Category: English

For me, the start of the new school year in September was marked by a succession of three tournaments. The first and the third would not deviate from what has become the new standard for the last six months, and were obviously held online.

SAINT-LOUIS SHOWDOWN

The Saint-Louis Showdown, from 11 to 13 September, had the particularity of being played in Chess960, a format that offers the advantage of not requiring any work on the openings. So I prepared very simply, by playing a few practice games against Stockfish, the result of which I will keep secret so as not to damage my self-esteem 🙂 .

10 players, an all-round format over three days, the presence of world champion Magnus Carlsen, 960 world champion Wesley So, the legend Garry Kasparov and rising star Alireza Firouzja – this made the competition very attractive! In spite of that, it took me a barren spell of 5 games before I could settle my play. In particular, I lost the first three, against Carlsen, Caruana and Nakamura. The one against Caruana hurt me most…

Here, a normal move like 28…Rd8 would have left black with a more pleasant position. Unfortunately, I had anticipated the follow-up and I (too) quickly played 28…Qxg2?? which loses directly after 29.b4! because the Bishop is overloaded and cannot prevent Rb6 and Re7 at the same time, with mate on b7 (1-0, 38 moves).

With 0.5/5 and being a deserved laggard in the tournament standings, I got a gift from Svidler who declined a perpetual to self-destruct, then from Dominguez who made a decisive mistake losing a pawn on the third move!

In this position, the new American played 3…0-0? (yes, don’t forget that this is possible in 960 🙂 ). But after 4.Bf4 Qc5 5.Qc3! Qxc3 6.Nbxc3 Ne6 (6…c6 was ugly, but probably a lesser evil) 7.Nd5! the mate threat on e7 changes everything! (1-0, 73 moves).

I continued with my only clean game against Aronian, before an ultimate fighting draw against Kasparov.

With a final score of 4/9 and a 6th place in the rankings, I almost saved my bacon, but it is clear that the path to it was rather ugly…

BANTER BLITZ CHESS 24

On 23 and 24 September I took part in the final phase of the Banter Blitz organised on Chess24. 16 players in the bracket, knockout matches at the best of 10 games (cadence 3/2).

The idea of this formula is to make the broadcast attractive because the matches are commented live by the players themselves. It’s rather nice to share your emotions a little bit, like what I think about during a game. But it’s never easy to play and talk at the same time, and I have to say that I feel I’ve really played the game – and probably talked too much 🙂 . For sure it’s exhausting, but fortunately it doesn’t last that long.

In terms of results, I’m not unhappy with what I’ve done on the whole, even if, when I play online, I often get slack, like I have blanks that cost a lot. In the 1/8th final against Oparin, my team-mate in Asnières, I was able to control the situation (5.5-1.5), but it didn’t go the same against Wesley So in ¼ finals. I was leading 4-2 – certainly against the run of play because I had been under pressure in most of the games – before collapsing and losing 4-6.

I think the turning point of the match came in the 9th game when the score was 4-4:

In this slightly superior position I was really unlucky as I played 31.d5? immediately realising that it was a blunder because of the « coming from nowhere » tactical resource 31…cxd5,and if 32.cxd5? Ng5! and I lose material. But apparently Wesley hadn’t seen it according to his stream, and maybe I should have bluffed and quickly taken back on d5. In the game, I just ended up a pawn down after 32.Nd2 Ng5 (0-1, 45 moves).

Of course, I am a bit disappointed to have lost this match, especially after having been clearly ahead, but then again, I had a 4-game long downfall, which is not manageable …

BUNDESLIGA

In between these two online tournaments, I had the pleasure of spending a week in Germany in order to get back in touch with the classic game of chess, face to face. Indeed, the Bundesliga had decided to organise a 2020 championship with 8 teams, while waiting to resume next spring the 2019/2020 championship which had been interrupted after 8 rounds because of the pandemic.

About sixty players met on September 16th at the Karlsrühe Exhibition Center, only a few kilometers away from the French border. Mention must go to the organisers who, despite the circumstances, were able to create a very pleasant environment and atmosphere in the playing hall. My coach Etienne Bacrot accompanied me in this mini-competition, but as a player since he too is a member of the Baden-Baden club. Germany required us to have a negative Covid test of less than 48 hours to enter its territory without forced quarantine, so we had to show great ingenuity to get it in the Parisian suburbs the day before departure 🙂 .

I started the competition on the second board – behind Caruana – against the German GM Heimann :

MVL – HEIMANN (2617) 1-0

I must say that I got used relatively easily to the new constraints of the « physical » chess game; the Plexiglas which cuts the chessboard in two does not really represent a discomfort, and it makes it possible not to wear the mask. The obligation is only activated as soon as you get up from your seat. For my part, I usually wear the mask, but I allow myself a few « breaks »…

My last move 21.Re1!? set a nice trap into which my opponent did not fall; indeed, in case of 21…hxg5? it should be understood that the trap was not 22.Qxe5 Qxe5 23.Rxe5 Rf7 24.Bxg5 Ra7 25.Bxe7?! Raxe7 26.Rxe7 Rxe7 27.Nxf5 with a fairly balanced endgame, but rather 25.Nxf5! Nxf5 (25…Rxf5 26.Rxe7 Rxe7 27.Bxe7 and the 2 Bishops should dominate the Rook) 26.Re8+ Kh7 27.Bc2 g6 28.Re6! with ideas of g4 or h4-h5, and it seemed to me that the compensation for the exchange was full and complete.

