Victory in Leuven
Your Next Move Rapid & Blitz Leuven, Belgium June 12-16, 2018
Wesley So won the Leuven Rapid/Blitz event and took home $37,500 (roughly P2 million). At the time of this writing he is now no. 2 in the world in rapid chess:
World Top 10 Rapid Players (Live Ratings)
Here are two more of Wesley’s Rapid games.
Caruana, Fabiano (2816) — So, Wesley (2778) [C84]
Your Next Move GCT 2018–Rapid Leuven (1), 12.06.2018 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a4 Bd7 9.c3 0–0 10.Bc2
Have you ever seen the game Luke McShane vs Levon Aronian from London 2012? If you like playing the Ruy Lopez from the Black side it is required reading. We don’t have the space to discuss it now but the opening went 10.Nbd2 Na5 11.Bc2 c5 12.Re1 Re8 13.Nf1 Nc6 Black is doing fine and went on to win a very good game — I remember staying up all night analyzing it with great enjoyment. McShane, L ( 2713)- Aronian, L ( 2815) London ENG 2012 0–1 76. That game is also why currently 10.Bc2 is more popular than 10.Nbd2. With the bishop on c2 Black’s 10...Na5 would not work because simply 11.b4 will force it to retreat.
10...Re8 11.Re1 h6 12.Nbd2 b4
A novelty by Wesley. Usually Black likes to play 12...Bf8 here to open the possibility of continuing a’la Marshall Attack with ...d6–d5.
13. d4 Rb8 14. d5 bxc3 15. bxc3 Na5 16.Ba3 c6 17.c4 Qc7 18.Bd3 Nb7 19. Nb3 a5 20. Bc1 Bg4 21. Be3 Nd7 22.h3 Bxf3 23.Qxf3 Nbc5 24.Nxc5 Nxc5 25. Bxc5 dxc5 26. Bf1 Rb4 27.Red1 Reb8 28.g3 cxd5 29.exd5?
White should play 29.Rxd5 Qc6 with equality. The text move just gives Black a pawn majority on the kingside for no reason.
29... Bd6 30. h4 Qd7 31. Bd3 g6 32.g4 Qe7
Why didn’t Black take the pawn on a4? This is a good lesson for everybody. While there is no immediate refutation to 32...Rxa4 after 33.h5! the white attack is accelerating, and Rxa4 Qxa4 would force the queen away from the embattled kingside. Here in the game Wesley’s forces are faster and it is he who seizes control of the half-open f-file and the attack.
33. h5 Qg5 34. hxg6 fxg6 35. Qg2 Rf8! 36.Re1 Rb3 37.Re3 Rf4 38.Bf5 Rb2 39.Be6+ Kg7 40.Rf1
Trying to save the c4– pawn with 40.Re4 does not really work, as after 40... Qf6 41.Rf1 Rc2 the pawn still falls.
40... Rxc4 41. Qg3 Rbb4 42. Qh2 Rf4 43.Kh1 e4
Opening the diagonal of his d6–bishop.
44. f3 h5 45. Qh3 hxg4 46. Bxg4 Rb8 47.Qg3 Rh8+ 48.Kg2 Rxg4! 0–1
ever.
[ 48... Rxg4 49. Qxg4 Rh2+ 50.Kg1 Qxe3+ 51.Rf2 Qxf2#]
Here is one of Hikaru Nakamura’s worst losses
Nakamura, Hikaru (2769) — So, Wesley (2778) [D00] Your Next Move GCT 2018–Rapid Leuven (7), 14.06.2018 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4
A surprise as Naka has played the London System only 3 or 4 times in his career.
2...d5 3.e3 c5 4.dxc5
The London System usually continues 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.c3 or 5.Nbd2.
4...e6
On his part Wesley also goes into one of the sidelines instead of the regular 4... Nc6 or 4...Qa5+
5.b4 a5 6.c3 Bd7 7.Qb3?
