Month: June 2019

I always loved the Norway Chess atmosphere. So I was delighted to be once again invited to spend two weeks in Stavanger. As usual, the tournament itself was preceded by a blitz showdown, aimed at determining the number of whites and blacks.

This year, the challenge was double for me, as I knew that ending up ahead of Carlsen would mean I’d rob him of the World #1 spot in the Blitz rankings! Though not an end in itself, it remains a pleasant feeling, doesn’t it? 🙂

And at the end of the day, I played rather well and won the Blitz tournament, 1.5 point ahead of the duo Aronian / Carlsen!

Here are two nice positions from this Blitz tournament:

Here, I could play the normal 20.Rad1 with an edge because of the Bishop pair. But I opted for 20.Bxh6?!, which is not objectively best. I thought I was winning after 20…gxh6 21.Qg6+ Kh8 22.Qxh6+ Kg8 23.Bc2. But Black had 23…Re6! at his disposal, forcing me to take perpetual check. I don’t know why, but Grischuk inserted 20…Rxe1+? 21.Rxe1 gxh6 22.Qg6+ Kf8 23.Qxh6+ Kg8 and now 24.Bc2! is lethal. 1-0.

It had already been a long and complicated battle. Essential was 48.g5! to gain access to the long diagonal after both 48…Bxh2 49.Bf6 and 48…b2 49.Bf6!, with the show going on. But it’s a tall order with only a few seconds left, and Ding chose the « human » 48.Ba3? b2 49.Bxb2 Bxb2 50.h4. Unfortunately, after 50…Kc5 51.g5 Be5, black’s bishops and King easily cope with the pawns.

Thanks to this very good performance, I actually took the leadership in the Blitz rankings, whose Top 10 nows looks like this…

This year, I was also very curious about the new format cooked by the organizers. First of all, a rather quick classical rhythm, 2 hours for the whole game, with only 10 seconds a move increment after move 40. And then, the main novelty in case of a draw, an Armageddon tiebreaker; 10 minutes for white, 7 for black, white must win. This format was chosen by Norwegian TV, as they wanted to control better the duration of play. This is the reason why the games began later. It’s true that a start at 5pm is no big deal in itself, but the issue is that you don’t have much time left to relax in the evening. Certainly, you have time in the morning, but it is not the ideal moment for decompression. 🙂

About the Armageddon itself, which has been commented a lot, it is true that we all had trouble adapting ourselves; for instance, I completely mismanaged my first Armageddon game against Yu Yangyi… But on the whole, I believe the format is quite balanced, and I don’t think it is favourable to one colour or the other. However, the scoring system needs to be reassessed, because it gives too much weight to the Armageddon. Ding Liren ending up 6th with +2 in the classical games, this is not fair! I would advise a 4 – 2 – 1 – 0 instead of 2 – 1.5 – 0.5 – 0.

Before to deal with the games, let me briefly present my second important victory, after the one in the Blitz tournament… The organizers had planned a cooking challenge during the first rest day. Teamed up with Anand, I was relieved – the other pairs probably also were! – to be helped by a Chef, and quite happy to win the contest in the end! This was a nice experience, which enabled us to see from inside the making of a gastronomic meal… For the anecdote, we cooked a « salmon filet with buttered fennel and its vegetables ».

In the Classical tournament, I had 8 draws and 1 loss, and above all, I’m not satisfied with the overall level of my play. I must confess that having to wait for Round 7 Armageddon before to actually win a game on the board, irked me a bit. 🙂

I’ll have a word on all 9 games of mine, beginning with the white ones (5 draws). One indisputable fact is that I didn’t get much with white, except on round 1 with Yu Yangyi, where I was clearly better.