After 21.Re1!?, Heiman replied correctly with 21…e4 22.Qh5 Bg6 23.Qh3 Nf5 24.Nxf5 Bxf5 with a very unclear position which he played badly afterwards (1-0, 39 moves).

HUSCHENBETH (2612) – MVL 0-1

Same opponent profile as the day before, 28-year-old German GM with a ranking a little above 2600… I played a Hedgehog-type position that turned out well for me in a match that saw us score one of our three 7-1 in the competition (0-1, 51 moves).

MVL – TARI (2630) 1-0

Magnus’ Norwegian runner-up chose a line in the Semi-Tarrasch that I knew was dangerous for black since a painful defeat against Grischuk.

I reached this winning position, the most trivial solution to end the game probably being 29.Rxe7 Qxe7 30.Bxe4. But I opted for the more aesthetic – and perhaps also faster – 29.Qg6!? Qxg6 30.Bxg6 Bxg6 31.Rxe7 Bxh5 32.Rxg7. Because of the discovered checks looming on the long diagonal, black is in fact totally helpless: the game ended with 32…Rd1+ 33.Kh2 Be2 34.f4 h5 35.Kg3 Rf1 36.Kh4 Rxf4+? 37.Rg4+! 1-0.

Mc SHANE (2680) – MVL ½

The only game where I suffered, after a good prep from the Englishman reputed to be « the strongest amateur in the world ». (1/2, 45 moves).

MALAKHOV (2669) – MVL ½

The decisive match of the last round, against the co-leaders from Viernheim. I had my second black in a row, against the very solid Russian GM Malakhov, and a small curiosity arose in the opening:

I had already reached this position against Xiong at the 2018 Isle of Man tournament. Except that because of move orders and interversions, my pawn was already on h6 instead of h7! A minimal difference, however, which should not modify the judgement of the position. So, I remembered what I had written here at the time, namely that my move …Kd7?! was not famous and that it was better to go 18…Nd7, with the idea …g6 and …f5.

After 18…Nd7, my opponent anticipated this plan and made the right choice 19.Nf5! Bxf5 20.exf5 Nf6 21.Fe3 Rc4 22.Rc1 followed by 23.b3 and then Nd5 with a quick draw (1/2, 26 moves).

By narrowly winning this last match, Baden-Baden has added another title to an already long list …

September is just over now, and it’s time to focus on the Candidates 🙂 , with a few days of holidays and the resumption of specific preparation. The first round of the tournament is still scheduled for November1 in Yekaterinburg, although, at the time of writing, I have no further details, and still no news of the health protocol…

Maxime’s game in the Showdown:

Maxime’s games in Bundesliga :

Maxime’s games in Banter :

C’est en 2009, alors qu’il se trouvait à Wijk aan zee pour le traditionnel Festival de janvier, que l’artiste tchèque Peter Herel Raabenstein décida de mettre en œuvre un projet qui lui tenait à cœur : réunir les peintures ayant trait au jeu d’échecs à travers l’histoire. Pendant dix ans, ce n’est donc pas dans les arcanes de la Défense Sicilienne ou des finales de Tours qu’il se plongea, mais dans une recherche méthodique des peintures à thématique échiquéenne, au gré de ses voyages à travers le monde et de ses rencontres. C’est ainsi qu’est né « Art in Chess 1100-1900 », le premier opus de ce travail de titan, qui compile plusieurs centaines de peintures de la période. Plus d’infos sur le livre : https://chessinart.com.

After my elimination in the preliminary phase of the Online Masters on 22 June, my summer horizon had suddenly widened considerably . I was able to alternate rest and training periods during the two months of July and August; of course, always aiming at the resumption of the Candidates Tournament, which has been rumoured to be at the end of October, the end of November or even later.

Apart from the preparation and holidays, this summer time has nevertheless been an opportunity for me to make a few appearances here and there…

A few examples:

On July 10th, with GM Yannick Pelletier for the Swiss Chess Federation, I presented a Masterclass that you can review here:

On August 11th, I won the Speed Chess tournament organised every Tuesday on www.chess.com. As usual, a pleiad of GMs participated, including for instance Caruana, Grischuk, Svidler, or Firoujza (758 players). Read the article here: https://www.chess.com/news/view/vachier-lagrave-wins-11th-speed-chess-championship-grand-prix

This is the end of my very first game against a Serbian FM:

1.Kb2? (1.Kd2 to protect the weakness on e3 was more logical) 1…Rd7! 2.Rcd2? (although passive, compulsory was 2.Rxd7+ Kxd7 3.Re2, and black still has to convert) 2…Rxd3 3.Rxd3 Re4! and white can’t avoid …Rg4xg3 (0-1 a few moves later).

