GCT Finals: MVL escapes with a draw, Carlsen wins

by Shahid Ahmed - 07/12/2019

In the first final match between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Ding Liren, MVL got into deep trouble when he reached to a completely lost Queen endgame. However, Ding misplayed and allowed MVL to promote another Queen which made the game finish with four queens on the board and none getting the winning opportunity. For the third place match, Carlsen defeated Aronian without any difficulty after the latter couldn't manage to find compensation and equalize in time pressure after he sacrificed a pawn to open things up. All four of them will play their next classical match with reversed colors today at 7:30 p.m. IST (two hours before yesterday's scheduled time). Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

MVL survives after Ding's big miss

The players returned to the board after spending their day off at the Pro Biz Cup raising money for the UK charity Chess in Schools and Communities. After the opening phase, the commentators expected to see two decisive results. While Carlsen was able to put away his opponent, Vachier-Lagrave escaped unscathed thanks to his resilient and resourceful defense. Aronian will have the white pieces in the next game to try to overcome the 6 point deficit. The games will resume tomorrow 2 hours earlier, at 2 p.m. GMT, 7:30 p.m. IST.

Results after the first Classical game | Photo: Official site

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs Ding Liren ½ - ½

Vachier-Lagrave miraculously survived the storm in what looked like a completely lost position. Ding repeated the same line against the Ruy Lopez that he played against Carlsen in 2017. The Frenchman misplayed the middlegame and found himself in an unpleasant position, with a bad knight against a superior bishop in a queen endgame.

Black attacked white's knight with 39...Qa4. How should white respond?

Vachier-Lagrave decided to give up a pawn in order to trade the minor pieces, but inadvertently entered a lost endgame where his opponent’s passed “c” pawn was unstoppable. Maxime made the grave mistake of exchanging his knight with the bishop. Although there is no good way to defend the knight directly, however white had the tactical resource of defending the knight with 40.Qh3. After 40.Nxc5 dxc5 41. Qxh5 Qxe4 Ding got a completely winning position. Since queens were on the board, it was not easy to win it immediately.

Position after 41.Qxe4

Ding’s king ran across the board in order to hide from his opponent’s checks and to support his passed pawn. At the critical moment on move 66, the Chinese star made the grave error of allowing his opponent to promote to a queen as well, thinking that he had a forced win. The unusual endgame with four queens on the board went on for 32 moves until Ding had to accept that the win had slipped out of his hands, eventually settling for a perpetual. Vachier-Lagrave was very critical of his play, calling it unworthy of a final match. Ding was disappointed, but found some solace in his high quality middlegame play.

How should black react to 66.g6 ?

According to Occam's Razor, "Entities should not be multiplied without necessity". Ding just needed to follow that. Having four queens on the board certainly make things complicated and drastically reduces the chances to win. So 66...fxg6 would have been the simplest and best continuation for black.

Ding and Maxim at the Pro-Biz cup | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Excluding the missed opportunities, first game did not lack fireworks at least at the end | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Magnus Carlsen vs Levon Aronian 1 - 0

Carlsen plays the London System | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Carlsen returned to the board hungry to recover from his loss against Vachier-Lagrave at the Semi-final. The main culprit of Aronian’s downfall was his poor time management throughout the game. The World Champion maintained a small edge after getting the bishop pair. The position blew up on move 32, when Aronian sacrificed a pawn in order to activate his pieces.

Aronian could not continue correctly after 32...e5 sacrifice

Find out the correct continuation for black after 38.Bxd4

Aronian directly went for 38...Nf3+ however he needed to play 38...Rc4 first and then continue with Nf3+ and Nxd4 which would have kept him in the game.

Unfortunately, he was already low on time and missed a key resource to fully equalize. After a few more inaccuracies by both sides, the players entered an opposite colored bishop endgame where Aronian was down a pawn and already relying heavily on increment, making it practically impossible to hold.

It's clear as a day that the c-pawn will become a thorn for black

He conceded defeat after it became clear that another one of his pawns would fall.

Source: Press Release

Replay the Live Stream

Commentary by GM Peter Svidler, WGM Jennifer Shahade, GM Maurice Ashley and GM Alejandro Ramirez | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Links

Official site

London Chess Classic

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