Carlsen Dominates in Grenke; Caruana Second

Magnus Carlsen was the clear and convincing winner of the 2019 Grenke Chess Classic, scoring an astounding 7.5/9 against a field with an average rating of 2724. Carlsen’s own rating now stands at 2875 in the live ratings, only seven points behind his career best rating of 2882. Carlsen’s performance in Grenke was inspiring on multiple levels. A +6 score in an elite tournament is always impressive, but it was the way he won, hearkening back to his salad days of 2013 and 2014. Two games were of particular interest. In Round 2 Carlsen defeated Vallejo Pons in a “once in a lifetime” ending – rook and bishop against knight and bishop.

[pgn]

[Event "GRENKE Chess Classic 2019"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.04.21"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2845"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "146"]
[EventDate "2019.04.20"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. c3 O-O 7. d4 Ba7 8. dxe5
Nxe4 9. Bc2 d5 10. exd6 Nxd6 11. Bg5 f6 12. Bf4 g5 13. Bxd6 Qxd6 14. Qxd6 cxd6
15. Nbd2 g4 16. Nh4 d5 17. Nf5 d4 18. Nc4 Bxf5 19. Bxf5 h5 20. Rad1 Rfd8 21. a4
Ne7 22. Be6+ Kg7 23. Rfe1 f5 24. Na5 Rab8 25. Kf1 Kf6 26. Bb3 Ng6 27. Re6+ Kg5
28. g3 dxc3 29. bxc3 Rxd1+ 30. Bxd1 Rd8 31. f4+ gxf3 32. Bxf3 h4 33. Nc4 hxg3
34. hxg3 Bb8 35. Kg2 b5 36. axb5 axb5 37. Ne3 Rd2+ 38. Kh3 Rd3 39. Be2 Rxc3 40.
Bxb5 f4 41. Be8 Nf8 42. Rb6 Be5 43. Nf1 fxg3 44. Rc6 Ra3 45. Rb6 Ra2 46. Rb4
Ne6 47. Rg4+ Kf6 48. Bc6 g2 49. Bxg2 Nf4+ 50. Rxf4+ Bxf4 {And now we have the
"once in a lifetime" rook and bishop vs. knight and bishop ending! This is a
win for Black according to the tablebases, but humans will have to work very
hard to convert here!} 51. Bf3 Bb8 52. Ng3 Kg5 53. Ne2 Bc7 54. Kg2 Kh4 55. Kf2
Bb6+ 56. Ke1 Be3 57. Kd1 Kg5 58. Be4 Kf6 59. Bf3 Ke5 60. Bg2 Kd6 61. Be4 Kc5
62. Bf5 Rd2+ 63. Ke1 Rd8 64. Be4 Kc4 65. Kf1 Rf8+ 66. Ke1 Bf2+ 67. Kd2 Rd8+ 68.
Kc2 Be3 69. Bf3 Rd2+ 70. Kb1 Kb3 71. Nc1+ Ka3 72. Ne2 Rb2+ 73. Ka1 Rb8 0-1

[/pgn]

Carlsen’s victory over Peter Svidler in Round 8 was made memorable by Svidler’s sportsmanship. Seeing that Carlsen had a beautiful mate possibility, he allowed it, with grins from both players evident as the final blows were dealt. Go to about 11:42 in the video to watch it all unfold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_fCkpY6dx8

[pgn]

[Event "GRENKE Chess Classic 2019"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.04.28"]
[Round "8.3"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2735"]
[BlackElo "2845"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2019.04.20"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 Be7 5. d3 d6 6. Nd2 Nf6 7. Nf1 Nd7 8. Nd5
Nb6 9. Nxb6 axb6 10. c3 O-O 11. Ne3 Bg5 12. O-O Kh8 13. a3 f5 14. Nxf5 Bxc1 15.
Rxc1 Bxf5 16. exf5 d5 17. Ba2 Rxf5 18. Qg4 Rf6 19. f4 exf4 20. Qg5 Qf8 21. Qxd5
Rd8 22. Qf3 Ne5 23. Qe4 Ng4 24. Rce1 Ne3 25. Rf2 Re8 26. Qxb7 g5 27. Rfe2 g4
28. Rf2 Qh6 29. Qc7 Ref8 30. h3 gxh3 31. g3 fxg3 32. Rxf6 h2+ 33. Kh1 g2# 0-1

[/pgn]

Fabiano Caruana finished second in Grenke with a 6/9 (+3) score, a result that would win many elite tournaments. His wins over Arkadij Naiditsch (rd 7) and Georg Meier (rd 8) are emblematic of his event. In the Naiditsch game, Caruana used sharp calculation to sop up Black’s pressure and bring home the point. The Meier game was old-fashioned siege warfare, save one potential brilliant shot that both players underestimated.

