The Week in Chess

Magnus Carlsen finally lost a match on the ninth day of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational. Anish Giri who has struggled throughout the event so far beat Carlsen in the second game of their match and also had superior if not winning positions in games three and four. Alireza Firouzja also won a match for the first time today beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2.5-1.5 completing a fine day for the tail enders.

Giri played solidly with white in game one which was drawn in 41 moves. Game two saw Carlsen repeat the ultra-sharp line of the Nimzo-Indian he played against Alireza Firouzja. Giri reacted very well to Carlsen's novelty (13.Rg1) and found a strong exchange sacrifice on move 20 that put Carlsen under pressure and with 25.f3? (25.Bb1) Carlsen blundered a two move tactic losing the exchange and pretty soon the game. In game three, a Gruenfeld, Giri was just much better prepared in a highly theoretical discussion of the Seville Variation and after 23...b4? (23...Rf7 but black is still worse) computers suggested Giri was winning with 24.Be7, although the 24.h5 Giri played was also not bad if he had followed up with 26.h6. As it was Carlsen equalised the game and tried to press a bit, but the game was drawn in 70 moves without him generating any real chances. In the final game four Giri only needed a draw with black and he bravely played the Najdorf Sicilian which proved to be a bulls eye as he was never really worse and after Carlsen blundered with 15.h5 Giri had the choice of two strong moves the 15...Nxe4 he played and 15...h6 followed by 16...d5 which the computers actually prefer. As it was Giri was able to quickly get the draw he needed. Giri who has had a terrible event so far said that this will be a win he will remember for a very long time.

In the other match Alireza Firouzja played much more like his normal self too and defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2.5-1.5. The games were generally balanced but MVL went completely wrong in the endgame of game three starting with 29.Nb3 and he was lost after 30.Rfd1. The final game saw Firouzja achieve a comfortable game but it's always hard to play for a draw in such situations so he was made to work for it before the game was drawn in 87 moves.

Round 5 Standings (half the players play tomorrow and have only played 4 matches): Carlsen (5 matches) 11pts, Nakamura (4) 10pts, Caruana, Ding (4) 8pts, MVL (5) 5pts, Nepomniachtchi (4) 5pts, Giri (5) 4pts, Firouzja (5) 3pts.

Round 5 Day 2 pairings Mon 27th April 2020 15:00 BST: Caruana-Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi-Ding