CHESS#1295
The Candidates remains a tight contest with three contenders. Fabiano Caruana holds the lead with 6.5 points from ten games. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov follows with 6 points. The third “plus-scorer” is Alexander Grischuk (5.5). Sergey Karjakin and Ding Liren (both 5) are on 50 per cent — Ding has 10 draws. Vladimir Kramnik (4.5), Wesley So (4) and Levon Aronian (3.5) trail.
Mamedyarov is the top seed and world #2. He’s won only one game but he’s avoided trouble. He and Caruana are unbeaten. Caruana has won wild scraps versus Aronian and Kramnik though he missed a win versus Ding. Grischuk is battling the clock — his usual time scrambles make it hard to predict results.
The poor form of Aronian and Kramnik is disappointing. Aronian’s poor play in the Candidates points to a psychological block. Kramnik started with 2.5 from his first three games but he’s been much too optimistic, making wild sacrifices.
The battle for first — and that’s the only spot that counts here — is likely to involve only the three GMs with plus scores. Mamedyarov is an oddly unknown quantity. The 32-year-old Azeri has been a super GM for over a decade. But he’s found a new gear and more solidity in the last 12-15 months when he’s consistently achieved excellent results and pushed his rating above 2800. Caruana has had his ups-and-downs. The reason I’m hoping he will make it to Challenger status is that he’s capable of winning multiple games against anyone, when his form is up. He’s also an uncompromising fighter.
The Candidates have obscured the concurrent European Individual Championships which are being played in Batumi (Georgia) which will also host the Olympiads later this year. Tamir Nabaty, Evgeny Najer, Gawain Jones, Ernesto Inarkiev, Sanan Sjugirov, Radek Wojtaszek and Benjamin Bok share the lead (all on 5) after six rounds.
The Diagram, BLACK TO PLAY, (White: Aronian Vs Black: Caruana, Candidates 2018) is a nice example of Caruana’s nerves. Black played the pragmatic 27.— e5 28.Rxc6 bxc6 29.Nxf7+ Rxf7 30.hxg6 Rf6 ?! [This position is insane. The engines say 30.—Rxf4 31. Rxf4 ef4 32. Qxd4+ Qe5 33. g7+ Kg8 34. Bc4+ Kh7 35. Qd3 + Kxh6 36. g8=Q Rxg8 37. Bxg8 Qh8!! 38. Bb3 Kg5+
39. Kg2 Qxb2+ wins. Unlikely any human would find this line, especially in time-trouble.]
Play continued 31.g7+ Kg8 32.Bc4+? Kh7 [ Aronian missed a drawing chance with 32. Qh4! e4
33. h7+ Kxg7 34. Rg3+ Kh8 35. Rg8+ Rxg8 36. hxg8=Q+ Kxg8 37. Bc4+ Kg7 38. Qg5+ Kh7 39. Qg8+ ] The game ended 33.Qh4 e4 34.Rg3 Bxf4 35.g8Q+ Rxg8 36.Bxg8+ Kh8 37.Rg7 Qf8 (0–1). White’s run out of ideas, he’s way behind on material and Rxh6 is a deadly threat.