A mistake which Black immediately pounces on. Correct is 7.Nd2.
7...axb4! 8.cxb4 b6 9.Bd6?
Another mistake. Also bad is 9.cxb6? Qxb6 10. b5 ( 10. a3? Bxb4+) 10... Qa5+ 11. Nd2 Bb4 12. Ngf3 Ne4 13. Qc2 Bc3 Black is clearly better. He will follow-up with 0–0 and Rc8. White should have played 9.Bd3 to keep the black knight away from e4.
9...Ne4! <D> POSITION AFTER 9...NE4
With the threat of 10...Qf6, attacking both the rook on a1 as well as the pawn on f2.
10.Qb2
After 10.Bxf8 Qf6 11.f3 Rxf8 Black has a decisive advantage
10...Nxd6 11.cxd6 Qf6!
Black forces a queen exchange and remains much better, as White has pawn weaknesses and lacks development. When was the last time Nakamura had such a bad position after 11 moves?
12.Qxf6 gxf6 13.b5 Bxd6 14.a4 Ke7 15.Bd3 Rc8 16.Ne2 e5
Going for 16...e4.
17.f3 f5 18.Ra2 Be6 19.Rc2 Bb4+ 20.Kf1 Rxa4
White’s position has already graduated from bad to losing.
21. Rxc8 Bxc8 22. Nec3 Bxc3! 23.Nxc3 Ra3 24.Nxd5+ Kd6! 25.Nxb6 Be6! 26.Bb1 Kc5!
Trapping the knight.
27.Nc8 Bxc8 28.Kf2 Be6 29.g4 fxg4 30. Bxh7 Nd7 31. Rb1 Ra2+ 32. Kg3 gxf3 33.h4 f5 34.Kxf3 Nf6! 0–1
White resigns because either he loses his bishop or, after 35.Bg6 Ne4 he is mated.
After Wesley won the rapid phase of the tournament Hikaru Nakamura, with a touch of sour grapes, remarked that he can still overhaul the 4-point gap between himself and Wesley come the blitz phase, as “He’s not the best blitz player here. There are several of us who I think are much better blitz players than Wesley.”
You know, the composition for the USA team to the Batumi Chess Olympiad later this year was announced recently: Fabiano Caruana 2816, Wesley So 2778, Hikaru Nakamura 2769, Samuel Shankland 2717 and Ray Robson 2670. This is a team average of 2770 (for team tournaments you do not include the ratings of the reserves — so only the top 4 are considered), which makes them either the no. 1 or 2 seed.
Some very strong GMs have commented that the USA has strong players, but they are not a team. If things are going their way there would be no problems but once adversity sets in then they could collapse because of poor chemistry. Well, Nakamura’s comments is part of what they are talking about — that lack of chemistry.
His remarks were immediately challenged by the other member of the American squad playing in Leuven, Fabiano Caruana, who retorted that “I don’t think that Wesley is a worse blitz player than Hikaru at all! Isn’t he higher rated? He also won the Norway Chess blitz.”
This also might be related to Nakamura’s earlier comments on the forthcoming Magnus Carlsen vs Fabiano Caruana world championship match scheduled for Nov. 9-28, 2018. While most pundits gave Carlsen a 60% chance to retain his title Nakamura’s assessment was that Magnus has a 75-80% chance of winning, with 10% of that because “Fabiano has absolutely no chance if it goes to tiebreaks.”
Well, Hikaru Nakamura is really not known for his tact, remember several years ago when he said that he never studied games of the old masters — there was nothing, for example, that Vassily Smyslov can teach him that he didn’t already know! Or that he never wanted to work with a Russian second because then the very next day every single Russian player would know all of his secrets!
In the second half of the event, the blitz phase, true enough Wesley faltered a bit but his 3-point buffer from the Rapids carried him through to the overall championship.
That is the best response to the mouth of Hikaru Nakamura. Let your chess do the talking.