Recap of FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship - Day 1
December 26, 2022. The first of three days that Almaty, Kazakhstan would host the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship. Many talented titled chess players took part in to try to be crowned the champion of the tournament. Those include five-time World Champion Magnus Carlsen, four-time Dutch champion Anish Giri, and Ding Liren, the challenger of Nepo in the 2023 World Chess Championship. The favourite seems to be Carlsen, at least with my friends, but anyone could win, really.
Aside from the brief about the tournament, this blog will go through every round with a featured game into a few tactical and/or positional puzzles. I hope this blog helps beginners, and possibly intermediates learn a few thing in chess or two.
Moreover, I highly encourage to watch the live stream Chess.com puts out with the coverage of this tournament, along with the chat and the commentators who will do their best to put an analysis of the players' thoughts.
Now, let's get to the best of round 1.
Round 1
Round 1's featured game comes from Aydin Suleymanli from Azerbaijan as white, his opponent, Anish Giri, playing with the black pieces.
To start off, it started with a Four Knights English, then transferred into a Quiet Line. The game was balanced throughout the game until Aydin, on move 19, he played 19.f3?
At this point, the problem seems to be very clear. f3 weakens white's king safety, which allows black to then create a potential attack on the white king.
What's the winning move for black to expose white's king?
Later in the game, black carried out a slower attack than expected, giving white chances to potentially force a draw. Then, it happened. One move decides every game's outcome. White blundered with the move 38. e4??
How did Giri continue the strike against white's weakened king?
Overall, e4 was a blunder that changed the course of the game. The evaluation bar was around -1.5, then dropped to -3.8. It seemed like that the push of the e-pawn a square forward opened up a door for black to take advantage of the position while he had the chance to grasp onto the first-round win. e4 may have been a trade of pawns, white just couldn't foresee the attack black was able to calculate in his mind.
To conclude this round's featured game, white resigned, therefore Giri heading into round 2 with a win, while Suleymanli has work to do in the next round. Both played well, but Giri managed to capitalize on his opponent's costly mistakes.
Round 2
It was hard to find a good game to write about in round two as I couldn't find a great game that would involve several puzzles. For this round, I will be using the chess game between Dutch Chess Champion 2016 and winner of Tata Steel Chess 2021 Jorden Van Foreest, and Russian grandmaster Zhamsaran Tsydypov.
For a bit of knowing of the game played between the two, the opening went from a QGD (Queen's Gambit Declined) into a Closed Catalan. Van Foreest maintained a slight edge over Tsydypov most of the game and therefore, white having a very comfortable game this round. Of course, someone winning a chess game isn't always balanced, where there are no blunders. Even titled players as high as grandmasters [that's the highest rank] blunder a game and suddenly they're losing.
Unfortunately, that's what happened to Mr. Tsydypov. Just like the previous game I just went through, this one move changed the whole course of the game.
On the clock, 43 seconds remain for Tsydypov, it's his 93rd turn at this point. Him and Van Foreest have played of what seems like to be a well-fought game. There was only one move that would draw, which you'll have to find out.
Instead, Tysdypov played 93...Kf6??, the advantage now in white's favour.
What was the lone move Tsydypov missed to at least play for a draw?
To further prove my point, out of all legal moves Tsydypov could've played, there was only one move which would deny Van Foreest from promoting that e-pawn. Misfortune struck along with time pressure and Van Foreest went on to pick up the whole point. Ra8 protected that coveted square Van Foreest wanted so badly, e8. It didn't allow Van Foreest to gain tempo on Tsydypov's rook either. There was only one move which would salvage the game and make it a draw. Time got him confused and therefore lost.
As a bonus though, Van Foreest did promote his pawn to a queen while losing his rook in the process. The endgame was a queen vs rook, which in many cases the winner being the player with the queen.
The position below is mate in 9 for white. Find the exact sequence Van Foreest found to make Tsydypov fly the white flag.
To end this round's featured game summary, it was a neck-and-neck game until Tsydypov's 93rd move would cost him the draw he wanted. There are games like this every chess player has had a game like this, this game was Tsydypov's game.
