Chess officials (finally) shut down ill-fated Candidates tourney

Savor this column. It may be the last choice morsel of over-the-board chess greatness we get for a while.

Bowing to the inevitable, FIDE officials last week halted at midpoint the Candidates tournament to pick a challenger to world titleholder Magnus Carlsen, citing the increasing restrictions imposed by host Russia and the uncertainty that the eight world-class grandmasters competing would be able to fly home if the tournament proceeded.

French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated front-running Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in Round 7 to share first before the indefinite shutdown at 4½-2½. American GM Fabiano Caruana remains very much in the hunt, tied with three players a point back. MVL’s win was a positional jewel, exploiting Black’s awkward Winawer French setup with a brilliantly executed breakthrough.

Nepo’s problems start after 15. d4 bxc5 16. Qd1! (White’s queen play here is masterful) Qa5 17. Bd2 Rb8 18. Ne2 c4?!, shutting down queenside play and leaving White free to pursue a kingside break.

With Black’s king’s rook sidelined and his king and knights in each other’s way, White strikes with the exquisitely timed 23. f4! (happily offering the exchange for a powerful initiative) Ne7 24. Rfb1 f5 25. Rb5 Qa6 26. Bc1! (activating the last underperforming piece) Kf7 27. Ba3 Rhb8 28. Bxe7 Kxe7 29. g4!, and Black’s position starts to crumble.

Even a string of trades can’t save Black, as White’s queen and knight infiltrate the enemy camp: 33. Ng3! (much better than the immediate queen recapture) Qb6 34. Nxf5+ Kf8 35. Qa1! (another sterling move of Her Majesty, activating via the a-file) Qe6 36. Ng3 Qg4 37. Kg2 Qxf4 38. Qxa7, when 38…Qf7 39. Qa8+ Ke7 (Qe8 40. Qxd5) 40. Qa3+ Kd8 41. Qd6 is winning for White.
After the game’s 38…Ke7 39. Qa3+ Kd8 40. Qd6 g5 41. hxg6 h5 42. g7, Black resigns as 42…Qd2+ 43. Kh3 Qg5 44. e6 is hopeless.

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Truncated tournaments are nothing new. The strong DSB Chess Congress in Mannheim, Germany, was halted in July 1914 with the outbreak of World War I, and many matches at the ill-fated 8th Olympiad in Buenos Aires were scrubbed in 1939 with the onset of World War II. One could even say the meteoric career of the first American chess great, Paul Morphy, was “canceled” with the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861.

Exactly a century later, a proposed 16-game match between two other American immortals — Sammy Reshevsky and Bobby Fischer — clanked to a halt over a tawdry scheduling dispute, with the score tied at 5½-5½.

Reshevsky, 50, and Fischer, just 18 at the time, proved well-matched combatants at the board, whatever the atmospherics. Fischer would include three games from the match in his classic “My 60 Memorable Games,” including the double-edged brawl in Game 5 that divides analysts to this day.

Reshevsky clearly gets the upper hand after the fantastic complications provoked by Black’s risky 17…f5!? 18. Nc3 Bag5 19. Nxg5!, finding the brilliant 24. Be4! and emerging by 29. Rc7+ Kf6 30. Rec1 with an exchange for two pawns and a dominating position.

But Reshevsky’s chronic time pressure woes cost him here — after 35. a5 f4 (see diagram), 36. Rb4! is close to winning, and four moves later, 40. b5 would have kept the balance — and it is Fischer’s kingside pawns and well-placed rook that decide the affair in the end. In the final position, the checks run out after 58. Qb5+ (Qc2+ Kg5 59. Qd2+ Kh5) Kf6 59. Qb2+ e5, and White is lost.

Vachier-Lagrave — Nepomniachtchi, FIDE Candidates Tournament, Yekaterinburg, Russia, March 2020

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. h4 Qc7 8. h5 h6 9. Rb1 b6 10. Qg4 Rg8 11. Bb5+ Kf8 12. Bd3 Ba6 13. dxc5 Bxd3 14. cxd3 Nd7 15. d4 bxc5 16. Qd1 Qa5 17. Bd2 Rb8 18. Ne2 c4 19. O-O Rb6 20. Qc2 Rh8 21. a4 Ke8 22. Rb4 Nc6 23. f4 Ne7 24. Rfb1 f5 25. Rb5 Qa6 26. Bc1 Kf7 27. Ba3 Rhb8 28. Bxe7 Kxe7 29. g4 Rxb5 30. axb5 Rxb5 31. gxf5 Rxb1+ 32. Qxb1 exf5 33. Ng3 Qb6 34. Nxf5+ Kf8 35. Qa1 Qe6 36. Ng3 Qg4 37. Kg2 Qxf4 38. Qxa7 Ke7 39. Qa3+ Kd8 40. Qd6 g5 41. hxg6 h5 42. g7 Black resigns.

Reshevsky-Fischer, Match, Game 5, Los Angeles, July 1961

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 c5 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bd3 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. a3 cxd4 10. exd4 Nf6 11. Bc2 b6 12. Qd3 Bb7 13. Bg5 g6 14. Rfe1 Re8 15. h4 Rc8 16. Rac1 Nd5 17. Ne4 f5 18. Nc3 Bxg5 19. Nxg5 Nf4 20. Qe3 Qxd4 21. Nb5 Qxe3 22. fxe3 Nxg2 23. Kxg2 Nd4+ 24. Be4 Bxe4+ 25. Nxe4 Nxb5 26. Nf6+ Kf7 27. Nxe8 Rxe8 28. a4 Nd6 29. Rc7+ Kf6 30. Rec1 h6 31. Rxa7 Ne4 32. Ra6 Rd8 33. Rc2 Rd3 34. Rxb6 Rxe3 35. a5 f4 36. Rf2 Nxf2 37. Kxf2 Re4 38. b4 Re3 39. a6 Ra3 40. Rc6 g5 41. hxg5+ hxg5 42. b5 g4 43. Rc8 Kf5 44. b6 g3+ 45. Ke1 Ra1+ 46. Ke2 g2 47. Rf8+ Ke4 48. Rxf4+ Kxf4 49. b7 g1=Q 50. b8=Q+ Kf5 51. Qf8+ Ke4 52. Qa8+ Kd4 53. Qd8+ Kc4 54. Qd3+ Kc5 55. Qc3+ Kd6 56. Qd2+ Ke5 57. Qb2+ Kf5 White resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email dsands@washingtontimes.com.