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Magnus Carlsen bounced back from the disappointment of losing a disconnect the day before for three wins in three games on Day 2 of the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz. That gave the World Champion the only advantage, one point ahead of Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Nepo had an eventful day. Not the Russian. 1 beat Harikrishna and Hikaru Nakamura, but between those games was lost by 10 moves against 19-year-old Jeffery Xiong.
You can replay all St. Louis Rapid and Blitz games using the selector below:
And here is the live commentary of the day from Yasser Seirawan, Jennifer Shahade and Maurice Ashley:
Maurice Ashley asked Magnus Carlsen about how difficult it was to lead a chess tournament, referring to the Los Angeles Clippers who lost a 3: 1 lead to lose 4: 3 in the NBA playoffs. It was clearly something Magnus had had a lot of time to think about!
I tell you something, it is very, very difficult. Being a pioneer in chess is incredibly difficult. I’ll just say that I think that applies to everyone, and it’s very easy to play well when you’re winning and you don’t have too many scares, but as soon as you lead such a tournament and lose an important game. , then you make a draw, then you lose one more, even though you may still have the advantage at that time, it’s very, very easy to collapse. So I’d say I haven’t figured it out yet and I see a lot of other guys in tournaments that when they are way up the rankings at these Rapid and Blitz events freeze up. That is what I can say.
My best advice is that you do not make mistakes at any time and you will be fine. But I’m telling you, as soon as you start messing up, it’s a slippery slope.
That came on a day when co-leaders Levon Aronian and Harikrishna lost the lead in the day’s first round, before Magnus took over in the last. Let’s look at the World Champion.
Magnus Carlsen’s Perfect Day
Carlsen entered Day 2 of the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz at 50%, 3/6, but it would have been 4/6 if it weren’t for an unfortunate disconnect and loss in time to Ian Nepomniachtchi. Magnus commented:
Obviously I was very upset yesterday, losing over something that is a bit out of my control. So my main preparation today was to make sure there were backups and backups and more backups in terms of the internet!
Everything went smoothly, just as it did on the chessboard. “I knew pairs were a little easier today so I took advantage of that,” Magnus said, but playing leader Levon Aronian in the fourth round was potentially tricky. Levon hadn’t put too much effort into a quick draw earlier in the day against Georg Meier.
However, Magnus built up a huge advantage against his opponent’s Grünfeld Defense, until Levon came up with the inventive, or perhaps desperate, 12… Nd7 !?
13.dxe6 Nc5! 14.Qd5 Nxd3 + is Black’s idea. Even there, White is significantly better, but Magnus instead played the elegant 13.Bb1!, when Levon had nothing better than 13… Bf5 14.Bxh6 Bxh6 15.Bxf5 gxf5, and White had retained his central pawns in addition to breaking Black’s structure.
Magnus explained his reasoning:
First of all I lost myself 12… Nd7, but I guess it’s not the kind of position where you’re too worried because you’re missing something, because it has to be good. The position seems too good not to be, and after Nd7 my basic thinking was that there must be something very, very good here, and soon the idea came to me that I was just moving the bishop and then I thought putting it on b1 would be a bit more precise than putting it on c2. It came to me very quickly, but I think the engines say there are a lot of good plays, also 13.Be2 Bf5 14.0-0 is great, so I wouldn’t take too much praise there, because everything works. But certainly, Bb1 from an aesthetic point of view is quite good.
Levon then gave up a pawn to try to disrupt White’s plans, but left Magnus with an extra pawn and all the compensation. The rest was very smooth, until Magnus tried to get Yasser to show a possible line on the board!
Magnus summed up his day, which included beating Harikrishna in the final game after the Indian GM made a mistake in a roughly equal position: “The first and third games were kind of gifts, I would say, and the second game it was fun. “That second game was against Leinier Dominguez and featured Magnus playing the Philidor (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 !?) with black.
The players enrolled on opposite wings and launched attacks, although Magnus had misplayed an advantage and a draw seemed the most likely outcome until Leinier played. 37.Qe4?
I went 36… Kh7 and obviously a big part of this was the trap that I couldn’t go to 37.Qe4, which I had seen, but I think if I had defended better here I would have had some chances, especially considering my game against Alireza in the first Magnus Invitational, where there was a kind of similar position, where I sacrificed a trade and had this beautiful bishop on f6, and then Qg6 happened at some point and I paired. So I was a little worried that the same thing would happen here, but luckily it didn’t.
