Magnus Carlsen, the world champion, has recaptured his vintage form in an impressive response to his unwelcome record of halving 21 consecutive games, and now shares the lead going into this weekend’s final two rounds at Wijk aan Zee.
From 2.5/5 and a mid-table place a week ago Carlsen’s total leapt to 7.5/11 and joint first in the 14-player field. The Norwegian scored with a creative attack against Hungary’s Richard Rapport but most of his wins have been achieved by trademark endgame grinds, notably in Wednesday’s 10th round when the 28-year-old eked out the point in a 76-move marathon against Vishy Anand which looked level when they reached king, rook, knight and four pawns each.
Anand, 49, had shared the lead after round eight. India’s former world champion is outshining all the other veterans on the elite circuit, and his evergreen form contrasts sharply with Vlad Kramnik. The great Russian who confidently deposed Garry Kasparov in 2000 has only 3.5/11, has won only once, has self-destructed several times by rash attacking play, has slumped to No 15 in the live rankings, and has looked a shadow of the man who created the ultra-solid Berlin Wall as an opening weapon.
Equal with Carlsen, unbeaten, is his old nemesis Anish Giri. The needle between them, mostly conducted via Twitter barbs, dates back to Wijk aan Zee 2011 when the Dutchman won as Black in only 22 moves, and for years boasted of his plus score against the champion. Carlsen levelled their lifetime score at Bilbao 2016, then had another bad experience at Wijk 2017, where he failed to find an obvious way to mate in three or win Giri’s queen.
After their world blitz game last month, in which Giri fell into his opponent’s prep and flagged with mate imminent, Carlsen told Norwegian television “There are many who have fantasies as to what is the best way to start the day. This is mine”.
Giri has been behind the leaders for most of the way at Wijk but had a dramatic stroke of luck in Friday’s round 11 when the reigning US champion Sam Shankland resigned a totally drawn ending where his king could create a defensive fortress despite Giri’s extra bishop.
Wijk leaders with two rounds left are Carlsen and Giri 7.5/11, Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) 7, Anand and Ding Liren (China) 6.5. Giri’s victory advances him to world No 4 in the live ratings behind Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Ding.
Giri v Carlsen will be the highlight pairing of Sunday’s final round (11am start) and will have echoes of the past for both players, because of 2011 and 2017 and also 2018 when the pair tied for first on 9/13 and Carlsen, as he always does, won the speed tie-break. There is a large and patriotic audience every day at Wijk, and Giri will be looking for a career break-through.
The 24-year-old son of a Nepalese father and a Russian mother is often derided with jokes about his numerous draws. Yet he seems underrated in the way that Tigran Petrosian was in the 1950s when the Armenian’s rivals with fan-friendly styles were tipped to dethrone the ageing Mikhail Botvinnik, but it was Petrosian who came through to take the crown.
At the distance of more than a year, the current favourites for the 2020 world title candidates are the 2018 challenger Caruana and the world No 3 Ding, and they have a concrete edge because Caruana will compete as the 2018 match loser while Ding is likely to qualify on rating. But if Giri also reaches the candidates, he could surprise.
Tradewise Gibraltar, one of the great global opens, is also in progress and rounds five and six (of 10) are viewable this weekend (3pm start). The two top seeds Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian, dropped early half points while the England trio of Michael Adams, Gawain Jones and Nigel Short are well placed.
3603 1…b5 2 axb5+ Kd6! and White resigned due to 3 Kxg6 a4 4 f5 a3 5 f6 a2 6 f7 Ke7! 7 Kg7 a1Q queening with check.
Magnus Carlsen v Richard Rapport, Tata Steel Wijk 2019
Carlsen’s smooth win over Rapport contained some subtle nuances, starting with 14 Qe1! instead of the routine 14 Qd2. The e1 queen makes way for Rd1, supports an e4-e5 push, and prepares Bc3-a5 which stops the black rooks contesting the d file. Later 27 Nd5! gives White a splendid knight outpost in return for a pawn, while 29 Kh1! gives one white rook the g file and 32 Rd5! lifts the other rook to h5. at the end the entire white army aims at the cornered black king, setting up the decisive tactic 39 Bxf6+! and 40 Rxh7+! when Rapport resigned in view of Qxh7 41 Qxh7+ Kxh7 42 Nxf6+ Kh6 43 Nxe8 Be7 44 Re1 winning easily.
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 Nc3 Qc7 6 g3 a6 7 Bg2 Nf6 8 O-O d6 9 Nxc6 bxc6 10 Na4 Rb8 11 c4 c5 12 b3 Be7 13 Bb2 O-O 14 Qe1! Nd7 15 Rd1 Bb7 16 Qc3 Bf6 17 Qd2 Be7 18 Qc3 Bf6 19 Qd2 Be7 20 f4 e5 21 Bc3 Bc6 22 Ba5 Qb7 23 Nc3 exf4 24 gxf4 Rfe8 25 e5 Bxg2 26 Qxg2 dxe5 27 Nd5! e4 28 Bc3 f6 29 Kh1! Kh8 30 Rg1 Bf8 31 Ne3 Qc6 32 Rd5! Qe6 33 Rh5 Qf7 34 Qh3 g6 35 Rh4 Rb6 36 f5 Ne5 37 Nd5 Rd6 38 fxg6 Nxg6 39 Bxf6+! Rxf6 40 Rxh7+! 1-0
Michael Adams v Natalia Zhukova, Tradewise Gibraltar 2019
Adams, the England No 1, here shows the art of using tactics to secure active pieces and a better pawn structure as the basis for a winning attack. Black errs with 11…Nxb4? (a6 12 Re1 Re8 is better) 14…Qa5? (Qc7! and if 15 Bf4? g5) and Adams homes in on the black king with 21 Ng4! and 24 Qf3! followed by 30 Nxh7!
1 c4 e6 2 g3 d5 3 Bg2 Nf6 4 Nf3 d4 5 O-O c5 6 d3 Nc6 7 e3 Bd6 8 exd4 cxd4 9 Na3 O-O 10 Nc2 e5 11 b4! Nxb4 12 Nxb4 Bxb4 13 Nxe5 Bc3 14 Rb1 Qa5? 15 Bf4 Re8 16 Rb5 Qxa2 17 Bxb7 Rb8 18 Bd5 Be6? 19 Bxe6 fxe6 20 Rxb8 Rxb8 21 Ng4! Rf8 22 Bd6 Rf7 23 Ne5 Rb7 24 Qf3! Qa6 25 c5 Bb4 26 Rb1 Bxc5 27 Rxb7 Qxd6 28 Nf7 Qa6 29 Ng5 Qd6 30 Nxh7! 1-0