On 24th August, at the end of a lunch in a restaurant with some colleagues, I played a blindfold bullet game against GM Jules Moussard.

Here is the end of it…

21.Rad1! (activity prevails in quick games, I don’t care about the c2 pawn 🙂 ) 21…Bxc2 22.Rd7 Ba4 23.Rxc7 Bc6 24.e6! Rae8 25.Qd4 Qg4 26.Rf7 Rg8 27.e7 Qh3 28.Rf2 1-0.

And for those who wish, here is the video version of this fun moment, which happily mixes French and English.

View this post on Instagram

Blindfold bullets with Caporal @jyeolz

A post shared by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (@mvl_chess) on Aug 24, 2020 at 6:16am PDT

On August 29th, I was the guest of Indian GM Surya Ganguly in the Surya Chess talk show on his Youtube channel, which is becoming increasingly popular. A long interview punctuated with analyses of my games, to be found here:

On August 31st, it was my turn to fulfil my obligations as a Candidate with FIDE, by playing several mini-matches online against winning amateurs of the « Checkmate Coronavirus » online tournament circuit.

The event was not filmed but you can replay all these games in the viewer at the bottom of the page.

I was also a commentator of a few tournaments during these two months, such as the final of the Online Masters on July 3rd, the Sogeres Trophy on July 5th, and much more recently, the Blitzstream Invitational on September 3rd and 4th;

While waiting to know more about the resumption of the Candidates, I will get back on the (virtual) chessboard from September 11th to 13th, for the Champions Showdown organised by the Saint-Louis Chess Club, in which 10 players will take part, including Carlsen, Caruana, Nakamura, Firoujza, and a certain… Kasparov!

Les parties de Maxime :

Chilean singer Juga Di Prima is now well known to chess players as she has accumulated artistic creations based on the King’s game. Moreover, she has had the opportunity to sing on stage several times during the closing ceremonies of major international tournaments. At the beginning of the summer, Juga released on her Youtube channel a song played on the guitar that she called «Thinking MVL», which is an adaptation of « Thinking out loud » by Ed Sheeran
A very nice musical tribute to the French champion!

Unfortunately, the Chessable Masters, third tournament of the online « Carlsen Tour », didn’t end any better than the first one in which I had participated. Knocked out in the group phase, I had the confirmation that playing online at the same level as on the board was a real challenge for me 🙂 .

However, it all started rather well on the first day, with an unbeaten 3/5 in my group. But things took a disastrous turn in the second leg the following day, despite a rather quiet first draw…

On the previous move, I had taken the time to check the tactical sequence 16.Nxd6!? gxf5 17.Bxe5, and it seemed to me that after 17…Ne4!, the position remained obscure, but not unfavourable for me, after for example 18.Nxc8 Rxc8 19.Bf4, as after the more risky 18.Nxf5!? Qe6. However, Anish preferred the quiet continuation 16.Qg5, and after 16…Nxf3+ 17.Bxf3 Ne4 18.Qxe7 Bxe7, I was able to equalize without too many worries (1/2, 30 moves).

It is against Radjabov that the trouble started, in a key game that went very badly; in general, one is disappointed by the loss of half a point when one does not convert a clearly superior position; but here I even managed to lose 🙂 .

In this very difficult position for black, the simple 20.Rxd8+ Rxd8 21.Be2 Rd7 (21…Rb8 22.f4 Nc6 transposes into the game with f4 in addition for white, making 23.e5 possible) 22.f4 Neg4 (22…Nc6 23.e5) 23.c6! bxc6 24.Rb8+ Bf8 25.Bc5 h5 would have left white spoilt for choice as for the way to increase the advantage, one of them being the simple 26.Ra8.

But I played too quickly 20.Be2, and after 20…Rxd1+, again too quickly the stupid 21.Rxd1? while 21.Nxd1 would have kept the pressure on b7 and the advantage. A new inaccuracy a few moves later didn’t allow me to maintain the balance and I ended up losing a difficult endgame. (0-1, 52 moves).

I was destabilised by that defeat a few minutes before and I played much, much too fast against Caruana. Even so, I still managed to get an almost even endgame with black.

Here, I wasn’t sure what would happen if I stayed passive. Unfortunately, I didn’t give myself the means to know what would have happened either, playing 30…b6?! after only about fifty seconds – almost my longest think in this game 🙂 . This is the kind of nervous move that I can see at rest that it is not based on anything tangible. It’s a responsible decision which seems like nothing but leaves options to White – in particular the c6 square, which will turn out to be very important. I would finally lose a few moves later after a huge blunder, a natural consequence of a game badly approached on the psychological level… (1-0, 43 moves).

