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Vidit Wins FIDE Grand Swiss, Nakamura Secures Candidates Spot
Vidit is the surprise winner of the FIDE Grand Swiss. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Vidit Wins FIDE Grand Swiss, Nakamura Secures Candidates Spot

JackRodgers
| 123 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Vidit Gujrathi has been confirmed as the winner of the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss after defeating GM Alexandr Predke and finishing on 8.5/11 in what has been described as one of the strongest open tournaments of all time.

Along with receiving $80,000 for first place, Vidit secured his spot at the 2024 Candidates tournament and will be joined by the second-placed GM Hikaru Nakamura, who won $60,000 for his 8/11 score.

In the Women's event, IM Vaishali Rameshbabu finished with a draw to cap off an unbeaten 8.5/11 and won $25,000 for first place as well as her own Candidates spot. For the first time, a brother and sister duo will contend in the Open and Women's Candidates (GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa qualified via the 2023 FIDE World Cup).

How to review the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss
You can review the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss broadcast on Twitch and YouTube. You can also find all the details for the Open and Women's sections on our live events platform.

The live broadcast was hosted by GMs Daniel Naroditsky and Peter Leko.

Open Section: Vidit, Nakamura Book Candidates Spots

In our round-10 report, we published statistics that indicate that Vidit was the least likely of the co-leaders to win the event, thanks to GM Andrey Esipenko and Nakamura's superior tiebreaks. However, Vidit bucked the odds by scoring a final-round win over Predke. His result in the Grand Swiss is undoubtedly the greatest achievement of his career.

Vidit was understandably all smiles after his win. Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE.

Playing with the white pieces, the Indian maestro's Queen's Gambit was accepted and perhaps strategically, Predke opted to play the Furman Variation, which carries a 64 per cent draw rate in over 1,000 master-level games. 

The Furman Variation doesn't scream imbalance. Image: Chess.com.

Vidit is known as an exceptional endgame player and didn't mind an exchange of queens, later stating: "It might look like Black has very good drawing chances, which it is, okay, very solid for Black, but it is pleasant for me.

As the games around him played out, Vidit began to notice that Esipenko was losing to GM Anish Giri and Nakamura was likely heading toward a draw with GM Arjun Erigaisi, meaning that a draw would be enough to claim a Candidates spot.

Realizing his advantage, Vidit smells blood in the water. Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE.

True to his style, Vidit found it impossible to resist pressing in the minor-piece-dominated middlegame and won a pawn. From that moment onward, it was clear that the 29-year-old would be the winner of the event.

Our Game of the Day, which decided the winner of the Grand Swiss, has been analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao.

With only one other Candidates spot up for grabs, attention turned toward Arjun-Nakamura and Giri-Esipenko. Boasting performance ratings over 2800, Nakamura or Esipenko both would have been deserving of the spot, and for the latter, it would have been his first time qualifying for the prestigious event.

Esipenko in action against Giri. Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE.

Although paired with Giri, Esipenko could not be counted out due to his history of knocking over top GMs. (Esipenko was the first and only teenager to beat GM Magnus Carlsen in a classical game while he was the reigning world champion, in 2021.)

Sadly, there was only heartbreak in round 11 for the 21-year-old as Giri toppled him in a rook-and-knight ending and demoted him to third place.

Nakamura meanwhile continued to play some of his best chess in recent times and easily drew with Arjun, selecting a line he had kept hidden for seven months on his way to Candidates qualification.

As the current second seed, his chances of qualifying for a world championship match are better than ever.

In terms of the last two Candidates' qualifier spots, GM Alireza Firouzja is most likely to be the recipient of the highest rating spot while Giri leads GM Gukesh Dommaraju in the battle for the 2023 FIDE Circuit spot, courtesy of his round-11 win, which left him feeling "fantastic."

Another feel-good story from the Grand Swiss occurred further down the rankings with Canada's IM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux crossing 2500, scoring a GM norm, and confirming his GM title. 

In his first act as a GM, the 19-year-old dispatched GM Max Warmerdam in a stunning 27-mover full of colorful tactics.

