Fighting chess concluded the first half of the double round robin FIDE Grand Prix Series opening leg now ongoing in Berlin, with four of the eight games ending decisively and three more being hard-fought any one of them could easily have been decisive.
Round 3 also saw Wesley So winning his first game in the event, beating veteran campaigner Alexei Shirov in 50 moves of a Slav Defense. Levon Aronian, meanwhile, continues to hold sway in Group C, defeating Vincent Keymer in 42 moves of a Caro Kann Exchange. Santosh Gujarathi Vidit sank Daniil Dubov to the bottom of the Group C standings by demolishing the Russian star in 42 moves of a Gruenfeld. Here are the standings after Round 3:
GpA 1. Nakamura, 2; 2-3. Grischuk, Esipenko, 1½; 4. Bacrot, 1.
GpB 1. Wojtaszek, 2; 2-3. Rapport, Fedoseev, 1½; 4. Oparin, 1.
GpC 1. Aronian, 2½; 2. Vidit, 1½; 3-4. Dubov, Keymer, 1.
GpD 1-2. So, Dominguez Perez, 2; 3. Harikrishna, 1½; 4. Shirov, ½.
Esipenko,A (2714)-Bacrot,E (2642) [C11]
Berlin A (3.2) 2022
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.a3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bc5 10.Qd2 0-0 11.0-0-0 Rb8 12.h4 Bxd4 13.Bxd4 b5 14.Rh3 Qc7 15.b4 f6 16.exf6 Nxd4 17.Qxd4 Rxf6 18.Ne2 Nb6 19.Rc3 Nc4 20.g3 Bd7 21.Ng1 Be8 22.Re1 a5 23.Nf3 axb4 24.axb4 Qe7 25.Rb3 Ra8 26.Qc5 Qb7 27.Bxc4 bxc4 28.Rb1 Bg6 29.b5 Be4 30.Nd4 Rc8 31.Nc6 Rf7 32.Ra1 Rfc7 33.Ra6 Qxa6 34.bxa6 Rxc6 35.Qb5 Rc5 36.Qd7 c3 1-0
Fedoseev,V (2704)-Wojtaszek,R (2686) [B23]
Berlin B (3.2) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qd2 g6 6.b3 Bh6 7.f4 f5 8.Bb2 Nf6 9.0-0-0 Rf8 10.g3 fxe4 11.Bg2 Qa5 12.Nxe4 Qxd2+ 13.Nxd2 Ng4 14.Ne4 Bf5 15.Rd2 0-0-0 16.Ne2 Ne3 17.Bf3 d5 18.N4c3 d4 19.Nd1 Nxd1 20.Rhxd1 e5 21.h3 exf4 22.gxf4 d3 23.cxd3 Nb4 24.Bg4 Bxg4 25.hxg4 Rxf4 26.Bg7 Bxg7 27.Nxf4 Bh6 28.Ne6 Bxd2+ 29.Rxd2 Rxd3 30.Rh2 Rd6 31.Nf8 h5 32.gxh5 gxh5 33.Rxh5 Nxa2+ 34.Kb1 Nb4 35.Nh7 Rd3 36.Kb2 b6 37.Nf6 Kb7 38.Rh7+ Ka6 39.Ne4 Nc6 40.Rh6 Kb7 ½-½
Vidit,SG (2727)-Dubov,D (2720) [D78]
Berlin C (3.1) 2022
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.d4 d5 5.c4 c6 6.0-0 0-0 7.Qb3 a5 8.cxd5 a4 9.Qd1 cxd5 10.Nc3 Qa5 11.Bd2 Nc6 12.e3 Qa6 13.b3 axb3 14.Qxb3 Na5 15.Qb4 Nc6 16.Qb2 Bf5 17.Rfc1 Rfc8 18.Ne5 Qa3 19.Qxa3 Rxa3 20.g4 Nxg4 21.Nxg4 Bxg4 22.Nxd5 Rca8 23.Nb4 Na5 24.Rab1 Bf8 25.Rc7 Be6 26.d5 Bg4 27.h3 Bf5 28.e4 Bxh3 29.Bc1 Bxg2 30.Bxa3 Bxe4 31.Re1 Bf5 32.Nc2 Bxc2 33.Rxc2 Nc4 34.Rxc4 Rxa3 35.d6 e6 36.Rd1 Rxa2 37.d7 Be7 38.d8Q+ Bxd8 39.Rxd8+ Kg7 40.Rd7 Ra5 41.Rf4 Rf5 42.Rxf5 exf5 43.f4 1-0
Aronian,L (2772)-Keymer,V (2664) [B13]
Berlin C (3.2) 2022
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.h3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Nb4 7.Nc3 g6 8.Ne5 a6 9.0-0 Bg7 10.Re1 0-0 11.Bg5 Nxd3 12.cxd3 Qb6 13.Nf3 e6 14.Na4 Qd6 15.Qd2 a5 16.Rac1 Bd7 17.Nc5 b6 18.Bf4 Qe7 19.Nxd7 Nxd7 20.Rc7 Rfc8 21.Rec1 Qd8 22.Qc2 Rxc7 23.Qxc7 Qxc7 24.Rxc7 Rd8 25.Rb7 Kf8 26.Bd6+ Ke8 27.Ne5 Bxe5 28.dxe5 Rc8 29.d4 Kd8 30.Ra7 Rc4 31.b3 Rc1+ 32.Kh2 h6 33.Kg3 Rc3+ 34.f3 Rc6 35.h4 Rc8 36.h5 Rc6 37.Kh4 Rc8 38.g4 Ke8 39.f4 Kd8 40.hg6 fg6 41.g5 h5 42.f5 1-0
So,Wesley (2772)-Shirov,A (2704) [D12]
Berlin D (3.2) 2022
1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Be4 7.f3 Bg6 8.Bd2 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Bb3 Bd3 11.Bc1 Bc4 12.Bxc4 bxc4 13.g3 c5 14.Qa4+ Nbd7 15.Qxc4 cxd4 16.Qxd4 Bc5 17.Qc4 Rc8 18.Qe2 Ne5 19.0-0 Qd3 20.Qxd3 Nxd3 21.Ng2 Ke7 22.Rd1 Rhd8 23.Kf1 Bb4 24.Ne2 Ne5 25.Rxd8 Rxd8 26.Nd4 Bc5 27.Nb3 Bb6 28.Ke2 Nd5 29.e4 Nb4 30.Bd2 a5 31.Bc3 Nc4 32.a4 Nd3 33.Rb1 f6 34.Ne1 Nde5 35.Rc1 g5 36.f4 gxf4 37.gxf4 Ng6 38.Nd3 Be3 39.Rf1 Bb6 40.f5 exf5 41.Rxf5 Rd6 42.Rh5 Re6 43.Rxh7+ Kd6 44.Kf3 Kc6 45.Nf4 Nxf4 46.Kxf4 Rd6 47.Rf7 Ne5 48.Rg7 Rd1 49.Nxa5+ Kd6 50.Bb4+ 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nfg5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bc4 2.Qxd6#; 1…Rd4 2.Qb5#; 1…Re4/f2 2.Q(x)e4#.
