There will be no tiebreak at the FIDE Candidates Tournament, and the last round will be played for the sake of formality only. We know who will be a challenger of a World Champion – It’s the guy from the cover pic, Ian Nepomniachtchi. Congratulations!
But we have to be honest, the other man do the job for Nepomniachtchi. A special chess terrorist, this man!
Caught at the enterance: Chess ‘terrorist’ GM Alexander Grischuk. Source: official website
How did he do it? Well, Nepomniachtchi and Vachier-Lagrave have played almost a firendly dull game. From the first handshake…
…Ian took the initiative, but only so much that a draw never comes into question. They went into an English Opening, Anglo-Indian Defense, King’s Indian Formation, Double Fianchetto (if that means something to you), and Maxime was a bit struggling to equalize, although always looked as they are looking forward to move 40 so they can friendly handshake again.
Therefore, all the eyes were on the board where Giri played with a chess ‘terrorist’…
FIDE Candidates Tournament 2020/21 – Round 13, Yekaterinburg, April 26th, 2021 E16 Queen's Indian Defense: Capablanca Variation
In this game, Anish was in the same situation in which Fabiano Caruana was with him yesterday – he has black pieces and needs to win. OK, Grischuk didn’t show a high level of the game so far, but you never know when a Grandmaster can have his glory day…
To this moment everything was already know from theory. Exchange of finachetted bishops and now white should simply take it with… a Knight? We saw that in theory. But Grischuk today captures it with a King. This was never seen before!
14. Kxg2 h5
And instead of Giri’s expected surprise, we see a chess ‘terrorist’ firing a surprise first, forcing Giri to start heavy thinking. Eight minutes for that 14… h5.
Arguably, the key mistake. 28… Ne5 was probably better, but Anish (as Caruana yesterday) really doesn’t get anything with a draw. He is trying to squeeze a drop of water from a stone. Very hard to pull off…
29. Qd2 f5
This is by far overambitious, and the question is now will Grischuk execute his advantage.
30. Qxd6 Nc6
Third wrong move in a row, and now the position is really ripe for resignation. But he, just as Caruana against him yesterday, continues to push his pieces in shock.
31. exf5 gxf5 32. Qxe6+ Rxe6 33. Nxf5 Ne5
It’s two pawns less and destroyed coordination. From this moment on, Giri is moving his pieces in a desperate hope that the opponent will make some spectacular, never seen before, BIG BLUNDER! Not today.
And in this position, Giri finally says farewell to his challenging dreams. Maybe some other time, he is still young… You may find even better analysis at the Chess24.com with many comments to the Game of the Day.
And if you are asking why am I referring to Grischuk as a chess ‘terrorist’, well that is his own self-description from the presser after the game:
Press conference with Alexander Grischuk, who labelled himself a terrorist!
I won’t argue with his qualifications, I will extend my congrats to the new challenger…
But I would like to suggest something better: If you want to feel a bit of tournament atmosphere, you can take participation to the Hive Chess Tournaments by our @schamangerbert and @stayoutoftherz.
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