GRENKE Chess Classic 2019
Karlsruhe/Baden Baden
April 18-29, 2019
Final Standings
1. Grandmaster (GM) Magnus Carlsen NOR 2845, 7.5/9
2. GM Fabiano Caruana USA 2819, 6.0/9
3-4. GM Arkadij Naiditsch AZE 2695, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2773, 5.0/9
5-7. GM Viswanathan Anand IND 2774, GM Levon Aronian ARM 2762, GM Peter Svidler RUS 2735, 4.5/9
8. GM Francisco Vallejo Pons ESP 2693, 4.0/9
9-10. GM George Meier GER 2628, IM Vincent Keymer GER 2516, 2.0/9
Average Rating: 2724 Category 19
Time Control: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes play-to-finish. Thirty seconds is added to your clock after every move starting move 1.
Twenty-one draws in a row. Magnus Carlsen did not take part in the Batumi Chess Olympiad last year and instead participated in the less stressful European Club Cup where he peacefully drew all five of his games. His next event was the World Championship Match in London versus Fabiano Caruana where, for the first time in history, all 12 games were drawn and they had to resort to rapid tie-breaks to determine who the next world chess champion would be. That’s 17 consecutive draws. When at the start of the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee Magnus Carlsen drew his first four games the friendly ribbing escalated and the press was writing about Carlsen forgetting how to win, that he is the new “Leko,” the drawing master. And then came the game with Jorden van Foreest.
Born in Utrecht on 30 April 1999 and raised in Groningen, Van Foreest comes from the noble chess family of Van Foreest. He is the great-great grandson of Arnold van Foreest and great-great grandnephew of Dirk van Foreest. Between the two of them they have 6 Dutch Championships (Arnold: 1889, 1893, 1902; Dirk: 1885, 1886, 1887).
Jorden is the eldest child of his family and has five siblings: four brothers and one sister. His eldest brother, Lucas (born 2001), became an International Grandmaster in 2019. His sister, Machteld (born 2007), won the Dutch Girls’ U10 Championship at the age of 6 and shared second place in the Dutch Girls’ U20 Championship when she was 9. In 2017, she became the first girl ever to win the Dutch U12 Championship (the Open Division, mostly Boys).
Jorden Van Foreest decided to try out the Sveshnikov Variation against Magnus. Keep in mind that this was one of Magnus’ main weapons in his recent match with Caruana so the chances were high that there is some “residual preparation” left over.
Van Foreest, Jorden (2612) — Carlsen, Magnus (2835) [B33]
Tata Steel Masters 2019 Wijk aan Zee (5.6), 16.01.2019
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5
So far in 2019 Carlsen’s score with White is nine wins and five draws. With Black it is seven wins and 10 draws and out of the 7 wins three came from the Sveshnikov. It has become his most potent weapon.
6.Ndb5 d6 7.Nd5 Nxd5 8.exd5 Ne7 9.c4 Ng6 10.Qa4 Bd7 11.Qb4 Qb8 12.h4 h5
This move has become Magnus’ trademark in the Sveshi. The idea is to follow-up with …e5–e4 and …Ne5 to establish a central strongpoint with dominance over the white squares.
13.Be3 a6 14.Nc3 f5 15.0–0–0 Be7 16.g3 0–0
As he has shown in subsequent games Magnus does not mind giving up the h5–pawn so long as his knight gets its desired outpost on e5.
17.Be2 e4 18.Bd4
White did not like 18.Bxh5 Ne5 19.Be2 b5 20.cxb5 axb5 with lots of compensation for Black but not taking the pawn gets Van Foreest into a worse situation and this time he has no material plus.
18…Bf6 19.Bxf6 Rxf6 20.Qb6
The last chance for Van Foreest to take the pawn.
20…Ne5 21.Kb1 Be8 22.Rd2 Nd7 23.Qd4 Qc7 24.Nd1 Ne5 25.Ne3
White wants to put his knight on f4 via g2, but Black beats him to the punch.
25…f4! 26.gxf4 Rxf4 27.Rg1 Bg6 28.Ka1 Raf8 29.c5 Rxf2 30.Qc3 Qxc5 31.Qxc5 dxc5 32.d6 Kh7 33.d7 Nf3 0–1
Huge material losses follow 33…Nf3 34.Bxf3 (Or 34.d8Q Rxd8 35.Rxd8 Rxe2 36.Rc1 Rxe3 37.Rd7 b5) 34…Rxd2.
