{"id":12026,"date":"2022-06-28T23:38:53","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T21:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mvlchess.com\/?p=12026"},"modified":"2022-06-29T00:14:52","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T22:14:52","slug":"quite-a-busy-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mvlchess.com\/en\/2022\/06\/28\/quite-a-busy-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Quite a busy month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here I am again after a sequence of Norway Chess, the French Team Championships in Chartres, a 48h trip to Madrid for the public launch of the Immortal Game platform<\/a> of which I am the ambassador, and finally the semi-finals and final of the French Cup in Paris!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NORWAY CHESS<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Considering my busy schedule these days, I will come back rather quickly on these competitions… I arrived in Norway on May 29th, in the city of Stavanger that I am starting to know well. It’s a familiar place where I have my little habits and to tell the truth, it’s rather an advantage; especially in a healthy environment, where you can walk around and breathe the fresh air! Compared to other cities, it’s a huge plus. After that, there is not so much to do in Stavanger, but the whole context is quite relaxing. In addition to the walks and the chess preparation itself, I must admit that I always had an eye on the Roland Garros tournament! I was able to follow a lot of the big matches, but not the semis or the final, which were taking place at the same time as my games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the format, Norway Chess has taken up the one that had been experimented for the first time in 2019, with games of 2 hours without increment, and an Armaggedon in case of a draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day before the first round, a blitz tournament was organized, with the objective of giving the first 5 players the privilege of having 5 whites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did something that had never happened to me in my life and that is a bit disturbing for a reigning world champion… losing my first 5 blitz in a row!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, there was a short 10-minute break that allowed me to recover my spirits and thus finish in a blaze of glory, but the 4 wins were not enough to compensate for the 5 losses!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Topalov
Topalov in top form at the opening ceremony! (Photo: Norway Chess).<\/em><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

On to the main tournament:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Round 1: ANAND-MVL 1-0<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Anand-Mvl,
Anand-Mvl, Round 1.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Here, influenced by the fact that the other options seemed a bit passive, I decided to be ambitious with the pawn sacrifice 17…b5?<\/strong>. Unfortunately, this choice turned out to be a bad decision, made at the wrong time! I just forgot that after 18.cxb5 Nxd4 19.Bxd4 Bxd4+ 20.Rxd4 axb5<\/strong>, white did not play 21.Qxb5 Ne5! which leaves a lot of counterplay, but the very strong 21.Qd2!<\/strong>, and black is clearly worse. I must also say that Vishy played a flawless game and converted very convincingly.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Anand
Anand showing the way! (Photo : Norway Chess).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Round 2: MVL-MAMEDYAROV 1\/2<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

An uneventful draw followed by a chaotic win in the Armaggedon…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Round 3: TARI-MVL 0-1<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another Sicilian with 3.Bb5+<\/strong>, in which he placed a rather successful prep. But at the end of the opening I managed to turn things around, especially from the following position:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Tari-Mvl,
Tari-Mvl, Round 3.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

He did not anticipate 13…Nc7! <\/strong>and did not even really think about accepting the sacrifice and taking on d6: 14.Nxd6 Ne6 would indeed have complicated the position \ud83d\ude42 . He preferred to play the energy-saving 14.g4 Ne6 15.g5 Be7<\/strong>, which was not uninteresting, but on condition to continue with 16.Nxe7+ Qxe7 17.f5, because I would certainly not have played 17…Nxg5 18.Qg3 which seemed too risky for my King, but rather 18…Nd4 with a complicated position. In the game, he opted for the inferior continuation 16.fxe5?! Qxe5 17.Nxe7+ Qxe7 18.Qg3<\/strong>. And bad luck for him, this position is not only a bit unpleasant for white, as one might think at first glance, but almost lost after the excellent 18…f6!<\/strong>.I think I converted clinically after 19.gxf6 Rxf6 20.Rxf6 Qxf6 21.Ne2 Rf8 22.Bd2 Nf4 23.Nxf4 exf4 <\/strong>and the forward march of the f-pawn, combined with the vulnerability of white\u2019s King, is decisive.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Thinking
Thinking hard against Tari\u2026 (Photo: Norway Chess).<\/em><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Round 4: RADJABOV-MVL 1\/2<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After having held a long theoretical line of the Gr\u00fcnfeld, which is not very dangerous if Black is accurate, I crumbled in the Armaggedon, for lack of having all the adequate reflexes in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted that I integrated into my repertoire some time ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Round 5: MVL-TOPALOV 1\/2<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Not a great success with white as I clearly got tangled up in the opening. Fortunately, I solved my problems quite well and managed to hold the position. And in the Armaggedon, Veselin was kind enough to forget a little combination losing a pawn at the end of the opening!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Mvl-Topalov,
Mvl-Topalov, Round 5 Armaggedon.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