What followed was an excellent combination that works like clockwork. 37… Rxb2 +! 38.Rxb2 d3 + 39.Rc1 Qc5 +! 40.Kd2 Qc2 + 41.Ke1:
Here white would be winning if it weren’t for the stinger in the tail, 41… Bh4 +! and, with the d1 rook coming in check, Leinier resigned.
When Magnus takes the lead at these Rapid and Blitz events, it is usually bad news for his rivals.
I’m just trying to have fun and play well. I feel like when I’m in good shape I usually get a lot of points so I’m not too worried about this.
His rivals’ first goal will be to make sure Magnus does not enter the 18 rounds of blitz on Friday and Saturday with an advantage that will be difficult to overcome.
Ian Nepomniachtchi as Robin Hood
There are different ways of approaching chess tournaments. Wesley So, set second, has been absolutely true to form. In the two days thus far, he won the first game, Day 2, attacking a Dominguez error in a difficult position, and then tied the next two with little fuss, including draws at 21, 20 and 21 moves. It’s not the most exciting style to watch, but, as we’ve seen at multiple events in the past, it can be very effective. Plus, there was the cat …
And then there is Nepo. Admittedly, he managed a win (Magnus disconnect) and two draws on Day 1, but Day 2 was the kind of roller coaster we expect from the Russian. He first put co-leader Harikrishna to the sword, using good tactics and a clock advantage to turn a passed pawn into winning a piece.
Then in Game 2… Jeffery Xiong, 19, played Alekhine’s Defense (1.e4 Nf6 !?) and was winning on move 10 when, after less than two minutes of thinking, Nepo grabbed the b7-pawn with 10.Qxb7?. Jeffery’s response 10… Ndb4! it was already the winning move.
The young man commented:
I think it was definitely a gift from Nepo, because well, I played Alekhine’s Defense just hoping to get a game, not imagining anything like this. But basically I think he wanted to punish me, so he decided to face b7, because it is probably the only way he can hope for an advantage and, unfortunately for him, he was just eliminated after Ndb4.
The game continued 11.Bb5 Nxc2 + 12.Ke2 0-0 13.Bxc6 Kb8 14.Qxa7 Nd4 + 15.Re1 Nc2 + 16.Ke2:
The choice of computer, which Jeffery had spent the last almost 10 minutes trying to calculate, was 16… Bc4 +!, But as he explained:
I was sure that Bc4 has to work somehow, its king is all over the board and I have a queen, knight, bishop and my two rooks can come in, but I didn’t really figure out how to do it during the game. so i started looking for maybe cleaner ways i guess just to restore material and then i should have a decisive attack. So that’s what I ended up looking for.
16 … Rb6 17.Na3 Nd4 + 18.Re1 Nxc6 19.Qa4 Nxe5 was exactly what Jeffery expected:
The material is the same, and White would only be slightly worse after 20.0-0. Unfortunately, the king has already left his starting square, twice, so that is illegal and White is doomed. 20.Bh6 Qd5! 21.f3 Rxb2! and Nepo had seen enough and resigned. His best move in the game, Yasser joked!
At the end of the day, Nepo would comment:
He had hit the poor (that was Jeffery’s first win), and had already taken away the rich by picking up a point from Magnus on Day 1. Now, to end Day 2, he was up against another chess giant. online, Hikaru Nakamura. Nepo had the black pieces, but on move 19 things were going well:
It seems that White is gaining material, but the white knight on b3 is defenseless, and then 19… Bxf5! 20.exf5 Nxb6 Hikaru couldn’t play 21.axb6 without 21… Qxb6 + taking the knight b3 with check. 21.c5! It was an attractive move from Hikaru though, and she kept things together until she came very close to forcing a draw. 29.Bd5! I would have done it first, but the American star went for the immediate 29.Qh6?
Nepo replied 28… Nd6! and Black would be up after 29.Qxg6 + Bg7. With the bishop on d5, White could reinforce his attack with 30.Rd3, but with the bishop under attack there is no time for that. In the game Hikaru played the desperate 29.Nd4? and was lost after 29 … QE4!, but the way Nepo converted it felt like a cat playing with a mouse. Hikaru was given real hope, but in the end she fell into a mating net: Rg6 + and Rh5 + would cost her her queen.
The standings after Day 2 of the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz is as follows, with some surprising players at the bottom of the table. The 17-year-old Alireza Firouzja’s troubles continued as he slipped into last place after losing on time to Leinier Dominguez in a position where he had a chance to win.
We have Firouzja-Carlsen, Nepo-So and Aronian-Nakamura in the first round on Day 3, so don’t miss the start from 20:00 CEST!
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