PHOTO: FIDE, Lennart Ootes
As things stood in the third installment of the Candidates coverage, Nepomniachtchi retained a half point lead over the surging Giri after game 11 out of 14. The next round would be of great importance. Would Nepo manage to distance himself, or allow the hungry pack on his tail to catch up with another quick draw (or even a loss)? Here are the standings from Round 11:
ROUND 12
Round 12 proved to be the most combative of the entire tournament: all decisive results! With a rest day coming up, it seems that the players were fully prepared to give their all. The first game to finish was also one of the most intriguing, with Vachier-Lagrave essaying the Fantasy Variation of the Caro-Kann as white, not a frequent choice in top level play.
This was probably not included in Alekseenko’s preparation prior to the game, and it soon showed. He misplayed the position quite badly, and allowed MVL’s “fantasy” to become a reality, leading to a quick win for white.
Also highly intriguing was the Ding-Grischuk game. In a well-trodden variation of the 5. Bf4 QGD, Ding came up with a fascinating idea of playing h4-h5, seemingly out of nowhere. The kingside structure was quickly clarified and Ding had slight (very slight) chances throughout.
After some high level shuffling of wood, the infamous move 40 struck again. Grischuk played a move that I would have considered a mouse slip … but, of course, this was over the board! One mistake gave Ding a sizable edge, which he converted into a win after further mistakes from Grischuk.
The biggest result of the round was Caruana-Giri. Fabi failed to play the Sicilian in his must-win game, but not Giri. The result was an interesting, non-theoretical fight in which white had a small edge that was neutralized with strong play from Giri.
At this point, a new game had begun. Caruana was facing a must-win situation of his own, and it must have been depressing to be observing a position in which the result seemed obvious: draw. Playing for the win entailed obvious risk for white, but this is what Fabi did.
Fabi’s gamble did not pay off this time. Giri quickly got a slightly better position, in which white still had no play. Fabiano, likely frustrated at this point, went on to make more mistakes and lose the game. An amazing result for the Dutchman that seemed to secure him (at least) a tie for first in the tournament with two rounds to go. Or did it?
The final game to finish was among the most important. In Wang-Nepo, white seemed happy with a draw out of the opening, transposing from a Petroff into an exchange French. Further listless play led Nepomniachtchi to obtain a slight but very clear advantage, and with the black pieces.
In the critical position (one move away from making the time control), Wang played an incredibly strange move that failed to set up a holding blockade. After this his position was more or less lost. While he may have resigned prematurely, it seems pretty clear that white was going to lose the game at that point. So, heading into the final stretch, we see the standings mainly unchanged: Nepo and Giri are still the frontrunners, with any result possible!
ROUND 13
This round was the one that ended up deciding the tournament. Nepo-MVL was not a very complex game: out of the opening Nepo had a space advantage and was definitely a bit better. But MVL is not one to lie down and be beaten. He found a very creative pawn sacrifice and at game’s end the position was far too closed for the extra footsoldier to make much of a difference.
Grischuk-Giri had considerable influence on the final standings and Giri’s nerves simply didn’t hold up. Out of a Queen’s Indian Defense, it is hard to say exactly where black went wrong. What is clear is that white’s position was very slightly better throughout, and when Giri failed to find the most accurate continuation he was already much worse.
The strange weakening move that followed appeared to be simply an act of desperation. Whatever the reason, the game was brought to a quick conclusion. With this game’s outcome, Nepo had won the Candidates with a round to spare (head-to-head tiebreaks were in his favor), not a simple task!
Wang Hao’s suffering continued against Caruana. In a roughly even position from a 2 … e6 3. c3 Sicilian, he had a bout of insanity and started shuffling his pieces here and there. Against the world number two this does not tend to work well, and indeed Fabi capitalized very nicely, winning in short order.
The last game to finish was Alekseenko-Ding. After a dry Guioco Piano, Ding decided to spice up the play with a Marshall-esque pawn sacrifice. While the idea was sound, it did not quite provide the active black was seeking, and after some good moves from Alekseenko, it seemed that he was a clean pawn up.
The key position of this game came when Ding sacrificed a piece directly following the time control. Instead of using any of his extra 30 minutes, Alekseenko took less than a minute to play a move that turned out to be a losing blunder. Ding took advantage and won shortly after, dancing his king away from checks.
ROUND 14
Round 14 was only played for the history books, but another scintillating display was to be seen. All eyes were on Nepomniachtchi. How would he perform in the last round, as the new World Championship Challenger? Well, if this was a test (as it was to my eye), he failed where Caruana passed in Berlin 2018.
Nepo chose an extremely interesting (and uncommon) line as black against Ding, which seemed to indicate to me that he was fighting for a win. But soon there was a preparation mix-up, and in such a sharp position forgetting even one move can be fatal.
