The eleventh spherical of the Candidates Event in Madrid has concluded. Ian Nepomniachtchi prolonged his result in an virtually insurmountable 1.5 factors with 3 rounds remaining by beating Alireza Firouzja, who ready for the sport in an uncommon approach.

Day by day, Lichess is offering a broadcast of the video games performed in real-time. We even have a number of annotated video games by GM Ulvi Bajarani and video recaps by WGM-elect Jesse February.

Alireza Firouzja – Ian Nepomniachtchi 0 – 1

The dialogue of this sport begins some 14 hours earlier than it began. Round that point Alireza logged onto Lichess and commenced taking part in 30-second video games with GM Daniel Naroditsky who was additionally in Madrid as a commentator. The match continued for some 5 hours, with Naroditsky popping out on high 142–108. Most of the chess commentariat understandably questioned if this was the best pre-game night/morning for a chess participant taking part in within the largest event of his life. 

Personally, I’d agree that this type of factor is sub-optimal, but it surely’s not clear in any respect how a lot impact it had in the long run. Alireza was having a disappointing event lengthy earlier than hyper-bullet video games have been concerned, and the mathematics simply barely checks out for him to have gotten a wonderfully cheap quantity of sleep anyway.

The sport itself went south for Alireza shortly. Nepomniachtchi performed the Petroff in opposition to 1. e4 which now appears to be his go-to weapon. In a reasonably even place, Alireza lashed out with 16. g4 and 17 h4. Sadly for him, the king-side pawn storm had little or no impact. Nepomniachtchi’s items have been pushed away by the wave of pawns, however solely to reach at higher squares than they sat on earlier than. The place remained muddy for just a few strikes, however that is effectively inside the calculation talents of a Tremendous GM and on transfer 35 Alireza resigned.

Nepomniachtchi sits on an unimaginable +5 rating, or 8/11. That is in an occasion the place +2 or +3 is usually sufficient to win.

Credit: FIDE/Stev Bonhage

Fabiano Caruana – Liren Ding 0 – 1

A Ruy Lopez gave the impression to be entering into Fabi’s course, even arriving at positions that our esteemed GM annotator would name successful. Sadly, the benefit slipped away and Ding arrived to a place that he wouldn’t worry defending. Possibly this sport may have been shortly drawn beneath different circumstances, however with the event scenario being what it’s, attracts weren’t sufficient to deliver the 2 gamers again into rivalry. So the sport continued on, and to not Caruana’s profit. As we arrived to maneuver 70 of this marathon affair, Ding had a stable benefit, which he managed to push by to a full level after Caruana blundered with 75 Bc7. 

The win is Ding’s third straight and put him into clear second place on +2, only a level wanting Nepomniachtchi’s successful rating within the final Candidates Event. Nonetheless, the requirements are a bit larger this time. In the meantime, Caruana has now tail-spinned to gaining 0.5 factors in his final 4 video games and has fallen all the best way all the way down to fourth place.

Credit: FIDE/Stev Bonhage

Hikaru Nakamura – Richard Rapport ½ – ½

The primary large shock arrived on transfer 1; A Sicilian! I virtually thought they’d abolished that opening given how little it’s been performed on this occasion. Maybe such flights of fancy aren’t acceptable for critical grown-up candidates chess.

The road they performed maybe gave away why the opening has dropped in recognition as they arrived to maneuver 15 with many earlier Grandmaster video games having the identical place. Transfer 17 was the primary “novelty,” and never one that’s more likely to catch on. Nakamura received a pawn whereas permitting his opponent plenty of exercise and the two bishops. The identical change was shortly executed in reverse, and though the sport limped on for 94 strikes, there was by no means any vital benefit for both participant.

Credit: FIDE/Stev Bonhage

Teimour Radjabov – Jan-Krzysztof Duda ½ – ½

The aggressive perfection of the double round-robin format will be simply overrated, and this sport is a main instance. For those who put two GMs in a aggressive scenario the place they each must win, you’re more likely to see a really attention-grabbing sport. For those who put them in a scenario the place neither one will see a lot level in preventing for a win, they may dutifully preserve their energies for a second after they do.

This sport was precisely the type of sport you’d count on from two gamers hanging across the backside of the desk, safely past any robust risk of successful.

Credit: FIDE/Stev Bonhage