Inside this Issue Carlsen - Karjakin 2 Grischuk - Mamedyarov 3 MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 2018 | ISSUE 2 Anand - Vachier-Lagrave 4 Caruana - Aronian 5 ROUND 2 HIGHLIGHTS So - Nakamura 6 BY WGM TATEV ABRAHAMYAN Current Standings 7 Round 3 Pairings 7 Schedule of Events 8 Round 2 Results GM M. Carlsen 1 GM S. Karjakin Ø GM A. Grischuk 1⁄2 GM S. Mamedyarov 1⁄2 GM V. Anand 1⁄2 GM M. Vachier-Lagrave 1⁄2 GM F. Caruana 1⁄2 GM MAGNUS CARLSEN AND GM SERGEY KARJAKIN, ROUND 2 GM L. Aronian 1⁄2 PHOTO BY LENNART OOTES At the end of a marathon 88-move game, Magnus Carlsen emerged GM W. So 1⁄2 as the only victor of the round, joining Mamedyarov and Aronian in GM H. Nakamura 1⁄2 a tie for first place. Four out of the five games ended in draws within the first three hours of the day, but the World Champion was determined to put his white pieces to good use. After 6.5 hours, Sergey Karjakin Current Standings finally admitted defeat—his second in a row. Carlsen was quite satisfied with his victory, specifically because he felt as though he hadn’t had 1. GM M. Carlsen 1 1⁄2 a chance to win such a game in a long time, especially during his last 2. GM S. Mamedyarov 1 1⁄2 World Championship match. Although exhausted, he was gracious enough to sign autographs and pose with fans for photos after the 1 3. GM L. Aronian 1 ⁄2 game. Tomorrow’s round is crucial for the standing as Carlsen will be 4. GM V. Anand 1 facing one of his closest rivals, Levon Aronian with the black pieces, while the other co-leader, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov will have the white 5. GM F. Caruana 1 pieces against Fabiano Caruana. 6. GM M. Vachier-Lagrave 1 7. GM H. Nakamura 1 8. GM A. Grischuk 1 9. GM W. So 1⁄2 10. GM S. Karjakin Ø 2018 CUP CHRONICLE PAGE 2 PAGE 3 2018 CUP CHRONICLE MAGNUS CARLSEN - SERGEY KARJAKIN ALEXANDER GRISCHUK - SHAKHRIYAR MAMEDYAROV BY WGM TATEV ABRAHAMYAN, ANALYSIS BY GM CRISTIAN CHIRILA BY WGM TATEV ABRAHAMYAN The games started off slowly – quite forces Black to accept a torturous endgame.] 49.e4 Rc8 50.Rd7 Rec6 51.f4 R8c7 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Rc3 42.Rh6 Kf5 43.h5 Rxc2 44.Rxg6 literally. Surprisingly, Carlsen spent 20 52.f5+ Kh7 53.Rd8 Rc8 54.Rd3 Re8 c5 5.a3 Ba5 [the Armenian Variation of Rb2 45.Kc4 Rc2+ 46.Kb3 Rh2 47.Rc6 minutes on move six in a very normal 23...Qxd2 24.Rxd2 Be6 25.Red1 55.Rd4 Rc7 56.Kf4 Rce7 57.Rc4 Kh6 the Winawer is a rare sight at the top Ke4 48.b6 Rxh5 49.Ka4 Kd5 50.Rc1 Rh2 position. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Rde7 26.f3 h5 [Karjakin is trying to stop 58.Kf3 Rd7 59.Bd4 Kh7 60.b4 Rd6 level of chess!] 