Yes, I know that the character played by Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride is actually, Wes(T)ley. If you came all the way here to tell me that, do you in the comments. Just don’t forget to hit like and share!
For the past two issues, we’ve been reviewing Firouzja’s painful round 14 & 15 collapse in the Skilling Open Preliminary Rounds. But there was a whole other event played after that: the knockout rounds. And this was an online rapid tournament for the best of the best. I do mean that every single player in this event, at one time or another, has been considered a legitimate contender in the World Championship candidates cycle.
Magnus Carlsen, obviously, is world #1, world champion in classical time controls and rapid, former blitz world champion, and likely the greatest chess player of all time. He’s had a pretty good year, as Tarjei Svensen is keen to remind us occasionally:
Rounding out the field: Ian Nepomniatchi, 4th in the world in classical time controls, and top board for the Russian Olympic team. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 5th in the world, 2nd highest rated player in the world at rapid time controls. Incidentally, these two currently sit atop the cross table for the 2020 World Championship Candidates tournament, which was suspended at the halfway point due to coronavirus, with MVL and Nepo tied for the lead.
Hikaru Nakamura, world number 4 in Rapid, world #1 in blitz, e-Sports superstar and member of TSM, who’s looking to prove his recent lackluster results against the world’s elite professionals are not due to his burgeoning and (financially) successful career as a streamer.
Levon Aronian, world number 6 in slow chess, world number 8 in rapid, and the oldest player in the top 10 at the ripe age of 38. Levon is the last remaining bridge between the current generation of chess superstars and the generation of their predecessors. Players like Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov, Peter Svidler, and Viswanathan Anand. (There’s two former world champions and a FIDE champion in that list by the way). Levon held his own against all of them, and for a while Carlsen publicly named Levon his “most dangerous rival.”
Teimour Radjabov (World #10) and Anish Giri (World #11) qualified for the knockout rounds. Giri’s chess is simply stellar, but he’s also well known at this point for winning the internet with memes about his draw-ish tendencies:
Where did they find that picture of Fabiano? The world may never know.
And last but not least, Wesley So. Since he won the tournament (Spoiler: am I doing this right?), we’ll offer a little biographical background on our hero, Mr. So:
Born in the Philippines in 1993, Wesley So first appeared on the international tournament scene at the age of 11, when he scored 4.0/7 at the Nice International Open, two months before his 12th birthday. Over the space of the next four months, he achieved 3 International Master Norms, becoming the youngest Filipino to attain that title. By April 2007, his FIDE rating had crossed the 2500 threshold that qualified him to achieve a Grandmaster title, but he had achieved only 1 “GM Norm.” He got the second by scoring 7.5/13 at the World Junior Championships, held in Yerevan that year. He got his third, and final norm in December of 2007, at the Pichay International Open tournament in Manila, Phillipines. So was declared a Grandmaster by FIDE at the age of 14 - the youngest ever Filipino grandmaster, and the 7th youngest to achieve the title, from anywhere, for all time.
In 2009, the 16 year old defied his biological mother’s suggestion that he become an accountant, so his family moved to Canada and left him alone in Manila. Seriously. (Source)
At the time the title was awarded, Chessbase published a short note on his achievement, written by another Filipino chess player, International Master Rodolfo Tan Cardoso. Cardoso writes, “Compared to all the other prodigies, who had full sponsorship backing and all the time needed, GM-elect So has received only breadcrumbs and has no luxury of full time practice. He cannot afford a decent training given by well known GM chess coaches, and had to rely on pure talent, [and] diligence…” (Source) Indeed.
In 2012, So received a scholarship to Webster University, where the chess team thrives under the leadership of Susan Polgar, and in 2014, So moved to Minnesota, in order to live with his adoptive parents in the United States, permanently, and focus on serious chess study, for the first time: with proper coaches and training partners. In 2017 he won the U.S. Championship for the first time, and achieved his high water mark Elo rating of 2822, good enough for #2 in the world, at that time, and the 7th highest ever recorded Elo rating, of all time. In 2019, So became the world champion in “Fischer Random,” or Chess960, after literally crushing Magnus Carlsen by the improbable score of +4, =2, -0 in their six game match. Few have ever embarrassed the world champion so thoroughly.
