Chess Classic & Open
Carlsen with loss and win on day 1 of GRENKE Chess Classic
Five years after the last edition, the GRENKE Chess Festival is finally taking place again. From 26 March to 1 April, six world stars compete in a special rapid chess format at the GRENKE Chess Classic.
In the first two rounds, the spectators got to see high-quality chess games. After a win against Carlsen and a draw against Ding Liren, Richard Rapport leads the table with 1.5 points. Magnus Carlsen, Vincent Keymer, Ding Liren and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave follow in second place with 1 point each. Daniel Fridman is currently in last place with 0.5 points.
round 1
Richard Rapport vs. Magnus Carlsen 1:0
Rapport put Carlsen under pressure throughout the game. He was visibly trying to play offensive and put the number one in the world under pressure. Carlsen not only found himself in a passive position, but also in time trouble. On move 40 he blundered: ... Nd2?? which allowed Rxd2. Carlsen immediately resigned, because if Black's rook takes back on d2, White can set up the decisive skewer with his bishop (Be3+).
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs. Ding Liren 0,5:0,5
In this duel, the No. 3 played against the No. 2 in the world rapid ranking. The game was very balanced and at a high level with 98.7 and 98.9 percent accuracy, respectively. Accordingly, the game ended in a draw.
Vincent Keymer vs. Daniel Fridman 0,5:0,5
Anyone who had expected the German No. 1 Keymer to be in front of the duel was disappointed. Fridman played a strong game with the black pieces and was given a comfortable position with slight advantages. In the end, however, he couldn´t make a decisive breakthrough, so that after 35 moves a draw was achieved by repetition.
Runde 2:
Ding Liren vs. Richard Rapport 0,5:0,5
Against his second at the 2023 World Chess Championship, Ding Liren found a quick way to a draw by repetition of moves. Both players then had the opportunity to analyse the other two games still in progress together with commentator Jan Gustafsson.
Daniel Fridman vs. Magnus Carlsen 0:1
Black advanced with two dangerous pawns, but surprisingly ... g4-g3 was a mistake (...Bh6 would habe been better). Fridman found the excellent resource Ta8! here, because after ... Rxa8 the white queen can take the Rf3.
But in the resulting endgame, Carlsen once again showed all his class and was able to defeat Fridman.
Vincent Keymer vs. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 0,5:0,5
Not only rook endgames, but also knight endgames have their pitfalls. This was once again impressively demonstrated in this game. According to the engine, Keymer had the advantage twice (thanks to an extra pawn), but both times he did not find the most accurate continuation, so that Vachier-Lagrave was able to get away with a draw. In the following position, Nd3 instead of Ne4 would have led to success in order to cover the important pawn on e5.
The tournament format is quite unusual for the players. The game is played with a time limit of 45 minutes plus 10 seconds increment per move. The psychological component certainly plays an important role in this. Some players can count on family support, such as Magnus Carlsen (as usual with his father) and Ding Liren, who is accompanied by his mother, as he was during his successful World Championship:
Tomorrow (Wednesday 27 March) the following pairings will take place:
round 3:
- Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs. Daniel Fridman
- Richard Rapport vs. Vincent Keymer
- Magnus Carlsen vs. Ding Liren
round 4:
- Richard Rapport vs. Daniel Fridman
- Magnus Carlsen vs. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
- Ding Liren vs. Vincent Keymer
The games start at 3 p.m. in the RSM Ebner Stolz Lounge of the Gartenhalle Karlsruhe, before the stars move to the Schwarzwaldhalle on Thursday, when the big GRENKE Chess Open starts at about 6:30 p.m. Registration is still possible here. Preparations for the big rush (over 2,700 players are registered) are in full swing:
Link to all games of the day: GRENKE Chess Classic and Open 2024 - Chess.com
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Screenshots: chess.com