Like that butterfly wingflap that spawns a hurricane in Florida, an otherwise unremarkable year-end Swiss tournament in northern France may just help decide the next chess world champion.
Iranian-born French No. 1 GM Alireza Firouzja — the highest-rated player in the field by far — ran the table at last month’s Rouen Open. Along with the modest 700-euro first prize, Firouzja’s 7-0 result netted him just enough rating points to grab the eighth and final slot on offer for next April’s Candidates tournament in Toronto. The winner of that event earns the right to take on Chinese world champion GM Ding Liren in a title match later in the year.
Firouzja, who dropped out of the World Rapid Championships in mid-tournament in a frantic search for rating points before the Dec. 31 cut-off, edged out two American hopefuls, GMs Wesley So and Lenier Dominguez Perez, who will now have to wait for the next two-year cycle for a shot at the crown.
Ding, you may recall, was himself a last-minute entrant in the previous cycle, forced by the COVID-19 pandemic to play a string of hastily arranged matches in China in late 2021 just to qualify for the Candidates tournament, He would go on to beat Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi for the world title.
It wasn’t just a string of cupcakes for Firouzja in Rouen, with critical late-round wins over Chinese-Ukrainian GM Li Min Peng and U.S. GM Gata Kamsky, a five-time American national champion and once upon a time one of the top-rated players in the world.
Kamsky, now 49, was not at his best in the tournament’s critical encounter against the favorite, a Rossolimo Sicilian where, after 9. Nbd2 d6?! (a strange positional choice when simpler ideas such as 9…Qc7 10. Nc4 Ba6 were on offer) 10. exd6 Bxd6 11. Nc4 Be7 12. Be3, the two half-open files hardly compensate for Black’s shredded and vulnerable queenside.
It gets worse: 15. Qf2 (the pawn can’t be saved and the question is what Black will get in return) f5?! (better was 15…Bd5 16. 0-0-0 Qc7 17. g3 0-0 18. Rhg1 a5, with some hopes of saving an inferior game) 16. Bxc5 Bxh4? 17. g3 Bg5 18. Nd6+ Kd7 19. 0-0-0, and Kamsky’s king will be on thin ice for the rest of the game.
After 22. N6c4 Bxc4 23. dxc4 (and not 23. Nxc4?? fxg3+ 24. Kb1 Rxb2+! 25. Kxb2 Qb5+ 26. Ka2 gxf2 and White is losing) Kc8 24. gxf4 Nxf4 25. Kb1, Black is actually a pawn up but his exposed king proves a fatal liability.
Black sacrifices the exchange to try to alter the game’s dynamic, but Firouzja clarifies matters ruthlessly on 31. Qg2 Nc1+ (see diagram) 32. Rxc1! (Ka1? Nxb3+ 33. Ka2 Qxc4! 34. Qxg5 Nd4+ 35. Kb1 Qd3+ draws) Bxc1 33. Qxc6+ Kd8 34. Qe6, and the White queen and bishop have the Black king in a withering crossfire, with 35. Bb6 mate already a threat.
It’s over on 34…Qd7 35. Qg8+ Kc7 (Qe8 36. Bb6+ Kd7 37. Qd5+ Ke7 38. Qxf5 only prolongs the agony) 36. Qd8+, and Kamsky resigned as it’s mate on 36…Kc6 37. Qb6 mate.
Two Americans, GMs Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura, and three Indian players — GMs Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Vidit Gujrathi and Dommaraju Gukesh — will join Firouzja and Nepomniachtchi in the Candidates field in Toronto. The eighth and final slot goes to dark-horse Azerbaijani GM Nijat Abasov, who earned the berth after former world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway confirmed recently he would not enter this cycle.
There will be no Americans in the Women’s Candidates field, fighting for the right to challenge women’s world titleholder GM Ju Wenjun of China. Chinese GM Lei Tingjie will be seeking the right to a rematch with Ju, along with Russians Alexandra Goryachkina and Ekaterina Lagno, Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine, Bulgaria’s Nurgyul Salimova. Tan Zhongyi of China and two more Indian hopefuls — GMs Humpy Koneru and R. Vaishali.
And speaking of Ding, the popular but reclusive new champ will be making his first appearance at the chessboard in months when the strong Tata Steel Tournament kicks off this weekend in the storied Dutch chess mecca of Wijk aan Zee. Firouzja will be in the Masters field, along with Nepomniachtchi and the three Indian Candidates’ qualifiers as well.
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There was no such intrigue, just a lot of good chess at the recent North American Open, where chess players of all levels have traditionally seen out the old year with a massive Swiss blowout in Las Vegas. Russian-American GM Grigory Oparin notched a rare clear first in the event at 7½-1½, fueled by a 6-0 start that included a tough Round 4 win over Virginia GM Praveen Balakrishnan, who would go on to finish just a half-point behind the winner.
