Paris Rapid/Blitz
Grand Chess Tour (GCT) points are awarded based on your final standing at the end of each tournament. For the Rapid/Blitz events the rules give 13 points for the tournament victor, 10 for second place, eight for third place, seven for fourth place and so on down the line.
What is the significance of these GCT points? Well, after all the five events (the remaining three events are Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Aug. 10-15, Sinquefield Cup Aug. 17-28, and London Classic in December 2018) are concluded these GCT points are summed up and the top three finishers share in the $150,000 Grand Tour Pot (first place $75,000, second place $50,000 and third place $25,000). Definitely nothing to sneeze at.
The first two legs (Leuven and Paris) are over and Wesley So is still leading in the overall standings. Below are the total GCT points earned plus prize money each player has won so far.
I think by now Wesley So is acknowledged as the second best rapid player in the world after Magnus Carlsen. Apart from the fact that his rapid rating (2852) is second only to Carlsen (2880), the
Cavite native has also won both rapid legs in the Leuven and Paris rapid/ blitz tournaments in Magnus’ absence.
And there is nothing topsy- turvy about his wins. If there is any takeaway from the following game it is the feeling of control — at every step of the way Wesley knew what he was doing.
So, Wesley (2763) — Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime (2777) [A30] Paris GCT 2018–Rapid Paris (3), 20.06.2018 1.Nf3 c5 2.b3 b6 3.Bb2 Bb7 4.c4 Nf6 5.g3 g6 6.Bxf6!?
A paradoxical move, giving up his darksquared bishop which is excellently stationed on the long diagonal. I remember seeing a video on this theme in a VHS (yes, that long ago) on the Modern Opening. The idea is that Black’s grip on d5 has been considerably weakened and so long as White has a plan on what to do with that square then he can create winning chances. 6...exf6 7.Nc3
White will continue Bg2, 0–0 then Ne1 to exchange bishops and then put his knight on d5. MVL must have thought: two can play the game. 7...Bxf3!? 8.exf3 Nc6
We have a symmetrical position. As the BW reader knows, the problem in such positions for the second player is deciding when to break the symmetry. 9.Bg2 Bg7 10.Qe2+ Kf8
No problem with 10...Qe7 either.
11.0–0 f5 12.f4 Bf6 13.Rae1 Kg7 14.Qd3 Rc8 15.Re3 Nd4 16.Nb5 a6 17.Nxd4 Bxd4 18.Re2 Re8 19.Rfe1 [19.Bb7 Rb8 20.Bxa6 Ra8 21.Bb7 Rxa2 only benefits Black]
19...Rxe2 20.Qxe2 d6?
A careless move, increasing the power of the white bishop while not doing anything for his own. Simply 20...Bf6 maintains equality. 21.Qe7 Bf6 22.Qb7 a5 23.Bd5 Rc7 <D>
Look at this position. I was watching this game live as was thinking to myself: white can’t take the pawn because of 24.Qxb6 Re7! Well, no sooner had I thought that when the moves came in... 24.Qxb6! Re7 25.Rxe7!
Of course not 25. Qxd8?? Rxe1+ 26.Kg2 Bxd8 Black wins
25...Qxb6 26.Rxf7+ Kh8 27.Rf8+ Kg7 28.Rf7+ Kh8! 29.Rxf6
The more I look at this position the more I realize that White’s rook and
bishop are much stronger than the Black queen due precisely to White’s grip on d5. 29... Qb4 30. Rxd6 Qxd2 31. Rc6 Qd4?
[31...Qxa2 32.Rxc5 Qxb3 33.Rxa5 is a tougher defense although it should not alter the outcome] 32.Kg2 Kg7 33.Rc7+ Kh8 34.h4!
Wesley’s idea is to play 35.Rc8+ Kg7 36.Rg8+ Kf6 37.Ra8 Qc5 38.Ra7 with unavoidable mate on f7. Even 38... g5 39. h5 gxf4 40.gxf4 doesn’t do any good.
What if Black’s king goes to h6 instead of f6? Well, 35.Rc8+ Kg7 36.Rg8+ Kh6 37.Ra8 Qc3 38.Ra7 with the idea of Bg8 and Rxh7 checkmate. Black’s queen has to go to h8 whereupon White wins the a5 pawn. 34...h5 35.a4 1–0
Black is in zugzwang and will lose the c5–pawn once his queen moves.