Against Anand, I chose a sub-variation to counter the Möller Defense, and the ex-World Champion reacted incorrectly with 12…Nxe4? in the following position (instead of 12…0-0):

Unfortunately, I chose the line 13.Nxb5?! 0-0 14.Qe2 Nf6 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Nxe5 because I hadn’t foreseen 16…Qe8! and black has no problem at all. Instead, I should have played 13.Qe2! immediately. I didn’t though, as I thought it might be dangerous for me after 13…0-0 14.Qxe4 Nxd4 15.Bd5 Bxd5 16.Qxd5 c6 17.Qe4 f5 18.Qe3 f4, but the truth is that black probably doesn’t have enough for the piece. So had white played 13.Qe2!, black should have replied 13…Nf6 14.dxe5 or 13…d5 14.dxe5, but white keeps an edge anyway, eg. 14…b4 15.cxb4 0-0 16.Nc2 Re8 17.Ba4. A missed opportunity…

Facing Carlsen’s Svechnikov, once again I couldn’t recall all my analyses even though this time, I had looked at the whole variation that very morning! At the critical moment, I remembered a pattern which reminded me of one of the lines I had gone through; and it was « almost » it, but not quite « exactly » it! It must be said that in a variation like this one, there are really lots of stuff to analyze! Then you come back to your room in the evening, you go through your files, and when you see the good moves that are just there, you say to yourself: « Damn it, how come I didn’t recall that detail? ».

Against Grischuk, it was still worse, as I happened to be grossly misled in the move order of the Rossolimo! With 5.h3 instead of 5.d3, I was just playing a harmless variation. Though unimpressive, I ended up slightly better after black suffered a blackout in the following position:

After 16…b4?!, Grischuk had just forgotten that 17.Bxb4 was possible! Off form, the Russian will do worse later on, putting a Bishop directly en prise in the opening against Caruana…

That being said, he defended very precisely after his mistake, and I proved unable to increase the advantage.

I also misplayed the opening against Ding Liren, this time because it was a line I hadn’t seen for a while, and I couldn’t remember all relevant details.

Let’s now look at my 4 black games:

About the one against Caruana, I suggest you watch the detailed analysis, which was recorded during a recent stream on my Twitch channel www.twitch.tv/mvlchess.

Against Aronian, I do have a few regrets, as I managed to get an advantageous position with black, after a very original English opening from both sides.

Here is the critical position:

I offered the exchange of Queens by 23…Qg5?, and it was not a good idea. With his pawn center and pieces able to come together towards my King, I felt unsure and got a bit scared. I thought that without Queens on the board, I might be able to attack his then vulnerable center pawns. And that’s what happened indeed, but only because Levon helped! Unfortunately, I missed the target again a few moves later, because of a miscalculation…

I played 32…Nd5?, but after 33.Ke1! Kc7 34.Rhf2 Rxh5, I had forgotten 35.Ng3! Rxf2 36.Rxf2 which equalizes on the spot. Had I found the stronger 32…Rg4!, my position would have been probably winning, as a central pawn is about to fall.

Mamedyarov tried absolutely nothing against me; he didn’t look in his best shape that day… Against So in the last round, I got a very nice position from the English Opening once again. But I was unable to increase the edge, mostly because of a flawless defense by the American.

I won four and lost four of the eight Armageddon new look I had to play; here are two interesting positions from theses games.

I could unleash the nice 26.Rxc4! dxc4 27.Bxc6 followed by 28.Qxc4 and the pawns make all the difference.

In a very complex endgame, black cracked first. Instead of keeping on harassing the Bishop with 34…Rd7 – when the outcome remains unclear – Ding faltered with 34…Ra2?, allowing the white Bishops to stand together against the a pawn with 35.Bc4!. After 35…Ra1+ 36.Kf2 a3 37.Kf3! a2 38.Ke4, the Chinese had no other choice than switching to a lost ending by 38…Rg1 39.Bxa2 Rxg2 40.Bd5 Rxh2 41.Kf5!. The e pawn, supported by the Bishop pair and the King, wins the day.

