'Express Train' Vidit Leads Open

GM Vidit Gujrathi shot into the sole lead of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2023 in round seven with 5.5 points, while three players are tied with that same score in the Women's.

After losing with a blunder in round one, Vidit has now won five of his subsequent six games. In the Women's, IM Vaishali Rameshbabu and GM Antoaneta Stefanova caught up with GM Anna Muzychuk, who made a draw with GM Aleksandra Goryachkina on board one.

Round eight begins on Thursday, November 2, at 10:30 a.m. ET / 15:30 CET / 8 p.m. IST.  

• Open: Vidit Takes Lead, 11 Players Are Close Behind
• Women's: Vaishali And Stefanova Win With Black To Catch Leader

As an expected storm reached Douglas, the tempest extended to the chessboards as well. Outside the playing hall, players can expect rainy weather for the rest of the tournament, which ends on Sunday.

With just four more rounds to go, speculations about who will finish in first and second take a more concrete shape. After winning Tuesday's Halloween Mystery Banter Blitz, GM Daniil Dubov said he would "go with Hikaru."

Dubov's #FIDEGrandSwiss prediction: "If I had to pick one person to qualify [for the Candidates], which means top 2, I think I would go with Hikaru, who basically has this perfect ability not to lose his mind!" pic.twitter.com/MgNcruVrcL

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 31, 2023

Open: Vidit Takes Lead, 11 Players Are Close Behind

Plenty of fights ended in equal scores, but one player rose above the rest in round seven, Vidit. A whopping 11 players are half a point behind. 

Fifth Victory For Vidit After Loss In Round 1

"There is an express train in the Isle of Man and his name is Vidit Santosh Gujrathi!" said Neiksans shortly after the Indian grandmaster scored yet another victory. After losing in round one, he has now won five (!) out of his next six games. Against an average opposition of 2645 rating, this is simply unreal.

There is an express train in the Isle of Man and his name is Vidit Santosh Gujrathi!

—Arturs Neiksans

GM Javokhir Sindarov played the Game of the Day in the previous round, beating GM Sam Sevian in just 23 moves with the black pieces. Ironically, he lost the Game of the Day in this round, with White.

The "Quiet" Italian Game quickly became sharp, and in the middlegame Vidit grabbed a hanging a-pawn at the cost of potentially sidelining his knight, implying: "Show me the compensation." In the interview, he said: "I think the engine was showing some ways to defend, but practically, during the game, I thought I was much, much better."

After winning material, Vidit said the endgame "took longer than it should have," but he got the job done. This is unquestionably our Game of the Day, which GM Dejan Bojkov annotates below.

You can also listen to Vidit's analysis in the video below, where he also analyzes GM Arjun Erigaisi's game live!

Top Boards Draw, But Sharp Games All-Around

Although the games were far from peaceful on the top two boards, they did not produce a decisive result. GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek vs. GM Fabiano Caruana ended in a draw by agreement, though the commentators worried for Caruana just before he offered the draw. 

Meanwhile, GM Hikaru Nakamura reached an endgame with an extra pawn against GM Alexandr Predke but objectively could not make progress. 

Nakamura's opening system with 8.Bc4 was like a Sozin Sicilian except with the move a3 included (and ...a6 was never played). Although the commentators pointed out this setup was a favorite of GM Bobby Fischer, Nakamura said in his recap that he was inspired by a "smashing victory" by GM Magnus Carlsen over GM Vincent Keymer at the recent European Club Cup.

In that game, Carlsen played a4 instead of a3, but the Bc4 move remained the same. This game had a funny ending, by the way, as Predke offered his rook five times before it was finally captured, with stalemate.

You can listen to Nakamura's analysis below:

Boards 6 Through 10 All End In White Wins

Players who entered the round a half-point behind the leaders were clearly in a violent mood as nearly every single game ended decisively. GM Alireza Firouzja vs. Alexey Sarana was the only draw, which ended with bare kings, while GM Etienne Bacrot, Vincent Keymer, Bogdan-Daniel Deac, Yuriy Kuzubov, and Vladimir Fedoseev all won their games with White.

Keymer's victory against GM Anton Korobov was a beautiful lesson in how to transform an overwhelming space advantage into a winning attack.