Smooth as silk. Nothing spectacular, but this game got the juices flowing again and, as Magnus commented, “since then it’s kind of just clicked.”Magnus won the next game as well, and then all his remaining white games in Wijk aan Zee to finish with the tournament victory a final score of 9.0/13, a performance rating of 2887.
March 30 saw the start of the Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir, Azerbaijan and Magnus Carlsen was even more impressive. In a 9-round event he finished two points ahead of the next higher-placed with five wins and fourdraws. This was a powerful category 22 and his performance rating was 2988. Take a look at the names of the people he defeated: Vishy Anand, David Navara, Anish Giri, Sergey Karjakin and Alexander Grischuk.
The GRENKE Chess Classic started a mere 10 days after the closing ceremonies of the Gashimov Memorial, and it was a continuation of the Carlsen Show. The world chess champion dominated the event with a score of 7.5/9 and a performance rating of 2990 (!!). It could have been even better, for he had a winning position against Viswanathan Anand but just could not land the finishing blow. Carlsen’s finish of 4/4 though left no doubt as to who is the boss.
Svidler, Peter (2737) — Carlsen, Magnus (2845) [B30]
Grenke Classic 2019 Karlsruhe/Baden Baden (8.3), 28.04.2019
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3
Svidler didn’t want anything to do with Magnus’ Sveshnikov.
3…e5 4.Bc4 Be7 5.d3 d6 6.Nd2
On its way to e3 via f1
6…Nf6 7.Nf1 Nd7
White’s bishop is too strong on c4 and so this knight makes its way to b6 to destroy it. White now had two ways to preserve his bishop. Either 8.a3 to give it a hiding place on a2 or 8.Nd5 to exchange off the black knight when it reaches b6.
8.Nd5 Nb6 9.Nxb6 axb6
Now Black is planning to harass the c4–bishop with 10…b5 because 11.Bxb5? loses it to 11…Qa5+
10.c3
Ok, now no more check possible on the e1–a5 diagonal. So what does Black do now? Well, due to his pawns on b6, c5, d6 and e5 his dark-squared bishop has no scope so he should play something like 10…Bg5 to exchange it off against its white counterpart, but 10…Bg5 right away is refuted by 11.Qh5, threatening mate on f7 and thus winning the bishop, so first he has to castle.
10…0–0 11.Ne3 Bg5 12.0–0 Kh8
Obviously planning to play …f7–f5.
13.a3 f5
Svidler remarked after the game that he was surprised by this move. I will show you why later.
14.Nxf5
[14.Nd5 is met by 14…f4]
14…Bxc1 15.Rxc1 Bxf5 16.exf5 d5!
Svidler has planned to answer 16…Rxf5 with 17.Bd5! and …Be4 when his bishop gets a strong outpost on e4. The text move escaped his attention.
17.Ba2 Rxf5
Black has seized the initiative and he does not let go of it.
18.Qg4 Rf6 19.f4 exf4 20.Qg5
Not 20.Rxf4? Ne5 21.Qg3 Rxf4 22.Qxf4 Nxd3.
20…Qf8! 21.Qxd5
Forced. 21.Bxd5? is met by 21…Rf5
21…Rd8 22.Qf3 Ne5 23.Qe4
Nothing better. 23.Qe2 Nxd3 24.Rcd1 c4! (pointed out by Svidler after the game) 25.Bxc4? Qc5+
23…Ng4!
Better than 23…Nxd3 24.Rcd1 Nxb2 now White’s bishop gets back into the game with 25.Bb1 g6 26.Rxd8 Qxd8 27.Qe2 Na4 28.Rd1 queen is going to c4 or e5
24.Rce1 Ne3 25.Rf2 Re8 26.Qxb7 g5 27.Rfe2? <D>
POSITION AFTER 27.RFE2
Hereabouts White obviously realizes that he is lost and is just waiting around for Black to make a move. The final attack comes swiftly.
27…g4 28.Rf2 Qh6 29.Qc7 Ref8
Taking the rook out of the e-file so that he can play 30…g3 31.hxg3 Ng4.
30.h3 gxh3 31.g3
[31.gxh3 Rg6+ 32.Kh2 Qxh3+ 33.Kxh3 Rh6#]
31…fxg3 32.Rxf6 h2+ 33.Kh1 g2# 0–1
So far for 2019 Magnus Carlsen has played 31 games with 16 wins and 15 draws, no losses. This is an overall performance rating of 2942. His live rating has ballooned to 2875 and there is already speculation whether he will be the first human being to ever break 2900. As you know the higher you go the infinitely more difficult it is to raise your rating. At present form though Magnus Carlsen looks unstoppable.
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
