American chess stars in the hunt for coveted Candidates’ slots at FIDE Swiss fight

They are as precious as a Willy Wonka Golden Ticket at the bottom of your Halloween bag.

Some 164 top players are competing now in the FIDE Grand Swiss and the FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss tournaments on the Isle of Man. The prize for the two top qualifying players in both 11-round events: a slot in the 2024 open and women’s eight-player Candidates Tournaments that will identify the next challengers for the world chess titles.

Chinese GM Ding Liren will be making his first title defense next year and four players — Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, Indian prodigy GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, American No. 1 GM Fabiano Caruana and surprise qualifier GM Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan — have already booked a berth in the April Candidates clash in Toronto for the right to take him on.

Abasov, not even in the top 50 in the world rankings, is the role model for many workaday grandmasters out there: He earned a highly coveted spot with a sensational run at the recent FIDE World Cup knockout tournament, and several Americans are hoping to match his good fortune at the Isle of Man event.

As we write this, U.S. GM Hikaru Nakamura and Caruana are part of an eight-way tie for the lead at 4½-1½, with compatriots GMs Hans Moke Niemann, Levon Aronian, Sam Shankland and Sam Sevian still very much in the mix as part of a huge scrum of players within a point of the leaders. On the women’s side, it is Kazakh IM Bibisara Assaubayeva setting the pace at 4½-½, with rising U.S. junior star FM Alice Lee getting her first real taste of international top-flight competition back in the pack at 1-4.

Upsets are always the spice that give Swiss events their unpredictable kick, and the current tournaments are no exception. Serbian GM Alexandr Predke is very much in the hunt after a smashing Round 2 win over higher-rated Polish star GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda in a short but sharp Queen’s Gambit Accepted.

By 8. Qc2 0-0 9. Rd1, White is not going to recover the gambit pawn anytime soon and his own d-pawn is isolated, but Predke also enjoys a much freer position and a significant lead in development. The lift 11. Rd3!? comes unexpectedly early, but the White rook will anchor the attack from its perch on kingside: 13. Rh3 (already with a little mate threat to kick things off) f5!? (a concession positionally, but White is still attacking after 13 … Nf6 14. Qe2) 14. Qe2 Qe8 15. Bd2 a5 16. a4 Bf6 17. Re1, and all of White’s army is in the field while Black is still struggling to mobilize.

By 22. Qg4 Rxe5 23. Bc2 Nc4 24. Bg5, Black’s material edge is now two pawns but it is White with the dream attacking array. Best of a lot of bad choices now might be 24 … Qxg5!? 25. Nxg5 Rxe1+ 26. Kg2 h6, though 27. Rg3 keeps the attack going. Duda’s choice in the game amounts to tactical suicide.

After 24 … Qb4? (pawn-hunting is never advisable when your king is under siege) 25. Re2 g6 (Qxb2 26. Nf6+ Nxf6 27. Bxf6 g6 28. Bxg6! and Black is toast) 26. Qh4 h5 27. Qg3 Qxb2, and we reach a position where, as American great Reuben Fine once observed, the combinations come “as naturally as a baby’s smile.”

Thus: 29. Nxh5+! gxh5 (allows mate in three, but no better in the long run was 29 … Kf8 30. Qf3+ Rf5 31. Bxf5 exf5 32. Rxb2 Nxb2 33. Nf6) 30. Bh6+ Kf7 (Kxh6 31. Qg6 mate; or 30 … Kf6 31. Qg7 mate) 31. Qg7+, and Black resigns not needing to play out 31 … Ke8 32. Qf8 mate.

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Today’s second game is the kind that converts some players into lifelong Sicilian adherents and leaves others never wanting to take on either side of the storied, much-analyzed defense.

Indian IM Rameshbabu Vaishali has made a strong early run through the 50-player women’s section, helped by a smashing sacrificial win over Russian-born IM Leya Garifullina. The Sicilian savant has to be familiar with a string of thematic sacrifices on squares all over the chessboard, and here Vaishali pulls off the classic minor piece sac on e6 to fuel a winning attack.