After that I was unable to refocus for the last two games and I let go, finishing with four straight defeats, thus equalling my sad record of the 2015 FIDE Grand Prix in Khanty-Mansyisk 🙂 .

The balance sheet of this small quarter of online tournaments is clearly negative. The « responsibility » I gave to the moves played on my computer was clearly far less than in a physical tournament. As a result, I made a lot of bad decisions. Add to this the difficulty of a new opening repertoire, which certainly worked more or less well, but which gave overall positions that I was less comfortable with. It was to be seen in the Slav with black, and a lot more on 1.d4 with white.

Finally, I have to admit a huge tendency to « tilt » as well, in my case clearly enhanced by the fact of playing all alone at home with no surroundings.

Thereupon, I must say that what Magnus did – just leaving home – was not stupid at all. He went to Denmark and approached the competition like a real tournament…

Caruana has also adapted very well to the online competitions, and has clearly been able to raise his level of play. Ding Liren too, which is particularly impressive considering the hours he plays, starting at 10pm local time.

I don’t know if these players had scheduled any specific training sessions. Did they play a lot online? Did they force themselves, in the preceding weeks, to take every game on the Internet as a real training? In any case, their approach proved to be superior…

In spite of this bad pass online, I’m not especially down, though disappointed of course, especially by what I showed in terms of level of play. In my defense anyway, playing on a computer for 4 hours is not necessarily what I like. And normally when I do, it’s with headphones and music. I was a bit confused by that because it wasn’t at all my usual playing conditions and it’s true that it also disturbed me a bit 🙂 .

If online tournaments become more or less the norm in the future, I’ll obviously have to think about how to handle that.

As a result of my bad results, the sports programme for the summer will be very light, and I am obviously still in the starting blocks for the resumption of the Candidates’ Tournament, about which we should have more specific news by the end of July.

So, from there, I’ll step up the pace, try to analyze things carefully and decide on the plan for the second half of the tournament. I’ll also have to bring the opening preps up to date; even if they weren’t so bad in Yekaterinburg, there’s still work to be done…

Because it would sure be a shame to play again at the level I showed during the online tournaments 🙂 .

Maxime’s games:

It’s no longer a mystery that Maxime supports the Olympique Lyonnais fervently. An invitation in a flagship show on OL TV had unfortunately not materialized last year. But a few weeks ago, the website specialized on Lyon football « Le Libero Lyon », which is an independent reference media with a very specific tone, offered him to record a podcast on « My OL – Mvl’s dream 11 ». The result is half an hour of discussion about OL, football in general… and chess! http://www.leliberolyon.fr/podcast-du-libero-lyon-mon-ol-onze-maxime-vachier-lagrave/8381 (in french).

The American organizers were kind enough to invite me for their first « Clutch Chess International », an 8-player knockout format in the form of 12 Rapid games (10/5) played over two days. The novelty of the « clutch » is to give an extra value to the last games of each playing session; games 5 and 6 are therefore worth two points each, games 11 and 12 three points each. This formula has the advantage of keeping the suspense until the end and of giving an extra spice to the clashes, all the more so as each of the clutch games is endowed with a financial bonus for the winner!

As seed #2, behind Magnus, I was paired with Wesley So in the ¼ finals. The American had just won the inaugural edition of the formula, the “Clutch Chess Usa”. Generally speaking, I was dominated in this match, which I lost 5-13, the huge gap being explained by my score of 0.5/4 in the clutch games!

Especially on the first day, I clearly played very badly. You could even say that the result of two defeats and four draws was almost flattering, with quite a few games where I narrowly escaped, especially the first and the last one.

The real turning point of the day was undoubtedly game 4. I felt like I had negotiated the opening well and got a good advantage.

There was this critical moment when I realized that he was going to have …Rd3!, and unfortunately, I couldn’t find the solution, which was to start with 24.Bc4! Ra4, and only now 25.Be2, although it is true that the position remains rather unclear. How would the story have ended after 25…Rd3 26.Nc7?

In any case, it would have been much better than the game after 24.Be2? immediately, which allows 24…Rd3! 25.Bxd3 (25.Nc7 Tc8! is not possible anymore) 25…exd3 26.Rxa1 Bxb5 and black has a huge endgame advantage (0-1, 45 moves).

Immediately afterwards, in the first clutch game, I found myself much worse very quickly. In fact, it’s because I mixed two lines, obviously 🙂 ; 10…a5? doesn’t work at all. After that, I managed to resist thanks to an exchange sacrifice, until I got what seemed to be a positional draw:

Here, the simplest was 25…Bc4 immediately, followed by 26…a4 and it is not clear how white could make progress. But I took a step in the wrong direction with 25…Bd5, and after 26.Re1, it was still not too late for 26…Bc4. But I played the losing 26…Be4? because I completely forgot that after 27.Rea1 a4, white had the break 28.c4! which hurts a lot (1-0, 44 moves).

