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Day off for match players

There will be no regular messages on this blog during the afternoon. We are off to the Drents Museum in Assen for a meet&greet with the four match players Jorden van Foreest, Vladimir Fedoseev, Sam Shankland and Peter Svidler, as well as a meet&greet with actress Christine Namaganda from the movie ‘Queen of Katwe’ and an online rapid between Jorden van Foreest and Youth World Champion Parham Maghsoodloo from Iran.

We’ll be back at the end of the afternoon!

In the first online rapid game with Junior World Champion Parham Maghsoodloo, in the Statenzaal at the Drents Museum in Assen, Jorden van Foreest was pushing for a win with white in a knight ending, but the 18-year-old Iranian cleverly held the draw. The second rapid game is under way. Jorden has opted for a Ruy Lopez with 3…g6.

Replay the full game here: https://chess24.com/en/game/W_VMWM52S0WRPH135af8ig

In the second game, Jorden van Foreest sacrificed a pawn with black and got good compensation for it, but went wrong, and lost a second pawn and the game, so a 0.5-1.5 loss for the Dutchman!

Replay game 2 at https://chess24.com/en/game/3i78–ZjTV2LiYhEmYOVcQ

Back in the Hoogeveen town hall! In round 6 of the Open, the top board game started with a King’s Indian that looked sharp and promising. Dmitry Kryakvin had an edge with white for a long time. ‘He was better prepared than I, it was a crazy position’, said Amin afterwards. But Kryakvin didn’t take too much risk and Bassem Amin managed to keep things under control: a tense draw.

Bassem Amin

Eltaj Safarli won a completely crazy game today. He took some big risks in the opening, a kind of Reversed London System, ‘because that’s what you have to do when you want to win.’ He thought the Indian’s 8.b3 was too slow, and went for the sharpest way to get counterplay. Safarli sacrificed a piece to keep White’s king in the middle, and the following mind-boggling position came on the board:

Karthikeyan-Safarli

23…Rxe5

Now White can oppose on e3 with the rook. Better was 23…Nxe5! 24.Bh3 Qd6 with complete control.

24.Re3 Qe7 25.Rxe5

He should probably have swapped while he had the chance: 25.Bxd4 cxd4 (25…Nxd4 26.Rxe5 Qxe5 27.Bd3) 26.Rxf3 Rxf3 27.Nxf3 Re3 28.c5! and Black’s compensation starts to dwindle. 25…Nxe5 26.Qe3 Qf6 27.Bd3

Now after 27.Bxd4 cxd4 the queen has to return and it’s totally unclear again. But moves like 27.Bh3 or 27.b4 were better.

27…f2 28.Rf1 h6

29.Be4?!

Good was 29.Bb1! to meet 29…Ng4?? with 30.Qe8+.

29…Ng4 30.Bd5+ Kf8 31.Qg3 ?! Qe5 32.Bxd4 Qxd4

Black is taking over now. Even stronger was 32…cxd4 as then after 33.Kc1, 33…Qe3! is devastating.

33.Kc1 Ne3?

33…Qe3! – the Azeri GM likes his queen too much, who has done such a great job for him in this game.

34.Rxf2 Nxd5

35.Re2?

Finally losing. White could save himself with 35.Rxf4+ Nxf4 36.Qf3, when he wins back the pawn. Even 35.Rf3!!, keeping all options open, was an equalizer. Now Black keeps the extra pawn and the pressure. Seven moves later Karthikeyan resigned.

Erik van den Doel achieved an important victory against Evgeny Romanov. The strong Russian GM may have regretted castling queenside on move 14, as after that things started to go downhill for him. Van den Doel first swapped the dark-squared bishops and then planted a knight on d6, which was removed by an exchange sac. But it seems that Black never got enough compensation for the exchange, and late in the endgame Van den Doel reeled in the full point, thus joining the leaders, Amin, Kryakvin, and Safarli.

On this ‘matchless’ day, the two leaders in the Open, Dmitry Kryakvin and Bassem Amin, were joined by Eltaj Safarli and Dutch GM Erik van den Doel. Kryakvin and Amin themselves played an interesting draw, while Eltaj Safarli went all out against P Karthikeyan with a daring piece sacrifice. The Indian IM didn’t manage to stay afloat in the dazzling complications and lost. Van den Doel’s victory was a much calmer affair. He carefully dug a hole in Black’s position, on d6, jumped in it with a knight, allowing an exchange sacrifice which gave him a winning endgame.

