Four Draws in Fourth Round at Candidates

With the first rest day now in the books, play resumed on Saturday in Yekaterinburg, Russia with the fourth round of the 2020 Candidates Tournament. The players may have been refreshed (or as refreshed as they can be given the current state of the world), but the result was a fairly staid set of four draws. This leaves the leaderboard unchanged, and three players – Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Wang Hao – remain tied for first place at 2.5/4 heading into Sunday’s Round 5.

Sometimes four draws in four games can indicate a dull day of chess. This was not entirely true on Saturday, with some interesting opening ideas shown and an oversight that will be rued for days.

Here, in the matchup between Vachier-Lagrave and Grischuk, and with Grischuk in his perpetual time pressure, Black has just blundered with 29. … Nxa4. This allows White the neat 30. Re4! when the three Black targets – the knight on a4, the bishop on c4, and the pawn on f7 – cannot all be defended simultaneously.

MVL missed this idea, and instead played 30. Ba3+. This lead to an equalish position that Grischuk eventually managed to draw in 53 moves. Check out GM Jacob Aagaard's extensive analysis of Vachier-Lagrave - Grischuk in his "Game of the Day," up now here at uschess.org!

[pgn] [Event "FIDE Candidates 2020"] [Site "Yekaterinburg RUS"] [Date "2020.03.21"] [Round "4"] [White "Vachier-Lagrave, M."] [Black "Grischuk, A."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "2767"] [BlackElo "2777"] [PlyCount "106"] [EventDate "2020.03.17"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 Ke8 10. Nc3 h5 11. Bf4 Be7 12. Rad1 Be6 13. Ng5 Rh6 14. Rfe1 Bb4 15. a3 Bxc3 16. bxc3 h4 17. g4 hxg3 18. fxg3 Ne7 19. h4 Nd5 20. Bc1 Nxc3 21. Rd3 Na4 22. Rf3 Bd5 23. Rf4 Nb6 24. Ref1 Rg6 25. Rf5 Bc4 26. Re1 Ke7 27. h5 Rh6 28. g4 Rhh8 29. a4 Nxa4 30. Ba3+ c5 31. e6 f6 32. Bxc5+ Nxc5 33. Rxc5 fxg5 34. Rxc7+ Kd6 35. Rxc4 a5 36. Rd1+ Ke7 37. Re4 Rhd8 38. Rb1 Rdb8 39. Rb5 a4 40. Rxg5 Rg8 41. h6 gxh6 42. Rxg8 Rxg8 43. Rxa4 h5 44. Kf2 Rxg4 45. Rxg4 hxg4 46. Kg3 Kxe6 47. Kxg4 Ke5 48. Kf3 Kd4 49. Ke2 Kc3 50. Kd1 b5 51. Kc1 b4 52. Kb1 b3 53. cxb3 Kxb3 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

Fabiano Caruana showed deep preparation in the Grunfeld in his game against Ian Nepomniachtchi, bringing an interesting idea (the Leela-esque h4-h5-h6 push) to try and pressure the currently trendy 10. … b6 line in the Exchange variation. But the Grunfeld is a resilient beast, and while Caruana may have missed a nuance on move 31…

So sleepy... (photo Lennart Ootes)

…the “sleepy” Nepomniachtchi was more than awake enough to steer the game into a drawn bishop ending. GM Jacob Aagaard provides brief notes to this interesting encounter.

