Malcolm Pein takes another look at the FIDE Candidates tournament in today’s Daily Telegraph column, noting the ethos of playing to win, which gave a surprisingly high percentage of decisive games.
Malcolm Pein on…Playing to Win
Only two of the last 12 games were drawn at the Candidates. In round 12, all games ended decisively, which last happened at a Candidates tournament in 1962 in Curacao. In round 13, Anish Giri’s hopes were extinguished by Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomniachtchi secured tournament victory with a draw against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
With hindsight it is easy to criticise Giri’s opening choice here, but this line does not have a great reputation. After the exchange on b4, Black has no useful pawn break and he should not exchange any pieces early on if he needs to win. Had Giri drawn, he could have played for a win with White in the last round against Kiriil Alekseenko, as Nepo had a tough pairing of black against Ding Liren. The last round of the Candidates at London 2013 showed that anything can happen.
The Bogo Indian in Action
A. Grischuk – A. Giri
Queen’s Indian to Bogo Indian
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 c5 7.Bxb4 cxb4 8.0–0 0–0 9.Nbd2 d6 10.Qb3 a5 11.a3 Na6 12.Rfd1 Qe7 13.Ne1 (Preparing e2–e4, White stands slightly better) 13…Bxg2 14.Kxg2 (After 14.Nxg2 Rfd8 15.Ne3 Qe8 16.Qd3 e5 17.Ne4 Nxe4 18.Qxe4 exd4 19.Qxe8+ Rxe8 20.Rxd4 and here also, Black’s weaknesses on d6 and b6 were his undoing in Karpov – Korchnoi, Amsterdam 1987) 14…h5 15.Nc2 (Forcing Black to expose the b6 pawn sooner or later) 15…bxa3 16.bxa3 Rab8 17.e4 e5 18.Qd3 Nc7 19.Rab1 Ne6 20.Rb5 Rfe8 21.h4 g6 22.f3! Nd7 23.Nf1! (The impending Nf1–e3–d5 forces Black to take on d4 and expose d6)
23…exd4 24.Nxd4 Ne5 25.Qe2 Nxd4 26.Rxd4 Nc6 27.Rd1 Qe6 28.Ne3 Ne7 29.Qd2 f5? (Desperation, if 29…Red8 30.Qd3 with f3–f4–f5 or Rdb1 to follow) 30.Qxd6 Nc6 31.exf5 gxf5 32. Qxe6+ Rxe6 33.Nxf5 Ne5 34.Rd6 (White is two pawns up and won easily) 34…Ree8 35.Rd4 Nc6 36.Rd2 Rbd8 37.Rxd8 Rxd8 38.Rd5 Rxd5 39.cxd5 Ne5 40.Nd6 Kf8 41.Kf2 Ke7 42.Nb5 Kf6 43.Ke3 Kf5 44.Nd6+ Kf6 45.Ke4 Nd7 46.Kd4 Ke7 47.Nb5 Kf6 48.Nc3 Kf5 49.Ne4 Kg6 50.g4 b5 51.Nc5 1–0
Test Your Strength
Jones –So
New in Chess Classic
White to play and win material
Highlight the space below this to reveal the answer.
16.f4 d3+ 17.Kh1 Qd4 18.Nf3 Qxc4 19.Rc1 d2 20.Rxc4 dxe1Q+ 21.Qxe1 Bxc4 22.Nxc5+ 1–0