Through it all, So remains one of the most humble individuals on the planet, routinely refusing to take any credit for his own successes. Whether that’s a quality to be admired or not, dear reader, I leave up to you. But check out his post match interview after winning the Skilling Open, “Magnus blundered so many times… of course he’s the better player… I had nothing left to lose…”
Want to see some chess?
Game of the Week #14:
Magnus Carlsen vs. Wesley So (0-1) Skilling Open Knockout Final Round, Day 2, Game 2:
d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 cxd4
Magnus avoids the Nimzo-Indian defense, where for some years players with the white pieces have not been getting any advantage at the top level, by playing 3. Nf3 instead of 3. Nc3, and Wesley allows the game to transpose into a Queen’s Gambit Declined with 3. … d5. After 4. Nc3, Wesley opts for the Semi-Tarrasch defense with 4. … c5. But 5. … cxd4 really is a departure from the main lines of theory. Usually black seeks to avoid the isolated d-pawn by playing 5. … Nxd5, or in the old days, would simply accept the isolated d-pawn and get on with things by playing 5. … exd5. … cxd4, in contrast, is quite rare:
Qxd4 exd5 7. e4 dxe4!? (diagram)
But this move truly is quite rare. Wesley allows 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8, depriving black of the right to castle, arguing that black will be able to get developed quickly, and that with the queens off, the king is not in so much danger, anyway. Of course, black can’t really prevent the d-file from opening after 7. e4, and the normal continuation 7. … Nc6 8. Bb5 dxe4 has the same result. So’s idea appears to be that, in some positions, the b8 knight might prefer to come to d7, instead of c6, and that it’s better to retain that flexibility. There may be some truth to that - So had little difficulty obtaining full equality in this game.
Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Ng5 Be6 10. Nxe6 fxe6 11. Bc4 (diagram)
The position after 10. … fxe6 had been reached in 16 of the 17 master games in the Lichess Opening Explorer where 7. … dxe4 had been played. In most of those, White preferred the move 11. Bg5, preparing to castle long immediately, with check. Magnus plays 11. Bc4 instead, but the idea appears relatively obvious. The black e-pawns are weak and should be attacked. Incidentally - the fact that black has been up a pawn for some moves is really not an issue. Wesley is not able to defend both the e6 and the e4 pawn in this position, so the material will be returned. The only question is whether or not black can find activity for his pieces, or if they’ll be tied to the passive defense of the pawn that remains.
… Ke7 12. 0-0 Nbd7
One “point” of Nbd7 is that, should white try to get his pawn back by playing - Bg5, Bxf6, and Nxe4, black can calmly recapture the f6 knight with the d7 knight. As a result, white may be forced to play, at some point, Re1, bringing another attacker to the fight for the e4 pawn. But this allows another pair of knights to come off the board, dramatically simplifying the position for the defending side, and requires the attention of the rook, who might otherwise prefer to be on the open d-file. Magnus plays in a principled fashion - maximizing the activity of his pieces and placing the f1 rook where it “really” wants to be, d1. But as a result, Wesley So begins to dream of actually holding on to the pawn:
Rd1 Rc8 14. Be2 (diagram)
Of course, clinging to the pawn for dear life can cause black some problems untangling his pieces. 14. … Nc5 seems like a strong post for the d7 knight, but it allows 15. Nb5, with the idea of 16. Nd6. And then, Wesley wants to nudge his king out of the way of the f8 bishop, in order to complete his development. But if the king ever leaves the d7 knight, the e4 pawn falls to Nxe4! because … Nxe4 is met by Rxd7. Wesley first denies the white knight access to the b5 square, and then improves his control over d6 before looking to untangle:
… a6 15. Be3 Rc6 16. Rac1 Kd8 (diagram)
Incidentally - here’s another nuance of the knight on d7. The black king can scurry towards the queenside despite the open d-file.
Now. White’s pieces are all good. Black is holding onto the extra pawn, for now, but it’s come at a cost. The king shuffle has taken several tempi. The rook needed two moves to come to c6, where it watches over d6 and e6, and the … a6 move, while prudent, did not aid black in developing a piece. For his part, white has plenty of compensation for the pawn but he has to find a plan that continues to make black’s life difficult. Despite all the wasted tempi, So is only a move or two away from completely untangling. If white does nothing, say, 17. Kh1?!, black simply plays 17. … Bc5! since the exchange does white no favors: 18. Bxc5 Rxc5 19. Rd4 e5 20. Rb4 Kc7 and black has everything covered and coordinated.