Around 10 years ago, while annotating a game for New in Chess Magazine, Wesley remarked that his endgame technique is not of a sufficiently high level yet and it still needs a lot of work. That was then and today, even in fast time controls, Wesley has awesome technique.
So, Wesley (2778) — Grischuk, Alexander (2766) [D91] GCT Rapid Paris 2018 Paris FRA (5), 21.06.2018 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Bg7 5.Nf3
Couldn’t White have won a pawn here with 5.Bxf6 Bxf6 6.cxd5? Well, yes, but it is actually a sacrifice. After 6…c5!? (This is cutting edge modern theory, sacrificing a second pawn. Previously the usual continuation was 6...c6 7.dxc6 Bxd4 8.cxb7 Bxb7 Black has sufficient compensation for the pawn. This was the way that Peter Svidler used to play the Black side, and he is the greatest authority on the Gruenfeld now) 7.dxc5 Nd7 8.e3 0–0 9.Bc4 Nxc5 10.Nge2 Qa5 Tomashevsky,E (2749)-Dominguez Perez,L (2734) Khanty-Mansiysk 2015 ½ 101. Black’s compensation for the pawn is ok. His pieces are better positioned and he has the two bishops. 5...Ne4
I am sorry, there is way too much theory here, including 5... c5 and 5... dxc4. Let us just concentrate on the game continuation. 6.Bf4 0–0 7.Nxd5 c5 8.Qc2 f5 9.Bc7 Getting rid of the possibility of ...Qa5+ 9...Qd7 10.Be5 cxd4 11.Bxg7 Kxg7 12.Qd1 Nc6 13.Nxd4 e6 14.Nxc6 exd5 15.Qd4+ Rf6?
Now this is clearly a mistake. 15...Nf6 16.Ne5 Qa4 with chances for both sides. White’s position is not as solid as it looks. If he is not careful he could get in trouble: 17.b3 Qb4+ 18.Qd2 Qe7 19.Nf3 dxc4 20.bxc4 Re8 21.e3 f4 Black is playing for the win.
16.Nb4! dxc4 17.Nd5 Qd8 18.0–0–0 Be6 19. Nxf6 Qxd4 20. Rxd4 Nxf2 21.Nh5+! gxh5 22.Rg1 Kf6 23.g3 White is the exchange up but it is not easy to win.
23...Ke5 24.Rf4 Ng4 25.Bg2 Ne3
[25...Nxh2 26.Rh1 Ng4 27.e4!]
26.Kd2 Nxg2 27.Rxg2 b5 28.Rh4 Rd8+ 29.Kc1 Bf7 30.Rf2 With the idea of 31.e4!
30... Rd7 31. e3 a5 32. Rd4 Re7 33.Rdf4 Be6 34.Rh4 Bf7 35.e4! fxe4 36.Rxe4+ Kxe4 37.Re2+ The end. 37...Kf3 38.Rxe7 Bg6 39.Re5 Kg2 40.Rxb5 Kxh2 41.Rg5 a4 42.Kd2 Kh3 43.Kc3 h4 44.gxh4 Kxh4 45.Rg1 Kh3 46.Kxc4 Kh2 47.Rg5 Be8 48.Kb4 h5 49.Re5 Bf7 50.Rf5 Be8 51.Rf8 Bd7 52.Rh8 Bg4 53.Kxa4 Kg3 54.b4 1–0
Is Wesley really weaker at blitz speeds? I do not agree. Remember two or three years’ back he was not among the top 10 in both active and blitz. When he decided to improve his skills at quickplay both ratings went up right away — it was just a matter of setting his mind to it. In 2017, GM Wesley won the rapid portion of the Leuven Rapid/Blitz and after that, despite playing in the strongest rapid events in the world, it was no longer a surprise when he comes out on top.
To go back to the first question, is he weaker in blitz? Not true either. Don’t forget that Wesley won the Blitz tournament in Stavanger, Norway last May ahead of Magnus Carlsen, Nakamura, Karjakin, Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, Ding Liren — all the best blitzers were in attendance. He probably just did not adjust well to playing Rapid and then immediately switching to Blitz pace the next day. I am sure by next year we will see improved results.
Wesley is still young, he is still getting better. In all time controls.