I still have to congratulate World Champion Magnus Carlsen for his seventh win in a row among the Elite circuit! There are numbers that speak for themselves…

Most of all will meet very soon in Zagreb (Croatia), for the second leg of the Grand Chess Tour, June 26-July 8. From there, I will fly directly to Riga (Latvia), where the FIDE Grand Prix will begin for me, from July 12 onwards.

En blitz

Ok, it’s only blitz! But winning three games in a row against World Champion Magnus Carlsen, while he dominates the World Elite like never before… It for sure is a very impressive accomplishment from Maxime, which deserved a replay.
Here is the footage of the third win in Norway, with the kind permission from Norway Chess organizers, not at all resentful of their champion’s defeat! 🙂

Maxime’s games:

Les parties de Maxime en armageddon:

Maxime’s blitz games:

Site officiel : https://norwaychess.no

For the second year Brest, France’s most western city – at the tip of Brittany – was hosting the Top 12, Elite division of the French Team Championships. So twelve squads of eight players each fought in an 11-round robin tournament, May 18-28. For the first time, I was playing for Asnières, newly promoted from Nationale 1 division, but who offered solid guarantees though, with the arrivals of Matthieu Cornette, Jules Moussard, Pentala Harikrishna and myself…

It’s been a while since I last stayed during the whole Top 12, and I have to say it was pretty cool and refreshing, compared to the usual Top tournaments; indeed, I came across a lot of old acquaintances, that I rarely get the chance to see elsewhere!

Most Asnières players were accomodated in a big house at the seaside, just a 30-minute drive away from the playing hall. The place was nice, which is quite important for such a long stay. Besides chess preparations for the games, we could easily entertain ourselves; billard, card games, board games (Time’s Up!® and especially Bluffer® have prevailed!). We sometimes had small getaways outside on the coast, including a few aborted climbing tries with buddy Jules (Moussard), which I will not elaborate on!

Let’s have a look at the 5 games I played in Brest:

METZ-ASNIERES (Round 1)

Malakhov (2660) – MVL 1/2

A very average start, as I messed up badly in the opening!

Here, I played 13…Qa5 against Nakamura, in the decisive game of the 2018 Grand Chess Tour final, and I quickly lost.

So I changed with 13…e6?!, which is not really better and above all, was not the intended improvement! After 14.Nd2 Nd7 15.Bf3, I understood that my position was becoming troublesome, and I decided to give a pawn. The ensuing ending was still a tough one to defend, but I ultimately succeeded, in spite of a few scares (1/2, 56 moves).

ASNIERES-CLICHY (Round 4)

Mvl-Amin (2704) 1-0

This time, the opening went very well, against the Spanish Breyer of Africa #1. I was able to rely on an old prep, according to which black is in serious trouble if he can’t prevent white to play f4 under good circumstances.

After 25…exf4 26.Bxf4 Nf6 27.Qf1 Nfd7?! (he had to look for counterplay with 27…b4) 28.Nhf3, white has a huge advantage (1-0, 42 moves).

GRASSE-ASNIERES (Round 5)

Santos Ruiz (2549)-Mvl 1/2

I was very surprised by the young Spanish GM’s choice of 1.e4. Therefore, I decided to deviate from my usual repertoire in the Najdorf 6.h3, with 6…e5 7.Nde2 b5 (instead of 7…h5), which was probably not a great idea. On move 28, I felt that I should avoid to go crazy, that I would never win this game anyway, and thus I offered a draw.

Après 25…exf4 26.Fxf4 Cf6 27.Df1 Cfd7?! (il fallait tenter le contre-jeu par 27…b4) 28.Chf3, les blancs ont un net avantage (1-0, 42 cps).

