Day to Day

Nils Axel Grandelius – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
83rd Tata Steel Chess Tournament; Wijk aan Zee, January 21, 2021
Sicilian Defence B97

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. f5 Be7 11. fxe6 Bxe6 12. Nxe6 fxe6 13. Bc4 Nbd7 14. Bxe6 Nc5 15. Bb3. The French Grandmaster is a specialist of the Poisoned Pawn Variation of the Sicilian Najdorf, which gave him both satisfaction — and sorrow. For instance: 15. Bc4 Ncxe4 16. Nxe4 Nxe4 17. Bf7+! Kxf7 18. Qd5+ Ke8 19. Qxe4 Qa5+ 20. Kd1! Qxg5 21. Rxb7 Rf8 22. Re1 Rf7 23. Rxe7+ Rxe7 24. Qxa8+ Kf7 25. Rf1+ Kg6 26. Qxa6 led to White being a (non-easy) Pawn up in a Rook and Queen endgame, Caruana – Vachier-Lagrave, 7th Norway Chess, Stavanger 2019. Another critical line is 15. Bf5 g6 16. Bh3 Ncxe4 17. Nxe4 Nxe4 18. Qd4 Qc3+ 19. Qxc3 Nxc3 in which he proved the soundness of Black’s defence: 20. Bxe7 Kxe7 21. Rxb7+ Kf6 22. 0-0+ Kg5 23. g3 Rab8 24. Rc7 Nd5 25. Ra7 Ne3 26. Rc1 Rb6 27. Re7 Nd5 28. Ra7 h5 29. Be6 Nc3 30. h4+ Kh6 31. Rf1 d5 32. Re7 Rh7 33. Re8 Rb2 34. Bg8 Rg7 35. Rd8 Ne4 36. Bxd5 Nxg3 37. Rh8+ Rh7 38. Rxh7+ Kxh7 39. Rf7+ Kh6 40. Bb3 Nf5 41. Ra7 Nxh4 42. Rxa6 Nf3+ 43. Kf2 Nd4 44. Kg3 Nxb3 45. cxb3 Kg5 46. Ra5+ Kf6 ½ : ½ 韦奕 (Wéi Yì) – Vachier-Lagrave, 4th Speed Chess Championship, chess.com, September 3, 2019, match game 20 (time control: 3 minutes plus 1 second per move. 15. ... Rc8 16. 0-0 Nxb3 17. Rxb3 Qc5+ 18. Be3 Qc4 19. Rf4

19. ... Qe6? There must have been something tremendously wrong in Vachier-Lagrave’s opening preparation. 19. ... Nh5! 20. Rf3 Nf6= is well-known patchwork theory. “After the game Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and I talked about that”, Grandelius then said. “Instead, he went for 19. ... Qe6, and after 20. Rxb7 I simply found myself a Pawn up”. 20. Rxb7 0-0 21. h3 Rb8 22. Ra7 Ra8 23. Rxa8 Rxa8 24. Nd5 Rb8 25. c4 Bd8?! 25. ... Nxd5 is probably a lesser evil, although 26. exd5 Qg6 27. Qf2 leaves White a Pawn ahead and the better game. 26. Qf2 Nd7 27. Bd4 Bg5 (27. ... h6 28. Qg3 Bg5? 29. h4!+−) 28. Rf5 Bh6 29. Kh2 Rc8 30. Qg3 g6 31. Qh4! Bf8 (31. ... Bg7 32. Qe7!+−)

32. Rf6! Qe8 (32. ... Nxf6 33. Nxf6+ Kf7 34. Qxh7+ Bg7 35. Ng4+−) 33. Rxf8+! Qxf8 34. Ne7+ Kf7 35. Nxc8 1 : 0.

Of the fourteen, Swedish Grandmaster Grandelius was today the only one to win, taking also the sole lead of the tournament. Photo © Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021.