51.Kxa5 Ra2+ 52.Kb5 Kd6 53.Rd1+ explained that Carlsen had a lot of Carlsen's kingside pawn expansion, with 61.Ke3 Kh6 62.Rc1 Kh7 63.Bb6 Rd7 Ke7 54.b7 Rb2+ 55.Kc6 Rc2+ 56.Kb6 options in the opening and was trying to little success.] 64.Bc5 Red8 [64...Rd5 was perhaps [5...Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 is the main Rb2+ 57.Kc7 Rc2+ 58.Kb8 Ra2 59.Rd4 pick a continuation that would give him the most precise move, allowing Black line of the Winawer that has been tried 1–0 (59) Shankland,S (2679)-Ashwin,J the best chances to win. The endgame 27.Kf2 f6 28.Rd4 Kh7 29.R1d2 Bf7 to maintain the balance in the position.] by Caruana and So before] (2468) Atlantic City 2016] position they reached was very Carlsen- 30.h3 a6 31.Rf4 Kg8 32.Bd4 Kh7 esque: slightly annoying for his opponent 33.Bc3 Kg8 34.g4 hxg4 35.hxg4 65.Rh1+? [65.g5! would have been 6.b4 cxd4 7.Qg4 Kf8 8.Nb5 Bb6 with no chances for him to lose. Carlsen Kh7 36.Rf5 Rb7 [36...Rd8 37.g5 Kg6 the killer blow, the game continuation [8...Bc7 was tried by Magnus Carlsen last sacrificed his rook for a bishop and a 38.gxf6± was a problem; 36...Rd7 was allows black into the game. 65...Rd3+ month during Biel 9.Qxd4 Nc6 10.Qc5+ pawn, creating a new king of imbalance. perhaps the more precise move, not 66.Kf4 Re8 67.Rh1+ Kg8 68.Rg1 Kf7 Nge7 11.Nxc7 Qxc7 12.Nf3 b6 13.Qd6 Immediately, Karjakin made the dubious allowing White the following blow.] 69.g6+ Kg8 70.Rc1± With the added Qxd6 14.exd6 Nf5 15.Bf4 f6 16.g4 Nfd4 decision of giving up another pawn. In pressure on the grounded Black king, 17.Nxd4 Nxd4 18.0–0–0 e5 19.Rxd4 the postgame interview, Carlsen admitted 37.Rfxd5! [BOOM! The world White's victory prospects are starting to exd4 20.Bb5 Bxg4 21.Re1 g5 22.Bg3 that he was nervous about the unavoidable champion decides to try a new material look appealing.] Rd8 23.Re7 h5 24.h4 gxh4 25.Bf4 Bf5 blunders that would happen, which is imbalance. A solid practical shot that MAMEDYAROV // AUSTIN FULLER 26.Rxa7 Rh7 27.Rc7 Bd7 28.Bc6 h3 exactly how the game was decided. In an completely shocked Karjakin.] 65...Kg8 66.Kf4 Re8 [66...Rd1! is 29.Kd2 Rg7 30.Bh6 Bxc6 31.Rxg7 Rxd6 already tough position, Karjakin erred the easiest path to equality 67.Rxd1 “What is funny is that yesterday 32.Rg5+ Kf7 33.Rxh5 Bb5 34.Rxh3 one last time, losing his final pawn and Rxd1 68.e5 fxe5+ 69.Kxe5 g6 70.fxg6 I played the number two player in the Re6 35.Rf3 Kg6 36.Bf4 Rc6 37.Bg3 Rc4 any hope of salvaging the game. Kg7 71.b5 axb5 72.a6 Ra1 73.a7 b4 world and today I played the number 38.Rd3 Kf5 39.Rf3+ Ke6 40.Rd3 f5 74.Kd5 Kxg6 75.Kc4 Rxa7 76.Bxa7 two player in the world”said Alexander 41.f3 f4 42.Bf2 Ke5 43.c3 Rc6 44.Rxd4 [The game of the round was surely Kg5=] Grischuk during his postgame interview. Rh6 45.Kc1 Rh3 46.Rd2 Rxf3 47.Bd4+ 16...e4 17.Ne5 Kg8 18.Qxg6 Qe7 the reiteration of the 2016 World Of course, he was referring to his Ke4 48.Kb2 Rd3 49.Rxd3 Kxd3 50.Bxb6 [Novelty. This position has occurred Championship match. Let's see what 67.Re1 g5+ 68.fxg6 Kg7 69.g5 Kxg6 opponent’s rating climb after his win over Ba4 51.Ba7 f3 52.Bg1 Kd2 53.Ba7 Bd1 once before where 18...Qf6 was played happened this time around!] 