The eleventh spherical of the Candidates Event in Madrid has concluded. Ian Nepomniachtchi prolonged his result in an virtually insurmountable 1.5 factors with 3 rounds remaining by beating Alireza Firouzja, who ready for the sport in an uncommon means.
Every day, Lichess is offering a broadcast of the video games performed in real-time. We even have a collection of annotated video games by GM Ulvi Bajarani and video recaps by WGM-elect Jesse February.
Alireza Firouzja – Ian Nepomniachtchi 0 – 1
The dialogue of this sport begins some 14 hours earlier than it began. Round that point Alireza logged onto Lichess and commenced enjoying 30-second video games with GM Daniel Naroditsky who was additionally in Madrid as a commentator. The match continued for some 5 hours, with Naroditsky popping out on high 142–108. Most of the chess commentariat understandably questioned if this was the best pre-game night/morning for a chess participant enjoying within the largest event of his life.
Personally, I might agree that this kind of factor is sub-optimal, but it surely’s not clear in any respect how a lot impact it had ultimately. Alireza was having a disappointing event lengthy earlier than hyper-bullet video games had been concerned, and the mathematics simply barely checks out for him to have gotten a superbly affordable quantity of sleep anyway.
The sport itself went south for Alireza shortly. Nepomniachtchi performed the Petroff in opposition to 1. e4 which now appears to be his go-to weapon. In a reasonably even place, Alireza lashed out with 16. g4 and 17 h4. Sadly for him, the king-side pawn storm had little or no impact. Nepomniachtchi’s items had been pushed away by the wave of pawns, however solely to reach at higher squares than they sat on earlier than. The place remained muddy for just a few strikes, however that is nicely throughout the calculation talents of a Tremendous GM and on transfer 35 Alireza resigned.
Nepomniachtchi sits on an unbelievable +5 rating, or 8/11. That is in an occasion the place +2 or +3 is commonly sufficient to win.
https://lichess.org/examine/GOhAdjoj/YyOJdg9x#14
Credit: FIDE/Stev Bonhage
Fabiano Caruana – Liren Ding 0 – 1
A Ruy Lopez appeared to be stepping into Fabi’s route, even arriving at positions that our esteemed GM annotator would name profitable. Sadly, the benefit slipped away and Ding arrived to a place that he wouldn’t concern defending. Perhaps this sport might have been shortly drawn underneath different circumstances, however with the event state of affairs being what it’s, attracts weren’t sufficient to deliver the 2 gamers again into rivalry. So the sport continued on, and to not Caruana’s profit. As we arrived to maneuver 70 of this marathon affair, Ding had a strong benefit, which he managed to push by to a full level after Caruana blundered with 75 Bc7.
The win is Ding’s third straight and put him into clear second place on +2, only a level in need of Nepomniachtchi’s profitable rating within the final Candidates Event. Nonetheless, the requirements are a bit larger this time. In the meantime, Caruana has now tail-spinned to gaining 0.5 factors in his final 4 video games and has fallen all the best way right down to fourth place.
https://lichess.org/examine/GOhAdjoj/8U25aytV#29
Credit: FIDE/Stev Bonhage
Hikaru Nakamura – Richard Rapport ½ – ½
The primary large shock arrived on transfer 1; A Sicilian! I virtually thought they’d abolished that opening given how little it’s been performed on this occasion. Maybe such flights of fancy aren’t applicable for critical grown-up candidates chess.
The road they performed maybe gave away why the opening has dropped in recognition as they arrived to maneuver 15 with many earlier Grandmaster video games having the identical place. Transfer 17 was the primary “novelty,” and never one that’s prone to catch on. Nakamura received a pawn whereas permitting his opponent numerous exercise and the two bishops. The identical trade was shortly executed in reverse, and though the sport limped on for 94 strikes, there was by no means any vital benefit for both participant.
https://lichess.org/examine/GOhAdjoj/ef1PKVqi#32
Credit: FIDE/Stev Bonhage
Teimour Radjabov – Jan-Krzysztof Duda ½ – ½
The aggressive perfection of the double round-robin format could be simply overrated, and this sport is a major instance. Should you put two GMs in a aggressive state of affairs the place they each must win, you’re prone to see a really attention-grabbing sport. Should you put them in a state of affairs the place neither one will see a lot level in combating for a win, they are going to dutifully preserve their energies for a second after they do.
This sport was precisely the kind of sport you’d count on from two gamers hanging across the backside of the desk, safely past any robust risk of profitable.
https://lichess.org/examine/embed/16iH8elQ/l3A3n5q9#0
Credit: FIDE/Stev Bonhage
