Caruana & Gukesh win, close race @ Norway Chess
“Turnaround” Caruana and “Never give up” Gukesh won their 7th round games at Norway Chess Stavanger, while Carlsen overcame Nakamura in the Armageddon. With three rounds to go, Caruana moved into sole lead with 12.5 points, followed closely by Gukesh (11.5) and Carlsen (11.0). With her first classical win over IM Sara Khadem, women world champion Ju Wenjun went on top with 11.5 points, in the Norway Chess women section. GMs Anna Muzychuk (11.0)and Koneru Humpy (10.5) follow Ju right behind.
Starting the tournament with a loss, former champion Fabiano Caruana turned it around with his second win over Wei Yi, marching his way to top. The Zukertort Opening game between Fabiano & Wei Yi saw both the players sticking to standard continuations. Out of the middle-game it was the Chinese who lost the thread. The opposite colored bishop along with rook might have given draw hope but Fabi differed pressing for more. The extra passed pawn on the queen-side had a nagging effect on Wei Yi’s replies as the American confidently executed his advantage. As the game wore on, Wei Yi had very little defence and gave up when Fabi promoted his pawn on the 55th move. The defeat pinned Wei Yi to the bottom of the table while the win propelled Caruana to the top.
“It’s not over till it’s over” goes an age old adage. It will apply to the tilt for all the games of our current world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. Yesterday he pulled a coup de grâce against Magnus Carlsen & in the very next round he put it across his “Bête noire” Erigasi Arjun from a position of disadvantage.
For, this time Gukesh put’s behind his 0-6 classical record with Erigaisi coming up with a coup d’etat, a marathon Pirc game that lasted 92 moves. With the battle going the full distance, the gladiators fought every inch and finally, the Chennai lightning strikes back in time moving Gukesh behind Caruana in the leader-board.
A quick draw from the Four Knights game between Carlsen and Nakamura didn’t come as a surprise, given the development of the previous round where the Norwegian had lost a hands down winning position against world champion Gukesh. The after-effect of such heavy painful defeat seeks recovery time for the body and mind.
American speed merchant Nakamura had sadly mentioned it might likely be the last classical game between himself and Carlsen, two giants of this era, whom the world loves to watch. Could a single defeat from a position of winning advantage alter life equations ? It does. Lets take a closer look to what Carlsen said after his emotion draining defeat in the hands of Gukesh in the sixth round of Norway Chess. The Norwegian World No. 1 reflected on his lack of motivation, “I will have to play the last three games and then I will have to make some decisions about next year here or additional other tournaments later…” and one has to read between the lines to see what Magnus & Hikaru are upto. Be ready to wipe a tear when this dazzling duo decide to call it a day for classical chess.
It helps to know the unique, rather soccer style points system at Norway Chess to read the leader board right. Players receive the following points per round: (a) Win in the classical game: 3 points, (b) Loss in the classical game: 0 points, (c) Draw in the classical game & win Armageddon: 1.5 points, (d) Draw in the classical game & loss Armageddon: 1 point.
Round 8 starts by Tuesday 3rd June at 11AM ET / 5PM CET / 8.30PM IST.
