To the chagrin of headline writers and Twitter posters everywhere, Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi on Monday won the FIDE Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg, Russia, with a round to spare, earning the right to challenge Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in a title match later this year.
Despite the challenges of spelling his last name, the 30-year-old native of Bryansk, Russia, proved a worthy winner of the eight-grandmaster event, which stretched across more than 15 months after a sizable midtournament pause brought on by COVID-19. With a Round 13 draw Monday against France’s GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, “Nepo” was at 8½-4½, a full point ahead of Dutch pursuer GM Anish Giri, and 1½ points clear of Vachier-Lagrave and U.S. hopeful GM Fabiano Caruana. Even if Giri catches the Russian in Tuesday’s final round, Nepomniachtchi would take the title because of better tiebreaks.
Interestingly, Nepo enjoys a 4-1 edge over Carlsen in games at classical time controls, though three of those game date back more than a decade and their first encounter (a Nepomniachtchi win) came at the European Under-12 championship way back in 2002.
Carlsen will likely be at least a slight favorite to retain his crown, but it could be a very tight battle. Nepomniachtchi, who has won both the Russian national title and the European individual crown, will likely move up to No. 3 in the world in the FIDE ratings after his impressive win in Yekaterinburg.
In addition to playing solid chess throughout the tournament, Nepomniachtchi followed the tried-and-true method of holding his own against his main rivals while scoring big against the tailenders. A key win came in Saturday’s Round 12, a virtually stress-free dismantling of Russian compatriot GM Kirill Alekseenko, the lowest-rated player in the field.
Black demonstrates a shaky feel for this English Opening line — already 8. Nc3 Be7?! is a serious misjudgment when Black’s primary assignment is to address his undeveloped queenside. With Nepo’s fianchettoed bishop keeping Black’s queenside in knots, Alekseenko offers up another positional concession with 14. Rac1 e5?! 15. Nf5 Bxf5 (a painful trade, but on 15… Bf8, White already has 16. Nxg7! Kxg7 [Bxg7 17. Qb3 Rxd1+ 18. Nxd1 Qd8 19. Qxb6] 17. Qb3! Nbd7 18. Ne4 Qb8 19. Nxf6 Kxf6 20. Bg5+! Kxg5 21. Qxf7, and the computer confirms the gut feeling that there is no way the exposed Black king can escape alive) 16. Qxf5, and White has two powerful bishops and heavy pressure on the Black defense.
White converts the positional advantage into a material one with 17. Bg5 Rxd1+ 18. Nxd1 Rd8 19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Be4, winning at least a pawn. Black’s attempts to confuse the matter are efficiently snuffed out on 23. Qxh7 Rxd5!? 24. Bxd5 Qd2 25. Rxc4! bxc4 26. e4 Qxb2 27. Qh8+ Ke7 28. Qc8!, with the deadly threat of 29. Qc7+. After 28…Qb6 29. Qxc4 Qb5 30. Qc7+ Qd7 31. Qc5+, Black has seen enough; e.g. 31…Qd6 (Kd8 32. Qf8+ Kc7 33. h4! is incapacitating) 32. Qa7+ Qd7 33. Qxa6 and White is a pawn to the good with an unstoppable a-pawn. Alekseenko resigned.
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Caruana was the top-rated player in the field, picked by many to qualify for a return match with Carlsen after a close title fight defeat in 2018. He stayed in touch with the leaders throughout the tournament in Yekaterinburg, but suffered a crushing defeat with White against Giri in Round 12 that effectively ended the American’s tournament.
Desperate for a win, the psychological turning point for Caruana in a complex Sicilian came with 18. b5! Rc8! 19. bxc6 Rxc6 20. Nd5 Qf8! (White may have been hoping for 20…Bxd5?! 21. exd5 Rxc2 23. Bxe5 dxe5 23. Bd3 Rc7 24. d6! Bxd6 25. Be4, winning material), an unexpected move that consolidates the Black defense and blunts White’s dreams of an advantage.
A clearly dejected Caruana responds with a series of suboptimal moves (21. c3?! and 23. Bd2?! among them), and after 26. Qb3 Bg5 27. Bxg5 hxg5 28. Qg3 Qd8 29. Rcd1 Bxd5 30. exd5 Nf4, the agile Black knight dominates the White bishop and Giri enjoys an enduring advantage.
White’s last chance to make it a game comes after 35. Qxa7 Ra4, when 36. Qc7! Rxa2 38. h4! (and not 38. Qxd6? Rxf3! 39. gxf3 Qe2, winning on the spot) would at least have made things interesting. But Caruana instead went with the defeatist 36. Qf2? Rxa3 37. h4 Qe5 38. hxg5 Qxg5, and Black is a pawn up with a dominating position.
One final bit of drama comes with 40. Be4 Ra2!? (a move Giri thought was winning, but it turns out Black has to be careful) 41. Rb1! (Qxa2? Qh4+ 42. Kg1 Qxe1+ 43. Kh2 Qxe4, cleaning up) Ra8! (wisely backtracking, as 41…Qh5+ 42. Kg1 Ne2+?? 43. Qxe2! Qxe2 44. Rb8 is mate), and now Giri wraps things up nicely with 42. Re1 f5 43. Bb1 Kf7 44. Re3 (see diagram) Rh8+ 45. Kg1 Nxg2!, when 46. Qxg2 Qxe3+ 47. Kf1 Rh4 is curtains; Caruana resigned.
Nepomniachtchi-Alekseenko, FIDE Candidates Tournament, Yekaterinburg, Russia, April 2021
1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 d5 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Qxc4 a6 7. Qc2 c5 8. Nc3 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. d4 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Qc7 12. Rd1 Rd8 13. Be3 Nb6 14. Rac1 e5 15. Nf5 Bxf5 16. Qxf5 Nc4 17. Bg5 Rxd1+ 18. Nxd1 Rd8 19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Be4 Qa5 21. Nc3 Kf8 22. Nd5 b5 23. Qxh7 Rxd5 24. Bxd5 Qd2 25. Rxc4 bxc4 26. e4 Qxb2 27. Qh8+ Ke7 28. Qc8 Qb6 29. Qxc4 Qb5 30. Qc7+ Qd7 31. Qc5+ Black resigns.
Caruana-Giri, FIDE Candidates Tournament, Yekaterinburg, Russia, April 2021
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. a3 Be7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Be2 d6 9. Qd3 Bd7 10. f4 e5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. O-O exf4 13. Bxf4 Be6 14. Qg3 Nd7 15. Rad1 Re8 16. Kh1 Qb8 17. b4 Ne5 18. b5 Rc8 19. bxc6 Rxc6 20. Nd5 Qf8 21. c3 Rac8 22. Rc1 Ng6 23. Bd2 Bh4 24. Qe3 Rc5 25. c4 h6 26. Qb3 Bg5 27. Bxg5 hxg5 28. Qg3 Qd8 29. Rcd1 Bxd5 30. exd5 Nf4 31. Qf2 R8c7 32. Rd4 Qe8 33. Bf3 Rxc4 34. Rxc4 Rxc4 35. Qxa7 Ra4 36. Qf2 Rxa3 37. h4 Qe5 38. hxg5 Qxg5 39. Re1 Ra8 40. Be4 Ra2 41. Rb1 Ra8 42. Re1 f5 43. Bb1 Kf7 44. Re3 Rh8+ 45. Kg1 Nxg2 White resigns.
• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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