{"id":9309,"date":"2019-04-13T11:13:28","date_gmt":"2019-04-13T09:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mvlchess.com\/?p=9309"},"modified":"2019-05-04T09:37:03","modified_gmt":"2019-05-04T07:37:03","slug":"a-hell-of-a-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mvlchess.com\/en\/2019\/04\/13\/a-hell-of-a-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"A hell of a weekend!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After\nthe end of the Gibraltar tournament on January 31, my schedule of\nFebruary and March has been rather light. But it allowed me to\nrecharge the batteries and to train more deeply, before to dive into\nan 8-month period, between April 20 and Christmas, which I expect to\nbe the most intense in my career. But I won\u2019t be alone here, as a\nlot of my colleagues will also have to go through the same agenda!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s\nbecause of an international calendar which could not be harmonized,\nand forces us to play all FIDE tournaments (Grand Prix, World Cup and\nGrand Swiss), all Grand Chess Tour ones, as well as private\ntournaments and French Team Championships, between end of April and\nDecember!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe early days of April though, I had a foretaste of what\u2019s\nawaiting me in the crazy 2019 schedule, which will begin on April 20\nwhen I play the Grenke Classic with the likes of Carlsen, Caruana,\nAnand and Aronian\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nbegan on April 4, when I spent the day with an Eurosport crew for a\nTV shoot, which should be on air pretty soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Blitz
Blitz sequence for Eurosport, filmed in the Jardin du Luxembourg (Paris), with GM Jules Moussard (photo : 7L Brand Agency).<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Next\nday at noon, I caught a flight for D\u00fcsseldorf, as I had to join my\nBaden-Baden teammates some 30 kilometers further, in Solingen, for\nthe last Bundesliga weekend of the season. The decisive match against\nSolingen was precisely scheduled on the afternoon of Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\nthe first board, I faced India #2, Pentala Harikrishna (2723):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mvl-Harikrishna
Mvl-Harikrishna (Baden-Baden vs Solingen).<\/em>
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Until there, Hari had followed my game against Anand,<\/a> played last year in Grenke Chess (1-0, 39 moves). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nsurprising choice, as he had already thought for quite a long time,\nand I was wondering where he expected to improve black\u2019s play. But\nin the diagrammed position, I was the first to deviate with 19.Ree2<\/strong>.\nIndeed, I remembered that against Anand, after 19.Bxf8 Rhxf8 20.f4,\nblack could have played 20\u2026Qc4! 21.Qxd7 Bf7! and the double threat\nof 22\u2026Rfd8 and 22\u2026Qa2 allows him to keep the balance. I knew that\n19.Ree2 was the best move, but I needed time to understand why it was\nthe case after 19\u2026e5<\/strong>!\nI finally found the cunning 20.b3\nQa5 21.Qh3!<\/strong>,\nand if 21\u2026Qc3 22.Qxd7+ Kg8, which looks strong for black, I have\n23.Rd3! on hand, freeing d2 for the KIng (23\u2026Bxd3? 24.Qe6 mate). So\nhe opted for 21\u2026Rd8<\/strong>,\nbut I earned a huge edge after 22.b4<\/strong>\n(the Qh3 protects a3!) 22\u2026Qa4<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Maxime
Maxime on the verge of playing 23.Qb3+! (photo : Guido Giotta).<\/em>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

23.Qb3+!\nQxb3 24.Nxb3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately,\nI played badly in the technical phase. I wanted to avoid\ncomplications and any hint of black counterplay, but in doing so, I\nlet him come back into the game, until a moment when he could force a\nclearcut draw, which he missed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then\nwe ended up playing the following ending:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mvl-Harikrishna\"
