Nepomniachtchi's debut and Grischuk's third attempt
Grandmaster Yang Nepomniachtchi defeated Wei Yi in the final of the fourth stage of the Grand Prix series of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Jerusalem. The Russians won the first game with black pieces on move 96. In the second, the Chinese were forced to agree to a draw after the 26th.
C Wei and Nepomniachtchi had to meet twice during the series. In Moscow, the Russian easily defeated him at the quarter-final stage. Following the results of four stages, Nepomniachtchi scored 19 points, took second place in the overall standings and was selected for the candidates' tournament.
Ian Nepomniachtchi won Jerusalem Grand Prix after defeating Wei Yi 1.5-0.5 in the final match and qualified to the Candidates Tournament 2020. 🏆
📷 by @ riga_niki # GrandPrixFIDE # chess # FIDECandidatespic.twitter.com / m0NwoxlK3T
At the same time, the most difficult for the triumph was the confrontation in the 1/8 finals with Boris Gelfand from Israel. He also did not hide the fact that he deserved defeat in him.
“This is a momentous moment in my career. It’s a little hard for me, because I’m very tired this year and probably I won’t have time to rest because of the need to urgently begin preparations. I have to play better than in Jerusalem, if I want to claim something. It is good that I had experience playing with Fabio Caruana and other participants in the Candidates Tournament. I will try to show my best game, ”the FIDE press service quotes Nepomniachtchi.
After Gelfand, he dealt with the American Wesley So and the Frenchman Maxim Vachier-Lagrave. In turn, Wei Yi stopped the progress of Sergey Karjakin in the quarterfinal.
Final standings of #GrandPrixFIDE series 2019:
1⃣ Alexander Grischuk 🇷🇺 - 20 points (qualified to the Candidates)
2⃣ Ian Nepomniachtchi 🇷🇺 - 19 points (qualified to the Candidates)
3. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 🇫🇷 - 16
4. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 🇦🇿 - 10 # chess # FIDECandidatespic.twitter.com / mE2lmrwTgr
Alexander Grischuk will also compete for the right to challenge the chess crown with the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen in the spring of 2020 in Yekaterinburg. He missed the competition in Jerusalem (according to the rules, grandmasters perform at the three stages of the Grand Prix of four), but managed to show high results earlier. So, in Moscow in May of this year, Grischuk reached the final and lost to Nepomnyashchy, in Riga in July he reached the semi-finals, and in November he won in Hamburg.
“The fight will be very intense”
According to FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, the rivalry for the right to challenge the current champion of the planet promises to be especially intense.
“Grischuk and Nepomniachtchi brilliantly performed in the Grand Prix series and will fight for victory in the candidates' tournament. I congratulate them on this success and - as a fan - I am very happy about it. But all the participants of the tournament are top-level players, the fight will be very intense, ”the Championship official quotes.
Success in the general classification brought Grischuk € 50 thousand in prize money. Nepomniachtchi earned € 45 thousand for the second place and € 24 thousand for the victory in Jerusalem. Grischuk will play at the Candidates Tournament for the third time in his career. In London 2013 and Berlin 2018, he ranked sixth out of eight. In the first case, Alexander was ahead of the Ukrainian Vasily Ivanchuk and the Azerbaijani Teymur Rajabov, in the second - the American Wesley So and the Armenian Levon Aronian. Nepomniachtchi will make his debut in competitions of this level. The December FIDE rating of Russian chess players is divided into four lines. 36-year-old Grischuk is fifth with a score of 2777 points, Nepomniachtchi is ninth with 2767.
In the first 20 three more Russians are represented: Sergey Karjakin (17th place, 2754), Vladimir Kramnik (18, 2753) and Nikita Vitiugov (19, 2747). The most remarkable situation with Kramnik. In January 2019, the 14th world champion announced his retirement, but in August he played at the Blitz tournament in Amsterdam, and in late December he is preparing to play at the World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Moscow. However, Garry Kasparov, after leaving sports, took part in individual competitions.
Wild-card for Alekseenko and the absence of Karjakin
The selection system for the tournament of candidates can be called quite transparent and objective. In addition to the winner and athlete who took second place in the final standings of the Grand Prix series, the participants included Carlsen's rival in the match for the chess crown in 2018, American Fabio Caruana, grandmasters from the top 2 of the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk (Rajabov and Chinese Ding Liren), the best in the Grand Swiss tournament (Chinese Wang Hao) and the holder of the highest average annual rating among those who were not selected by sports principle (Dutch Anish Giri).
The eighth chess player was to be called the Russian Chess Federation (FSHR). The main applicants for a wild card were Russian Kirill Alekseenko, who took third place in the “Big Swiss”, and Vachier-Lagrave. This chess player finished third in the Grand Prix and World Cup. However, representatives of the FSHR previously hinted that they were inclined to the option with the Russian. And on the evening of December 22, Alekseenko really became the owner of the wild card.
Noteworthy is the absence among the participants of the tournament of applicants Karjakin. In 2016, a Russian successfully performed at a similar competition in Moscow, and then worthily fought Carlsen in New York in the fight for the chess crown. In 2018, Karjakin claimed the repetition of success until the last rounds, but made a series of misfires in the ending.
He ended the season unsuccessfully. In Jerusalem, the grandmaster completed his performance already at the quarterfinal stage and, as a result, was classified only 14th in the final Grand Prix standings. Not the best was the result of Karjakin in the World Cup - 13th position. The athlete himself admitted that he was very tired after a series of flights and only dreamed of rest. According to the Russian, playing in three contenders in a row has become a huge burden for him.