Grand Swiss R10: Who will qualify for the Candidates 2020?
The winner of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss Isle of Man will be decided in the eleventh and final round of the event which starts at 6 pm IST today. It is Fabiano Caruana who is in the sole lead with 7.5/10 points at the moment and he has been paired up against Hikaru Nakamura in the last round. There are seven players led by Wang Hao of China who follow the leader just half a point behind with 7.0/10 each. The question is not only who will be the champion of the tournament and take back home the first prize of 70,000 US Dollars but also who will secure that coveted spot in the Candidates 2020 which is scheduled to take place in the first half of next year. In this illustrated report we bring you the happenings from the previous round and also give you the pairings for the final day of the event.
A tough day for the Indian contingent
Vishy Anand unexpectedly lost his game against Evgeniy Najer in round one of the FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss Isle of Man, but made an emphatic comeback thereafter to revive his chances to qualify for Candidates 2020. But unfortunately, the event's penultimate round proved to be a colossal disaster for the Indian maestro as he went down against Wang Hao of China from an endgamish position which looked perfectly equal. The encounter opened with the petroff defense and quickly simplified into equality after a series of heavy exchanges. However, just when things seemed to be meandering towards a draw, Vishy - who had the white pieces - suffered a shocking lapse. He made a couple of inexplicable mistakes just after the 20th move and found the tables completely turned on him. The game was wound up in just 28 moves when Vishy resigned in a position where he had to give up a full piece to avoid getting checkmated.
Vishy Anand - Wang Hao, Round 10
Vishy looked a bit wobbly with his move 23.f5 in the above which immediately weakened his pawns on e5 and f5 and allowed Black to counter with 23...Rd5. At this point 24.Bf4 could have been a logical response but 24.e6 proved to be even more damaging. The game followed 24...Rxf5 25.Ra3 Bc4 26.exf7+ Bxf7 27.c3 a5 next and here came the decisive blunder 28.Rxe4
Of course, it was the simple 28...Rcf6 that sealed the deal. The threat is the obvious 29.Rf1# and if White wants to prevent it then he must give up his bishop on c1. A tough loss for White!
Apart from Vishy's loss it was an overall sad day for the Indian contingent. Raunak Sadhwani and S.L.Narayanan who have been performing extremely well in the event had to suffer defeats in the hands of Amin Bassem and Hrant Melkumyan respectively. For Narayanan, it was in fact his first loss in the event. Soumya Swaminathan went down against Vasif Durarbayli; while in the encounter between compatriots Adhiban Baskaran and Harikrishna Pentala, the latter emerged victorious showing some impeccable endgame skills. The best victory for Indians was perhaps fetched by Sethuraman SP who won a fine game against Alexei Shirov.
In the top boards Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen won their respective games against David Guijarro and Maxim Matlakov respectively, while Levon Aronian and Hikaru Nakamura split the point between themselves.
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Results of all Indian players (Round 10)
Rd. | Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
10 | 4 | 4 | GM | Anand Viswanathan | 2765 | 6 | 0 - 1 | 6 | GM | Wang Hao | 2726 | 15 | ||
10 | 12 | 76 | GM | Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son | 2638 | 5½ | ½ - ½ | 5½ | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | 2718 | 17 | ||
10 | 17 | 73 | GM | Adhiban B. | 2639 | 5½ | 0 - 1 | 5 | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | 2748 | 9 | ||
10 | 24 | 82 | GM | Mareco Sandro | 2634 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Sasikiran Krishnan | 2675 | 37 | ||
10 | 29 | 94 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2624 | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5 | GM | Shirov Alexei | 2664 | 49 | ||
10 | 31 | 119 | GM | Gukesh D | 2520 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Dreev Aleksey | 2662 | 51 | ||
10 | 34 | 104 | GM | Narayanan.S.L | 2611 | 5 | 0 - 1 | 5 | GM | Melkumyan Hrant | 2650 | 63 | ||
10 | 35 | 22 | GM | Amin Bassem | 2699 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 5 | IM | Sadhwani Raunak | 2479 | 129 | ||
10 | 42 | 54 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2658 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Erdos Viktor | 2604 | 108 | ||