Round 3
To begin this round's article, I'm letting you know that there will be two games featured for round 3.
For the first game, the match was between two-time U.S. champion Fabiano Caruana playing with the white pieces, and Ukrainian grandmaster Alexander Moiseenko playing with the black pieces. The second game features 2022 FIDE Grand Prix runner-up and 2022 FIDE Candidates player Richard Rapport against Indian grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram.
These two games as well are decided by a single move resulting the outcome that happened in the game. I will go talk about the Caruana-Moiseenko match first.
Caruana - Moiseenko
To give you an insight of the game, Caruana played e4, and Moiseenko replied with a Sicilian, known to be imbalanced, sharp, and tactical. The opening choice went into a Rossolimo Sicilian with white doing a bishop-takes-knight exchange on c6, forcing the doubled pawns for black.
Adding on to that, there was opposite side castling, a pretty balanced game for most of the time, and chances for both players to take advantage of the game. Caruana was favoured for majority of the game, and the game had to come to one move.
In the position below, the eval bar is sitting at around +1.20 in favour of white's position.
The rooks are fighting for control of the f-file and this game is close to its final stage of the game, the endgame.
Fast forward a few moves later, this is the position:
As of right now, nothing wrong so far. It's possible to draw this game. Caruana may be U.S. champ currently, but still, certainly possible to draw this. Unfortunately, Moiseenko played the move 37...Nf6??, giving the fate of the game away to Caruana.
Capitalize on Moiseenko's mistake by finding what Caruana played in this game.
After the knight exchange, the king now has to fight two fronts of pawns marching toward promotion. There's jus no way Moiseenko can do that. White is simply winning and the result of the game being after 42. b5, black resigned, and Caruana won the game.
Rapport - Chithambaram
To begin this game's tale, black was the one with the slight edge in the opening stage. Rapport decided to play the Bishop's Opening instead of the more standard 2. Nf3. According to the chess.com explorer, Rapport has only played the Bishop's Opening 7 times. Yes, 7 times, most of the games being a draw. Overall though, it seems like it's a solid opening for white.
In my perspective, I don't really like Rapport's position by move 25, which looks like this:
I'm not able to comprehend how Rapport slowly made his position slightly better, but I do know white's king isn't castled to safety. It's in the middle of the board, prone to an attack by its opponent later on. Black's king isn't much better, not gonna lie. His wall of pawns is broken, and most of his pieces have gone to the attack. The only question is who cracks up first.
To the point where the game unfolds, Rapport's in control of the game with an attack on black's king. Instead of the top engine move, 36...Ke8, Chithambaram played 36...Ke7?
Continue Rapport's attack on the black king.
Rapport's attack was too strong for Chithambaram to handle, and Kd3 was a key move for Rapport in the game in order to keep the attack going. Otherwise, the game would be drawn of black played well enough in that scenario, which obviously didn't happen in this game.
Overall, these were two games that had the moves able to create puzzles that hopefully teach a thing or two. If there's a takeaway or two you can use in your future chess learning, it's that consider if your move you want to play will positively or negatively impact your position. Does it open up something your opponent can take advantage of?
Round 4
Alas, round 4, I will finally show a game between two grandmasters that have met each other previously in the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship. In the left corner, we have five-time World Champion, four-time FIDE World Rapid Chess Champion, and six-time FIDE World Blitz Chess Champion, Magnus Carlsen! In the right corner, a familiar opponent for the past few years, a rising Uzbek star, the player who represented the first board for Uzbekistan in the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad, and 2021 FIDE World Rapid Chess Champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov!
This ought to be a good match between the two, especially Carlsen wanting to get some revenge on his opponent who denied him [Carlsen] from winning the 2021 FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship.
The game has gone through 56 moves in total, and it's Magnus's 29th move. White to play. It seems like that white's on the attack. The evaluation bar is nearly +2 in favour of white.
This is the position as of after Abdusattorov's 28th move.
Magnus, being the face of modern chess, of course he has to let his ambition to attack whenever possible go.
