2017 London Classic

endgame squeeze and the tremendous effort he exerted to win it completely warmed him up for the tie-breaks. Also, both Fabi and Ian were to receive the same prize money, $62,500 each — the playoff was only for bragging rights and the trophy.

First Caruana and Nepomniachtchi had to play two 10 minute plus fivesecond delay games (A 5-second delay means five seconds is the time allowance for you to make a move. If you don’t use up your 5-second there is no advantage gained, for the difference is NOT added to your clock). After two draws they then played two 5-minute plus 3-second delay games. Caruana won the 4th game and he was declared the champion. Wesley So won only one game and drew the rest. This win though was very precious for Wesley as it was the first time he had defeated the former world champion in classical time control. And it was done in impressive manner. Bring out your chessboard to replay the game — you would appreciate it more rather than watching it unfold on a computer screen.

Dec. 11, 2017 is the 48th birthday of Viswanathan Anand. Wesley commented after the game that he was not aware of this, but I am sure that would not have changed his decision to play for a win here. After all, he has a good record against people celebrating their birthdays! Last year he beat Nakamura here in London in a quick 29-mover on Dec. 29, Nakamura’s natal day.

The Chessbase website reveals that Wesley So is currently doing an opening DVD on the Italian Game, so he is very up-to-date on the latest theory here.

In Winning with the Slow ( but Venomous) Italian by Karsten Mueller (the endgame expert but not only that — you should read all of his books) and Georgios Souleidis, the authors point out White’s usual plan of attack in this position — he wants to play c2–c3, d2–d3, h2–h3, Re1, Nb1–d2–f1 and then proceed with Ng3, Be3 or d3–d4. As they say, “this plan is very easy to remember.”

This is Grischuk’s favorite which he brought back into fashion in 2016. We will explain this a little bit more after you go through the line below.

In last year’s Sinquefield Cup Anand faced Wesley So in this same line and chose the usual move 6.c3 and after 6... d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.a4 (8.Re1 used to be the main line and I still believe it to be very strong, but it usually results in the exchange of queens right away. If you don’t want to go into the endgame then 8.a4 is the move for you) 8...Nb6 (home preparation by Wesley. 8...a6 or 8...a5 are the usual moves. 9.Bb5 Ne7!? (what!? leaving the e5– pawn unprotected?) 10.a5! (It turns out that Anand is also familiar with this position. Taking the e5–pawn with 10.Nxe5 does not promise much. After 10...c6 11.Bc4 Bd6 12.Bf4 Nxc4 13.dxc4 Nf5! Black has good compensation for the pawn because of his two bishops. Besides, White’s extra pawn is doubled anyway) 10...c6! An important resource. 11.axb6 cxb5 12.Rxa7! Rxa7 13.bxa7 Bxa7 14.Nxe5 Bf5! White is a pwn up but is feeling the pressure form the Black bishops. 15.Re1 Bb8! 16.Na3 b4! 17.cxb4 Qd5 18.Nec4 (18.Bf4 f6 19.Nec4 Bxf4 20.Rxe7 Rd8 is also fine for Black.; 18.d4! Rd8 19.Nf3 Nc6 20.b5 Nb4 21.Re32 was the critical test of Black’s setup.) 18... Bxd3 (18...Nc6!? 19.Qh5 Qxd3 also yields good compensation for a pawn.) 19.Rxe7 Bxc4 20.Qxd5 Bxd5 the game was headed for a draw. Anand,V (2770)- So,W (2771) Saint Louis USA 2016 1/2 39.

OK, having played through Anand vs Wesley, you now understand that Grischuk’s move discourages ...d5 as, in comparison with the previous note his pawn on d3 is not weak and thus he gets a good version of that line.

There is this famous game from last year’s Baku Olympiad where Wesley demolished Ian Nepomniachtchi who was at that time on the crest of a 7-game winning streak. It gives me a good feeling so let us review that game. 6...d6 7.c3 a6 8.h3 Ba7 9.Re1 Ne7 (preparing the typical ...c6 and ...d5) 10.d4 Ng6 11.Bd3 c6 12.Be3 Nh5 13.Nbd2 Nhf4 14.Bf1 exd4 15.Bxd4 Bxd4 16.cxd4 d5 17.e5 f6 18.Ra3 fxe5 19.dxe5?! This might be a mistake. Taking the knight seems better as then White will have use of the open e-file. 19...a5! 20.Qc1 Qe7! 21.Rb3 Bf5!? 22.Nd4 Ne6! 23.Nxf5?! (Nepom’s game now takes a turn for the worse. After 23.Nxe6! Bxe6 24.g3! the game is not yet over) 23...Rxf5 24.Bd3 Rf4! perhaps Nepom expected Wesley to take the pawn on e5, but on f4 it proves to be a monster 25.Bxg6 hxg6 26.Qd1 Raf8! 27.Rf3 Qb4! 28.Rxf4 Rxf4 29.Nf3 Qxa4!? 30.Qd3 Rf5 31.Qb1 Qf4 Black has won a pawn, and this was enough to win the game. Nepomniachtchi,I (2740)- So,W (2782) Baku AZE 2016 0–1 50.

This was the crucial game in the Russia vs USA match. Ray Robson had already lost (to Grischuk) and the other two games had ended in draws. Wesley was under pressure to win this one to tie the match. And win it he did!

Please do not fall for 7...d6?? 8.b4 Bb6 9.a5 trapping the dark-squared bishop. Due to White’s unambitious play Wesley decides to do the pushing.

This was criticized by some commentators as weakening the c3–pawn, but I think this is a matter of perfect hindsight — if White didn’t commit the inaccuracies that follow the “weakness” wouldn’t have mattered.

POSITION AFTER 23...QXD8

The game is still equal but now watch as Wesley slowly but surely takes over.

Anand was probably expecting an exchange of queens and a quick handshake, especially as Wesley had drawn all of his other games in the tournament. Unfortunately the Pinoy wanted to play some more. Stronger is g3 or Nd3 to keep the black knight off f4.

[27.Kh2]

[28.Qxc3? Qe2+ 29.Kg1 Qd1+ 30.Kh2 Ne23 threatening Qg1 mate 31.Qe1 Qxc2 Black is a pawn up and has the better position to boot]

Threatening ...Nxh3 and ...Qxf2 mate. [31.Qf3?? Nd2+] Renewing the threat of ...Nxh3.

After 33...Qb2 34.Qc2 Qxc2 35.Nxc2 Nd2+ White would be two pawns down in a knight endgame so he gives up.

A few days ago the Russian Superfinals concluded (we will have more to say about this on Tuesday). That means that the next big classical tournament will be in Wijk aan Zee in January 2018, which also means that the current ratings of the players will remain more or less intact till the end of the year. Remember, I said classical tournament. We have the World Rapid and Blitz Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia before the end of the year and the European Rapid and Blitz Championships before that in Katowice,Poland. Here are the current live classical ratings:

Live Ratings ( Russian Superfinals included) 1. Magnus Carlsen NOR 2833.8 2. Fabiano Caruana USA 2811.1 3. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE 2799.0 4. Levon Aronian ARM 2796.5 5. Maxime Vacier Lagrave FRA 2792.6 6. Wesley So USA 2791.76 7. Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2787.0 8. Hikaru Nakamura USA 2780.7 9. Ding Liren CHN 2768.9 10. Peter Svidler RUS 2767.7 As you can see Peter Svidler, by winning the Russian Superfinals (for the 8th time!) has re-entered the World Top 10 and Ding Liren has risen up to no. 9.

It sure looks like 2018 is going to be another great chess year!