At the Drents Museum in Assen, the four match players had a lot of fun playing blitz while peddling on hometrainers, and visiting the exhibition Iran – the cradle of civilisation. Jorden van Foreest lost his short internet rapid match against Junior World Champion Parham Maghsoodloo ½-1½, but he did have his chances. According to tournament director Loek van Wely, who gave live commentary during the games, he should have won the first game and drawn the second. Of the second, in which he had sacrificed a pawn, Jorden himself wasn’t so sure: ‘I never saw a way to fully equalize.’

Day off for match players

There will be no regular messages on this blog during the afternoon. We are off to the Drents Museum in Assen for a meet&greet with the four match players Jorden van Foreest, Vladimir Fedoseev, Sam Shankland and Peter Svidler, as well as a meet&greet with actress Christine Namaganda from the movie ‘Queen of Katwe’ and an online rapid between Jorden van Foreest and Youth World Champion Parham Maghsoodloo from Iran.

We’ll be back at the end of the afternoon!

In the first online rapid game with Junior World Champion Parham Maghsoodloo, in the Statenzaal at the Drents Museum in Assen, Jorden van Foreest was pushing for a win with white in a knight ending, but the 18-year-old Iranian cleverly held the draw. The second rapid game is under way. Jorden has opted for a Ruy Lopez with 3…g6.

Replay the full game here: https://chess24.com/en/game/W_VMWM52S0WRPH135af8ig

In the second game, Jorden van Foreest sacrificed a pawn with black and got good compensation for it, but went wrong, and lost a second pawn and the game, so a 0.5-1.5 loss for the Dutchman!

Replay game 2 at https://chess24.com/en/game/3i78–ZjTV2LiYhEmYOVcQ

Back in the Hoogeveen town hall! In round 6 of the Open, the top board game started with a King’s Indian that looked sharp and promising. Dmitry Kryakvin had an edge with white for a long time. ‘He was better prepared than I, it was a crazy position’, said Amin afterwards. But Kryakvin didn’t take too much risk and Bassem Amin managed to keep things under control: a tense draw.

Bassem Amin

Eltaj Safarli won a completely crazy game today. He took some big risks in the opening, a kind of Reversed London System, ‘because that’s what you have to do when you want to win.’ He thought the Indian’s 8.b3 was too slow, and went for the sharpest way to get counterplay. Safarli sacrificed a piece to keep White’s king in the middle, and the following mind-boggling position came on the board:

Karthikeyan-Safarli

23…Rxe5

Now White can oppose on e3 with the rook. Better was 23…Nxe5! 24.Bh3 Qd6 with complete control.

24.Re3 Qe7 25.Rxe5

He should probably have swapped while he had the chance: 25.Bxd4 cxd4 (25…Nxd4 26.Rxe5 Qxe5 27.Bd3) 26.Rxf3 Rxf3 27.Nxf3 Re3 28.c5! and Black’s compensation starts to dwindle. 25…Nxe5 26.Qe3 Qf6 27.Bd3

Now after 27.Bxd4 cxd4 the queen has to return and it’s totally unclear again. But moves like 27.Bh3 or 27.b4 were better.

27…f2 28.Rf1 h6

29.Be4?!

Good was 29.Bb1! to meet 29…Ng4?? with 30.Qe8+.

29…Ng4 30.Bd5+ Kf8 31.Qg3 ?! Qe5 32.Bxd4 Qxd4

Black is taking over now. Even stronger was 32…cxd4 as then after 33.Kc1, 33…Qe3! is devastating.

33.Kc1 Ne3?

33…Qe3! – the Azeri GM likes his queen too much, who has done such a great job for him in this game.

34.Rxf2 Nxd5

35.Re2?

Finally losing. White could save himself with 35.Rxf4+ Nxf4 36.Qf3, when he wins back the pawn. Even 35.Rf3!!, keeping all options open, was an equalizer. Now Black keeps the extra pawn and the pressure. Seven moves later Karthikeyan resigned.

Erik van den Doel achieved an important victory against Evgeny Romanov. The strong Russian GM may have regretted castling queenside on move 14, as after that things started to go downhill for him. Van den Doel first swapped the dark-squared bishops and then planted a knight on d6, which was removed by an exchange sac. But it seems that Black never got enough compensation for the exchange, and late in the endgame Van den Doel reeled in the full point, thus joining the leaders, Amin, Kryakvin, and Safarli.