It’s another Rossolimo Sicilian, and this time Oparin uses the “snake bishop” maneuver to get his dark-squared bishop repositioned to c7. In a double-edged position, Black takes an appropriately Vegas-style gamble that beats the odds: 27. Bb1 d5!? (Re8 may have been more prudent, but Oparin is already coveting the long diagonal heading right toward the White king) 28. dxe5 Nxh3+?! 29. gxh3, and now the engines say White can refute the piece sacrifice with the scary-looking 30. Nh4!, covering all the mating squares; e.g., 30… Rd8 (g5? 31. Bxg5! Qb3 32. Be3) 31. Bc2! Qc4 32. Be3 Rxd1 33. Qxd1 Qxh4 34. Qd6 g6 35. Qxb6, retaining the extra piece.
But that’s not so easy to see as the clocks are ticking, and Black survives after 30. Ne4? Nxe4 31. Qxe4 Qxe4 32. Bxe4 Bxe4 33. Nxe5 Rc2 34. Nd7 Bd4, and Oparin’s bishops dominate the board and White’s advanced knight will have trouble getting back to safety.
It’s still a fight until 36. Nc5 (b5 Bf3 37. Rb1 Rc7 38. Nb8 Rb7 39. Rb3 Be2 40. Nc6 Bc5 and the pawn falls anyway) Bxc5 37. bxc5 Rxc5, when 38. h4! would have blocked the damaging check on g5. On 38. Rd4? Rg5+ 39. Kh2 (Kf1 Bg2+ 40. Ke2 Re5+ 41. Kd2 Bxh3) Rg2+ 40. Kh1 Bf3! 41. Rd8+ Kh7 42. Rd3 Rxf2+ 43. Kg1 Rg2+, Oparin emerges two pawns up in an opposite-colored bishop ending.
The endgame is instructive, as Black carefully preserves his connected passed pawns and never allows White to set up an unbreakable king-and-bishop blockade. Even with the White king controlling the queening squares, Oparin finally breaks through with 68. Kf1 Kd2+ 69. Kg1 Ke2, and White resigns in light of lines such as 70. Ba7 f2+ 71. Kg2 Be6 72. Bxf2 gxf2 and wins.
(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)
Firouzja-Kamsky, 15th Rouen Open, Rouen, France, December 2023
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. d3 Ne7 6. Qe2 Ng6 7. h4 h5 8. e5 f6 9. Nbd2 d6 10. exd6 Bxd6 11. Nc4 Be7 12. Be3 e5 13. Nfd2 Bg4 14. f3 Be6 15. Qf2 f5 16. Bxc5 Bxh4 17. g3 Bg5 18. Nd6+ Kd7 19. O-O-O Qa5 20. a3 Rab8 21. f4 exf4 22. N6c4 Bxc4 23. dxc4 Kc8 24. gxf4 Nxf4 25. Kb1 Rd8 26. Nb3 Qc7 27. Rxd8+ Qxd8 28. Bxa7 Rxb3 29. cxb3 Qd3+ 30. Ka2 Ne2 31. Qg2 Nc1+ 32. Rxc1 Bxc1 33. Qxc6+ Kd8 34. Qe6 Qd7 35. Qg8+ Kc7 36. Qb8+ Black resigns.
Balakrishnan-Oparin, 33rd North American Open, Las Vegas, December 2023
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e5 4. O-O Bd6 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bb3 c4 8. Bc2 Nf6 9. d4 cxd3 10. Qxd3 Bc7 11. Rd1 h6 12. Nbd2 O-O 13. Qe2 d6 14. Nf1 Qe8 15. b3 b4 16. Bb2 a5 17. a3 Bb7 18. Qe1 bxc3 19. Bxc3 Qe6 20. Ng3 Ne7 21. b4 axb4 22. axb4 Bb6 23. h3 Rfc8 24. Rxa8 Bxa8 25. Bd3 Ng6 26. Bd2 Nf4 27. Bb1 d5 28. exd5 Nxh3+ 29. gxh3 Qxd5 30. Ne4 Nxe4 31. Qxe4 Qxe4 32. Bxe4 Bxe4 33. Nxe5 Rc2 34. Nd7 Bd4 35. Be1 Rc4 36. Nc5 Bxc5 37. bxc5 Rxc5 38. Rd4 Rg5+ 39. Kh2 Rg2+ 40. Kh1 Bf3 41. Rd8+ Kh7 42. Rd3 Rxf2+ 43. Kg1 Rg2+ 44. Kf1 Bc6 45. Rc3 Rg6 46. h4 Re6 47. Kf2 g5 48. hxg5 hxg5 49. Bd2 Kg6 50. Rd3 Be4 51. Rd8 f6 52. Bb4 f5 53. Rd6 Rxd6 54. Bxd6 f4 55. Kg1 Kf5 56. Kh2 g4 57. Be7 Bd5 58. Bd8 Ke4 59. Bc7 Kf3 60. Bd6 Be6 61. Bc5 g3+ 62. Kg1 Kg4 63. Bb6 f3 64. Bc5 Kf5 65. Bb6 Ke4 66. Kf1 Bc4+ 67. Kg1 Kd3 68. Kf1 Kd2+ 69. Kg1 Ke2 White resigns.
• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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