FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss: Caruana Sole Leader; Candidates Spot Up For Grabs

With one round to go Fabiano Caruana is the sole leader at the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss in Isle of Man. The American GM defeated David Anton in a bloody penultimate round with seven decisive games on the top eight boards.

Seven players are trailing Caruana by half a point. In order of first tiebreak—which is likely to decide the fight for the spot in the Candidates' tournament—they are Wang Hao, Kirill Alekseenko, Magnus Carlsen, Levon  Aronian, Nikita Vitiugov, Hikaru Nakamura and David Howell.

The FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss, the first Swiss tournament in the world championship cycle since Biel 1993, will definitely see some nervous moments among the top boards in the final round. Not counting Carlsen and Caruana, theoretically eight players could end in a big tie for the Candidates' spot tomorrow.

If that would happen, it's Wang who will be joining his compatriot Ding Liren in Yekaterinburg next March. Because the pairings are already known, the first tiebreak (average rating of the opponents minus the lowest) for the final standings is already known as well, and Wang has the highest of all.

Here are the top pairings for the final round, including points and first tiebreaks:

Nakamura (7.0; 2674) - Caruana (7.5; 2720)
Aronian (7.0; 2708) - Carlsen (7.0; 2698)
Alekseenko (7.0; 2716) - Vitiugov (7.0; 2663)
Wang Hao (7.0; 2735) - Howell (7.0; 2657)
Paravyan (6.5; 2675) - Le (6.5; 2631)
Anton (6.5; 2702) - Hovhannisyan (6.5; 2633)

Wang would deserve it, as he has played a great tournament. He held both Carlsen and Caruana to a draw, and in the penultimate round as Black he beat Vishy Anand on demand.

The 30-year-old Chinese grandmaster said he wasn't really playing for a win yesterday or today. His mindset going into the round: "A draw will be good enough, and then tomorrow will be a good fight for prizes."

He got the full point, partly because he was clearly better prepared than Anand in the suddenly topical 3.d4 line in the Petroff. Wang had checked it before playing against Vitiugov the other day and improved upon both Vitiugov-So from the World Cup and Carlsen-Shirov from earlier in Isle of Man, in addition to being helped by some correspondence games.

The position looks dangerous for Black, but if he knows what he's doing and plays accurately, "there are enough resources to solve the problems," said Wang.

Wang Hao appeared on the live broadcast.

In an endgame with rooks and opposite-colored bishops, Anand was perhaps pushing too much in a last attempt to move up in the standings. He had to resign when a rook was trapped and a bishop was going to be dropped.

Wang: "I always play well in this Isle of Man. I consider this my lucky place!"

It had been raining draws on one day and grandmasters the next, but today it was raining decisive games—at least among the top boards. Two players soon joined Wang in the group of players on seven points: Howell and Vitiugov.

Howell played his first 2700 opponent in the tournament, Alexander Grischuk. Insiders knew that this was going to be a game between two time-trouble addicts.

The English GM revealed that he had checked the pairings at only 1:30 p.m. His explanation did make sense:

"It's not the most professional thing, but I actually find it better if I don't think about it. If I prepare too much, I feel tired during the game. I am trying to save my energy for later parts in the game, and it seems to be going OK so far."

Howell was the first to become short on time, but he had the luxury of a very solid position. He got the upper hand when Grischuk lost two tempi with 21...Rd1?, and soon White won a pawn. The win came after Grischuk got low on time as well, while Howell stayed really calm.

It was a special win for Howell in his first game against his famous opponent: "He's one of my heroes in chess. I copied some of his openings, and I love going through his games."

Howell appeared on the live broadcast.

Vitiugov won a nice game against his compatriot Aleksandr Rakhmanov. The latter's Queen's Gambit Declined was answered by 4.c5!? that looks like a patzer move but has been played by a few grandmasters, including Alexander Alekhine against Akiba Rubinstein in 1921!

Black almost equalized but couldn't keep White from gaining some initiative. Vitiugov got the more active piece play and then found a nice combination.

Vitiugov appeared on the live broadcast.

"It's very nice, especially after yesterday's game when I got really lucky," he said. "I played very poor chess but somehow survived. It happens."

Meanwhile, the much anticipated game between Nakamura and Aronian ended in a disappointing draw, for the fans and for the players. Now the chance to qualify for the Candidates' for both players depends on two players with higher tiebreaks, Alekseenko and Wang. 

Nakamura had come up with the new idea 16.Bb3. "Levon thought for a bit, but he found a pretty precise continuation," Nakamura said. "He thought for 10 minutes, and I think he remembered his prep."