White is probably already better after a normal move like 19…Nf6, but after 19…Qf6? 20.Qxf6 Nxf6 21.hxg6 hxg6 22.Bxg6 <\/strong>and if 22…fxg6 23.Rxe6, he is right away winning.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Group
Group photo at the traditional garden party (Photo: Norway Chess).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Round 6: WANG HAO-MVL 1\/2<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A quick and easy draw with black, followed by an Armaggedon where I clearly dominated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Round 7: MVL-SO 1-0<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n
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\"Mvl-So,
Mvl-So, Round 7.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In a normal position, Wesley played 18…Ne4? <\/strong>here, a move that loses two tempi after 19.f3 Nd6 <\/strong>(19…b5 20.fxe4 bxa4 21.Qc4 is really not nice either) 20.Nc5 Qc8 21.Bf4<\/strong>, and that’s more than Black’s position can tolerate in practical terms. I didn’t understand his choice at all, especially since this is precisely the kind of thing that never happens to him!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Didn't
Didn’t see the photographer! (Photo: Norway Chess).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Round 8: CARLSEN-MVL 1\/2<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Clearly the highlight and key moment of the tournament for me. The world champion came with a specific idea against my Grunfeld. Probably one of those that had been prepared for his world championship match; well, it was probably one idea among others that he decided to use against me that day. But I think he misjudged the position at the end of the opening phase. I found myself immediately slightly better, and on top of that, he spent quite a bit of time in a somewhat bizarre way. I was surprised by his poor time management because usually that’s one of his great strengths: to be able to stop at important moments and play quickly when there’s not much to decide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, especially without an increment, he found himself with very little time and a really difficult position to defend. Hence this error that should have been decisive on the 40th move, based on a miscalculation.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Carlsen-Mvl,
Carlsen-Mvl, Round 8.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

40.f4? Be3 41.Rd7 exf4 <\/strong>and I think he missed that 42.Rxf7? is impossible because of 42…Rb2 43.Kf3 fxg3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few moves later, we reached the following position:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Carlsen-Mvl,
Carlsen-Mvl, Round 8.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Here, Black wins, but it requires millimetric precision. Before playing 47…g5<\/strong>, I had anticipated his counterattack on f5, but via h7, preventing the option of …Kg6. So when he played 48.Be6, <\/strong>for me 48…Kg6? <\/strong>was the natural reaction, since I had already calculated that 48…gxh4 49.Bxf5 h3+ 50.Bxh3 Rg3+ 51.Kh2 was not enough because no discovery worked, the Rd7 being protected; if I had spent a little more time here – and this is my great regret – I would have found the study-like move 51…Bb8!, and White is in total zugzwang; any Rook move would leave the piece en prise through a discovered check, and the same for any Bishop move. Not so difficult actually!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the position was a draw, but Magnus misplayed it again later. Unfortunately, I missed my chance again, but frankly this second missed win was much harder than the first one!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still think it was a good game on my part, but with a little taste of unfinished business…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"End
End of the Armaggedon game: only one second left for Maxime ! (Photo: Norway Chess).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Armageddon was a little crazy. During the 20-minute break, I decided to play the exact same line if he repeated, which I thought was unlikely but he did it anyway! It’s impossible to describe all the ups and downs of this tumultuous game, but let’s just say that I managed to find the right moves and have a better position. But obviously, it cost me time on some decisions. And just when I thought I had done the hardest, I found myself with a trapped Knight. With only one second of increment generously allotted after the 40th move, it was panic on board and I cracked!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Round 9: MVL-GIRI 1\/2<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I still had a theoretical chance to compete for the first place before this last round, but it would have required a rather improbable alignment of the planets. Anyway, Giri quickly took away all hope with his very surprising idea on the 5th move of the Rossolimo!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Mvl-Giri,
Mvl-Giri, Round 9.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