The last game of the day was a big mess! Still, I thought I got a pretty good position in the opening. But I didn’t handle the game well as I wanted to get back to the scoreline as quickly as possible. It didn’t turn out so badly because I finally drew that game, but it wasn’t very glorious, that’s for sure.

Then, on the second day, my performance happened to be significantly better. Admittedly, there was an ugly moment in the first game…

Here I played 40.Rxd7 Rxd7 41.Kd3 Rg6 42.Rg2, anticipating 42…Rc6 43.Rf2! followed by 44.Kc2 and 45.Rf3, winning the c3-pawn. But I forgot the simple 42…Rg4! which forces the draw after 43.Kxc3 Rxe4. So, instead of swapping Rooks, I should have played 40.Rd3! Rdc7 41.Kd1 with the idea to put the King on c2, and white still pushes.

Then, in the third game of the day, I scored my only win of the match. In fact, I really wanted to win so that the next game would count for nothing, that I could play it in free style, and that everything would be decided in the mini clutch match at 3 points a game 🙂 . Again, I negotiated the opening badly, but Wesley allowed me to turn the position around, and I think I played very well from then on.

Unfortunately, the Rook endgame remains drawn, even though it is still difficult to defend on the increment. Here, after having already missed a simpler way to the draw, black had no more choice and had to find 53…Kxd5 54.Rxg7 Kd6!, and after 55.Kg6 Re6+ 56.Kh5 Rf6 as well as after 55.Rg6+ Ke7 56.Rxh6 Ra2, white has exhausted his resources. In the game, black played the most natural 53…Te7?, but even if it seems strange at first sight, this move straightly loses after 54.Kg6 Kxd5 55.Rd1+ Kc4 56.f5 Ra7 57.f4 Kc5 58.Rd8 h5 59.Kxh5 Rf7 60.Kg6 Rf6+ 61.Kg5 Rf7 62.f6! 1-0.

In the fourth game, which was therefore not relevant for the match, I played at full speed with black, and got the following position:

With more time than I had at the beginning of the game 🙂 , I blitzedout 28…Rxe4?, forgetting that after 29.Rc8+ Bf8, white had the saving resource 30.Rb8!. The « unstoppable mate » after 30…Rea4? not working anymore because of 31.Rxb3, I had to resolve myself to perpetual check after the forced line 30…a4 31. Bxd2 Re2 32.Bh6 Raxb2+.

However, instead of 28…Rxe4?, I had the simple 28…Bxc3 29.Rxc3 a4 which should have led to a win after 30.Rxd2 (30.f3 Rd8) 30…Rxe4 31.Rc1 a3 32.Rcd1 Ra4 33.bxa3 R4xa3.

Thus, the decisive moment happened to be the first 3-point clutch game…

I had been back on 1.e4 for this great occasion 🙂 , and the opening went rather well.

Here, for sure I wanted to play 19.g3!, since if 19…Nxh3+ 20.Kg2 Ng5 21.Nxg5 hxg5 22.Rh1, the black King should not survive. But I realized that there was the intermediate 19…Rd8, so I gave up the line; yet after 20.Qb1!, white would have kept a very clear advantage, after both 20…Ne6 21.Nh2! and 20…Nxh3+ 21.Kg2 Ng5 22.Nxg5 hxg5 23.Rh1 followed by 24.Rh5.

After that missed opportunity, I made a few more inaccuracies, and I must say that Wesley showed himself quite convincing in realizing the advantage. Except though for the final episode, where he left a pawn en prise, before realizing that he still had a winning combination on the next move!

Black is about to conclude the game and win the match, and I must say that I had my finger stuck over the « Resign » button for a little while now 🙂 . And then, while any move would have won – especially 51…c2 – he unleashed 51… b2(??), forgetting about 52.Rxb2. Luckily for him, he kept enough composure to realize that the position was still winning after the unique – but very aesthetic – 52…Ra1! 53.Rbc2 (53.Rxa1 cxb2 and the pawn will cost the Rook) 53…Rxc1 54.Rxc1 Bxf2 (0-1, 59 moves).

And in the very last game of the match, I couldn’t get back into it and I lost in a mere 15 moves without playing…

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the winner of the tournament, Magnus Carlsen, who prevailed after a particularly intense and spectacular final against Fabiano Caruana!

All in all, I have to say that I rather like this idea of having specific games that are « worth more », but I think there is a miscalculation that needs to be rectified. In fact, you shouldn’t have clutch victories as a tie-break, because it’s too much in fact; these games already give enough bonus points. Above all, it generates situations where, as in game 4 on the second day, the result doesn’t matter anymore. This leads to a game with absolutely no sporting stakes, which is not normal. So, I recommend that – at the very least – clutch games should not count as the first tiebreaker in the future.

