THE fact that a winner of the tournament already emerged in the penultimate round did not douse the fighting spirits of the combatants at the FIDE Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and ended the event with a flourish April 27 with four exciting games in which three ended decisively.
Ian Nepomniacthchi – who won the winner event with a round to spare – lost to Liren Ding in just 35 moves of a King’s Indian, although the loss will not prevent him from challenging Magnus Carlsen for the world chess crown on November. Surprisingly, the battle for second place was taken by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave who crushed Hao Wang in 29 moves of a sharp Ruy Lopez Berlin. Anish Giri – who until Round 13 was in contention for the championship – suffered yet another loss, this time to Kirill Alekseenko who outplayed him from the black side of a Catalan Opening in 56 moves. The loss dropped Giri into a share of 3rd to 4th places with Fabiano Caruana, who drew with Alexander Grischuk in 65 moves of a tense Classical Sicilian.
The final standings: 1. Nepomniachtchi, 8½; 2. Vachier-Lagrave, 8; 3-4. Giri, Caruana, 7½; 5-6. Ding, Grischuk, 7; 7. Alekseenko, 5½; 8. Wang, 5.
Caruana, F (2842)-Grischuk, A (2777) [B40]
Yekaterinburg (14.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Qd3 d5 7.exd5 Nb4 8.Qc4 Nbxd5 9.Bg5 Bb4 10.Bd3 Bd7 11.0-0 Bxc3 12.bxc3 Rc8 13.Qb3 Qb6 14.Qxb6 Nxb6 15.a4 h6 16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.Rfb1 Rc7 18.Nb5 Bxb5 19.axb5 Nc8 20.Ra3 Ke7 21.Rb4 f5 22.g3 Kf6 23.f3 Rd8 24.Rd4 Rdd7 25.Kf2 b6 26.Ke3 Ne7 27.f4 Nd5+ 28.Kd2 Ke7 29.Be2 Rd6 30.c4 Nf6 31.c3 Rd8 32.Bf3 Nd7 33.Ke3 Nc5 34.h3 f6 35.g4 fxg4 36.hxg4 Re8 37.Rd1 Kf8 38.Ra2 Kg7 39.Bc6 Rec8 40.Rd6 Kf7 41.f5 e5 42.Rad2 Ke7 43.Bf3 Rg8 44.Rd1 Rgc8 45.Be2 Kf7 46.Bf3 Ke7 47.R6d5 Na4 48.R1d2 e4 49.Bxe4 Nxc3 50.R5d4 Nxe4 51.Rxe4+ Kf7 52.Rdd4 Re8 53.Kd3 Rxe4 54.Rxe4 Re7 55.Rd4 Ke8 56.Kc3 Rd7 57.Rf4 Rh7 58.Rf1 h5 59.gxh5 Rxh5 60.Ra1 Kd8 61.Rxa7 Kc8 62.Ra6 Kc7 63.c5 Rxf5 64.cxb6+ Kb7 65.Kb4 ½-½
Giri, A (2763)-Alekseenko, K (2698) [E01]
Yekaterinburg (14.2) 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 d5 4.d4 Bb4+ 5.Nd2 0-0 6.Ngf3 b6 7.0-0 Bb7 8.b3 Re8 9.Bb2 Nbd7 10.Qc2 Rc8 11.Rad1 c5 12.Qb1 Qe7 13.dxc5 Nxc5 14.cxd5 Bxd5 15.Ne5 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 Qb7+ 17.Kg1 b5 18.Nef3 Red8 19.a3 Bxd2 20.Bxf6 gxf6 21.Nxd2 Kg7 22.Nf3 Ne4 23.Rxd8 Rxd8 24.Qb2 a5 25.b4 a4 26.Rc1 Qd5 27.Qc2 Rd7 28.Kg2 Qb7 29.Kg1 Rd8 30.Kg2 Rd7 31.Kg1 Rd6 32.Kg2 Nd2 33.Rd1 Nc4 34.Rxd6 Nxd6 35.Qd3 Nc4 36.e4 Qc6 37.g4 Qc7 38.Nd2 Ne5 39.Qe3 h6 40.f4 Nxg4 41.Qg3 f5 42.Kf1 h5 43.Ke2 Qb6 44.h3 h4 45.Qc3+ Nf6 46.exf5 exf5 47.Nf3 Qe6+ 48.Kd2 Qd5+ 49.Qd3 Ne4+ 50.Ke3 Qa2 51.Kd4 f6 52.Qf1 Qxa3 53.Kd5 Qxb4 54.Qg1 Kf8 55.Ke6 Qe7 56.Kxf5 Ng3 0-1
Ding, L (2805)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2774) [E60]
Yekaterinburg (14.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 e6 4.e4 c5 5.d5 d6 6.Bd3 Bg7 7.Ne2 exd5 8.cxd5 Nbd7 9.Nec3 a6 10.a4 Nh5 11.0-0 Bd4+ 12.Kh1 Ne5 13.Ne2 Qh4 14.Nxd4 Nxd3 15.Qxd3 Ng3+ 16.Kg1 Nxf1 17.Nc2 Nxh2 18.Qe3 0-0 19.Qg5 Nxf3+ 20.gxf3 Qh3 21.Bf4 Qxf3 22.Nd2 f6 23.Qxg6+ hxg6 24.Nxf3 Bg4 25.Nd2 Be2 26.Kf2 Bd3 27.Ne1 c4 28.Bxd6 Rfe8 29.Nxd3 cxd3 30.Bc7 Kf7 31.Ra3 Rac8 32.d6 Ke6 33.Rxd3 Kd7 34.Nc4 Rxc7 35.Nb6+ 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2767)-Wang, H (2762) [C67]
Yekaterinburg (14.4) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.h3 Ke8 10.Nc3 h5 11.Ne2 b6 12.Bg5 c5 13.Nc3 Bb7 14.Rfd1 Bxf3 15.gxf3 c6 16.f4 Be7 17.Ne4 Bxg5 18.fxg5 Ke7 19.Nd6 Ke6 20.Rd3 Rhd8 21.Re1 a5 22.f4 c4 23.Rdd1 b5 24.Kf2 a4 25.a3 g6 26.Kf3 Ng7 27.Rd2 Ne8 28.Red1 Nc7 29.Nxb5 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rf5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Kxb3 2.Sc5# and
1…Rxb3 2.Sg5#./PN
