GM Maxime Vachier Lagrave wins 29, draws 3 at Marshall Chess Club simul
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On Thursday, November 9th, the Marshall Chess Club hosted a 32 board simultaneous exhibition with renowned Grandmaster Maxime Vachier Lagrave. Although I did not participate, I still attended and was able to obtain over 20 different games from the event. To keep things organized, I will be showing each game in order from the top board to the lowest board. If anything interesting happened in any of the games, I will comment above. For the first 4 boards, which were livestreamed here on chess.com while being analyzed by GM Aleksandr Lenderman, I will also provide a brief summary.
Board 1: Abby Marshall (USCF 2167)
It makes sense that MVL's toughest opponent put up the longest fight out of everyone. Although MVL missed some chances to win quicker in the middlegame, his superior king position in the endgame eventually enabled him to grind out a win.
Board 2: Sarathi Ray (USCF 2000)
Sarathi Ray, who helps run the Marshall Chess Club, also put up a hard fight. Ray erred early with 11..gxf6?, which compromised his kingside pawn structure. After the correct Qxf6, it's true that Ray would have lost the b6 pawn, but the open b file would have given him counterplay. After that, MVL slowly outplayed him, shutting down any counterplay that Ray attempted and eventually forcing a resignation.
Board #3: Colin Diamond (USCF 1979)
Diamond was one of the 3 players who managed to obtain a draw. Diamond played very solidly throughout the game, never allowing MVL to have any advantage. Diamond actually missed his own chance to gain a serious advantage, missing 33..Qh6!, which would have won a pawn and given him a good chance to win.
Board #4: Alex Pakh (USCF 1979)
Pakh too put up a hard fight and for the first 20 moves it didn't seem clear as to how MVL would be able to break through a closed position. However, Pakh chose to sacrifice a piece with 21..Nxc5?!, after which MVL would have been winning after the simple recapture despite some complications to iron out. But rather than recapturing, MVL blundered with 22. f5??, after which Pakh returned the favor with Qb6, after which the game was over. Had Pakh found 22..Bd6!, he would have been right back in the game with active counterplay and a dangerous attack. Pakh eventually went for some last ditch counterplay with a rook sacrifice at the end, but by then MVL was completely winning anyways.
Board 5: Sergey Nizhegorodtsev (USCF 1935)
This was the second draw, but to say that MVL was able to swindle this would be an understatement. That's right- after successfully handling MVL's kingside attack, Nizhegorodtsev was able to get a winning advantage on the queenside, successfully managing to win a key pawn. After 41. Qh1??, black would have been completely winning after the maneuver Nd2-e4, but he instead blundered with Ke7??, equalizing the position. However, several mistakes from MVL enabled black to have a winning advantage again, as MVL lost another pawn. Fortunately for him, though, black bailed with 59..Qa3??, rather than forge ahead with his winning attack with 59..Qh4!