The day after this premature elimination, I reconciled myself a little with online chess by winning the June 9th Speed Chess Championship on chess.com, https://www.chess.com/news/view/vachier-lagrave-wins-speed-chess-championship-grand-prix

Winning the Open section alone at 9/10, I then went on to beat the Uzbek Abdusattorov in ¼, the Vietnamese Tuan Minh Le in ½, and Firouzja in the final.

Next competition is scheduled from June 20th, with the third stage of the « Carlsen Tour », called the « Chessable Masters »…

Maxime’s Clutch Chess games:

Maxime’s Speedchess games:

MY BEST-GAMES BOOK AT THINKERS PUBLISHING!

Thinkers Publishing has been editing high-quality chess books for several years. The company is managed by my French colleague and friend GM Romain Edouard and the Belgian expert Daniël Vanheirzeele. The pandemic that hit at the beginning of 2020 has gradually stopped all tournaments in the world. Although I still had commitments looming on the horizon in online chess events, I felt it was the right moment to do something I had in mind, but never found the time to implement; write a book on the most interesting and important games of my career so far. So, what could be more natural than launching the project with Thinkers Publishing?
Guys, I’m getting started on it right now, and the book should be out in the fall of 2020!

MVL

With the pandemic’s installation in the long term, the world of chess has gone online. Tournaments abound and the activity is more and more intense, for top players as well as for amateurs all over the world.
In the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to play two online
competitions in a row, the Magnus Carlsen Invitational and the Nations Cup.

CARLSEN INVITATIONAL

At the initiative of the world champion and his platform www.chess24.com, eight players met for a group phase qualifying the first four for the knockout rounds.

I think the system can be improved a little bit in the sense that, for example in the last round, there were a lot of games with absolutely zero at stakes. That’s the only downside, with the fact that the tournament was spread over a few too many days (16).

The next tournaments have just been announced, as part of an online « Carlsen Chess Tour », which takes over from the aborted 2020 Grand Chess Tour. The formula will be improved, including a much shorter group phase.

Concerning the rhythm of play, it seems to me rather ok, even if for me, 15’+10”, it’s still quite long 🙂 .

Four games in a row is pretty tough, though it might not seem so, but it’s still a manageable effort for the players. Moreover, the result over four games is obviously more significant when it comes to determining who was the best player of the day. So I have nothing against it.

I’m also sure that the show is rather pleasant for the audience as well, who was able to follow two games at the same time.

In fact, I can understand the idea of broadcasting two games at a time, not four, even if it makes the tournament longer. Four at a time would always be more complicated to manage technically, especially if there are Armageddon games, in which case it could quickly become very problematic.

All in all, it’s pretty nice to see online chess growing, though it’s a new experience. Of course, it’s not so easy to settle, but it’s been a bit of a challenge for (almost 🙂 ) all players. For me, it’s not easy to stay focused online, because the physical contact with the pieces is a bit lacking. And then there’s also the fact that we’re too used to playing on the Internet in one or three minutes. So 15+10 can seem like an eternity! I tried to manage all these parameters as best as I could…

For me, there was also the apprehension of « new openings », 1.d4 with white, the Slav and the Caro-Kann with black, which required a lot of energy. It caused some mistakes at times, because of a lack of experience in these positions.

The turning point of my tournament came in the second match, against Nepo, where I managed to lose a match that was almos won, that’s for sure 🙂 (2-2, loss at Armageddon). Then, there was the very complicated sequence Ding (2-2, loss at Armageddon) and then Carlsen, who happened to be stronger than me on this match (1.5-2.5).

It’s also true that if we add the third Armageddon game lost against Nakamura, these three defeats weigh heavily; in the end, it’s a last place instead of a mid-table ranking… But Armageddon is a rather special format for which I’ve never done any specific training. As a result, I don’t necessarily have the right calibration in terms of pace, between haste and loss of time. Also, my blitz style isn’t very well suited to Armageddon either; with black, I’m not used to playing for a draw with a minute less, and with white, I really try to put pressure on time, even if sometimes I have to go through some borderline positions.

It’s true that Armageddon doesn’t happen that often, but it’s a bit worrying to have a weakness like this one 🙂 . Yet I don’t think it’s a mental collapse or anything like that, but then again, I might be wrong… It’s hard to get answers on an exercise I’m not used to. But maybe that’s the answer; I’m not used to it!

Now let’s take a look at some of my performances in this tournament:

MVL-NEPOMNIACHTCHI (game 4)

After a very bad game with white when a draw was enough, I managed somehow to save the day and reach the following position:

The position is far from simple to defend, even if it is objectively a draw. Unfortunately for me, I would have had to avoid 68.Nd3? f4! (but not 68…h3? 69.Ne5+! Kh4 70.Nf3+ and draw) 69.Ne5+ Kf5 70.Nd3 Be4, breaking the defensive coordination of my Knight and my King (0-1, 75 moves).