10 | 47 | 114 | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2571 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Papaioannou Ioannis | 2645 | 66 | ||
10 | 48 | 122 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2495 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Riazantsev Alexander | 2645 | 67 | ||
10 | 53 | 29 | GM | Jones Gawain C B | 2688 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2610 | 105 | ||
10 | 59 | 100 | GM | Durarbayli Vasif | 2617 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2365 | 149 | ||
10 | 69 | 146 | IM | Munguntuul Batkhuyag | 2421 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3 | GM | Prithu Gupta | 2493 | 124 |
Pairings of all Indian players for the last round
Rd. | Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
11 | 8 | 43 | GM | Robson Ray | 2670 | 6 | 6 | GM | Anand Viswanathan | 2765 | 4 | |||
11 | 12 | 9 | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | 2748 | 6 | 6 | GM | Leko Peter | 2670 | 42 | |||
11 | 15 | 17 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | 2718 | 6 | 6 | GM | Deac Bogdan-Daniel | 2613 | 102 | |||
11 | 18 | 27 | GM | Grandelius Nils | 2691 | 6 | 6 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2624 | 94 | |||
11 | 21 | 25 | GM | Vallejo Pons Francisco | 2694 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Adhiban B. | 2639 | 73 | |||
11 | 26 | 37 | GM | Sasikiran Krishnan | 2675 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Hess Robert | 2581 | 113 | |||
11 | 34 | 11 | GM | Artemiev Vladislav | 2746 | 5 | 5½ | GM | Gukesh D | 2520 | 119 | |||
11 | 40 | 109 | GM | Lu Shanglei | 2602 | 5 | 5 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2658 | 54 | |||
11 | 41 | 55 | GM | Nabaty Tamir | 2658 | 5 | 5 | GM | Narayanan.S.L | 2611 | 104 | |||
11 | 47 | 67 | GM | Riazantsev Alexander | 2645 | 5 | 5 | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2571 | 114 | |||
11 | 48 | 129 | IM | Sadhwani Raunak | 2479 | 5 | 5 | GM | Chigaev Maksim | 2644 | 68 | |||
11 | 49 | 70 | GM | Bluebaum Matthias | 2643 | 5 | 5 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2495 | 122 | |||
11 | 56 | 69 | GM | Zvjaginsev Vadim | 2644 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2610 | 105 | |||
11 | 65 | 149 | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2365 | 4 | 4 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 2479 | 128 |
Results of top ten boards (Round 10)
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 2 | GM | Caruana Fabiano | 2812 | 6½ | 1 - 0 | 6½ | GM | Anton Guijarro David | 2674 | 39 | ||
2 | 12 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2745 | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | GM | Aronian Levon | 2758 | 8 | ||
3 | 1 | GM | Carlsen Magnus | 2876 | 6 | 1 - 0 | 6 | GM | Matlakov Maxim | 2716 | 18 | ||
4 | 4 | GM | Anand Viswanathan | 2765 | 6 | 0 - 1 | 6 | GM | Wang Hao | 2726 | 15 | ||
5 | 6 | GM | Karjakin Sergey | 2760 | 6 | 0 - 1 | 6 | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | 2674 | 38 | ||
6 | 24 | GM | Howell David W L | 2694 | 6 | 1 - 0 | 6 | GM | Grischuk Alexander | 2759 | 7 | ||
7 | 13 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | 2732 | 6 | 1 - 0 | 6 | GM | Rakhmanov Aleksandr | 2621 | 95 | ||
8 | 19 | GM | Le Quang Liem | 2708 | 5½ | 1 - 0 | 6 | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | 2664 | 48 | ||
9 | 3 | GM | So Wesley | 2767 | 5½ | ½ - ½ | 5½ | GM | Robson Ray | 2670 | 43 | ||
10 | 5 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2763 | 5½ | ½ - ½ | 5½ | GM | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | 2669 | 44 |
Top ten pairings for the last round
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 12 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2745 | 7 | 7½ | GM | Caruana Fabiano | 2812 | 2 | |||
2 | 8 | GM | Aronian Levon | 2758 | 7 | 7 | GM | Carlsen Magnus | 2876 | 1 | |||
3 | 38 | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | 2674 | 7 | 7 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | 2732 | 13 | |||
4 | 15 | GM | Wang Hao | 2726 | 7 | 7 | GM | Howell David W L | 2694 | 24 | |||
5 | 110 | GM | Paravyan David | 2602 | 6½ | 6½ | GM | Le Quang Liem | 2708 | 19 | |||
6 | 39 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | 2674 | 6½ | 6½ | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | 2639 | 74 | |||
7 | 44 | GM | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | 2669 | 6 | 6 | GM | So Wesley | 2767 | 3 | |||
8 | 43 | GM | Robson Ray | 2670 | 6 | 6 | GM | Anand Viswanathan | 2765 | 4 | |||
9 | 61 | GM | Sevian Samuel | 2654 | 6 | 6 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2763 | 5 | |||
10 | 53 | GM | Kovalev Vladislav | 2661 | 6 | 6 | GM | Karjakin Sergey | 2760 | 6 |