If, instead, White embarks on a plan to get his pawn back with 17. Bg5, intending 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Nxe4, black can simply un-pin the d7 knight by playing 17. … Kc7, and bring his bishop to c5 on the following move. If white attempts the more extravagant : 17. g4!? h6 18. h4 intending g5, N-moves, and Nxe4, black can put the bishop on d6, where it might combine with the h8 rook to influence h2 in some lines after white plays g5, hxg5, hxg5. The d6 bishop also helps to overprotect the e5 square, which might become home to the e6 pawn, d7 knight, or the bishop itself.
Still, I believe that this is the plan that causes black the most difficulty. But, it requires a little precision. 17. Bf4! takes control of the e5 square before the bishop can arrive on d6, and prepares 18. g4! when the bishop will be able to fall back to g3, covering the f2 square, for example, should black play c5. This is a subtle improving move - but it helps to illustrate good, positional middlegame play. White is down a pawn, but black’s f8 bishop is undeveloped. Before going to win the pawn back, it’s expedient to make sure that white improves his own dark square bishop and restricts its counterpart - just a bit. Magnus tried something more direct, but Wesley solved all the problems:
Bd4?!
And now 18. Bxf6 is threatened because the d7 knight would be pinned along the d-file, but So finds the “right” square for his dark squared bishop, and un-pins the knight.
… Bd6! (diagram)
And here - it’s hard to offer Magnus good advice. The little imprecision - 17. Bd4 instead of 17. Bf4 allows So a harmonious development, and all of a sudden it looks like black is up a pawn. It’s not a good pawn, it’s a doubled isolated pawn, but it’s there. The compensation white originally claimed is rapidly dissipating.
This will be a familiar feeling to club players. Here, Magnus spent all of his time. According to chessbomb.com’s clock times, he had 8 minutes left, and he used 7 of them. It seems he realized that the direct threat of 18. Bxf6 was not as strong as he had hoped, or he simply missed that Bd6 blocked the pin along the d-file and 18. … Nxf6 would be possible. Either way, he didn’t like his choices, and he ended up using all of his time and then he played a poor move. I suspect he gave up and just “made a move” but - it’s hard to see what the point of Magnus’s 18th move is. After this, white is defending. And with no time left on the clock:
Na4? (why?) Rxc1 19. Rxc1 Ke7 20. g3 Rd8 21. Be3 Nd5 22. Bg5+ N7f6 23. Nc5 (diagram)
And still it looks as though the World Champion has succeeded in making something of white’s position. The knight comes round to c5, where it attacks the e4 pawn while the f6 knight is pinned to the black king. And normally, a move like 23. … Bxc5 would be out of the question - playing with the two clumsy knights against the bishop pair is tremendously difficult. But white’s inaccuracies have given Wesley time to find strong central squares for his knights, and an active role for his rook and king. He makes the (correct) decision to trade bishop for knight, going into the endgame with two knights against two bishops, but with an active king and an extra pawn. This is not an easy evaluation to make, but So had decided on this line at move 20, and here he played instantly:
… Bxc5! 24. Rxc5 h6 25. Bc1 (diagram)
Perhaps this position wasn’t so difficult to evaluate. The thing with knights is that they want advanced outposts. A knight firmly ensconced on the 6th rank (or 3rd, if you’re playing with the black pieces) is often the dominant piece in a position. Here, white cannot prevent the d5 knight from arriving on d3, and while he can exchange bishop for knight, to do so would forfeit the bishop pair and help black to fix his pawn structure. Magnus would end up suffering in the bishop vs. knight ending, down a (now healthy) pawn.
You do have to do a bit of calculating here, because things can get quite concrete. 25. … Nb4 26. Rc7+ Rd7 27. Rxd7+ Kxd7 28. a3 Nd3 29. Bxd3 exd3 30. f3 for example, and the white king needs three turns to capture the d3 pawn. Black is in time: Kc6, Kd5, Kc4.
… Nb4 26. Rc7+ Rd7 27. Rxd7+ Kxd7 28. Bd2?!
