10.h4 (10.Bf4 Na5 11.Rb1 Rc8 12.Ne2 Qa2 13.Rc1 Nc4 14.Nc3 looks like the critical line) 10…Na5 11.Qb4?! (11.Rb1 or 11.Rd1) 11…Bd7! 12.Rc1

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Black had prepared a strong move here. What was it?

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12…e5 13.Qc3 h6 14.dxe5 (14.b4 hxg5 15.bxa5 exd4 16.exd4 Rc8 followed by Rxh4 is very good) 14…hxg5 15.Rd1 Qc5 16.Qxc5 Bxc5 17.b4 Bb6 0–1

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Malcolm Pein

Malcolm Pein is a British International Master, chess organizer, author and journalist. He was a child prodigy and a former British Junior Champion. He qualified for the International Master title in 1985. Malcolm is a distinguished writer, journalist and editor. He has been a chess correspondent of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph for over 30 years, has written numerous chess books and is the Executive Editor of CHESS Magazine. In 1992, he founded the London Chess Centre, a games store in central London and the UK's only chess shop. He is also the founder and CEO of Chess in Schools and Communities, a UK charity whose aim is to introduce chess to state schools and has taught the game to over 250,000 children since its inception in 2009. Malcolm is also well-known for his chess event management. He was responsible for the pre-planning of the World Chess Championship match between Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik in London 2000. In 2002 he was appointed as Technical Director of the 'Brains in Bahrain' match between Vladimir Kramnik and the computer program Fritz. In 2009, Malcolm devised and organized the 1st London Chess Classic - the UK's first world-class elite all-play-all tournament since the 1980s which ran annually until 2019. Malcolm is also very active with the English Chess Federation. In 2016, he was appointed as the Manager and Captain of the England national team. He was also appointed as English Chess Federation delegate to the European Chess Union and FIDE and is the Director of International Chess. In 2018, he also stood for the post of Deputy President of FIDE. In 2021, Malcolm joined the ranks of Chessable authors by bringing the highlights of his column in the Daily Telegraph in the form of an interactive Chessable course, titled Telegraph Tuesday. Profile photograph © Lennart Ootes