Moscow’s iconic Central Club was the epicentre of the Soviet chess empire in the golden decades, when USSR grandmasters defeated all rivals and the country produced a stream of world champions from Mikhail Botvinnik to Garry Kasparov.
The club staircase is still decorated with photos of the old legends, so in choosing it as the venue for the first leg of the Fide Grand Prix, the opening round in a series of events which will decide Magnus Carlsen’s 2020 title challenger, the organisers reckoned to inspire Russia’s seven contenders in Moscow.
It worked from the very first round when Daniil Dubov, who played only as a wildcard, eliminated the Dutch top seed and world No 5, Anish Giri, right up to the all-Russian final where Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated Alexander Grischuk 2.5-1.5 to take the $24,000 first prize.
The duo now have the early lead in the four-event Grand Prix series which continues in Riga and Hamburg before concluding in Tel Aviv. Nepomniachtchi has 9 GP points, Grischuk 7, Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Poland) 5, Hikaru Nakamura (US) 3.
Giri and the world No 9, Shak Mamedyarov, have zero and their hopes for the real prize, one of the two GP places in the eight-player 2020 candidates, already hang by a thread. The main rival to the two Russians is now France’s world No 5, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who missed Moscow but will play the remaining three GP legs.
Technically, the most interesting game at Moscow was Grischuk’s win over Nakamura, who defies the normal tournament strategy of varying openings to avoid the opponent’s prep by consistently using the same defence to the Catalan 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 g3 Be7 5 Bg2 0-0 6 0-0 dxc4 7 Qc2 b5. It leads to positions where White has pressure and chances against the king, while Black relies on his extra pawn and bishop pair.
Grischuk’s preparation went all the way to move 21, and Nakamura soon went wrong. By a weird coincidence, the world’s two best computer chess engines played an identical opening for 14 moves on the same day, with the top neural network engine Lc0 meeting the champion traditional engine Stockfish. Their game, eventually drawn, was played without an openings book, so the engines themselves voted for the Catalan.
Meanwhile Carlsen duly won the Lindores Abbey Stars at Newburgh, Fife, in the strongest tournament ever staged in Scotland. It was a shaky performance, a win and five draws, and he lost rating points rather than setting a new rapid chess record. The world champion’s prize was a barrel of whisky, which will mature in three years and provide 250 bottles.
Carlsen does not rest from chess, and even away from tournaments he is a regular player online. His next appearance will be as early as Monday, when the annual Altibox Norway elite event starts in Stavanger with an entirely new format. All draws will be replayed and the result determined by an Armageddon game where White has 10 minutes, Black seven minutes, and a draw counts as a win for Black.
3621 White wins only by 1 b8=B! He then captures the a7 pawn and drives the black king behind the h7 pawn. Eventually White reaches Kf6, Bs a7 and e5 and Ph6 versus BK g8 and Ph7, then finishes by Bc5 Kh8 Kf7 mate. Instead 1 b8=Q? and 1 b8=R? are immediate stalemate draws, while 1 b8=N+? Kb7 2 Nd7 Kc8 3 Nf6 Kxd8 4 Nxh7 Ke7 5 Ng5 Kf6 6 Kb2 Kg6 7 h7 Kg7 draws.
Ian Nepomniachtchi v Alexander Grischuk, fourth tiebreak game
Nepomniachtchi’s win in the Moscow final was a classic lesson in the ancient maxim that “a knight on the rim spells dim” as Grischuk’s a5 knight became stranded while his opponent’s bishop led the final attack.
The opening, a quiet Giuoco Piano, was only marginally better for White until 16…Qd7? where Bxe3 17 Bxe3 Rd8 18 Rad1 Ree8 keeps it solid. After Black’s error 19 b5! posed a dilemma since 19…Ne7 fails to 20 bxa6 bxa6 21 Nc4 and the e5 pawn drops.
White’s 23 c5! forced the exchange of most of Black’s active pieces and so increased the contrast between the active bishop and the stranded knight, while 29 c6! kept the knight in its box before the final attack and its elegant conclusion 36 Qxe7+!
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d3 Bc5 5 c3 d6 6 a4 a6 7 h3 Ba7 8 O-O h6 9 Re1 O-O 10 Nbd2 Re8 11 b4 Be6 12 Bxe6 Rxe6 13 Qc2 Qd7 14 Nc4 d5 15 exd5 Qxd5 16 Ne3 Qd7 17 Nc4 Qd5 18 Ne3 Qd7? 19 b5! Na5 20 c4 Bd4 21 Rb1 axb5 22 axb5 Ree8 23 c5! Nd5 24 Nxd5 Qxd5 25 Nxd4 exd4 26 Rxe8+ Rxe8 27 Bf4 Re7 28 Qa4 b6 29 c6! Kh7 30 Rb4 Qe6 31 Rxd4 f5 32 Be3 g5 33 Qb4 Rg7 34 Rd8 Nb3 35 Bd4 Re7 36 Qxe7+! 1-0