Keymer said after: "I don't feel like I was in any big danger in the game. That was a good feeling, but of course, it's not enough not to lose games. To get to the top, you need to win quite a few ones!"

We're going to have an exciting matchup of Vidit vs. Nakamura on board one tomorrow, with Caruana-Bacrot on board two and Esipenko-Keymer on board three. Among players with 4.5/7, two promising matchups are Sevian-Firouzja and the all-American matchup GM Levon Aronian vs. GM Hans Niemann, knowing that the former lost their last encounter.

Round 7 Standings | Top 20 

(Full results here.)

Women's: Vaishali And Stefanova Win With Black To Catch Leader 

Wednesday was a nice day for the black pieces on the top boards. While White had to bail out for a draw on board one, Black won on both boards two and three to join a three-way tie for the lead.

Goryachkina-Anna Muzychuk: White Commits "Positional Crime" In Opening But Survives

The first board was an absolute shock as early as move seven, where White seemed to misplay the opening. 

The top seed is better known to play 1.d4, but she came to this game with a surprise attack, 1.e4. The commentators speculated that her move 7.h3?!, however, showcased her inexperience with this opening, as she gave her bishop pair for nothing in return—"a positional crime," according to Leko.

Leko later added: "This opening shocked me completely. It seems like the black player is a very serious, very strong grandmaster and White is someone who is a newcomer to these structures."

It seems like the black player is a very serious, very strong grandmaster and White is someone who is a newcomer to these structures.

—Peter Leko

The opening phase immediately brought to mind GM Vladimir Kramnik's brilliant game in the 2018 Candidates against GM Levon Aronian who, also trying out 1.e4 as a new opening, ran into trouble after playing an erroneous h3 move in a Ruy Lopez. 

Although Goryachkina lost any hopes of playing for an advantage, she was able to "chop wood" (trade pieces) and draw the game. On the other hand, the next two boards were far from peaceful.

Vaishali Nears Grandmaster Title, Stefanova Knocks Down Former World Champion 

Having already completed her third grandmaster norm in the Qatar Masters, Vaishali is just 11 rating points away from reaching 2500 and the grandmaster title. The dream scenario for her, of course, would be to complete this and to also earn a seat to the 2024 Candidates.

There were two final critical moments. After nursing a solid advantage and nearing the conversion stage, Vaishali blundered the tactic 31.Nxf6! and let her opponent back into the game. Five moves later, though, she "re-won" thanks to the singsong motif: "Pin and win."

On board three, Stefanova provocatively moved the same piece twice in the opening, prompting GM Mariya Muzychuk to sacrifice a pawn for activity. "During the game, I didn't have the feeling that actually White has full compensation," Stefanova said, and Black kept the extra pawn, built a strong center, and won more material when White sacrificed more out of desperation. 

You can listen to her analyze the game below:

After seven decisive results on the top 10 boards, the three leaders are chased by IM Sophie Milliet and Goryachkina, who are half a point behind.

Anna Muzychuk is the first player to hold onto the lead for more than one day. She will face Stefanova on Thursday, while board two will feature Vaishali-Milliet and board three GM Tan Zhongyi vs. Goryachkina.

Round 7 Standings | Top 20 

The 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss (FGS) is one of the events of the FIDE World Championship cycle with the top two players qualifying for the 2024 Candidates Tournament. The FGS started on October 25 at 9:30 a.m. ET/15:30 CEST/19:00 IST and features a $460,000 prize fund.

The 2023 FIDE Women's Grand Swiss (FWGS) features a $140,000 prize fund and runs concurrently. The top two players qualify for the 2024 Women's Candidates Tournament.

Previous Coverage:

• Nakamura Holds Co-leader Esipenko, 5 Players Join Lead
• Assaubayeva Leads Women's, Nakamura Scores Hat Trick In Open
• Esipenko Leads In Open, 4-Way Tie In Women's
• Vaishali Plays Brilliancy As Anna Muzychuk, Tan Take Lead
• Caruana Beats Niemann, Returns To 2800 Club
• Caruana Leads Pack Of 32 Winners
• FIDE Grand Swiss 2023: Who Will Qualify For A Shot At World Title?