Malcolm Pein turns his attention to the FIDE Candidates Tournament in today’s Daily Telegraph chess column and presents a key game from the first half of the event.
Malcolm Pein on…The FIDE Candidates Tournament
The Candidates began again yesterday afternoon. There were seven more games of the eight-player all-play-all to go. The delay of more than a year will doubtless cause the players to change their opening plans, as they have been exposed to scrutiny in online games.
Ian Nepomniachtchi’s adoption of the French Winawer was a surprise, but not a success. In a crucial round-seven game, MVL exposed the dark-squared weaknesses that Bobby Fischer used to highlight and took the lead, level with Nepo, but ahead of him on tie-break.
The Winawer Under Pressure
M. Vachier Lagrave – I. Nepomniachtchi
French Winawer
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.h4 Qc7 8.h5 (White commences operations against the weak spot on g7. 8.Nf3 b6 9.Bb5+ Bd7 10.Be2 Ba4 was fine for Black in Alekseenko-Nepomniachtchi, round three) 8…h6 9.Rb1 b6 10.Qg4 Rg8 11.Bb5+ Kf8 (11…Bd7 12.Bd3) 12.Bd3 Ba6 13.dxc5 Bxd3 14.cxd3 Nd7! 15.d4! bxc5 16.Qd1! (A manoeuvre first seen in Bobby Fischer vs Bill Hook at the Siegen Olympiad in 1970. The initial queen sortie has disrupted Black’s position and she returns to defend the queenside) 16…Qa5 17.Bd2 Rb8 18.Ne2 c4? (Black wants a blocked queenside as a haven for his king, but 18…Rxb1 19.Qxb1 Qa6 was better)
19.0–0 Rb6 20.Qc2 Rh8 (The pawn grab 20…Qxa3 was a better chance) 21.a4! Ke8 22.Rb4 Nc6 23.f4!! Ne7 24.Rfb1 f5 25.Rb5 Qa6 26.Bc1 Kf7 27.Ba3 Rhb8 28.Bxe7 Kxe7 29.g4! Rxb5 30.axb5 Rxb5 31.gxf5 Rxb1+ 32.Qxb1 exf5 33.Ng3 Qb6 (33…g6 34.hxg6 Qxg6 35.Kf2 Qg4 36.Qxf5 Qxf5 37.Nxf5+ Ke6 38.Nxh6 “and the king goes to the queenside” – MVL) 34.Nxf5+ Kf8 35.Qa1 Qe6 36.Ng3 Qg4 37.Kg2 Qxf4 (37…g6 38.Qa3+ Ke8 39.Qd6 gxh5 40.e6 wins) 38.Qxa7 Ke7 39.Qa3+ Kd8 40.Qd6 g5
41.hxg6 h5 42.g7 1–0
Some of the young pretenders were in action in the Polgar Challenge on chess24 recently.
Test Your Strength
Bjerre-Nihal
Black to play and win
Highlight the space below this line to reveal the answer.
40…Re4! 0-1 c7-c6 mate follows.
