Carlsen dominates Grenke Chess Classic with two rounds to go
Magnus Carlsen after seven rounds at the GRENKE Chess Classic seems unstoppable. In an action-packed round, Carlsen scored his fourth victory of the event against Levon Aronian. Fabiano Caruana, on the other hand, managed to keep his leaderboard standing, beating Arkadij Naiditsch in just 33 moves! Viswanathan Anand, who was co-leading until two rounds ago suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Georg Meier.
Magnus Carlsen v Levon Aronian
Magnus Carlsen’s game happened to be the first game to conclude in the round. Playing against Levon Aronian, the reigning world champion had chosen the Ragozin variation of the Queen’s Gambit and had reached a pleasant position out of the opening. Aronian, on the other hand, had a tough time finding his way through the intricacies. Carlsen explained after the game that while the position out of the opening was objectively equal, finding a plan for Black was difficult.
Aronian’s 26.f5, according to the computers, was the first big mistake of the game. Carlsen in a few moves later established one of his rooks on the seventh rank and was in a dominating position. It did not take long after this for him to convert.
Magnus Carlsen v Levon Aronian
Fabiano Caruana va Arkadij Naidtsch
The story of the game between Caruana and Naiditsch was somewhat similar to that of Carlsen and Aronian. Naiditsch, playing Black, struggled to find the right path out of the opening and was in severe time trouble. Caruana’s 9.b3 had helped him win a pawn and by the 20th move, managed to get the bishop pair. The bishop pair proved decisive, and it turned out to be the beginning of the end. Caruana won a couple of more pawns, and soon his position was overwhelming.
Fabiano Caruana va Arkadij Naidtsch
Viswanathan Anand v Georg Meirer
GM Viswanathan Anand was a heavy favourite on paper in the third decisive game of the day. his opponent Georg Meier, however, had managed to hold the former five-time World Champion to draws in their previous three meetings. This time, the German Grandmaster managed to score a win.
Anand was skating on thin ice after about 30 moves. He had grabbed a pawn on the queenside and let his opponent unleash his rooks on the White king. Meier’s ‘e’ pawn also looked threatening as it made its way down the board. Anand did manage to catch the ‘e’ pawn with his counterplay against Meier’s f7 point. Meier’s Rooks had breached into the White camp in the interim. Following an exchange of Queens, the position looked like it had stabilised, but a blunder by Anand on the 36th turn ended the game on the spot.
Viswanathan Anand v Georg Meier
Other Games
The other three games of the round ended in draws. An interesting game was the one between Vincent Keymer and Peter Svidler. Vincent Keymer played audaciously in the opening, offering a pawn after 11 moves to complicate the game. Svidler correctly declined the offered pawn but was unable to create much play of his own either. Twenty-six moves into the game, a queen and rook endgame was reached wherein Keymer had little problems holding ground.
Vincent Keymer v Peter Svidler
Round 8
Carlsen after seven rounds seemed to be well on his way towards winning his third straight super tournament of the year.
Round 8 begins at 15:00 CEST on April 28, 2019. Pairings for the same can be found below.
| Round 8 (28.04.2019 / 15:00) | ||||||||
| Table | TNr | Player | – | TNr | Player | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10. | Vallejo Pons, Francisco | – | 9. | Naiditsch, Arkadij | – | ||
| 2 | 1. | Meier, Georg | – | 8. | Caruana, Fabiano | – | ||
| 3 | 2. | Aronian, Levon | – | 7. | Anand, Viswanathan | – | ||
| 4 | 3. | Svidler, Peter | – | 6. | Carlsen, Magnus | – | ||
| 5 | 4. | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | – | 5. | Keymer, Vincent | – | ||