Instead, I could play 68.Nd7! and the fork threat on f6 prevents black from pushing …f4 as in the game. And after 68…Kf4 69.Nc5! (only move) 69…h3 (69…Bc4 70.Nd7 h3 71.Nc5! and black does not progress either) 70.Nd3+ Ke4 71.Ne1 or 70…Kg4 71.Ne5+!, the King-Knight duo is coordinated for a fortress! Needless to say that this kind of subtleties is impossible to understand when one plays on the increment 🙂 .

In the next two games, I experienced the horrors of the “mouse slip” and “misclick“: these are well-known dangers of online chess!

DING-MVL (Armageddon)

Here, I was so much expecting 4.e3, as in the first game of our match, that I mechanically made the premove 4…Bf5?!. But after 4.Nc3, …Bf5?! is considered inferior because of 5.cxd5 Nxd5 (5…cxd5 6.Qb3 almost loses a pawn) 6.Qb3. I never could recover, and lost this game without really fighting (1-0, 16 moves).

Second mouse accident…

MVL-CARLSEN (game 2)

Here, my first intention was to play 16.0-0-0, so I clicked the King on e1. Then I saw the variation 16…c5 17.Bg5 Re8 18.Nd5 Nxd5, and 19.exd5 is impossible because of the Be2 hanging. So I decided to play 16.Rd1 to make this variation work… But without unclicking the King 🙂 ; then, when my Rook landed on d1, I saw to my great surprise that my King had also moved to c1 against my will! (draw, 61 moves).

CARLSEN-MVL (game 3)

Here, I quickly played 19…Qd7?, which is a big mistake based on a tactical oversight. After 20.Qc2 Na7, I thought he wanted 21.Qe4, but I completely missed the possibility 21.Qxc8+! Nxc8 (21…Qxc8 22.Rxc8+ Nxc8 doesn’t offer any hope either) 22.Bc6, and I don’t have enough play for the exchange (1-0, 32 moves).

So I should have played the only move 19…Qb6, even if white would still be better after 20.exd4! (but not 20.Qc2 anymore, because 20…0-0! and the piece can’t be taken: 21.Bxc6? dxe3 22.Be1 Rc7! followed by 23…Rfc8).

CARUANA-MVL (game 3)

An instructive Queen endgame, with all the pawns on the same side, which one often tends to declare a draw without looking at the nuances of the position. Here, if we move back the f5-pawn to f7, it would indeed be an easy draw. As it is, I don’t know if the position is objectively winning or drawn, but intuitively I would rather say it is winning.

Indeed, with the pawn on f5, black’s King remains weak. It is very hard to avoid exchanging Queens. And when white will play g4, one will hardly escape from taking twice, after which white’s e-pawn will be passed.

But in practice in this kind of ending, it’s almost impossible to play without mistakes, especially in rapid games. And again, it’s always harder to defend because white can turn the position in any direction – which Fabiano did not hesitate to do! –

We had already played nearly 45 moves of the Queen ending, and I finally lost after the natural 88…Kg7? 89.Qc7+! Kh6 90.e7 Dd4+ 91.Ke2 Qe4+ 92.Kd2 Qd4+ 93.Kc2, for the simple reason that there is no perpetual, white’s King sneaking through the whole Queenside. (1-0, 103 moves).

To reach the draw, I would have had to find 88…g5! 89.Qf8+ (89.e7+ Kg7 90.fxg5 is a version which allows black to give perpetual according to the tablebases…) 89…Kh7 90.e7 Qd4+ and perpetual; just put white’s Queen on c7 in this position – as in the follow-up of the game – and there would be no more perpetual!

Chess is a complicated game 🙂 .

Maxime’s games:

NATIONS CUP

A few days later, I held the first board of Team Europe in this competition, which gathered six teams and which saw the final victory of the Chinese favourites.

My play was definitely better in this Nations Cup, but there were also worse moments. Admittedly, the final result is rather satisfactory (+1, =9). But there were a lot of missed chances, against Radjabov for example:

RADJABOV-MVL (round 5)

Black’s position is won, but there are lots of calculations to do, and three real candidate moves, 27…Rgd8, 27…Bxe5 and 27…Rxf7. I believe that, in fact, it was 27…Bxe5 the simplest in practice: I calculated 28.Bxg8 Nxh7 29.Bxe6 Nf6 30.Bxd7+ Kc7 31.Rxf6 Bxf6 and I said to myself that it was not the clearest – with always the problem of the Bishop on b7 – and that 27…Rgd8 was certainly cleaner. At this stage, I had already dismissed the third possibility 27…Rxf7, because of 28.Rfxf7 Bxe5 29.Rxb7; however I should have pushed further, because after 29…Nxh7! 30.Qxg8+ (30.Rxb6 Rxg4) 30…Kxb7 31.Qxh7+ Bc7 or even 31…Ka6, white will not survive.

In short, I rejected the simple continuation, then the effective one, and I finally made the least good choice, 27… Rgd8 🙂 . After this error, the game became extremely messy and ended in a perpetual (draw, 36 moves).