70.gxf6 Kxf6 71.Rh1 Rf7 72.Ke3 Ke6 Wesley So. Mamedyarov chose a sharp 54.Bc5 Ba4 55.Ba7 Ke2 56.c4 d4 57.Bxd4 but after 19.Qxf6 gxf6 20.Ng4 f5 73.Rh4 Rf6 74.Rh7 Rf7 75.Rh5 Kd7 line in the Winawer with the black pieces, Kd3 58.Ba7 Kxc4 ½–½ (58) Georgiadis,N 21.Nf6+ Kf7 22.Nxd5 White won a 1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 76.e5 [The position is starting to become which was played last month by Carlsen (2526)-Carlsen,M (2842) Biel 2018] pawn and the game] 0–0 5.Nf3 d5 6.a3 Be7 7.d4 dxc4 claustrophobic. The "E" pawn approaching in Biel. Grischuk didn’t have a high 8.Ne5 Nc6 9.Bxc6 bxc6 10.Nxc6 Qe8 the promotion square, coupled with the opinion of the opening line in general, 9.Nf3 Nc6 10.Bb2 Nge7 11.Bd3 [11. 19.Ng4 Bd7 20.Nf6+ [White 11.Nxe7+ Qxe7 [A typical looking fact that by this moment Karjakin only humorously referring to it as a “joke Nbxd4 is the more common move 11...h5 decides to go for the repetition. A wise Catalan, the only difference is the pawn had 30 seconds left on his clock, will bring line” saved in his notes. He was under 12.Qf4 Ng6 13.Nxc6 Nxf4 14.Nxd8 decision, otherwise after Black plays on a2 is now on a3. In some instances the resilient Russian's demise.] the impression that it was close to losing Bxd8 15.g3 Ng6] Rf8, the white king won't have a safe that could allow black to create some for Black, but in fact, during the game, he home] extra problems due to the b3 hole in 76...Rf1 77.Ke4 Kc6?? [And the decisive realized that it was not so easy for White. 11...Ng6 12.Qg3 [with this move 37...Bxd5 38.Rxd5 Kg6? [no reason White's position.] blunder finally finds its way on the board.] White is trying to play for an advantage] to give up the pawn] 20...Kf8 21.Nh7+ Kg8 22.Nf6+ Kf8 23.Nh7+ Kg8 24.Nf6+ Kf8 12.Qa4 c5 13.dxc5N [13.Qxc4 cxd4 [77...Re1+ 78.Kd5 Rd1+ 79.Bd4 12...f6 13.Bxg6 hxg6 14.Nbxd4 [38...Rc8 39.Rd6 Ra7 40.e4 Rcc7= 14.Qxd4 e5 15.Qh4 Qe6 16.0–0 Bb7 was Rd8! 80.Rh6 Kc7+ 81.Rd6 Rxd4+ Nxe5 15.Nxe5 fxe5 16.Nf3 [16.Qxe5 White is still pressing but the game ½–½ the previous attempt. Black generally 82.Kxd4 Rxd6+ 83.exd6+ Kxd6=] was played by the 2018 US Champion should peter out into a draw.] equalizes the game with ease.] Sam Shankland 16...Rh5 17.Nxe6+ Bxe6 78.Rh6+ [Now Carlsen has found 18.Qxe6 Qe8 19.Qxe8+ Rxe8+ 20.Kd1 39.Rc5 Rh8 40.Kg3 Rb6 41.Rxc4 13...Qxc5 14.Be3 Qc7 15.Rd1 Nd5 the path to victory.