Maxime Vachier Lagrave simul, part 2

This is part 2 of the previous article on the Maxime Vachier Lagrave simul at the Marshall Chess Club. It should be noted that in some of these games, I list the opponent as being unknown because some players requested privacy and others did not write their names on their scoresheets. In addition, some games may not be complete, as their scoresheets were too sloppy to read towards the very end as MVL was finishing them off.

As I already mentioned in part 1, MVL played a variety of different openings and was successful in each of them. In some games, MVL played what can be described as a rare sideline of a well known variation. For example, in this game, MVL was faced with a Najdorf Sicilian and opted for 6. Rg1, which is known as the "Freak Attack", and no, there wasn't any well-known chess player whose last name was Freak. This variation gets its name from white getting what seems to be a freaky attack out of nowhere, as seen in this game.

MVL also showed that he wasn't afraid to sacrifice material, whether or not it was his very picturesque queen sacrifice in his game against David Campbell from part 1, or just a pawn, as seen in this game. This perhaps demonstrates the intellectual power of a super-grandmaster, as few players would allow 14..Qxd4 without at least thinking for a bit and seeing white's very strong compensation via his bishop pair and active knight. MVL saw this within seconds.

MVL won some games very quickly, but other games took longer. In these next few games, MVL shows his impeccable endgame techniques as well as superb opening and middlegame skills. 

Finally, it seems most natural to end this article with the games of some up-and-coming players whose ratings are still low. Although some of these games ended quickly, none of them were easy wins for MVL by any means. In fact, in a couple of these games, MVL had inferior positions! For everyone, but perhaps for these players in particular, this was a learning experience that will definitely help them improve their chess in the future!

A big thanks to the Marshall Chess Club and to Maxime Vachier Lagrave for hosting such an amazing event!