Second missed opportunity against Nakamura:

NAKAMURA-MVL (round 9)

It was also a weak game on the whole, which was especially noticed for the easy win that I missed, 32…h3!. Yes, it is easy, but this oversight is also explained by the fact that for the previous eight moves, I was calculating the consequences of …hxg3 at each move; therefore, …hxg3 was like « anchored » in me, and to some degree prevented me to consider …h3 (draw, 36 moves).

Here’s my only win of the tournament, after a good opening and a good middlegame:

NEPOMNIACHTCHI-MVL (round 6)

Only the realization of the advantage has not been convincing, but there is still an explanation. In practice, the conversion of this type of winning position is more difficult than defence. Because of the mating net around black’s King stuck on b8, it is very easy to go wrong.

Then, when the position becomes objectively drawn, it is the opposite!

The position is very easy for me to play. Sure I can also make mistakes, but white has to watch out for every fork, every check, every pawn and it’s a real nightmare to defend (0-1, 111 moves).

It was therefore mainly for practical reasons that mistakes were made by both sides.

We will also note in passing the following very ridiculous game from both players…

DING-MVL (round 7)

Here, I spent more than six minutes out of 14…Qe7?.

14…Ne4 was the normal move; this is what I had planned to play originally, but I didn’t want to defend the pawn down endgame after 15.Nxe4 dxe4 (15…Bxb2 16.Qxb2 dxe4 17.Be2 appealed to me even less) 16.Qxd8 Rfxd8 17.Bxe5 exf3 18.gxf3. So I preferred 14…Qe7 but I completely forgot that after 15.Nxd5 Nxd5, white doesn’t have to play 16.Bxd5? Rfd8 17.Rad1 Be4, but rather 16.Bxe5! and he’s a good pawn up.

Then, Ding wasn’t precise and allowed too much counterplay, until I had a forced perpetual forced with 31…Nf3+! 32.gxf3 Qe2+ 33.Kg3 Qe1+ 34.Kg4 Qg1+ 35.Kf4 Qh2+ 36.Ke4 Qc2+ since if 37.Kd5?? Dc6 mate!

But I played 31…Qe1?! instantly because it was the move I had planned… After 32.Qd5+ Kh7 33.Bd4, I managed not to play the obvious 33…b6 – which would have more or less kept the dynamic balance of the position – to prefer the stupid 33…h5?, which throws away the game after 34.Bxa7 h4 35.Bb8!. Luckily, Ding was in the same shape as me that day, and he finally let me get the half point! (draw, 42 moves).

But there’s one game where luck wasn’t on my side…

MVL-ANAND (round 8)

In fact, here the normal move was 38.g5! fxg5 39.fxg5 and Black continues to suffer. Instead, I played 38.Nh6, which is objectively less good, but with the original idea to trap black’s rook on h6 🙂 . By the way, Vishy also feared this variation since he did not play 38…Rg6 39.f5!? Rxh6 40.h5. During the game, we both considered that this strange position was favourable to white, while the machine seems to prefer black. The reality is probably that this endgame is a draw!

Even if the Rook is useless on h6, white will not be able to use their Rook vs Bischop advantage on the a-e columns if Black actively plays 40…c5, instead of waiting for white to himself open the position with d5! in favorable circumstances; for example 40…c5 41.dxc5 Bxc5 42.Kc4 Kc6 43.Re8 b5+ 44.Kd3 Bd6 and mainly because of the weakness on b2, it is white who must be careful – when black’s Bishop arrives on e5 – not to play Kc2 and allow the passage Kc6-d5-e4-f4-xg4 which would free the Rook from its prison!

In the game, Vishy thus avoided all that with 38…Rg7, on which I played 39.g5, leading to a draw after the very precise defence 39…fxg5 40.fxg5 f6!.

Too bad, it was a case of « too much brilliancy » with this 38.Nh6 🙂 .

In general, in both tournaments I didn’t cause enough problems with white, even if I got several good positions, ruined in only two or three sub-par moves. That’s also the 1.d4 effect!

A last word on the rhythm of the online games; 15 + 10, as for the Magnus Invitational, is the right cadence, even if the ideal in my opinion would be 15 + 5 🙂 .

However, the 25 +10 used at the Nations Cup is just not working. I think it’s much too long for online games. Even on the wooden board, it is already half-baked, either too long or too short. That is to say that it’s too short for you to be able to have really deep ideas, but it’s too long to be able to pose problems and set traps.

Maxime’s games:

Antonio Radic is a Croatian chess player. Amateur away from competition since his youth years, he has the particularity to be the most followed YouTubers in the chess world! With more than 630.000 subscribers, Agadmator (it is his stage name 🙂 ) leads a community twice as important as Magnus Carlsen for example. Prolific author of educational videos, Agadmator has just decided to launch regular podcasts with personalities from the chess world. His first guest was MVL, with whom he spoke for more than two hours! It is to be reviewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ_EWAwZYmw
Finally, the session ended with a blitz, commented by Agadmator:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88N3UNeNoWM