52-year-old Vishy Anand continues to dazzle as he won a powerful game against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to earn a full 3 points in Round 1 of Norway Chess and move back to the brink of the world Top 10. Wesley So was the only player to keep pace, defeating Teimour Radjabov in classical chess, while Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov were all only able to overcome their lower-rated opponents in Armageddon, picking up 1.5 points.
Vishy Anand leapfrogged MVL back up to world no. 11 after winning their Round 1 game | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess
You can replay all the games from Norway Chess 2022 using the selector below.
And here’s the day’s live commentary, including a 20-minute appearance by Anish Giri, from Jan Gustafsson and Jovanka Houska.
After Day 1 of Norway Chess only two players, Vishy Anand and Wesley So, picked up the full 3 points for a classical win. The players who made a draw in classical chess got 1 point each, then played an Armageddon game for the remaining half point.
Vishy Anand is back after an almost complete break during the pandemic | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess
5-time World Champion Vishy Anand has made a habit of starting fast recently. He powered into the lead in the Superbet Rapid and Blitz, was the sole leader after three rounds of the Norway Chess Blitz on Monday, and now began the main Norway Chess event with a victory over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. He was helped by the French no. 1 doing something he likes to do — jettison a pawn for dynamic play.
The problem for Maxime was that Vishy didn’t play along. After 18.cxb5 Nxd4 19.Bxd4 Bxd4+ 20.Rxd4 axb5 he didn’t take the b-pawn.
21.Qd2!, hitting d6 instead, kept far more control over the position, and after 21…Rb8 22.Rxd6 b4 23.Ne2 Ne5 24.Rd1 Nc6 Anish Giri noted that what Maxime might have missed from afar was 25.e5!
Black can’t take on e5 as White would simply win by capturing on d8, and after 25…Qa7+ 26.Kh1 Qf2?! it seems Vishy had tricked his opponent into a tempting but losing move, since after 27.Rc1! White had a decisive advantage. Soon Vishy was a pawn up with unstoppable passed pawns and it was time for Maxime to throw in the towel.
Wesley So continued where he left off in the blitz | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess
Wesley So won the blitz while Teimour Radjabov finished bottom and while sometimes the warm-up has no relevance to the main event, in this case the momentum continued, with Wesley easing to an utterly convincing win.
The curiosity was that the players went for a line of the Italian that was seen in Dominguez-So from the final round of the recent Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest. Wesley got an excellent position with the black pieces but decided to take a draw and play tiebreaks for the title. This time round So was White, and the first new move, Radjabov’s 13…Qe7!? seemed inferior to Wesley’s earlier 13…Qf6. Soon White’s advantage was obvious.
The computer claims immediately hitting the weakness on b6 is best with 20.Nc4, but Wesley’s solid 20.Bc4 worked out perfectly as Teimour reacted badly. The Azerbaijan star found his position falling apart and was forced to try and muddy the waters tactically.
Wesley was helped by having a big advantage on the clock and here executed the one winning move, 35.Re2!
Teimour used up almost all his remaining time pondering how to reply, so that he would physically struggle to reach move 40 — the time control in Norway Chess includes no increment before move 40. That proved academic, however, since after 35…Re8? (exchanging queens immediately with 35…exd3 Rxe6 Rxc3 was no bed of roses, but could have prolonged the game) 36.Nxc4 exd3 37.Rxe6 Rxe6 38.Nxa3 Teimour was completely busted and decided to resign.
The remaining classical games were all drawn, with the clashes decided in Armageddon.
Wang Hao said he was really happy to be back in Europe | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess
The very appearance of Wang Hao in Norway Chess is a shock, since the Chinese star announced his retirement from chess on the final day of the Candidates Tournament in April 2021. What’s changed since? He explained to Anastasia Karlovich:
I had a very bad health issue and I thought this stomach issue would last for some years, but ok, fortunately or unfortunately, it lasted about one year and now I feel much better. Still I think it’s not totally cured, but it’s ok, I’m not in pain.
Wang Hao has had an unusual career. In 2013, at the age of 23, he was the Chinese no. 1 and in the Top 15, and during the first ever edition of Norway Chess he beat Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand in consecutive rounds in the same year they would play their first World Championship match.
Health issues struck, however, and Wang Hao would almost disappear for a number of years, before re-emerging to win the 2019 Grand Swiss and qualify for the Candidates Tournament. We can only hope the 32-year-old is now back again to stay, but he admitted to being a bit rusty in his clash with Magnus. Wang Hao said his 2…Nd7 and 3…Nb6 had been prepared for the Candidates, but 5.Nh4!?, a completely new move, caught him off-guard.
