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Valourous Vidit sets Biel on fire with an astounding 11.0/14 in blitz!

by Tanmay Srinath - 28/07/2019

After the Rapids, one felt that Vidit was not playing his best chess. But his play improved towards the end of rapids and in the classical event! After dominating the first 4 rounds of the classical, he now razed the field in Blitz with a powerful 11.0/14! His victory in this section followed a well known pattern - against the bottom 4 players he was absolutely ruthless with 8.0/8(!) and held his own against the remaining 3 by breaking even (3.0/6). Sam Shankland played superbly as well, but a last round loss from a completely winning position ruined his chances, and he now trails the two players race by a point with 3 Classical games left to play. An exhaustive report from Biel by Tanmay Srinath. 

Well, Biel is heading into its last three rounds of chess, and I must say the plot has gone mostly according to the script so far - the top 2 seeds are a league above the rest, with Leko being the closest to catching them. Vidit Gujarathi is playing some inspired chess at the moment, and by destroying the lower half with 8.0/8 in blitz and keeping things even against his nearest rivals he managed to win the Blitz Leg by a whole point! Sam Shankland was impressive as well. +6 is never a bad result! Maghsoodloo and Abdusattorov tried to make up for lost ground by performing well, but as it stands it's a two horse race now! Let us now take a closer look at our star performers:

Vidit's Felicity!

Well, I've run out of superlatives for Vidit! The man has played such effective chess that an entire article can be spent dissecting how he does it. We can learn a very important chess nuance over the last few days - it's sometimes not important to get an objective advantage, but it is important to get a position which is uncomfortable to play for the opponent. That explains why 2600+ GMs overlooked really simple things sometimes: the power of psychology in chess! Here are some of his best moments:

 

Vidit - Georgiadis

 Here Nico played 1...c5?! and was soon under the cosh after 2.dxc5!. Instead, 1...Nf5!? is the best way to maintain a balanced position.

Vidit - Maghsoodloo  

Black has to wait a bit - Kg7!? was an interesting way to do so, with enough solidity to maintain the balance. Instead, 1...Na4?! was an unfortunate mistake, allowing Vidit to win a pawn after Na7! and Nxb5.

Vidit-Bogner

Black had to deflect the White queen from guarding the d4 rook - 1...Rxe2! 2.Qxe2 Bxf3! with a balanced position. Instead, Bogner chose 1...Qf6? and was slowly ground down after 2.e3!

Leko-Vidit

Peter is objectively slightly worse already due to Black's perfect co-ordination. 1.d4? only made things worse - after 1...e4! Vidit took control and won a fine game. Retreating the queen to d1 was perhaps a better way to play, with a tenable position.

Cori-Vidit

As is typical in the Queen's Indian, once Black equalises he more often than not takes over. Here Black is threatening to start pressing, so it was optimal to go 1.b4! trying to fight for space on the queenside. Instead, after 1.Qc2?! Rac8 2.Qb1 b4! Vidit took over and won soon after.

Vidit-Cori

The two bishops guarantee Black enough play for the pawn, so it was imperative to retain them with 1...Ra8! fighting for the initiative. Instead, Cori played the naive 1...Bxc5? and after 2.dxc5! was seriously worse.

Bogner-Vidit

Having defended well for a long time, Bogner botched up an elementary draw after 1.c7! Rc2 2.Rg7 and Black has no way to make progress. Instead, after 1.Rh6?? Kg1! Black is suddenly winning, and Vidit rode his luck to win.

The positions I've shown look clear cut, and it initially seemed (to me as well!) that Vidit was plain lucky. However, what we need to understand that such luck needs to be created, and is not a random set of factors. In all these positions, Vidit had annoying pressure, and it is not immediately clear what his opponent should do, despite the engine's evaluation as equal. This is how chess is - sometimes equalising is not enough to draw! 

 

With this, Vidit takes over the lead yet again, by a solitary point over Shankland. With him playing like this, I am inclined to call him the favourite to lift the prestigious Biel title!

Will Vidit win the Biel GM 2019? | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel Chess Festival.

Shankland - So near yet so far!

After catching up with Vidit, Sam must have fancied his chances. He was facing Abdusattorov as White, while Vidit had Black against Cori. However, due to limited time, he messed up a completely winning endgame, and even ended up losing, while the ever solid Vidit was too accurate for Cori. Thus, what should have been a potential tie at the top became a 1 point gap. Bluff is a very important factor in Blitz, and as we shall soon see Sam is a master of winning bad positions!

 

Shankland-Cori

Cori had to play the energetic 1...d4! here, after which it is not clear how White should continue his attack, Instead, after 1...Qd8? 2.f6! Sam created a whirlwind attack that soon won him the game.

Vidit-Shankland

Vidit had to go for the Black king - 1.Rc8+! Kg7 Qc5! and White has an irritating initiative in the endgame. Instead, after 1.Rc7? Qd5?(1...Rd1+ 2.Kh2 Qd4! was stronger) 2.Qe2? (Qc5 maintained some drawing chances) Kg7!? Black is winning.

Bogner-Shankland

This is one of Shankland's cleanest victories - after 1...g5! Black obtains a winning attack.

Georgiadis-Shankland

After the elementary 1.Kd3! Rxg2 2.b6 White's pawn is unstoppable. Nico's move 1.Kb4? was bad, and after gaining an equal position Sam even went on to win!

Shankland-Bogner

One of Sam's best escape acts. Here after 1...f5! 2.Ng3 f4!! 3.exf4 d2! Black is close to winning, due to the simple fact that White's king is perennially weak. The weaker 1...Rg8? allowed 2.Ng3 Rc8 3. Ne4 Rg8? 4. Rxd3! after which White is much better.

Let us now look at the last game Shankland played in Blitz:

 

Shankland-Abdusattorov

The simple 1.Bg4! ensures an easy win after 1...Rd4 2.g6!. Instead, Sam ventured 1.g6? immediately, and Nodirbek was allowed to play Kf6! after which he is no longer worse. Sam blundered again, and soon Black was trivially winning, and converted.

Can Sam deliver the goods in the last 3 rounds of the classical? | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel Chess Festival

Parham Maghsoodloo and Abdusattorov did well as well, while Peter Leko finished on a disappointing 6.5, reducing his chances of 1st place greatly. The Swiss GMs imploded, scoring an identical 2.0/14. Here are some other interesting moments:

 

Georgiadis-Cori

1...Kd8 wins on a canter, but Cori went for- 1...Qxf7?? and after 2. Qxf7+ he got too many problems to solve correctly.

Leko-Georgiadis

Nico left a piece en-prise and resigned after 1...Qb6?? 2.Bxc6+. Even GMs make mistakes!

Maghsoodloo-Shankland

In Blitz, even the best commit mistakes. Here Sam played 1...Kd6? and lost his winning advantage. Instead, 1...Kb6! is a forced mate in 23!

Here are the standings after the Blitz Tournament:

About the Author

Tanmay Srinath is an 18-year-old chess player from Bangalore, Karnataka, currently pursuing both chess and engineering at BMSCE Bangalore. Tanmay is also a Taekwondo Black Belt, who has represented the country in an International Tournament in Thailand. He is a big fan of Mikhail Tal and Vishy Anand, and sincerely believes in doing his bit to Power Chess in India!


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