It certainly was this time around. Ding “sacrificed” an exchange but trapped Nepo’s knight, gaining two pieces for a rook. In the end, without the dark squared bishop, black’s typical Benoni play just wasn’t there and the game soon concluded, allowing Ding to climb to a 50% score. Nepomniachtchi would do well to work on remembering his preparation against Carlsen.
The rest of the games from this round held little intrigue. Wang Hao simply didn’t show up against MVL, and he lost without much of a chance. After the game he shocked the world by announcing his retirement from competitive chess. As it seems, his health issues have gotten a bit too severe to handle competitive chess.
Caruana-Grischuk was another interesting Najdorf sideline, this time with 6. Qd3, but it never felt like white had any advantage, and despite many moves being played, a draw was eventually recorded.
Anish Giri came to the Candidates harboring hopes of winning the tournament and qualifying to play a World Championship match. With this in mind, his finish was heartbreaking. After the previous day’s loss against Grischuk, he also fell on this day (as white) to wildcard Alekseenko.
Alekseenko showed considerable understanding of the Catalan, and effortlessly gained equality. From this moment on I feel that Giri lost interest in the game, playing very loose moves. The final straw came when he pushed the pawn directly in front of his king. With queens on, this meant that black had both attacking chances and a good outpost for his knight. Lesser advantages can and will decide games at the top level, and it clarified this one into a win for Alekseenko!
Ian Nepomniachtchi was clearly the deserved winner of the 2021 Candidates. Despite a disappointing last round loss, he excelled in both halves of this double round robin, while his rivals weren’t nearly as consistent. Nepo goes on to face World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a 14 game match in Dubai. Here are the final standings:
As the dust has finally settled from one of the most bizarre (and definitely longest) elite tournaments in modern times, it becomes necessary to touch on a few subjects concerning matters away from the board. Mainly, the Radjabov situation.
Teimour Radjabov is an Azerbaijani Super GM who appeared to hit his peak from 2011-2013, when he appeared in two Candidates Tournaments in a row. This is an impressive feat, but in the end he went on to fail miserably, accumulating only 4/14 points in the 2013 edition! After this result he stopped playing for several years.
We all learned in 2019 that Radjabov is not down and out just yet. By winning the World Cup that year he not only boosted his FIDE rating considerably (at the time of writing he is rated among the world’s top ten), but also, much more importantly, secured a coveted spot in the 2020 FIDE Candidates Tournament. You may ask, in that case, why was he not present in Yekaterinburg?
Radjabov withdrew from the tournament over health concerns, as COVID-19 was just becoming recognized worldwide as a serious threat. He believed the tournament should have been postponed. As we all know by now, FIDE went ahead with the tournament (filling the empty spot with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave at the last moment), and was forced to pause the play halfway through, as some participants would have been stranded in Russia indefinitely (due to mandates on air travel) otherwise.
In the end, after a great deal of discussion, FIDE went ahead and awarded Radjabov an automatic spot in the next Candidates Tournament, tentatively scheduled to begin in the time frame of February-April 2022. This leads to the obvious questions: Should FIDE have postponed the tournament from the start, and were they right to give Radjabov a spot in next year’s edition?
As the tournament went on, it soon became clear that yes, without a doubt FIDE should have postponed the event. Radjabov was right to withdraw. The environment could not have been easy to play in, and to focus solely on chess in the midst of a worldwide crisis … The results of the tournament could have been drastically different had it been held at a later date, and all at one time. MVL, for instance, lost a great deal of momentum during the year-long break.
As for Radjabov’s 2022 wildcard, I truly don’t see how else FIDE could have resolved the situation fairly. Restarting the original tournament would not be fair to the other players, and doing nothing would not be just to Radjabov, who did, after all, qualify fair and square, and spent a great deal of time and money on preparation.
Having said that, there is, of course, the issue of Radjabov’s performance in the 2021 Superbet Classic. In one of the few over-the-board “super tournaments” held this year, he blatantly went for a draw in every single game, achieving his “hoped for” result of +0 =9 -0. Radjabov’s argument boils down to this: he wasn’t properly prepared, and as this was the case, why should he risk “playing for a loss” and potentially risking his precious rating (and getting less invites to other elite tournaments)? He even goes so far as to say that it doesn’t matter what the fans think.
This type of player is not someone many would want to see in the Candidates. Instead, I would much rather see Hungarian GM Richard Rapport playing. The two are similarly rated, but with Rapport you will always find interesting chess.
Radjabov’s performance in Romania is especially surprising, considering his reputation as a very fighting player. The King’s Indian Defense and Grunfeld have been his regular choices with the black pieces in the past (both very sharp and interesting defenses to 1. d4), and he has contributed greatly to the theory of both. We can only hope that prior to the Candidates he finds his inner motivation, and that this edition of the tournament begins (and concludes) without further difficulties!
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