What was Magnus's move here?
To add on, Magnus's pieces are likely going to have a fun time attacking Abdusattorov's king. The pressure may not be present now, but Magnus is the highest ranked grandmaster in the world right now in classical chess and rapid chess. He can foresee moves that are as far as 30 moves later in the game. Abdusattorov may have a chance to do something to this position, he'll have to play sharply though.
Of course, rapid isn't the same as classical. In FIDE rapid, there's only a third. or even a quarter of the time on the clock you get compared to classical. If you haven't seen Magnus play blitz online, he thinks fast.
After Magnus played 34. Bxe5, Abdusattorov played the move, 34...Bxd3?
How should Magnus finish this attack?
The tactics and accurate play by Carlsen won the game for him and heading into the fifth round, Carlsen with a strong 4/4 record with his his next opponent being the rising Indian grandmaster Arjun Erigasi, while Abdusattorov suffered his first loss of the tournament, now at 3/4, and his opponent coming off a win meaning he has some work to do to cover up the lost ground.
Round 5
The last round of the day was interesting. Several draws, a few decisive games, and games that would be described as giveaways in the game review by chess.com. This game is between Iranian grandmaster who won the 2019 Biel Master Open Tournament, Amin Tabatabaei playing with the white pieces. With the black pieces, the Russian grandmaster who is in the top 15 of highest ranked chess players in classical time control chess, Alexander Grischuk.
This might be my favourite game in this blog post for one reason: it features one of my favourite openings, the French Defense. Sorry, @ant, I had to. I do like the Sicilian and Caro Kann as well.
What French was it? Glad you asked. It was a Paulsen, Main Line French, not something common I see in my games, but at the master level, it's definitely more common.
To the game of course, Grischuk seemed to know the theory of this one line and prepared well. He came in looking like he remembered every single move. Tabatabaei on the other hand tried to handle Grischuk's prep as much as possible, even tried to gain space early on the queenside early in the game.
Fast forward out of the opening, Tabatabaei trying to focus on the counterattack on the kingside, played 29...Rg3?!
What was Grischuk's way to make this game's fate into his hands?
Grischuk with the rooks doubled on the f-file, the bishop on the long diagonal having the vision to see his opponent's king's defense would likely lead to a commanding attack that would be executed cleanly by Grischuk.
Not long after, Tabatabaei plays 34. Ng6, which in the engine's opinion, is one of the only good moves out there.
Clearly enough, Grischuk will take any opportunity he can to win this game. This allows Grischuk to win a knight.
What's the sequence?
Grischuk winning the game lifts him to 3.5/5 while Tabatabaei now is 3/5 as of the end of round 5. This game wasn't the prettiest one played by Grischuk according to the chess.com game review, but I bet Grischuk is proud of his performance.
Conclusion
These first five rounds have really shaped the horserace that there was during the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship. Carlsen, the grandmaster which most people think of when we mention the present's top players, Vincent Keymer was showing a surprise in this tournament, as well as Daniil Dubov, which you shouldn't underestimate. Don't forget America's champ of 2022, Fabiano Caruana playing as well.
Overall, a good day to most players to start a tournament. The next 4 rounds of the next day will spice up the standings a little bit, might change the projection of the winner of the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship. It might be a better day for games, maybe worse, but as spectators at home, at work, or even in the bathroom on your phone, we can all react to the games that these talented players are taking part of.
That's all for rounds 1-5 of the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship - featured games in puzzles. I hope you enjoyed this blog, I kind of want to shout out @ant and @FA-18_SuperHornet2007, who motivated me to finish this blog. It actually gave me a bit of confidence into BlogChamps. I'm hoping for a good result in it, and have a good rest of your day!
-Ryan 
Featured Games:
- Round 1: Suleymanli - Giri
- Round 2: Van Foreest - Tsydypov
- Round 3a: Caruana - Moiseenko
- Round 3b: Rapport - Chithambaram
- Round 4: Carlsen - Abdusattorov
- Round 5: Tabatabaei - Grischuk