About ten moves are already known here, but not 5…h6!?<\/strong>. Incomprehensible at first sight, this move is in fact not so ridiculous and I will spare you the complicated attempts of explanation \ud83d\ude42 .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, it worked very well after 6.b3 a6 7.Bxc6 Nxc6 8.Bb2 b5 9.Nc3 Be7 10.a4 bxa4! 11.Nxa4 0-0 <\/strong>and Black has completely solved his problems. To our great surprise, it turned out afterwards that we had played an almost perfect game!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I then won the last Armaggedon to finish at an honorable 4th place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Official site:<\/strong> https:\/\/norwaychess.no<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FRENCH TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"On
On the first board of the decisive match for the title, against Laurent Fressinet (Photo: Ffe).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

When I came back from Norway, I barely had time to unpack my bags before I left for Chartres, to join my Asni\u00e8res team which was playing in the Top 16 (French team championship).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was happy to be back with my teammates and to play for the Championship win in the last 6 rounds. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned… Even though the suspense remained until the end because we had to beat Bischwiller in the last round to take the title from them, and had to finally settle for a draw on the wire 4-4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With 3 draws and 1 win, I’m not particularly proud of my own performance, but I still remember the nice combination I had the opportunity to play against Tiviakov in the Asni\u00e8res-Chartres game:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Mvl-Tiviakov,
Mvl-Tiviakov, Round 8.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In zeitnot, my opponent did not sense the danger and played the very risky 36…Qxa3<\/strong>? After the nice double cross pin 37.Rc2! b4 <\/strong>(37…Qb4 was more resistant, but the problem remains that black\u2019s King is too weak, for example 38.Rcxc3 Rxc3 39.Qe1 Rb3 [39…d4 40.Qd2!] 40.Qxb4 Rxb4 41.Rc3! Kf8 42.Rc7) 38.h6! Qa5 39.Qg4 g6 <\/strong>and here, many paths lead to Rome, but I chose the most linear one: 40.Rcxc3 bxc3 <\/strong>(40…Rxc3 41.Nxg6! fxg6 42.Qxe6+ or 41…hxg6 42.Qd4! or 41…Rxd3 42.Ne5+! Kf8 43.Qg7+ Ke7 44.Nc6+) 41.Qh4 Qa3 <\/strong>(41…Qd8 42.Rxc3!) 42.Qf6 Qf8 43.Rxc3! Rxc3 <\/strong>(43…Rb8 44.Rc7) 44.Nd7! 1-0<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Official site (in french):<\/strong> http:\/\/www.echecs.asso.fr\/Actu.aspx?Ref=13997<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FRENCH CUP<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"The
The green premises of the Boston Consulting Group, in the heart of Paris (Photo: Ffe).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Organized in the premises of the Boston Consulting Group in Paris, the last two stages of the French Cup were very close: first a 2-2 draw against Ch\u00e2lons, but with a predominant victory on the second board of Alekseenko. I drew with black against Grandelius (2645).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the final, on the other hand, for what was the same poster as the last edition played in 2019, we disposed of Tremblay-en-France 3-1, despite my draw with white against Malakhov (2652).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Asni\u00e8res keeps the Cup one more year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Official site (in french):<\/strong> http:\/\/www.echecs.asso.fr\/Actu.aspx?Ref=13997<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

Maxime’s classical games at the Norway chess :