Vishy Anand is back to World no. 9 after defeating Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in Round 4 of the European Club Cup, while Magnus Carlsen scored a second win in a row, taking down Harikrishna. Neither World Champion's team won, however, with Novy Bor taking the sole lead after wins for Vidit and Markus Ragger cancelled out Carlsen’s win.
Vishy Anand was ready for Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's sacrifice | photo: Walter Kastner, ECC2022
Round 4 of the European Club Cup was expected to bring some exciting battles, and it didn’t disappoint.
Vishy Anand’s two draws so far had seen him drop out of the Top 10 spot he gained on the October rating list, but all the damage was undone by a sparkling win over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Shakh seemed to strike the first blow of the game…
21…Rxa2!?, however, didn’t take Vishy by surprise!
The main stroke of luck was that this morning while preparing I noticed Rxa2, so I decided to enter it and make a few moves. I didn’t go very far, because it seemed to me it wasn’t the main line… and then he plays it! So what might be normally a big surprise actually just bounced off harmlessly.
The computer approved of Vishy’s position, though his advantage seemed to have diminished somewhat by move 30. Nevertheless, Vishy was shocked to be offered a draw (you can’t offer a draw before move 30).
He offered me a draw with Nc4, on the 30th move, which shocked me a little bit, because of all the positions to offer a draw. I understand we just made move 30, but then suddenly I thought have I missed something and I was going around. I decided, well, I can’t stop here, I’ll try f5.
Vishy revealed the key moment came after 33.Rf4!
To play the move Vishy needed to calculate that the tactics with 33…Bg5!? weren’t working for Black — and it was close!
The computer, meanwhile, claims 33…Qc6! was the best chance for Black to hold things together, while after 33…Qd5?! 34.Rd4 in the game White was on top.
Vishy transformed his advantage into an extra pawn, commenting:
Mainly I’m happy I hauled it in and my technique I think was very good… When I went for this ending I went for it confident in the knowledge that it should be over.
It was a crucial win, but not enough for a team victory, since after three wins, 16-year-old Indian prodigy Gukesh fell to defeat against Ukrainian GM Sergey Fedorchuk. In fact the top seeds looked in danger of losing, but in the final game to finish Sebastien Maze decided not to take too many risks to beat Constantin Lupulescu in what was a roughly level but still dynamic position.
Magnus Carlsen, meanwhile, must have felt responsibility to pick up a win, since his team Offerspill were outgunned on all five remaining boards. One of his seconds, Laurent Fressinet, wasn’t sure what to expect.
Magnus began 1.c4 and got a promising position, but it was only 28…gxh5? by Harikrishna that allowed the knockout blow 29.Rc8!
There’s no time to exchange queens, since the intermediate move Rxd8 would come with check, while the rook can’t be taken or the queen on b6 is lost.
29…Qd6 was as good a move as any, but after 30.Rxd8+ Qxd8 31.Qxh6 White was completely winning, according to the computer. Visually, perhaps, it wasn’t so obvious, but Magnus went on to prove it with consummate ease.
Again, however, the individual win didn’t lead to team victory. Johannes Haug found a tactic to win a piece, but realised too late that it allowed Markus Ragger to win a queen, while Vidit ensured that Novy Bor won the match with a smooth win over Aryan Tari.
It was Vidit’s 4th win in a row, and he revealed things had gone perfectly in the opening:
I had this new idea in the opening, well it was not really my idea, but one of my helpers showed me this, and I thought it was very interesting and it worked quite well. Aryan was under pressure right from the opening.
Vidit had a one-hour advantage on the clock and was able to exploit inaccuracies to take over.
There were mixed fortunes for Novy Bor's Indian stars in Round 4 | photo: Fiona Steil-Antoni, ECC2022
The two French teams hit back after being held to draws the day before, but Maxime Vachier-Lagrave will have been disappointed to squander a winning position against Emre Can.
The Tajfun team from Ljubljana looked on course for victory over the Silla team from Spain after wins for Ivan Saric and Andrei Volokitin, but suddenly Arjun Erigaisi stumbled in a drawish position against Anton Korobov. Our commentators were shocked, seeing it as proof that the Indian prodigies Gukesh and Erigaisi are human after all!
The Women’s section, meanwhile, remains too close to call.
The draw in Superbet-Pamhagen meant no-one has 100%, with a 4th win in a row for Aleksandra Maltsevskaya balanced out by Irina Bulmaga’s win over Elina Danielian. Irina had to show she knew how to checkmate with Knight + Bishop.
The top seeds were held to a draw, while there was an impressive win for the Polish team Gwiazda Bydgoszcz, with wins for Joanna Majdan and Alina Kashlinskaya, who took down Gunay Mammadzada.
Alina explained that she'd tried playing her opponent's position against the computer and found it very hard, so she took the opposite side!
The European Club Cup is a sprint, with only 3 rounds to go, and the stakes rising every day. Novy Bor vs. Superbet in Round 5 is a clash between the top two seeds, with Novy Bor currently a point ahead.
The games start at 14:15 CEST (with a 15-minute anti-cheating delay), which is 8.15am ET and 17:45 IST. Follow all the action live with commentary from Peter Svidler, Laurent Fressinet and Lawrence Trent: Open | Women
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