Mvl-Harikrishna<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Here,\nblack\u2019s last chance was 57\u2026Kg7 58.Ne5 Ra5+ (58\u2026Bc8? 59.Rg6+)\n59.Kd6 (59.Kd4 Bc8 60.Rg6+ Kh7 61.Rxg5 Ra7! and the pawn on c7 falls)\n59\u2026Bc8 and the outcome remains unclear. In contrast, after Hari\u2019s\nchoice 57\u2026Ke7?<\/strong>,\nI was able to play the simple 58.Rg6\nRa2 59.Rxg5<\/strong>\nafter which I was almost certain to win, especially when seiing my\nopponent becoming more and more feverish (1-0, 67 moves).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\nwe won against Solingen, and the next day, we had to confirm against\na theoretically weaker team (D\u00fcsseldorf), in order to guarantee the\nBundesliga title. A match which gave me the opportunity to play\nagainst a chess legend for the first time in my life, Jan Timman\n(2549), still active at 67.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nplayed quite quickly with black, trying to avoid drawish lines and\nkeep the position alive. Timman reacted quite correctly, and kept the\ngame afloat until we reached the following position:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Timman-Mvl
Timman-Mvl (D\u00fcsseldorf vs Baden-Baden).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Here instead of 29.g4 or 29.h4, Timman chose the catastrophic 29.Qb3?<\/strong> which loses material. It is not obvious at first glance, but after 29\u2026b6 30.Rb5 <\/strong>(30.Rc4 Kh8! and white shouldn\u2019t survive the threat 31\u2026f5) 30\u2026Qc6!<\/strong>, the pin on the long white\u2019s diagonal happens to be decisive. The game ended after 31.Rb4<\/strong> (31.f3 Rxe4! followed by 32\u2026Rd2+ and 33\u2026Qd7 with a mating attack) 31\u2026Kh8 32.Kh2 f5 33.Ng5 Rd2!<\/strong> 0-1<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Once
Once again champion of Germany with Baden-Baden! (photo : schachbundesliga.com)).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The calendar being what it is, www.chess.com<\/a> couldn\u2019t find an ideal date to fit its first online Bullet Championship. It finally took place at the same time than the last Bundesliga weekend, though in the evenings. Bullet, especially without increment, is a merciless format (one minute each KO). It puts the emphasis on calculation speed, use of the mouse, and \u00ab premove \u00bb science! (ie. anticipate one\u2019s own move before to see the opponent\u2019s one, in order to win extra time). Therefore, hierarchy is not necessarily the same, and real Bullet experts, like the Ukrainian Oleksander Bortnik or the young Iranian prodigy Alireza Firouzja, have earned their place in the 8-player final bracket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Final
Final bracket of the first online Bullet Championship.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\nMy\n\u00ab real \u00bb Saturday game against Harikrishna had been quite\na long one, so the time left was scarce in order to be in my room for\nmy scheduled \u00bc final match against GM qualifier Federico Perez\nPonsa, from Argentina! Just enough time to have a quick bite and I\nwon very narrowly in overtime (8.5-7.5). Later in the evening, I\nplayed Bortnyk in the semi-final. I already had the opportunity to\nplay Bullet series against him a long time ago, with a very tiny\noverall lead. But maybe this very long day of chess was a bit too\nmuch \uf04a\nand I lost the match 12.5-16.5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nnext evening, after having completed the Bundesliga weekend, my\nfollow-up was the Bullet Championship third-place match against\nAronian, played best of 3 sets of 6 wins. I won (6-2, 6-0) while a\nfew minutes later, Nakamura easily clinched the title against Bortnyk\n(6-1, 6-2, 6-1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nwas time for me to go to bed, because the Marathon was not over yet!\nThe next morning, I had to travel to Gonfreville l\u2019Orcher, near Le\nHavre, where I was expected to attend the closing ceremony of their\n50th International Open, and then give a simultaneous display on 28\nboards. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under\nthe leadership of Cyrille Vaugeois, the sympathetic Norman club is\nrenowned for its organizational abilities, and I could indeed witness\nit with my own eyes when I came to Gonfreville as a spectator for the\n2016 French Youth Championships. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Signing
Signing session after Gonfreville l\u2019Orcher simultaneous (photo : Cyrille Vaugeois).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the result of a simultaneous display remains anecdotical, but I have to point out that Rouen player Bilguun Bat (2163), who is 12 years old or not yet, was the only one to earn a draw, though it would have been no scandal had he won the game! Other youngsters tried to trick me with timely draw offers, but I remained merciless ! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\nthe signing session, the cocktail, and the unavoidable night blitz\ngames, I was taken back to my hotel and could enjoy a well-earned\nrest, after five intense days!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n