On this ‘matchless’ day, the two leaders in the Open, Dmitry Kryakvin and Bassem Amin, were joined by Eltaj Safarli and Dutch GM Erik van den Doel. Kryakvin and Amin themselves played an interesting draw, while Eltaj Safarli went all out against P Karthikeyan with a daring piece sacrifice. The Indian IM didn’t manage to stay afloat in the dazzling complications and lost. Van den Doel’s victory was a much calmer affair. He carefully dug a hole in Black’s position, on d6, jumped in it with a knight, allowing an exchange sacrifice which gave him a winning endgame.

At the Drents Museum in Assen, the four match players had a lot of fun playing blitz while peddling on hometrainers, and visiting the exhibition Iran – the cradle of civilisation. Jorden van Foreest lost his short internet rapid match against Junior World Champion Parham Maghsoodloo ½-1½, but he did have his chances. According to tournament director Loek van Wely, who gave live commentary during the games, he should have won the first game and drawn the second. Of the second, in which he had sacrificed a pawn, Jorden himself wasn’t so sure: ‘I never saw a way to fully equalize.’

We have started the 5th round of the Open and the 3rd round of the matches.

Both match games started with the same first two moves as in the first games, but in both White deviated on move 3. Sam Shankland played 3.Nf3 followed by the king’s bishop’s fianchetto against Peter Svidler’s 2…g6, and Vladimir Fedoseev met Jorden van Foreest’s 2…e6 with 3.Nf3 instead of 3.Nc3. So, we can expect two whole different ball games today!

Fedoseev’s choice for the quiet line of today, with an early exchange of queens, was called clever by the man in charge of the commentary today, Hans Böhm, who sends happy chess greetings to chess fans all over the world!

The position after 14…Re8 was still known from a quick draw by Karjakin and Anand from the Tata Steel tournament of this year. Karjakin played 15.Bc3 immediately, Fedoseev first limited Black’s c8-bishop with 15.f3. The (non-)development of this bishop is Black’s main problem in this line.

Vladimir Fedoseev

Peter Svidler has responded dynamically to Sam Shankland’s double fianchetto. He has opened the centre and offered a pawn with the active 10…Nc6, which White’d better not take… not immediately, of course, but after 11.Nd2 Bg4 White did take the pawn, and commentator Hans Böhm doubted if Black now has sufficient compensation.

Irishman Henry Li was in for an early shock today.

Black has mistakenly taken on f3, which turns out to be a grave error. Here he must have counted on the move 11…Nd4 but was in for a shock: Van Randtwijk replied with the lethal 12.Qxf6! and White wins a piece in view of 12…Bxf6 13.Bxf6, threatening 14.Ne7+.

Mick van Randtwijk

Yes, the move may have the idea to limit Black’s c8-bishop. But now with Black’s knight still on a5, Van Foreest played 15…f5! 16.Bd5+ Be6 and Black keeps his pawn. White gets a rook on the seventh rank for it, but is this really better than the plan with 15.Bc3 Nc6 16.Rab1, with nice control for White?

Rakshitta Ravi has ambitiously castled queenside on move 15, which was an invitation for Valentin Buckels to play 15…d4 and demolish White’s queenside. This looks disastrous for the 13-year-old Indian girl, but she has saved herself from bad positions before. Will she make it this time?

The fight on the top board of the Open, Amin-Guseinov, is quite interesting. White has the structure, Black the activity. It looks like a dynamic balance. Dmitry Kryakvin is mounting the pressure on Stefan Kuipers, who is having a hard time.

Dmitry Kryakvin

His teammate Merijn van Delft seems to be holding up better against Evgeny Romanov. His kingside looks slightly loose, but the same goes for White’s queenside. Their teammate Roeland Pruijssers is equalish against Erik van den Doel, but is now starting something on the kingside.

The first full point of the day was scored by Roel Hamblok. The Belgian FM got very fluent play on the black side of a McCucheon French and never looked back, finishing off with a relentless king hunt against Jip Damen.

In fact Peter Svidler did have sufficient compensation for the sacrificed pawn, as he proved with a simple liquidation on moves 17 and 18 (…Bh6 and …Ne4). White’s a- and c-pawns were doomed, and now a position is reached where neither side seems to be able to undertake much. We’ll see if these top GMs can surprise us after all.

