Revival of intrigue: Vachier-Lagrave defeated Nepomniachtchi in the first chess tournament

Nepomniachtchi lost to Vashier-Lagrava

In Yekaterinburg, after a day of rest, the tournament of applicants for the match against the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen for the world chess crown resumed. On Wednesday, March 25th, the games of the seventh round were played. In the central match, the Frenchman Maxim Vashye-Lagrave and the Russian Yan Nepomnyashchy met.

By the time of the full-time match, they occupied the second and first places in the standings, respectively. Moreover, they shared only one point. Both grandmasters successfully held the start of the competition and, according to experts, were in good shape. At the same time, if Nepomniachtchi purposefully prepared for the challenging tournament for a long time, then Vashier-Lagrave became a participant only in March after the refusal of Azerbaijani Teymur Rajabov to speak due to the situation with coronavirus.

Ian Nepomniachtchi is not pleased with how his daring Winawer attempt turned out. No lipreading, please. 😂 pic.twitter.com/4706N0tjt6

The fight in this game was, in fact, for two points. That is, the winner not only earned a credit score, but actually selected him from a direct competitor. On the Vashier-Lagrava side, in addition to the fact of playing with white pieces, there were statistics of personal meetings. In classical chess, he had previously won five games against Nepomniachtchi with seven draws and only one defeat. The Russian won his only victory over an uncomfortable opponent at the Grand Prix stage in Jerusalem in December 2019. That failure actually deprived the Frenchman of the opportunity to qualify for Yekaterinburg on a sporting basis.

Now Vashier-Lagrave has taken convincing revenge. To complete the game in his favor, it took him a little over 40 moves. According to the press center of the tournament of applicants, a double-edged version of Winover in the French defense was played at their table.

The Frenchman avoided repeating the script of the game between Kirill Alekseenko and Nepomniachtchi, played in the third round.

“At the exit from the opening, White got a promising position, as Black was left without castling, and his play on the queenside did not bring them the desired dividends. White managed to double along the “b” line and exert significant pressure. Closer to the control of time, Vashier-Lagrave opened a second front on the kingside, after which Black found himself in a desperate situation, ”describes the game on the FSHR website.

According to GM Yevgeny Gleizerov, who was commenting on the game for chesspro.ru, the consequences of the common cold could have negatively affected the game of Nepomniachtchi. Even after the meetings of the sixth round on Monday, the Russian complained of poor health. As Glazerov noted, ailments of this kind are not uncommon for the Nepomniachtchi. One of them prevented him from winning the super tournament in Wijk aan Zee last year.

“Vashier-Lagrave remains an extremely uncomfortable opponent for Nepomniachtchi. Today, Maxim clearly won the debut duel, while Jan, in preparation, seems to have significantly underestimated the danger of the position he decided to go to. The Frenchman played as if on notes, bravo, a wonderful party! So, in front of the second circle of leaders, two. The wind of luck, as is often the case in chess, blew into the sails of a participant admitted at the last moment. But nothing has been decided, there are seven parties ahead, and the tournament intrigue can unfold in the most unexpected way, ”said Glazerov.

Levitov called to stop the tournament of applicants

The remaining parties ended in a peaceful outcome. American Fabiano Caruana played in white with the Chinese Wang Hao, another representative of China, Dean Liren, with Kirill Alekseenko, and Dutchman Anish Giri with Alexander Grischuk.

According to the conviction of two-time Russian champion Yevgeny Tomashevsky, Grischuk will still play an important role in Yekaterinburg and will end up in at least the first three.

“There is nothing wrong with such a draw series, this is typical for modern tournaments. Anything can happen, there are many draws in chess, and this should not be surprising. This is not an extreme excess of statistics, but a relatively popular phenomenon. In addition, Alexander could both win in these games and lose, ”RIA Novosti quotes the grandmaster.

In the general classification, Grischuk, Geary, Caruana and Wang Hao share 3–6 positions, gaining 3.5 points. The table is closed by Ding Liren and Alekseenko. They have 2.5 points.

At the halfway point of the #FIDECandidates MVL and Nepomniachtchi are now tied on 4.5 / 7! https://t.co/umqqXd8nP5#c24livepic.twitter.com/fdRoRmo8O3

Meanwhile, the former executive director of the Russian Chess Federation (RCF), Ilya Levitov, criticized the organizers for refusing to suspend the applicants' tournament due to the threat of the spread of the COVID-19 virus. In a live broadcast of the seventh-round games on Chess24, the functionary stated that, "despite the philosophical attitude of Vashier-Lagrave towards life, it is clear that all participants are not at ease."

“This is chaos. Just a mess. If you call a spade a spade. But to hold this tournament is a disgrace. It just needs to be stopped today. And further think what to do, ”Levitov summed up.

He also noted that many competitors have never played as badly as in recent days. The famous chess player Yevgeny Bareev, in turn, suggested that the thoughts of one of the main favorites of the Caruana tournament are now occupied not so much with the game as with the prospects of returning to the United States in conditions of border closure.

In the eighth round on Thursday Nepomnyashchy and Giri, Caruana and Vashier-Lagrave, Alekseenko and Grischuk, Wang Hao and Ding Liren will play.