Nakamura and So Through to Round Two in Moscow

It required a trip to the tie-break round, but both Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So are through to the second round of the 2019 Moscow Grand Prix. Both Nakamura and So drew their first games in the second round as this report was heading to press. The Moscow Grand Prix is organized as a series of two-game knockout matches, followed by rapid tie-break games if needed. Six of the eight first-round mini-matches were decided in regulation, and while both Americans had to rely on the tiebreaks to advance, they did it in very different ways. Hikaru Nakamura played two quick, toothless draws – 12 moves in the first game, and 14 in the second – against Teimour Radjabov in the classical portion of their matchup. He then took the rapid tie-break 1.5-0.5, winning with White (as seen below) and then drawing with Black to move to the second round.

[pgn]

[Event "Moscow FIDE Grand Prix"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2019.05.19"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2761"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2019.05.17"]
[EventType "k.o."]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e3 c5 8. Bxc4
cxd4 9. Nxd4 O-O 10. O-O Bd7 11. Qe2 Nc6 12. Rfd1 Qb6 13. Nf3 Rfd8 14. e4 Be8
15. e5 Nd7 16. Bxe7 Nxe7 17. Rd6 Qa5 18. Rad1 Nf5 19. R6d2 Nf8 20. Bd3 Bc6 21.
Be4 Rxd2 22. Rxd2 Rc8 23. h4 a6 24. h5 b5 25. a3 Bxe4 26. Qxe4 Qb6 27. Kh2 Qa7
28. Qd3 Rc7 29. Ne4 Rd7 30. Nd6 Qb6 31. g4 Nxd6 32. exd6 f6 33. Nh4 Kf7 34. f4
Ke8 35. f5 e5 36. Qd5 Qe3 37. Ng6 Nxg6 38. hxg6 Qf4+ 39. Kh3 Qf1+ 40. Kh4 Qe1+
41. Kh5 1-0

[/pgn]

Wesley So’s path to Round Two was more combative. He lost to Jan-Krzysztof Duda with Black in the first classical game, forcing him to ‘win-on-demand.’ Duda bravely (or unwisely?) chose the Sicilian Dragon in a game where a draw would have sufficed, but So navigated the chaos better and won to force the match to tie-breaks.

[pgn]

[Event "Moscow FIDE Grand Prix"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2019.05.18"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B78"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2728"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2019.05.17"]
[EventType "k.o."]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Ne5 11. Bb3 Rc8 12. Kb1 Nc4 13. Bxc4 Rxc4 14. g4 b5
15. b3 b4 16. bxc4 bxc3 17. Qxc3 Qc7 18. g5 Nh5 19. Ka1 Rc8 20. Rb1 Be6 21. Rb2
Bxc4 22. Rhb1 d5 23. exd5 Nf4 24. Rb7 Qe5 25. R1b4 Nxd5 26. Rxc4 Rf8 27. Rc5
Nxc3 28. Rxe5 Bxe5 29. Nc6 Bg7 30. Bxa7 e5 31. Kb2 e4 32. fxe4 Nxe4+ 33. Kb3
Re8 34. a4 Re6 35. Nd4 Ra6 36. Rb8+ Bf8 37. Bb6 Kg7 38. a5 Bd6 39. Re8 f5 40.
gxf6+ Nxf6 41. Rd8 Bxh2 42. Ne6+ Kf7 43. Nc5 Rxb6+ 44. axb6 h5 45. b7 h4 46.
Rd2 Bc7 47. Ne4 Ke6 48. Nxf6 Kxf6 49. Rd7 Bg3 50. Rh7 g5 51. Kc4 Kf5 52. Kd3
Kg4 53. Ke2 Kh3 54. c4 Kg2 55. Rh5 1-0

[/pgn]

Like Nakamura, So won with White and drew with Black in the rapids, advancing with a 1.5-0.5 tie-break win. One of the ideas behind the knock-out format is that, in principle, it forces competitors to play fighting chess. This was certainly true in round one, with Daniil Dubov’s mind-boggling win over Anish Giri being emblematic of this attitude. No less than Magnus Carlsen expressed his admiration for the current World Rapid Champion's enterprising play. https://twitter.com/chess24com/status/1130471034908549120 The notes to the Dubov-Giri game are based on Dubov’s comments in the post-game interview. You can watch them in the embedded video by going to the 4:11 mark. https://youtu.be/zbdal1zsVOU

[pgn]

[Event "Moscow FIDE Grand Prix"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2019.05.18"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2019.05.17"]
[EventType "k.o."]