NICE-ASNIERES (Round 8)

Mvl-Lagarde (2600) 1-0

Against a dangerous team, it had been decided that I would go down on board 2 with white. I liked what I got from the opening, but Maxime reacted very, very well, especially when he sacrificed a pawn…

15.dxc5 Na6!. Until then, I thought my position was fine, but I have to admit I missed this move. By the way, I never felt worse in the whole game, which probably helped me! However, I probably face a few problems objectively after 15…Na6!, even though the position remains highly complicated. If 16.cxb6 Nb4 17.Bf1 (I rejected on principle 17.cxd5 Nd3 18.dxe6, a line the machine serenely considers though!) 17…d4! didn’t appeal to me, and so I chose to give back the pawn with 16.c6. With Maxime taking a lot of time thereafter, I tried to take benefit from his zeitnot, and we probably both missed things. I won the exchange, but thanks to a very strong pawn on f3, it is likely that black had enough compensation.

Here, with very little time left, and complicated choices to make for his last three moves before the time control, I did suspect that Maxime’s task would be tough. And he actually collapsed on move 40 🙂 ; after 38…g4 39.Re3 Qd7 40.Ne4 h5? (40…Qf5!) 41.Nxc5 Qf5 42.Ne6!, black’s position is in ruins (1-0, 46 moves).

It is rather incredible that, despite Hari and me winning on the first two boards, we still lost the match!

BISCHWILLER-ASNIERES (Round 10)

Mvl-Fressinet (2640) 1/2

Once again, I played on board 2 with white, in a match that would be decisive for the title. I think we chose a good team composition, which I had been making the previous evening. For the sake of efficiency, I didn’t take into acount any colour data from the previous nine rounds…

I didn’t really expect to play against Laurent (Fressinet) on board 2, so I hadn’t focused on him during the preparation. Still, the Spanish Moeller was one of the options I had vaguely considered. I must admit I didn’t get a lot from the opening, but anyway, I managed to put a little bit of pressure progressively.

Here, I didn’t play 36.axb5 axb5 37.Ne4 because of 37…b4, and I preferred 36.Ce4 immediately. Though I had totally forgotten 36…bxa4!? played by Laurent, it doesn’t change the whole evaluation that white remains slightly better. Unfortunately, I took a wrong decision at a critical juncture a few moves later…

Should white’s King go to e4, or to g4? I had foreseen 45.Kg4 Re2 46.Nxh6 Re4+ 47.Kh3 (47.Kf3 Re3+ 48.Kf4 Be5+ 49.Kxe3 Bxc7 should be a draw) 47…Re5 48.g4 Re3+ and black escapes. That’s the reason why I finally chose 45.Ke4?, but after 45…Re2+ 46.Kd3 Rg2 47.g4 Be5 48.Rxc5 Ff4, black sets a fortress much easier to defend than I thought it would be. I can never implement the winning plan of bringing my King to g6. In view of the match situation, I still tried for a long time, all the more so since it is never easy for black to defend on the board, but Laurent was up to the task…

It’s only after the game was over that I was told about the sequence 45.Kg4 Re2 46.Rc8+! Re8 47.Rc6! followed by 48.Nxh6, which is certainly winning, because c5 is under control, the King will activate through the white squares, and the h pawn is a terror. This little Rook manoeuver is not so difficult to understand, the only thing is to be able to consider it!

All that remains is to congratulate Bischwiller’s team, who kept his national title in an indisputable way, if you look at their 11 wins for as many matches! For our part, the team had a very fine first half, with victories without any scare, if not brillant. Unfortunately, we cracked in the last third, against Nice and Bischwiller…

That being said, to be vice champion when the team has just been promoted in the Top 12, remains a very fine result for Asnières. I hope that the town, as well as our partners, will continue supporting us in 2020, when we will again fight for the French champion title.

Eurosport has broadcast on May 19 « 24h with MVL », a documentary that had been filmed in Paris a few weeks before. Lasting 3’30’’, it briefly describes a world-class chess player’s life. The doc was released in several languages (english, german, spanish, italian), and is available in replay in a slightly shortened version. You will find above the english doc, kindly provided by Eurosport channel.

TOP 12 official site: https://brest2019.ffechecs.org

Maxime’s games :