IAN Nepomniachtchi will challenge world champion Magnus Carlsen later this year after winning the FIDE Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg, Russia, with a round to spare.
The surprising outcome came after Nepomniachtchi’s closest rival for the championship, Anish Giri, suffered a shock Round 13 defeat to Alexander Grischuk. The loss gave Nepomniachtchi, who drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, a full point lead over Giri. Even if Giri levels up in the final round, the Russian GM will still win by virtue of the winner over the other first tiebreak rule.
Nepomniachtchi will face Magnus Carlsen in a world title match in Dubai starting November 24 to December 16.
In the other penultimate round matches, Fabiano Caruana – Carlsen’s 2018 challenger – crushed Hao Wang in 42 moves of a Sicilian Defense, while Liren Ding dumped Kirill Alekseenko in 61 moves from the black side of a Giuoco Piano.
The standings after Round 13: 1. Nepomniachtchi, 8½; 2. Giri, 7½; 3-4. Vachier-Lagrave, Caruana, 7; 5. Grischuk, 6½; 6. Ding, 6; 7. 7. Wang, 5; 8. Alekseenko, 4½.
Wang Hao (2762)-Caruana, F (2842) [B40]
Yekaterinburg (13) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.Bc4 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.a3 Bd7 10.Bxd5 exd5 11.Nc3 Be6 12.Bf4 Nc6 13.exd6 Bxd6 14.Bxd6 Qxd6 15.Re1 Rac8 16.Qd3 f6 17.h3 Bf7 18.Rac1 Qd7 19.Nh2 Rfe8 20.Rxe8+ Rxe8 21.Nf1 g6 22.Ne3 Kg7 23.Na4 Qd6 24.Nc3 h5 25.Rd1 a6 26.Rc1 h4 27.Rd1 Na5 28.b4 Nc4 29.Nxc4 dxc4 30.Qd2 Bd5 31.b5 Bf7 32.bxa6 bxa6 33.a4 g5 34.d5 Bg6 35.Re1 Qf4 36.Qd1 Bc2 37.Qa1 Re5 38.Rxe5 Qxe5 39.a5 Kg6 40.Kh1 Be4 41.d6 Bc6 42.Qb2 Qxd6 0-1
Nepomniachtchi, I (2774)-Vachier Lagrave, M (2767) [A15]
Yekaterinburg (13) 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 b6 3.g3 Bb7 4.Bg2 g6 5.d4 Bg7 6.d5 Na6 7.Nc3 Nc5 8.0-0 0-0 9.Qc2 a5 10.Rd1 Ne8 11.Bf4 Nd6 12.b3 Re8 13.Be5 e6 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.Rab1 e5 16.Nd2 f5 17.a3 Qf6 18.b4 axb4 19.axb4 Na6 20.e4 f4 21.Ne2 fxg3 22.fxg3 c5 23.bxc5 Nxc5 24.Rxb6 Qd8 25.Rdb1 Qc7 26.Nc3 Rf8 27.R6b2 Ba6 28.Nd1 Rab8 29.Rxb8 Rxb8 30.Rxb8 Qxb8 31.Qb2 Qxb2 32.Nxb2 Nc8 33.Kf2 Nb6 34.Bf1 d6 35.Ke3 Kf6 36.Be2 Ke7 37.Nb1 Bc8 38.Nc3 Bd7 39.Bd1 Be8 40.Bc2 Bd7 41.Bd1 Be8 42.Bc2 ½-½
Alekseenko, K (2698)-Ding, L(2805) [C50]
Yekaterinburg (13) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 d6 6.0-0 0-0 7.h3 h6 8.Re1 a5 9.b3 Bb6 10.Nbd2 Be6 11.Nf1 d5 12.exd5 Nxd5 13.Qc2 Qf6 14.Ng3 Qg6 15.Kh2 Rad8 16.Ba3 Rfe8 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.Rxe5 c6 19.Bxd5 Rxd5 20.Rxd5 Bxd5 21.c4 Be6 22.Re1 Rd8 23.Ne4 Bc7+ 24.Kh1 Qh5 25.Re3 Qe5 26.Ng3 Qa1+ 27.Kh2 Qf6 28.Bb2 Qg6 29.Kh1 Bb6 30.Rf3 Bc7 31.Bc3 b5 32.Qe2 bxc4 33.bxc4 a4 34.Qe3 Qg5 35.Qe1 Qg6 36.Qe3 Qg5 37.Qe1 Qg6 38.Qe2 a3 39.Bb4 Rb8 40.Qe1 Rd8 41.Qc3 h5 42.Bxa3 h4 43.Ne2 Bf5 44.Nd4 Be4 45.dxe4 Qxe4 46.Rd3 Be5 47.Bc5 Rb8 48.Bb4 Rxb4 49.Qxb4 Qxd3 50.Nf3 Qf1+ 51.Ng1 Bd4 52.Qb8+ Kh7 53.Qf4 Bxf2 54.Qf5+ Kh6 55.Qf4+ Kg6 56.Qg4+ Kf6 57.Qf4+ Ke6 58.Qe4+ Kd6 59.Qf4+ Kc5 60.Qe5+ Kxc4 61.Qe4+ Kb5 0-1
Grischuk, A (2777)-Giri, A (2763) [E16]
Yekaterinburg (13) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 c5 7.Bxb4 cxb4 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nbd2 d6 10.Qb3 a5 11.a3 Na6 12.Rfd1 Qe7 13.Ne1 Bxg2 14.Kxg2 h5 15.Nc2 bxa3 16.bxa3 Rab8 17.e4 e5 18.Qd3 Nc7 19.Rab1 Ne6 20.Rb5 Rfe8 21.h4 g6 22.f3 Nd7 23.Nf1 exd4 24.Nxd4 Ne5 25.Qe2 Nxd4 26.Rxd4 Nc6 27.Rd1 Qe6 28.Ne3 Ne7 29.Qd2 f5 30.Qxd6 Nc6 31.exf5 gxf5 32.Qxe6+ Rxe6 33.Nxf5 Ne5 34.Rd6 Ree8 35.Rd4 Nc6 36.Rd2 Rbd8 37.Rxd8 Rxd8 38.Rd5 Rxd5 39.cxd5 Ne5 40.Nd6 Kf8 41.Kf2 Ke7 42.Nb5 Kf6 43.Ke3 Kf5 44.Nd6+ Kf6 45.Ke4 Nd7 46.Kd4 Ke7 47.Nb5 Kf6 48.Nc3 Kf5 49.Ne4 Kg6 50.g4 b5 51.Nc5 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qxa8 2.bxa8=Q#; 1…Qc7/xd6/a7 2.Qh8#; 1…exf5/e5 2.Rh6#./PN
