Vachier-Lagrave Wins GCT Paris

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave held off a surging Viswanathan Anand to win the 2019 Paris Grand Chess Tour. Vachier-Lagrave scored 13 points in the Rapid games along with 8 in the Blitz to end up with 21 points, while Anand finished a half-point behind with 20.5 points. The winner was pleased to take the trophy in his home country of France. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLFMzPpy1aU Vachier-Lagrave dominated the three days of Rapid play, and headed into the two Blitz days with a full point lead over second-place Alexander Grischuk. Grischuk’s round 9 win over Fabiano Caruana delighted the fans and broadcasters, with Grischuk immediately calling it one of the best games he’d ever played.

[pgn]

[Event "GCT Rapid Paris 2019"]
[Site "Paris FRA"]
[Date "2019.07.29"]
[Round "9.2"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C53"]
[WhiteElo "2819"]
[BlackElo "2766"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2019.07.27"]
[EventType "rapid"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O a6 7. a4 Ba7 8. Re1
O-O 9. h3 Be6 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. b4 Nh5 12. Ra2 Qe8 13. Na3 Nf4 14. Bxf4 Rxf4
15. Nc4 Qg6 16. b5 Raf8 17. Ncd2 Ne7 18. d4 Qf6 19. dxe5 dxe5 20. bxa6 bxa6 21.
Qe2 a5 22. Rf1 g5 23. Nc4 Ng6 24. Nh2 Qg7 25. Qd3 Nh4 26. Ng4 h5 27. Ngxe5 g4
28. hxg4 hxg4 29. Qg3 Qg5 30. Re2 Kg7 31. Nd3 R4f6 32. Qxc7+ R8f7 33. Qe5 Qh6
34. Qg3 Kh8 35. Rb2 Nf3+ 36. gxf3 gxf3 37. Rfb1 Rg7 38. Qxg7+ Qxg7+ 39. Kf1 Rh6
40. Ke1 Qxc3+ 0-1

[/pgn]

With a time control of G/5 with a three second delay, and with such a talented field, the two days of Blitz promised both intense action and also the possibility of great variance in results. Vachier-Lagrave struggled a bit in the Blitz, but his final round draw against Mamedyarov secured him the title and turned the heads of Internet meme-makers. https://twitter.com/chess24com/status/1157030779291148288 Anand’s excellent Blitz performance – he tied for first in the Blitz with Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Hikaru Nakamura – propelled him to second place overall in Paris. He was followed by wild card entry Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomniachtchi, who tied for third with 20 points each. Nakamura finished in seventh place with 18.5 points. Right above him in sixth was Fabiano Caruana, who ended his event with 19 points. Vachier-Lagrave took home $37,500 for his efforts along with 13 Grand Chess Tour points, while Anand pocketed $25,000. The result also put Vachier-Lagrave into second place in the “live standings” for the 2019 Grand Chess Tour with 25 Tour points. Many of these players will be back in action in just a week’s time at the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz (August 10-14) and the Sinquefield Cup (August 15-29). CLO, as always, will bring you news from both events.