5…e6?!, played after 19 minutes, was a dubious decision, with Magnus immediately replying capturing the bishop with 6.Nxf5. Wang Hao commented:
I was confused and played terribly, and I thought that I had a very bad position, terrible. I should have lost that one, but Magnus mixed up the move order for one move, and suddenly his advantage disappeared and I was extremely lucky in that game.
Magnus Carlsen arriving with candidate for FIDE Deputy President, Peter Heine Nielsen | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess
The moment came on move 18.
The weak pawns on d5 and b7 give White a huge advantage, but it was essential to put one of the rooks on c1 immediately. After e.g. 18.Rfc1 there’s no time for 18…Qd7 due to 19.Rc5!, while 18…Be7, covering the c5-square, removes the pressure on d4 and allows 19.Qb5! when again, the pawns can’t be defended. White can then later play e3 at will.
Instead Magnus thought just 27 seconds before playing 18.e3? and after 18…Qd7! it was already too late. 19.Qb5 was met by 19…Rfd8 and the pawns were defended. A very strange oversight for the normally ruthless World Champion.
The draw in that game meant Armageddon, and this time Magnus wouldn’t be denied as he built up a big advantage on the board and also on the clock.
Magnus missed a big chance in classical chess, but still ensured he won the mini-match | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess
34.Bxb6! saw Magnus pick up a pawn (34…Rxb6? 35.Qd8+! and mate isn’t far away).
Magnus did give his opponent a glimmer of hope after that, but it was hard to spot with no time on the clock and ultimately Magnus was able to exchange off all the pieces on the back rank so that his pawns would be unstoppable.
So Magnus picked up the extra half-point in Armageddon, but Wang Hou felt it didn’t matter, saying “I escaped in the classical game — it was a good result for me”.
Magnus Carlsen got a chance to wear some of his Puma kit | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had lost just one game in Monday’s blitz, to his Round 1 opponent Aryan Tari, and commented, “Normally I lose every time to rating outsiders!”
That led to Shakh playing solidly in classical chess as the players made a draw, though he had mixed feelings about it afterwards!
I played a very bad game… not very bad… I played a very good game without mistakes, but sometimes when you play a very good game and draw it looks like a very bad game. Today we played good, without mistakes in classical chess.
That was of course a good start for local hero Aryan Tari, who’s rated over a hundred points below Shakh and most of the players in the event.
After the mini-match he revealed that the organisers called him just three days before the start, when Richard Rapport pulled out. Arjan had been planning to travel to Saint Louis in the USA for a tournament, but said of Stavanger, “it just feels like home being here,” and hastily changed plans and even managed to secure the services of a second, Kirill Alekseenko.
Once again the higher-rated player nevertheless dominated in Armageddon, with Aryan admitting, “I forgot my lines somehow in the opening and then he put pressure on me from the start”.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won in Armageddon | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess
By the end Black’s position was hanging by a thread and some decisive blows, ending with 36.Ne2!, saw Mamedyarov clinch a convincing win.
Veselin Topalov is also back at the board! | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess
Veselin Topalov won Norway Chess in 2015 but has barely played chess in recent years. What has he been up to?
Not really much! I watched a lot of Netflix, Queen’s Gambit and all this stuff… No, not really much, family life! Of course I was trying to follow chess, but one thing is when you look at other games and it’s completely different when you have to take your own decisions and be quick, and for the moment it doesn’t work.
Anish Giri went for an unusual pawn structure…
…but Veselin held without any real trouble. In the Armageddon, however, Anish took over after playing the same opening, and was happy with how he managed to finish things off. 31.b4! was the clincher (before he spotted it he said, “I wanted to do something stupid instead!”)
It turns out 31…Bxf2+ isn’t a threat, since after 32.Qxf2! Rxf2 White has the fork 33.Ne7+! winning the queen and game. Veselin was forced to retreat with 31…Bf8, but after 32.Kg2 Qc4? another fork, 32…Ne3, ended the contest.
That means the standings look as follows after Round 1, with Vishy Anand and Wesley So in the lead, while winning the Armageddon was only enough for Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to earn the 50% you usually get for a draw.
Round 2 features some big clashes for the leaders, with Wesley So taking on Magnus Carlsen, who's been doing some last-minute preparation...
...while Veselin Topalov and Vishy Anand will play their 73rd classical game! MVL-Mamedyarov is another intriguing clash, with a surprisingly big lifetime lead for Shakhriyar.
Don’t miss the Norway Chess commentary from Jan Gustafsson and Jovanka Houska from 17:00 CEST each day!
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