Wesley So won a pawn and then never gave Amin Tabatabaei a chance as he took a huge step towards the final of the last Berlin FIDE Grand Prix. In the other semi-final Hikara Nakamura claimed, “I just didn’t want to do anything too exciting,” as he explained he was already trying to safeguard any openings that might come in handy in the Candidates Tournament. The unambitious approach allowed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to take over, but the game never caught fire before it ended in a 30-move draw.
You can replay all the games from the Berlin FIDE Grand Prix knockout using the selector below.
And here’s the day’s live commentary from Peter Svidler and Jan Gustafsson.
Hikaru Nakamura qualified for the Candidates Tournament on Monday, so that what might have been a knockout for huge stakes is instead more about wrapping up loose ends. Who will win the 3rd leg of the FIDE Grand Prix, and the series as a whole?
In his interviews Hikaru confirmed that he’s no longer considering giving up the spot he’s earned in the Candidates, as he’d hinted at the start of the series.
I think that I’ve played my way into it. The only person who I thought deserved a spot would have been Ding Liren, but he’s busy playing games every day in China, so he’s going to qualify anyway. So I’ll be playing anyway.
Hikaru did note that Levon Aronian was unlucky to miss out, since, “he probably should have won the group that we were playing in”. There was a “but”, however.
I felt that with Levon in general he’s obviously an amazing player, one of the best ever, but when there’s pressure related to qualifying for the Candidates, or playing the Candidates, somehow things always seem to go wrong for him, and so in my mind I was hoping there would be that moment where something bad might happen. I think once I beat him I had a pretty good feeling that something good was going to happen, but of course obviously nothing was guaranteed until the final game.
The Candidates Tournament also affected the first game of the semi-finals, with HIkaru commenting:
Obviously it’s quite nice to qualify, but at the same time, it’s very tricky, because probably for the last maybe 24-48 hours my thoughts are on that event and what I’m preparing and what people will play, and then in terms of today’s game, without saying too much, I think this is an opening that many people in the Candidates might play, so I just didn’t want to do anything too exciting
What is the value to playing something special perhaps, and maybe winning if I’m lucky, versus maybe using it and possibly winning a game in the Candidates? I think there’s no upside. Winning a match is nice, but of course winning the Candidates is more important. Maybe it wasn’t such a great choice, because I maybe got into a little bit of trouble in this middlegame, but I don’t think it was too bad.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov called the game, “just a normal game, a grandmaster game — normal moves, a normal draw”. As you’ve probably gathered by now, the game, a Petroff, wasn’t much to write home about. Shakh had some mild pressure in the middlegame and won a pawn, but it was no more than symbolic before the game ended in a draw in 30 moves — the required length for the players to be able to offer a draw.
The other game was altogether more interesting, starting with a sharp opening where both players clearly knew what they were doing long after they’d left “theory” behind. It really slowed down when Amin Tabatabaei spent 19 minutes on 18…Nb6 and Wesley So invested 30 minutes in the strange-looking 19.Qa2!?
It was probably a mistake, with both players noting afterwards that installing a knight on c4, e.g. with 19…Bxc3 20.Nxc3 cxb3 21.Rxb3 Nc4, would have given Black a solid position.
Amin instead played 19…Rf7!? and allowed himself to be tempted by a variation where knights were exchange on a4. He commented:
It was just a very difficult game for me. As Wesley pointed out, it’s a very new line, and Black is fine, but it’s a very complicated position and I think a lack of experience cost me in this game. There were so many options after Qa2 for me, and I couldn’t really decide between them, so the moment when I played Na4 I thought at first that Black’s completely fine, but after Qd2, and the idea of Bg3, Black is just much worse already at that point.
24.Qd2! looks strange, but the point is to defend a5 twice, so that the bishop is freed to move to g3. There was no need to turbo-power that move, however, with 24…Rc7?! when after 25.Bg3 Rc6 26.Rxb7 Wesley had won a pawn and was completely on top.
Amin reflected of what followed:
In general it’s great to play against such a strong opponent, and I’m getting more and more experience. If somebody can punish my in these positions it’s Wesley, so I’m a bit disappointed after the game, how it went, but of course I need these losses to become more and more experienced.
Wesley chimed in:
For young players if you want to be a chess professional it’s not going to be an easy life.
Our commentators felt Amin didn’t put up maximum resistance, and he confirmed afterwards that he wasn’t expecting any miracles.
34.d5! did follow, and Wesley was ruthless, including when he ended the game with the extremely precise 43.Bf2!, hinting at giving checkmate with Bc5.
Don't miss Peter Svidler’s story, featuring chess clocks, Vladimir Kramnik and Max Dlugy!
That means that Amin Tabatabaei now faces the formidable task of beating Wesley So on demand, though at least he has the white pieces. It’s all square in the other semi-final, with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov playing White in Game 2.
Follow all the FIDE Grand Prix action each day from 15:00 CET live here on chess24.
See also:
We respect your privacy and data protection guidelines. Some components of our site require cookies or local storage that handles personal information.
Using chess24 requires the storage of some personal data, as set out below. You can find additional information in our Cookie Policy, Privacy Policy, Disclaimer and Terms of Website Use. Please note that your data settings can be changed at any time by clicking on the Data Settings link in the footer at the bottom of our website.
Comments 0
Be the first to comment!