[pgn] [Event "FIDE Candidates Tournament"] [Date "2020.03.21"] [Round "4.1"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D87"] [WhiteElo "2842"] [BlackElo "2774"] [Annotator "Aagaard"] [PlyCount "110"] [EventDate "2020.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "United States"] [BlackTeam "Russia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "USA"] [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. Be3 b6 11. Qd2 Bb7 12. Rfd1 cxd4 13. cxd4 Rc8 14. Rac1 Na5 15. Bd3 Qd7 16. h4 {Reminiscient of AlphaZero and Carlsen. See the latest issue of New in Chess (2020, #1 - ed.)} Rxc1 17. Rxc1 Rc8 18. h5 Rxc1+ 19. Qxc1 Qc8 20. h6 Bf8 21. d5 e6 22. Nc3 Nc4 23. Bxc4 Qxc4 24. Qd2 exd5 25. Nxd5 Bxd5 26. exd5 Qb4 27. Qd3 Qa3 $2 (27... Bd6 $1 $11) 28. Qc2 $2 (28. Qd1 $3 Qd6 ( 28... Qxa2 29. d6 $18) (28... Bd6 29. Qd4 Bf8 30. Bf4 Qb4 31. Qe5 $18) 29. g3 f6 30. Bf4 Qd7 31. Qb3 {was close to winning.}) 28... Qa5 $6 (28... Qb4 $1 $11) 29. Qd1 $1 Bd6 30. g3 Kf8 31. Qf3 $6 (31. Qd4 $1 Ke7 32. Qe4+ Kf8 33. Bd4 Qb5 34. Bg7+ Kg8 35. Bc3 $14) 31... Qe1+ 32. Kg2 f5 33. g4 Qb1 34. Bd4 Kf7 35. Qe3 Qe4+ 36. Qxe4 fxe4 37. f3 exf3+ 38. Kxf3 Ke7 39. Ke4 Kd7 40. a4 Bc7 41. Be3 a6 42. Bd2 b5 43. axb5 axb5 44. Kd4 Bd6 45. Kd3 Bc5 46. Bc3 Ba3 47. Bg7 Bc5 48. Bc3 Bf8 49. Bg7 Be7 50. Kd4 Bd6 51. Bf6 Kc7 52. Bg5 Kb6 53. Bd8+ Ka6 54. Kd3 Bf8 55. Kd4 Bd6 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

Anish Giri’s draw with Ding Liren may only bring him a half-point on the crosstable, but surely impressing Dubov with opening ideas is a moral victory. Indeed, the setup that Giri chose against Ding’s formidable Catalan brought him an active position that in some ways resembled Dubov’s now-famous brainchild in the Tarrasch Defense.

[pgn] [Event "FIDE Candidates 2020"] [Site "Yekaterinburg RUS"] [Date "2020.03.21"] [Round "4"] [White "Ding Liren"] [Black "Giri, A."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E00"] [WhiteElo "2805"] [BlackElo "2763"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "2020.03.17"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 a5 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Qc2 c5 8. cxd5 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Qb6 10. e3 exd5 11. O-O Nc6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Rc1 Rb8 14. Bxb4 Qxb4 15. b3 h5 16. Nc3 h4 17. Ne2 Bd7 18. Nf4 hxg3 19. hxg3 Rfc8 20. Bf3 a4 21. bxa4 Ra8 22. Nd3 Qxa4 23. Qxa4 Rxa4 24. Nc5 Ra5 25. a4 Rca8 26. Bd1 Be8 27. Kf1 Kf8 28. Rab1 Ne4 29. Nxe4 dxe4 30. Rb7 c5 31. Bb3 R5a7 32. Rxa7 Rxa7 33. Ke1 Ke7 34. Ra1 c4 35. Bc2 Kd6 36. Kd2 Kc5 37. Kc3 Ra6 38. g4 g5 39. a5 Bc6 40. Ra2 Ra7 41. Ra1 Ra6 42. Ra2 Kd5 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

The game between Wang Hao and Kiril Alekseenko was a rich strategic battle, pitting White’s potential queenside passer against Black’s bishops and center. Eventually Wang gave up a piece to push his c-pawn through, and after forced play the position devolved to a rook against bishop and two pawns. With no way for either side to make substantial progress, the game was drawn just after time control.

[pgn] [Event "FIDE Candidates 2020"] [Site "Yekaterinburg RUS"] [Date "2020.03.21"] [Round "4"] [White "Wang Hao"] [Black "Alekseenko, K."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D78"] [WhiteElo "2762"] [BlackElo "2698"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2020.03.17"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4 Nf6 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 c6 7. Nbd2 a5 8. b3 Bf5 9. Bb2 a4 10. bxa4 Qa5 11. Qb3 Nbd7 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. Rfc1 Ra6 14. e3 Qxa4 15. Bf1 Qxb3 16. axb3 Rxa1 17. Rxa1 Nb6 18. Ra7 Rb8 19. Ne5 Nfd7 20. Bb5 f6 21. Nxd7 Bxd7 22. Ra5 Bf5 23. Ba3 Bf8 24. Bc5 Nd7 25. Ra7 Nxc5 26. dxc5 e5 27. b4 b6 28. c6 Bxb4 29. e4 dxe4 30. Nxe4 Bxe4 31. c7 Rf8 32. Bc4+ Kh8 33. Be6 Bf5 34. c8=Q Rxc8 35. Bxc8 Bxc8 36. Ra8 Kg7 37. Rxc8 Bc5 38. Rc7+ Kh6 39. h4 f5 40. Kg2 e4 41. Kf1 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]