There are different ways to concentrate before a game…

The first undecided game in this match – more soon!

Here is what the players told us right after the game:

Shankland-Svidler

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 c6 5.Bg2 d5 6.b3 dxc4 7.bxc4 c5 8.Bb2 cxd4 9.Nxd4 O-O 10.O-O

10…Nc6

‘This move was played by Anish (Giri, against Kramnik in Stavanger 2016, PB), so it should be good’, said Svidler.

11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Nd2 Bg4 13.Bxc6 Rc8 14.Bf3 Bxf3 15.exf3 Qd3 16.Rc1 Rfd8 17.Bc3

17.Nb3 looked scary’, Svidler thought. ‘But it doesn’t work’, Shankland replied immediately: ’17…Qxd1 18.Rfxd1 Rxd1+ 19.Rxd1 Rxc4 20.Rd8+ Bf8 21.Bd4 and now 21…Ra4 saves Black: 22.Bxf6 exf6 23.Nc5 Rxa2 24.Nd7 Kg7 25.Nxf8

and now White’s knight doesn’t get out. Perhaps White can get a pawn for it but this should be an easy draw.’

17…Bh6 18.f4 Ne4

This direct method had been underestimated by the American GM.

19.Nxe4 Qxe4 20.Qa4 Rxc4 21.Qxa7 Ra8 22.Qd7 Rxa2 23.Rfe1

‘A devilish trick’, Shankland grinned.

23…Qf3

Not 23…Rxc3? 24.Qc8+ and White wins! But now the fire goes out.

24.Bd4 Rxc1 25.Rxc1 Bf8 26.Rc8 Ra8 27.Rxa8 Qxa8 28.Be3 ½-½

‘A pretty OK game’, Svidler said. ‘Of course it’s better if you know

everything and you don’t have to work it all out over the board.’ ‘Anyway the level of the three games has been pretty good so far’, Shankland ventured. ‘Yes’, Svidler agreed. ‘In the first game, Sam played much better, in the second I played slightly better…’ ‘Much better’, Shankland interrupted. ‘Of course if both sides play good all games should end in a draw, but still it was OK.’ And off they went to grab a bite to eat together.

We have started the 5th round of the Open and the 3rd round of the matches.

Both match games started with the same first two moves as in the first games, but in both White deviated on move 3. Sam Shankland played 3.Nf3 followed by the king’s bishop’s fianchetto against Peter Svidler’s 2…g6, and Vladimir Fedoseev met Jorden van Foreest’s 2…e6 with 3.Nf3 instead of 3.Nc3. So, we can expect two whole different ball games today!

Fedoseev’s choice for the quiet line of today, with an early exchange of queens, was called clever by the man in charge of the commentary today, Hans Böhm, who sends happy chess greetings to chess fans all over the world!

The position after 14…Re8 was still known from a quick draw by Karjakin and Anand from the Tata Steel tournament of this year. Karjakin played 15.Bc3 immediately, Fedoseev first limited Black’s c8-bishop with 15.f3. The (non-)development of this bishop is Black’s main problem in this line.

Vladimir Fedoseev

Peter Svidler has responded dynamically to Sam Shankland’s double fianchetto. He has opened the centre and offered a pawn with the active 10…Nc6, which White’d better not take… not immediately, of course, but after 11.Nd2 Bg4 White did take the pawn, and commentator Hans Böhm doubted if Black now has sufficient compensation.

Irishman Henry Li was in for an early shock today.

Black has mistakenly taken on f3, which turns out to be a grave error. Here he must have counted on the move 11…Nd4 but was in for a shock: Van Randtwijk replied with the lethal 12.Qxf6! and White wins a piece in view of 12…Bxf6 13.Bxf6, threatening 14.Ne7+.

Mick van Randtwijk

Yes, the move may have the idea to limit Black’s c8-bishop. But now with Black’s knight still on a5, Van Foreest played 15…f5! 16.Bd5+ Be6 and Black keeps his pawn. White gets a rook on the seventh rank for it, but is this really better than the plan with 15.Bc3 Nc6 16.Rab1, with nice control for White?

Rakshitta Ravi has ambitiously castled queenside on move 15, which was an invitation for Valentin Buckels to play 15…d4 and demolish White’s queenside. This looks disastrous for the 13-year-old Indian girl, but she has saved herself from bad positions before. Will she make it this time?