[pgn]

[Event "GRENKE Chess Classic 2019"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.04.27"]
[Round "7.5"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E01"]
[WhiteElo "2819"]
[BlackElo "2695"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2019.04.20"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Bb4+ 5. Nd2 O-O 6. Ngf3 dxc4 7. O-O b5 8. a4
c6 9. b3 c3 10. Nb1 Bb7 11. Qc2 c5 12. Nxc3 cxd4 13. Nxb5 Nc6 14. Qc4 Qe7 15.
Nbxd4 Na5 16. Qb5 Rfd8 17. Bf4 Bc3 18. Rac1 a6 19. Qe5 Bxf3 20. Bxf3 Bxd4 21.
Qxa5 Nd5 22. Bc7 Rd7 23. e3 Qf6 24. Bxd5 Rxd5 25. Qb4 Bb2 26. Rc2 h5 27. Qb7
Rf8 28. Qxa6 h4 29. Qc4 h3 30. Qg4 Rd3 31. b4 Rb3 32. Qxh3 Ra8 33. b5 1-0

[/pgn]

[pgn]

[Event "GRENKE Chess Classic 2019"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.04.28"]
[Round "8.2"]
[White "Meier, Georg"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2628"]
[BlackElo "2819"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2019.04.20"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Nd7 8.
Be3 e5 9. Qd2 h6 10. a3 b6 11. b4 Nf8 12. bxc5 Ne6 13. cxb6 axb6 14. Qc1 f5 15.
a4 f4 16. Bd2 O-O 17. Qb2 Nd4 18. Ne2 Nxf3+ 19. gxf3 Be6 20. Rb1 Ra6 21. Bc3
Qc7 22. Rg1 Kh7 23. h4 Rb8 24. Ra1 c5 25. Kd2 Rd8 26. Rgd1 (26. Rxg6 Kxg6 27.
Nxf4+ Kf7 {After the game Caruana said he'd seen 26.Rxg6 and stopped his
analysis here, but it turns out that White's attack is too strong after} (27...
exf4 28. Rg1+ $18) 28. Rg1 Bf6 29. Nxe6 Kxe6 30. Qb5 (30. f4 $1 {may be better}
) (30. Qb3+ $2 c4 $19) 30... Raa8 31. f4 $40 {Caruana said he found it
"shocking" that White's attack could succeed here, given that he's down a rook.
But Stockfish and Leela both think White's attack is promising.}) 26... Bh3 27.
Qb5 Rda8 28. Rg1 Qd6 29. Qb2 R8a7 30. Rab1 Qf6 31. a5 Bd7 32. axb6 Rb7 33. h5
g5 34. Ra1 Raxb6 35. Qa3 Qd6 36. Nc1 Be6 37. Rh1 Bf7 38. Ke2 Qd7 39. Qa4 Rc6
40. Qa5 c4 41. Ra3 Rbc7 42. Kd2 Rc5 43. Qa8 Rc8 44. Ra7 Qb5 45. Qxc8 Rxc8 46.
Rxf7 Kg8 47. Rxg7+ Kxg7 48. d4 exd4 49. Bxd4+ Kf7 50. Rd1 c3+ 51. Ke1 Qb2 0-1

[/pgn]

Caruana’s third victory came at the expense of Vincent Keymer, a 14 year old International Master whose spot in the event was earned with his victory in the 2018 Grenke Open. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uns-vDYOwDQ Despite being outrated in every game, Keymer, who is coached by no less than Peter Leko, acquitted himself admirably. His spectacular endgame win over Georg Meier in round 5 is worth special attention.

[pgn]

[Event "GRENKE Chess Classic 2019"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.04.24"]
[Round "5.5"]
[White "Keymer, Vincent"]
[Black "Meier, Georg"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2516"]
[BlackElo "2628"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/1p3b2/2pk3p/P4Pp1/1P6/2K3PP/4B3 b - - 0 41"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2019.04.20"]

{[#]} 41... Ke4 42. f5 h4 43. Bc3 Bxc3 44. Kxc3 Kxf5 45. Kc4 Kf4 46. Kb5 Ke3
47. Kxb6 Kf2 48. a5 Kxg2 49. a6 Kxh2 50. a7 g3 51. a8=Q g2 $2 (51... c4 52.
bxc4 g2 $11) (51... h3 $11) 52. Qb8+ $18 Kh3 53. Qc8+ Kh2 54. Qc7+ Kh3 55. Qd7+
Kh2 56. Qd6+ Kh3 57. Qe6+ Kh2 58. Qe5+ Kh3 59. Qe1 c4 60. b4 $1 (60. bxc4 g1=Q+
$11) 60... c3 61. Kc6 c2 62. Qc1 $1 (62. b5 $2 c1=Q+ 63. Qxc1 g1=Q 64. Qxg1
$140 {stalemate}) 62... Kh2 63. Qxc2 Kh3 64. Qd3+ Kh2 65. Qe2 Kh3 66. Qe3+ Kh2
67. Qf2 h3 68. b5 Kh1 69. Qg3 h2 (69... g1=Q $2 70. Qxh3+ Qh2 71. Qxh2+ Kxh2
72. b6) 70. Qf3 Kg1 71. Qe3+ Kf1 72. Qf4+ Kg1 73. b6 h1=Q 74. b7 Qh7 75. b8=Q
Kh1 76. Qf3 Qc2+ 77. Kd5 Qd2+ 78. Ke4 Qc2+ 79. Ke5 Qc5+ 80. Kf6 Qd4+ 81. Kg6
1-0

[/pgn]