Magnus is not winning the d3 pawn in the previous variation. But here, the black knights are obviously superior to the poor white bishops. So’s handling of the cavalry makes a strong impression:
… Nfd5 29. a3 Nd3 30. b3 Kd6 (diagram)
The d3 knight is simply difficult to tolerate. But it must be tolerated. Magnus tries to undermine it’s support by way of 31. f3?! but this is a major concession - white exchanges the f-pawn for the black e-pawn, and what remains is a healthy passed pawn on e6. Passive defense is very uncomfortable for human players and it’s difficult to evaluate such positions with no time on the clock, but the computer prefers 31. Kf1 Ke5 32. Bd1, etc.
f3?! Nc5 32. fxe4 Nxe4 33. Bc1 e5 34. b4 Nec3 35. Bf1 e4 (passed pawns are wont to be pushed) 36. Kf2 Ke5 (an active, centralized king can be worth as much as a piece in the ending) 37. Bh3 b6 38. Bb2 Kd4 (diagram)
… b6 was played because 38. Bc8 was threatened, hitting the b7 pawn AND the a5 pawn. This position is losing for white, truly - he cannot successfully stop the e4 pawn. But perhaps sticking to the original plan would be a little more stubborn. 39. Bc8!? would force an exchange of a pair of queenside pawns, and maybe reduce ever-so-slightly black’s winning chances once white is forced to sacrifice material in exchange for the e-pawn. Instead, Magnus plays passively, and his bishop is effectively shut out of the game:
Bf1?! b5! (! because it’s correct, and black is now easily winning - but this is not a difficult move to find. It’s the most natural move in the position) 40. Ke1 Ke3?! (The immediate e3! is already possible) 41. Bc1+ Kd4 42. Bb2 e3!? (now So makes progress) 43. Ba1 g6
White is in Zugzwang. Shuffling with Ba1-b2 allows black to bring the d5 knight into the effort with Nb6-c4, and moving the f1 bishop allows … Kd3:
44. Bh3 Kd3 45. Bc8 (diagram)
But now this is too late. Black to play:
Black needs to control the e1 square in order to promote the pawn.
… Nb1!
This knight is headed for f3.
46. Bb2 Nd2 47. Bg4
Stopping Nf3 is more crucial than capturing the a6 pawn.
… Nc3 48. Bxc3 Kxc3 49. Ke2 Nc4 50. Bc8 Nxa3
White cannot save the b4 pawn. Black will improve his pieces, clarify the kingside situation by placing his pawns on dark squares the white bishop cannot reach, and only then, capture it - at his leisure.
51. Bxa6 Kd4 52. h4 Nb1!
The b5 pawn is defended indirectly, by the threat of Nc3+.
53. Kd1 Nc3+ 54. Kc2 g5 55. hxg5 hxg5 56. g4 Kc4 57. Bc8 Kxb4
The white king cannot stop both pawns.
Kd3 e2 59. Kd2 Ka3 60. Bf5 b4 61. Bd3 b3 white resigns. 0-1
Truly a great positional game from Wesley So. A prepared idea (… Nd7) in a lesser played line led to a position where Wesley could credibly entertain the idea of trying to hold onto the e4 pawn. Of course, Magnus played in a principled, provocative fashion, preferring piece activity to regaining the material - but a single inaccuracy in the form of 17. Bd4?! put So in the driver’s seat. He accurately assessed his chances in an endgame with two knights vs. two bishops, and he converted in a really instructive fashion, without ever really ceding the advantage.
This is just an awesome game. Well played, Wesley So, and congratulations. While Wesley failed to qualify for the 2020 World Championship Candidates’ Tournament, one would have to think he’ll be a betting favorite to qualify for its next iteration - whenever the pandemic allows that event planning to begin…
Puzzle of the Week #15:
But first, a solution to last week’s puzzle:
Bg6+! wins material, because black cannot stop 2. Bxf5!. If he tries 1. … Kg8, the knight is pinned along the a2-g8 diagonal, and 2. … exf5 loses to 3. Rxe7. If 1. … Kh8, 2. Bxf5 comes with the threat of 3. Ng6+, forking king and rook.
Unfortunately, Naka missed it. But, he won the game anyway, and advanced. He lost in the semifinal to Wesley So, who took one decisive result and drew the rest of the games in their mini-match.
This week, a position from one of my own tournament games. White to play and win (I didn’t miss it):
If you have the solution - email me at JensenUVA@gmail.com or DM on twitter @JensenUVA. Feel free to reach out with questions, comments, or suggestions.
Like, share, subscribe, tweet about it, be about it. And until next time: ARGH! SHAKHMATY!!