The fight on the top board of the Open, Amin-Guseinov, is quite interesting. White has the structure, Black the activity. It looks like a dynamic balance. Dmitry Kryakvin is mounting the pressure on Stefan Kuipers, who is having a hard time.

Dmitry Kryakvin

His teammate Merijn van Delft seems to be holding up better against Evgeny Romanov. His kingside looks slightly loose, but the same goes for White’s queenside. Their teammate Roeland Pruijssers is equalish against Erik van den Doel, but is now starting something on the kingside.

The first full point of the day was scored by Roel Hamblok. The Belgian FM got very fluent play on the black side of a McCucheon French and never looked back, finishing off with a relentless king hunt against Jip Damen.

In fact Peter Svidler did have sufficient compensation for the sacrificed pawn, as he proved with a simple liquidation on moves 17 and 18 (…Bh6 and …Ne4). White’s a- and c-pawns were doomed, and now a position is reached where neither side seems to be able to undertake much. We’ll see if these top GMs can surprise us after all.

There are different ways to concentrate before a game…

The first undecided game in this match – more soon!

Here is what the players told us right after the game:

Shankland-Svidler

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 c6 5.Bg2 d5 6.b3 dxc4 7.bxc4 c5 8.Bb2 cxd4 9.Nxd4 O-O 10.O-O

10…Nc6

‘This move was played by Anish (Giri, against Kramnik in Stavanger 2016, PB), so it should be good’, said Svidler.

11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Nd2 Bg4 13.Bxc6 Rc8 14.Bf3 Bxf3 15.exf3 Qd3 16.Rc1 Rfd8 17.Bc3

17.Nb3 looked scary’, Svidler thought. ‘But it doesn’t work’, Shankland replied immediately: ’17…Qxd1 18.Rfxd1 Rxd1+ 19.Rxd1 Rxc4 20.Rd8+ Bf8 21.Bd4 and now 21…Ra4 saves Black: 22.Bxf6 exf6 23.Nc5 Rxa2 24.Nd7 Kg7 25.Nxf8

and now White’s knight doesn’t get out. Perhaps White can get a pawn for it but this should be an easy draw.’

17…Bh6 18.f4 Ne4

This direct method had been underestimated by the American GM.

19.Nxe4 Qxe4 20.Qa4 Rxc4 21.Qxa7 Ra8 22.Qd7 Rxa2 23.Rfe1

‘A devilish trick’, Shankland grinned.

23…Qf3

Not 23…Rxc3? 24.Qc8+ and White wins! But now the fire goes out.

24.Bd4 Rxc1 25.Rxc1 Bf8 26.Rc8 Ra8 27.Rxa8 Qxa8 28.Be3 ½-½

‘A pretty OK game’, Svidler said. ‘Of course it’s better if you know

everything and you don’t have to work it all out over the board.’ ‘Anyway the level of the three games has been pretty good so far’, Shankland ventured. ‘Yes’, Svidler agreed. ‘In the first game, Sam played much better, in the second I played slightly better…’ ‘Much better’, Shankland interrupted. ‘Of course if both sides play good all games should end in a draw, but still it was OK.’ And off they went to grab a bite to eat together.

With the famous Dutch arbiter Geurt Gijssen as a special visitor, the two match games have just started. Peter Svidler and Sam Shankland opted for a Symmetrical English Opening…

whereas Jorden van Foreest and Vladimir Fedoseev played a Najdorf with 6.Be2 and 7.f4.

The commentary starts in roughly half an hour with Jeroen Bosch, Dutch IM and author of ‘SOS’ fame.

Shankland still seems to be in his preparation, even though Svidler played the surprising 11.Bb5!?, inviting 11…a6, an old idea of famous Russian coach Yuri Razuvaev which has never been repeated since 1994. Shankland’s 14…f6!?, covering some important dark squares but also creating some weaknesses, was still quickly played but is quite a remarkable idea.

The Sicilian on the other board promises to become sharp. Jorden van Foreest thought long about the crucial move 10.g4, and Vladimir Fedoseev’s reply 10…d5 is surprising. Many players would blindly go 10…b5 here.

A smooth start of the second round of this day. The only player who hasn’t arrived yet is the black player on first board, Evgeny Romanov, who is (supposed to be) playing Gadir Guseinov.