{All quotes from Dubov's post-game interview.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4.
Bg5 $5 dxc4 {"An official refutation."} (4... Bb4+ {is Pert's recommedation in
Playing the Ragozin.}) 5. e4 b5 6. a4 c6 7. Nc3 b4 (7... Qb6) 8. Nb1 Ba6 9. e5
(9. Qc1) 9... h6 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. exf6 c5 (11... Qd5 $5 12. Qc2 (12. Be2 $6 c5
13. O-O (13. Ne5 cxd4 $19) 13... Nc6 14. Nbd2 cxd4 15. Nxc4 Bxc4 16. Bxc4 Qxc4
17. Rc1 Qd5 18. Qc2 $19) (12. Nbd2 $4 c3 13. bxc3 bxc3) 12... b3 13. Qc3 {
and the point is that ...Bb4 can't be played.}) 12. Nbd2 c3 13. bxc3 bxc3 14.
Ne4 cxd4 15. Bb5+ {While the commentators speculated that Giri had missed this
move, Dubov was more modest, saying that he played it on instinct and not due
to some concrete line.} (15. Bxa6 Nxa6 16. O-O Nc5 (16... Rc8 $1 {is the
engine's choice:} 17. Nxd4 c2 18. Qe2 $17) 17. Re1 {felt safer to Dubov, but
was also perhaps less scary for Black too?}) 15... Bxb5 16. axb5 Qd5 (16... d3
$5) 17. Qxd4 (17. Qd3 Nd7 18. O-O Nc5 19. Nxc5 Bxc5 {and both players felt
that it might be dangerous for Black after} 20. Rfe1 {but the engines love
Black's central advanced pawns.} Bb6 21. Ne5) 17... Qxb5 18. Nxc3 Bb4 19. O-O-O
$5 (19. Nd2 {"a straightforward draw"} Bxc3 (19... Qc5) 20. Qxc3 $11) 19... Qa5
(19... Qb6 {and now Dubov's suggestion of} 20. Nb5 $2 {is met with} (20. Kc2
$142 $5) 20... Qc6+ 21. Kb1 Na6 {and Black has a big attack on the bare king.})
20. Nb5 {"A complete mess."} Na6 {"And now the question is: who will be the
first to give a check, since the first check is always the mate." Very
interesting insight about this type of position from Dubov.} 21. Qd7+ Kf8 22.
Kb1 {Trying to keep the king away from checks! (See his comment above about
checks and mates!)} (22. Ne5 {allows} Qa1+ 23. Kc2 Qa2+ 24. Kc1 Ba3+ $19) 22...
Ba3 {The computer thinks this is a mistake, but Dubov said that he didn't
really see an alternative.} (22... Bc5 $1 {(Stockfish) and matters remain
utterly unclear.}) (22... Rb8 $4 23. Ne5 $18) (22... Kg8 $2 23. Ne5 Rf8 24. Nc6
$1) 23. Rd3 {Again, played on somewhat intuitive grounds. Dubov said that he
just felt that putting all the pieces on light squares made sense.} (23. Nxa3
Rb8+ 24. Kc1 Qxa3+ 25. Kd2 $11) (23. Rd4 Rb8 24. Kc2 Nb4+ 25. Kd1 $15) 23...
Qb4+ (23... Rb8 $2 24. Rb3 $18 (24. Nfd4 Qc7 $1)) 24. Kc2 Qa4+ 25. Kd2 {
"My original feeling is that somehow Black will save himself here, but
probably there is no way."} Bb4+ 26. Ke2 Kg8 27. Ne5 Qc2+ 28. Kf3 Rf8 29. Rhd1
h5 $1 {The only practical chance.} 30. Qd4 Rh7 (30... Rh6 31. Qf4 Kh7 $18) (
30... Bc5 31. Qh4 $18) 31. Qf4 {"I'm not capable of calculating any more, so
basically I need all my pieces around his king to mate him."} Bc5 32. Nd4 Qa2
33. R1d2 Qd5+ 34. Ke2 Bb4 35. Ndc6 Qc5 (35... Qb5 36. Qg5+ Kh8 37. Ng6+) 36.
Ne7+ Kh8 (36... Kh8 37. Nxf7+ Rhxf7 38. Qh6+ Rh7 39. Qxf8#) 1-0

[/pgn]

Nakamura and So both drew their Monday second round games against Dubov and Grischuk, respectively.

[pgn]

[Event "Moscow FIDE Grand Prix"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2019.05.20"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D33"]
[WhiteElo "2761"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2019.05.17"]
[EventType "k.o."]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 e6 4. Nf3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. d4 Nc6 7. Bg2 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Bc5 9. Nb3 Bb6 10. O-O d4 11. Na4 O-O 12. Bg5 Re8 13. Nxb6 axb6 14. e3 d3
15. Bxf6 gxf6 16. a3 Be6 17. Rc1 Rc8 18. Rc3 Ne5 19. Nd4 Rxc3 20. bxc3 Qc7 21.
Qd2 Bd7 22. Re1 Rc8 23. Rc1 Qc5 24. f4 Nc4 25. Qxd3 Qxa3 26. Rb1 Nd6 27. Ne2
Bf5 28. e4 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

[pgn]

[Event "Moscow FIDE Grand Prix"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2019.05.20"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2019.05.17"]
[EventType "k.o."]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Nxd5 Qxd5 9. Be2 Qa5+ 10. Nd2 Ba6 11. O-O c5 12. Nc4 Bxc4 13. Bxc4 cxd4 14.
exd4 Nc6 15. d5 exd5 16. Qxd5 Qxd5 17. Bxd5 Rac8 18. Rad1 Rfd8 19. g3 Bf6 20.
Kg2 h5 21. b3 g5 22. Be3 Nb4 23. Bb7 Rc7 24. Rxd8+ Bxd8 25. Rd1 Bf6 26. Bf3 g4
27. Be2 Nxa2 28. Bf4 Rc2 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

Both players will certainly be hoping to win tomorrow and earn a rest day by avoiding tiebreaks. Live coverage of the Moscow Grand Prix is available at the official WorldChess site, or direct via their YouTube channel. Play starts at 3pm Moscow time, or 8 am Eastern.