Caruana Fabiano (2777) – Wei Yi (2758) 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 d5 4. O-O g6 5. d3 Bg7 6. Be3 d4 7. Bf4 O-O 8. c3 Be6 9. Qa4 Nc6 10. Ne5 Nd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd2 c4 13. dxc4 Nb6 14. Qc2 Nxc4 15. cxd4 Nxd2 16. Nxd2 Qxd4 17. b3 a5 18. Rad1 a4 19. Bxc6 Rac8 20. Nc4 axb3 21. axb3 Qc3 22. Qxc3 Bxc3 23. Bd5 Bh3 24. Bg2 Be6 25. Nb6 Rb8 26. Nd7 Bxd7 27. Rxd7 e6 28. Bb7 Rfd8 29. Rxd8+ Rxd8 30. Rc1 Ba5 31. Ba6 Rd2 32. Rc5 Ra2 33. Bc4 Bb4 34. Rb5 Be7 35. Rb7 Kf8 36. Kg2 g5 37. Bd3 Rb2 38. f4 gxf4 39. gxf4 h5 40. Kf3 h4 41. h3 Bd6? (41…Ra2 was the need of the hour)
42. Kg4 Ra2 43. f5 Ra1 44. fxe6 fxe6 45. Bc4 Rg1+ 46. Kh5 e5 47. e4 Re1 48. Bd5 Be7 49. b4 Re3 50. b5 Rxh3 51. b6 Bc5 52. Rb8+ Ke7 53. b7 Bd6 54. Ra8 Rf3 55. b8=Q 1-0
Gukesh Dommaraju (2776) – Erigaisi Arjun (2782) 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bc4 O-O 6. h3 Nxe4 7. Bxf7+ Rxf7 8. Nxe4 d5 9. Nc3 c5 10. O-O cxd4 11. Nxd4 Nc6 12. Nf3 d4 13. Ne4 Qd5 14. Re1 h6 15. c3 d3 16. Re3 Bf5 17. Ng3 Rd8 18. Bd2 e5 19. Ne1 e4 20. f3 exf3 21. Nxf3 Be6 22. Ne4 Ne5 23. Nxe5 Bxe5 24. Qe1 Rdf8 25. Ng3 Bf4 26. Rxe6 Bxd2 27. Rxg6+ Kh7 28. Qe6 Qxe6 29. Rxe6 Bf4 30. Nf1 Bc7 31. Rd1 Rd7 32. Nd2 Bb6+ 33. Kh1 Kg7 34. Nf3 Rf6 35. Re4 Rfd6 36. Ne5 Rd8 37. Rg4+ Kf6 38. Nc4 Rc6 39. Rf1+ Ke7 40. Rg7+ Ke8 41. Rg8+ Ke7 42. Rg7+ Ke8 ? (Better was 42…Ke6)
43. Ne5 Re6 44. Rg8+ Ke7 45. Rg7+ Ke8 46. Rg8+ Ke7 47. Rxd8 Kxd8 48. Nxd3 Re2 49. a4 Rd2 50. Rf3 a5 51. h4 Ke7 52. Kh2 Ke6 53. b4 Kd5 54. bxa5 Bc7+ 55. Kh3 Kc4 56. Nf2 Bxa5 57. Ng4 Rd6 58. Ne3+ Kb3 59. Nf5 Ra6 60. Kg4 Kxa4 61. Kh5 Rc6 62. Rf4+ Ka3 63. c4 Bd2 64. Rd4 Bc3 65. Rd5 Ka4 66. Rb5 b6 67. Nxh6 Ba5 68. Nf5 Rxc4 69. Rb1 b5 70. Ra1+ Kb4 71. g4 Rc5 72. Kg6 Rc6+ 73. Kf7 Rc7+ 74. Kg6 Rc6+ 75. Kf7 Rc7+ 76. Ke6 Rc6+ 77. Kd7 Rc7+ 78. Kd6 Rc4 79. Rb1+ Ka4 80. Ra1+ Kb4 81. g5 Bc7+ 82. Ke6 Re4+ 83. Kf7 Be5 84. Rf1 Ka3 85. Rf3+ Ka2 86. Re3 Rxe3 87. Nxe3 b4 88. g6 Kb1 89. Nc4 Bc3 90. g7 Bxg7 91. Kxg7 Kc2 92. Na5 1-0
Norway Chess (Round 7 Results): Gukesh Dommaraju (11.5) beat Erigaisi Arjun (7.5), Carlsen Magnus (11.0) drew with Nakamura Hikaru (8.5), Caruana Fabiano (12.5) beat Wei Yi (6.5)
Norway Chess Women (Round 7 Results): Ju Wenjun (11.5) beat Khademalsharieh Sarasadat (6.0), Lei Tingjie (9.0) beat Vaishali Rameshbabu (8.0), Koneru Humpy (10.5) drew with Muzychuk Anna (11.0)
Photo Courtesy : Norway Chess / Michal Walusza / Roza Czarnota
Official Site: https://norwaychess.no/en/