The American player gave 29.Ra1 as an alternative for him with a little advantage (as engines say), but he didn't think it was much.

As for this missed chance, Nakamura made a comparison with baseball: "Whoever hits a home run tends to win the game. In chess it's kind of the same concept in that you come with some idea, and you basically hope it's the one idea your opponent hasn't looked at or they aren't able to remember it behind the board."

Alekseenko is perhaps the most surprising name in the group behind Caruana. The 22-year-old grandmaster from St. Petersburg has had some amazing weeks, when he earned no less than 40 Elo points in the live ratings from his games in the World Cup and this event.

Now virtually on a 2714 rating, Alekseenko won with the black pieces against a giant of Russian chess: Sergey Karjakin.

This result means that Karjakin is definitely out of contention for the Candidates' and a possible return match with Carlsen because he is not eligible for a wild card.

Well, at least I tried!

— Sergey Karjakin (@SergeyKaryakin) October 20, 2019

It was Alekseenko's first game ever against Karjakin, and he called his win "amazing." He will go in tomorrow's round with the knowledge that if Wang doesn't win and he does, he will qualify for the Candidates'.

Alekseenko appeared on the live broadcast.

Spanish GM Anton was in the lead for two rounds but is now out of contention after losing to Caruana. We'd almost forget that there's also a first prize of $70,000 to be won at this tournament, and Caruana is the clear favorite obviously as the sole leader.

It was another long game in which Caruana eventually ground down Anton deep in the endgame. It was helpful that Caruana was feeling less exhausted than in earlier games in the tournament, such as against Carlsen: "Before today I suddenly felt I had more energy."

Caruana appeared on the live broadcast.

Alongside all the tournament intrigue is the story of Carlsen reaching his 100th undefeated game in a row, with which he equalled Ding's streak from last year. The world champ did so by beating Maxim Matlakov, but afterward the only reason for satisfaction was the result.

Carlsen was not happy because he had seen a brilliant move during the game, but somehow forgot to play it. Online kibitzers had dubbed 27.e5!! as too computeresque, but as it turned out the player behind the white pieces had seen it.

Carlsen explained:

"I had calculated this 26.f4 that after 26...exf4 I had 27.e5, and everything collapses. At this point I come back from the bathroom, I see that he has played 26...exf4 and I go 27.Bxf4 in one second, which was not my plan at all. After this I couldn't really calm down, and I just made mistake after mistake."

Carlsen appeared on the live broadcast.

Eventually Carlsen got a position with a queen against a rook and a c-pawn for Matlakov, and it was not even a case of not believing in fortresses this time—here Carlsen was sure it was winning:

"This one I knew from school. I knew this was not a fortress, and I knew how to break it."

An early comment by @Fontanellean summed up nicely what's in store tomorrow:

So Carlsen needs not to lose in order to beat Ding's record, but Aronian needs to win to have a chance at the Candidates' berth. Meanwhile, Nakamura needs to beat Caruana, and the board 3 players both need to win, too. Wang potentially only needs a draw, but he can't play it too safe with both players on board 3 playing for a decisive result. It's looking good for spectators, but we'll see.

Wang is the only player who can draw and still reach the Candidates' if all other games on the top boards end in a draw as well. A win guarantees him the spot.

Alekseenko, Aronian, Vitiugov, Nakamura and Howell all need to win and hope for the best results on other boards. 

I figured these scenarios out for everyone still in play for Candidates' qualification or to win the event. pic.twitter.com/NwUhKibHWC

— Frankie Sheehy (@FrankieSheehy) October 20, 2019

FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss | Round 10 Standings (Top 20)

FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss | Top pairings final round

In the fight for the first women's prize, the situation hasn't changed. It's still Harika Dronavalli and Alina Kashlinskaya who are tied for first place:

FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss | Round 10 Women Standings

Find the top games of round 10 for replay here:

Previous reports:

• FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss Starts Thursday
• FIDE Chess.com Isle Of Man: Round 1 Pairings
• FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss: Najer Upsets Anand In Round 1
• FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss: 5 Players Lead After Round 2
• FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss: Caruana, Wang Hao Still Perfect
• FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss: 4 Players Lead; Carlsen Escapes
• FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss: 7 Players Lead As Caruana Escapes
• Caruana, Wang Hao Lead FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss At Half
• FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss: Aronian Joins Caruana In Lead
• FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss: Controversy Over 2 Similar Games
• Nakamura Joins Leaders At FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss