The Week in Chess

Ian Nepomniachtchi moved into a very strong position a point clear of the field after a win in the sixth round of the FiDE Candidates tournament in Yekaterinburg. The tournament lasts 14 rounds and there is a second rest day tomorrow.

Nepomniachtchi beat Ding Liren in a line of the Ruy Lopez Ding had previously used to draw comfortably against Maxime Vachier Lagrave. Nepomniachtchi said he believed 13...Qd7 was a strategically risky variation compared to 13...Nd7 or 13...Ng4 and his improvement 16.Rb2 set Ding new problems. 20...Re8 wasn't necessarily wrong but 20...c6 might have been easier to play for black. 26...h5 was an aggressive option which might be OK but after 28...h3? black seemed to struggle for the rest of the game. White was winning around move 30 although the computer found resources in reality black probably wasn't going to find them. 33...Rxb6= was an amazing line but Ding of course didn't find it and lost quickly. Nepomniachtchi had an alarming cough today (2 tests cleared him of having the Coronavirus) and said he might have settled for a draw early on. One can't help feeling this is the end of Ding Liren's Candidates hopes this time. The suspicion has to be that his preparation has been severely disrupted by the Coronavirus crisis which started in China, his openings in particular seem to be causing him problems.

Anish Giri scored his first Candidates win in his 20th game at this high level. Giri beat Kirill Alekseenko deep in an endgame that looked very drawn. The final losing blunder occurred with 89.Nd3? when 89.Nh1+ was a fairly easy draw.

The other games were interesting draws. Alexander Grischuk was surprised by Caruana using the rare move 12...Re8 in a Bc5 Ruy Lopez but the variation was very sharp and Caruana whilst he knew it was not particularly happy with his position. Grischuk used a lot of time and after allowing 35...c5 was in severe danger of losing but just by one tempo white was saving himself and the game was drawn. Wang Hao pressed long and hard against Maxime Vachier Lagrave but couldn't quite break through. MVL described this as his worst game of the tournament one in which he missed a lot of ideas and he was pretty relieved to draw.

Round 6 Standings: 1st Nepomniachtchi 4.5pts, 2nd MVL 3.5pts, 3rd-6th Caruana, Giri, Wang Hao, Grischuk 3pts, 7th-8th Ding Liren, Alekseenko 2pts

Rest day Tuesday 24th March

Round 7 Wednesday 25th March 2020 11am Caruana-Wang Hao, MVL-Nepomniachtchi, Ding Liren-Alekseenko, Giri-Grischuk.