No overconfidence this time. Magnus Carlsen again beat Fabiano Caruana, 2nd in the world, (2.5-0.5) in the 2nd quarterfinal round of the fast Chessable Masters tournament (Chess24) with amazing clarity. Something similar happened with the Russian Ian Niepómniachi, winner with much greater ease than expected from his compatriot Vladislav Artémiev for the same result. The other two duels, Giri-Grischuk and Ding-Nakamura, continue this Sunday.
The Scandinavian tweeted the following Thursday, as if it were advice he gave to someone else: “Don’t make the mistake of over-relaxing again. It was soon clear that he did not, because the second set started well for Carlsen, who gained a small advantage with Black after twenty moves. It is also true that Caruana was never at real risk of losing, and that the game was of extraordinary technical quality -although not particularly attractive- if the speed of the game is taken into account.
With the world champion in monster machine mode and driving the white pieces, your opponent can be sure that he will suffer. And so it happened: two rooks per side and bishop against knight in a position of mobile pawns on both flanks; that is to say, a long ordeal guaranteed for Caruana, who also made a mistake very soon that made things even easier for the Norwegian, inclement, as always, in such situations.
The situation was bordering on desperate for the Italian-American, forced to achieve at least a point and a half in the following two games to force a third set on Monday. Caruana was consistent, and chose a sharp variant with white; It went well, and he was left with a pawn, although with some compensation for Carlsen. But, just when the situation and common sense ordered to launch the attack, Caruana narrowed, began to look for the change of checkers, giving the feeling that he could not find the keys to the position. It is not difficult to guess what happens when someone acts like this against the current world champion: a few plays later, Caruana was lost, and the duel was over.
Saint Louis Chess Club/Crystal Fuller‘);”>
enlarge photo
Artémiev came from suffering one of the few cases that justify talking about bad luck in chess: on Thursday he lost the inaugural assault for a while, in a draw position for perpetual check, when his internet connection fell. Winning with white the first game of the second round would have been a real injection of force. And in fact he gained an advantage, but Niepómniachi found very precise defenses, and tables.
At that time it was logical to think that this time Niepómniachi was not going to show his usual inconsistency, which prevents him from being even higher than he is on the world list (4th in slow games and 8th in fast). But he did: in the twelfth cast he put one of his horses into a dead end, and was strategically lost. However, Artémiev, who is usually much more dangerous in the middle game than in the opening, was not fine in exploiting his advantage. And then, when the position was in a dangerous balance, he tactically failed and was hopelessly lost.
Artémiev had a chance to recover with the white pieces in the next round. And everything indicated that he was going to take advantage of it, with a pawn advantage. But, when he only had a couple of movements left to consolidate it, he failed tactically again, something that does not fit with the great quality of play he exhibited in 2018 and 2019. Niepómniachi saw his great opportunity, and gave such a beautiful shot with effective, that put him in the semifinals, where he will meet the winner of the Giri-Grischuk duel, favorable for the moment to the Dutchman. It would be interesting to see how the creative and ambitious Niepómniachi try to break the wall of the ultra-solid Giri.
You can follow Sports from EL PAÍS on Facebook, Twitter or subscribe here to the Newsletter.
.