We can’t do justice — and don’t fully comprehend — all the move-order and strategic subtleties here, but it is clear White aims for the quick knockout with 11. f5! b5 11. f6! (no time for retreats like 11. Bb3?! b4 when the game is already in the balance), and lands the haymaker after 14. Ne4 Nb7? (better was 14 … 0-0, but White’s attack is not spent after 15. Bg5 dxe5 16. Nf6+ Kh8 17. h4) 15. Bg5!? (even better, according to GM Rafael Leitao on Chess.com, was 15. exd6! Nc6 16. Bg5, and if 16 … f6, White has 17. Bxe6 fxg5 18. Bd5, with unmeetable threats) Bc6? (see diagram; Black leans into the punch, when 16 … Qc7! offered real survival chances) 16. Bxe6!!, blowing open the Black center.

After 16 … Bxe4 (fxe6 17. Nf6+ Kf8 18. Rhf1, and Garifullina’s king is trapped in the crossfire; e.g. 18 … h6 19. Nh5! gxh5 20. Nd4+ Ke8 21. Nxc6 and wins) 17. exd6? (a wrong turn on the path to victory; 17. dxe4!, holding the capture on d6 in reserve, wins more cleanly: 17 … h6 [fxe6 18. exd6 Nxd6 19. e5 is crushing] 18. Bxe7 Qxe7 19. Bd5 Bxe5 20. Nxe5 dxe5 21. Bc6+ Kf8 22. Rd7 Qe6 23. Qf2 Rb8 24. Rhd1), and now the computers give Black the out-of-the-blue defense 17 … Qxd6! 18. Qxe4 Qxe6 19. Qxb7 0-0!!, and it would be Black on the attack after 20. Qxe7? (Rhe1 looks to be best here) Qxa2 21. d4 Rfe8 cxd4.

But order is restored and White’s aggression pays off after 17 … Nxd6 18. dxe4 (Black has too many pins and weak squares to contend with) Qb6 (fxe6 19. e5 h6 20. exd6 hxg5 21. Qxe6 wins easily) 19. e5 Ndf5 20. Bd7+ Kf8 21. g4! (no rest for the weary defender) Nd4 (h6 22. gxf5 hxg5 23. f6) 22. Nxd4 cxd4 23. Qf3! Ra7 24. Rhf1 Nf5 25. gxf5, and Black resigned as mate is on the way after 25 … Rxd7 26. Qa8+ Rd8 27. Bxd8.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Predke-Duda, FIDE Grand Swiss 2023, Douglas, Isle of Man, October 2023

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bxc4 Nxe4 7. O-O Nf6 8. Qc2 O-O 9. Rd1 Nbd7 10. Ne5 Be7 11. Rd3 Nb6 12. Bb3 Nfd5 13. Rh3 f5 14. Qe2 Qe8 15. Bd2 a5 16. a4 Bf6 17. Re1 c6 18. g4 Bxe5 19. dxe5 Bd7 20. gxf5 Rxf5 21. Ne4 Qe7 22. Qg4 Rxe5 23. Bc2 Nc4 24. Bg5 Qb4 25. Re2 g6 26. Qh4 h5 27. Qg3 Qxb2 28. Nf6+ Kg7 29. Nxh5+ gxh5 30. Bh6+ Kf7 31. Qg7+ Black resigns.

Vaishali-Garifullina, FIDE Grand Swiss Women, Douglas, Isle of Man, October 2023

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. Bc4 Nc6 7. d3 Na5 8. Bd2 e6 9. Qe2 Ne7 10. O-O-O a6 11. f5 b5 12. f6 Bxf6 13. e5 Bg7 14. Ne4 Nb7 15. Bg5 Bc6 16. Bxe6 Bxe4 17. exd6 Nxd6 18. dxe4 Qb6 19. e5 Ndf5 20. Bd7+ Kf8 21. g4 Nd4 22. Nxd4 cxd4 23. Qf3 Ra7 24. Rhf1 Nf5 25. gxf5 Black resigns.

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