Update: Romanov arrived a few minutes late and now finds himself behind an O’Kelly Sicilian by transposition.

Erik van den Doel and Eltaj Safarli took a free afternoon with a 5-move draw. On the rest of the boards it seems that the players just want to play. IM Iniyan seems to be in danger again, as it looks like White (Enrico Vroombout) comes first on the queenside in this chain struggle in the King’s Indian.

Sam Shankland seems to be on the verge of losing after he played 20…Ke7 in a fairly open position. After 20…Kf7 the problem would be Bxg6+ in many cases, but that might have been preferable above the game continuation. After 21…Bd6 and the exchange of bishops, the area around the black king looks pretty airy. Are we witnessing the resurrection of Peter Svidler here? He played 23.Rfd1 quickly and confidently.

Jorden van Foreest has carefully surrounded the perky d5-pawn and conquered it. He is now a pawn up, but it’s doubled on the f-file and Fedoseev has some compensation.

Peter Svidler equalled the score in his match with Shankland with a quite convincing and attractive win today. The following moment was crucial:

Svidler-Shankland

Svidler said that after his bad stretch it was pleasant to be pressing again. ‘This is a very topical line which I don’t know much about. He obviously knew much more. Black should be OK in general.’ Shankland had indeed prepared very carefully, but mostly the positions without 11.Bb5 and 11…a6. ‘With the pawn on a6 there are some subtle differences’ — mostly, that the b7-pawn becomes weaker.

15.c4!

This is a dynamic move that Shankland hadn’t considered in his preparations: ‘I still think Black should be OK here, but I have to find some accurate moves.’

15…b6

Svidler: ‘I thought 15…Nxc4 16.Qxb7 Bb5 should be OK for Black.’ After 17.Bf4 (17.Re1, which Svidler had planned, may be easier for Black, he will be playing 17…Qd7 anyway) 17…Qd7 and White is still a bit better.

16.c5 bxc5 17.dxc5 Bxc5 18.Bxa6 Rb8

18…Rc6 might have been more precise, according to Svidler. After 19.Bb5 Rd6 20.Bh6 Kf7 Black may be able to solve his problems.

19.Qc2 Qb6 20.Bd3

‘This was very awkward for Black’, said Svidler.

20…Ke7

Now White always has the threat of Qc2-d2-Qh6, but after 20…Kf7 there is always Bxg6+ hanging in the air.

21.Bf4 Bd6

21… Rbc8 looked more tenacious, when after 22.Qe2 (or first 22.Rab1) the black king should go to f7 anyway.

After 22.Bxd6+ Qxd6 23.Rfd1 Black couldn’t find any way to make his pieces cooperate, and Svidler finished off with a number of careful moves, in the meantime walking a couple of miles through the playing hall. When it was over, he uttered a few sighs of relief.

Jorden van Foreest was clearly better for a while, while Fedoseev was searching for counterchances with his queen and knight. He had played quite carefully all afternoon, but then 42.b5? slipped out of his hand, and after this too optimistic push the b-pawn only became a weakness. Protecting it with 44.c4 weakened his king again. It looks like also this second hard-fought game will end in a draw.

Bassem Amin’s game was again quite prematurely finished, just like this morning against Robby Kevlishvili. But this time the result was positive for him. Indian IM Shyaamnikhil was clearly worse, but he resigned the game at a pretty early stage. Roeland Pruijssers had some luck in his game against his teammate Nico Zwirs from Apeldoorn. Zwirs seemed OK, even better for a while,

Pruijssers-Zwirs

Black should be fine after 28…gxf5 29.Bxf5 Rc7 30.g6 Kf8 followed by taking on b3, but he played 28…Nxb3? immediately, after which he was nailed to the wall with the zwischenzug 29.f6!, imprisoning the black bishop. This eventually turned out fatal for him.

Nico Zwirs

With the famous Dutch arbiter Geurt Gijssen as a special visitor, the two match games have just started. Peter Svidler and Sam Shankland opted for a Symmetrical English Opening…

whereas Jorden van Foreest and Vladimir Fedoseev played a Najdorf with 6.Be2 and 7.f4.

The commentary starts in roughly half an hour with Jeroen Bosch, Dutch IM and author of ‘SOS’ fame.

Shankland still seems to be in his preparation, even though Svidler played the surprising 11.Bb5!?, inviting 11…a6, an old idea of famous Russian coach Yuri Razuvaev which has never been repeated since 1994. Shankland’s 14…f6!?, covering some important dark squares but also creating some weaknesses, was still quickly played but is quite a remarkable idea.

The Sicilian on the other board promises to become sharp. Jorden van Foreest thought long about the crucial move 10.g4, and Vladimir Fedoseev’s reply 10…d5 is surprising. Many players would blindly go 10…b5 here.

A smooth start of the second round of this day. The only player who hasn’t arrived yet is the black player on first board, Evgeny Romanov, who is (supposed to be) playing Gadir Guseinov.

Update: Romanov arrived a few minutes late and now finds himself behind an O’Kelly Sicilian by transposition.

Erik van den Doel and Eltaj Safarli took a free afternoon with a 5-move draw. On the rest of the boards it seems that the players just want to play. IM Iniyan seems to be in danger again, as it looks like White (Enrico Vroombout) comes first on the queenside in this chain struggle in the King’s Indian.

Sam Shankland seems to be on the verge of losing after he played 20…Ke7 in a fairly open position. After 20…Kf7 the problem would be Bxg6+ in many cases, but that might have been preferable above the game continuation. After 21…Bd6 and the exchange of bishops, the area around the black king looks pretty airy. Are we witnessing the resurrection of Peter Svidler here? He played 23.Rfd1 quickly and confidently.

Jorden van Foreest has carefully surrounded the perky d5-pawn and conquered it. He is now a pawn up, but it’s doubled on the f-file and Fedoseev has some compensation.

Peter Svidler equalled the score in his match with Shankland with a quite convincing and attractive win today. The following moment was crucial:

Svidler-Shankland

Svidler said that after his bad stretch it was pleasant to be pressing again. ‘This is a very topical line which I don’t know much about. He obviously knew much more. Black should be OK in general.’ Shankland had indeed prepared very carefully, but mostly the positions without 11.Bb5 and 11…a6. ‘With the pawn on a6 there are some subtle differences’ — mostly, that the b7-pawn becomes weaker.

15.c4!

This is a dynamic move that Shankland hadn’t considered in his preparations: ‘I still think Black should be OK here, but I have to find some accurate moves.’

15…b6

Svidler: ‘I thought 15…Nxc4 16.Qxb7 Bb5 should be OK for Black.’ After 17.Bf4 (17.Re1, which Svidler had planned, may be easier for Black, he will be playing 17…Qd7 anyway) 17…Qd7 and White is still a bit better.

16.c5 bxc5 17.dxc5 Bxc5 18.Bxa6 Rb8

18…Rc6 might have been more precise, according to Svidler. After 19.Bb5 Rd6 20.Bh6 Kf7 Black may be able to solve his problems.

19.Qc2 Qb6 20.Bd3

‘This was very awkward for Black’, said Svidler.

20…Ke7

Now White always has the threat of Qc2-d2-Qh6, but after 20…Kf7 there is always Bxg6+ hanging in the air.

21.Bf4 Bd6

21… Rbc8 looked more tenacious, when after 22.Qe2 (or first 22.Rab1) the black king should go to f7 anyway.

After 22.Bxd6+ Qxd6 23.Rfd1 Black couldn’t find any way to make his pieces cooperate, and Svidler finished off with a number of careful moves, in the meantime walking a couple of miles through the playing hall. When it was over, he uttered a few sighs of relief.

Jorden van Foreest was clearly better for a while, while Fedoseev was searching for counterchances with his queen and knight. He had played quite carefully all afternoon, but then 42.b5? slipped out of his hand, and after this too optimistic push the b-pawn only became a weakness. Protecting it with 44.c4 weakened his king again. It looks like also this second hard-fought game will end in a draw.

Bassem Amin’s game was again quite prematurely finished, just like this morning against Robby Kevlishvili. But this time the result was positive for him. Indian IM Shyaamnikhil was clearly worse, but he resigned the game at a pretty early stage. Roeland Pruijssers had some luck in his game against his teammate Nico Zwirs from Apeldoorn. Zwirs seemed OK, even better for a while,

Pruijssers-Zwirs

Black should be fine after 28…gxf5 29.Bxf5 Rc7 30.g6 Kf8 followed by taking on b3, but he played 28…Nxb3? immediately, after which he was nailed to the wall with the zwischenzug 29.f6!, imprisoning the black bishop. This eventually turned out fatal for him.

Nico Zwirs