 Final Standings | Top 20

Rk. SNo FED Name Rtg Pts. TB1
1 15 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2716 8.5 2671
2 2 GM Nakamura, Hikaru 2780 8 2687
3 32 GM Esipenko, Andrey 2683 7.5 2702
4 16 GM Erigaisi, Arjun 2712 7.5 2681
5 12 GM Keymer, Vincent 2717 7.5 2673
6 18 GM Maghsoodloo, Parham 2707 7.5 2660
7 4 GM Giri, Anish 2760 7.5 2657
8 46 GM Sindarov, Javokhir 2658 7 2707
9 47 GM Predke, Alexandr 2656 7 2702
10 1 GM Caruana, Fabiano 2786 7 2684
11 10 GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof 2726 7 2650
12 13 GM Abdusattorov, Nodirbek 2716 7 2648
13 8 GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu 2738 7 2637
14 81 GM Yakubboev, Nodirbek 2616 6.5 2706
15 80 GM Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel 2618 6.5 2701
16 63 GM Yilmaz, Mustafa 2640 6.5 2699
17 44 GM Cheparinov, Ivan 2658 6.5 2698
18 39 GM Bacrot, Etienne 2669 6.5 2695
19 41 GM Wojtaszek, Radoslaw 2668 65 2674
20 20 GM Deac, Bogdan-Daniel 2701 6.5 2671

(Full results here.)

Women's Section: Vaishali Finishes First With 30-Point Rating Gain

A slightly less dramatic finish unfolded in the Women's division as two draws transpired on the top boards. The winning score for Vaishali was  8.5/11, following a relatively peaceful game against IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul.

While the game had no bearing on her Candidates qualification, a win would have pushed Vaishali's FIDE rating over 2500 and secured her the GM title, befitting of a player who performed at a rating of 2658 throughout the Grand Swiss.

Vaishali was just as dangerous with the black pieces as she was with the white. Image: Chess-results.com.

Vaishali's tournament was no fluke either—the 22-year-old recently finished on 5/9 in the Qatar Masters, beating her compatriot GM S.P. Sethuraman as well as GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov. Vaishali confirmed in a post-match interview that obtaining the GM title may take some time as she has no tournament plans lined up after a busy few months.

GM Anna Muzychuk also went undefeated in the event and with five wins and six draws, she slotted into second place and won $17,500, though she had already confirmed her Women's Candidates spot by finishing third in the World Cup.

Anna Muzychuk-Cramling determined second place. Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE.

In the final round, the Ukrainian came up against GM Pia Cramling (mom of popular streamer WFM Anna) and drew. 

The second Candidates spot was taken by GM Tan Zhongyi, who overcame IM Gunay Mammadzada in a game that was very convincing—except for one moment, when she played 24.Bh3? and allowed a game-changing shot.

Munguntuul tied Tan for third place, but was unfortunate to miss out on the Candidates.

Munguntuul's performance rating was 2570. Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE.

While the realization of India's younger talent has been at the fore of chess news of late, clearly, even the more experienced players are benefitting from the chess boom in the country. In the world's strongest open tournament of the year, two Indian players stand proudly at the top.

Vaishali and Vidit with the winner's trophies. Photo: Anna Shtourman/FIDE.

Final Standings | Top 20

Rk. SNo FED Name Rtg Pts. TB1
1 12 IM Vaishali Rameshbabu 2448 8.5 2456
2 5 GM Muzychuk, Anna 2510 8 2446
3 4 GM Tan Zhongyi 2517 7.5 2444
4 40 IM Munguntuul, Batkhuyag 2366 7.5 2441
5 25 IM Garifullina, Leya 2402 7 2465
6 21 GM Stefanova, Antoaneta 2424 7 2430
7 14 GM Cramling, Pia 2446 7 2409
8 3 GM Muzychuk, Mariya 2519 7 2403
9 34 IM Tsolakidou, Stavroula 2385 6.5 2465
10 39 IM Cori T., Deysi 2367 6.5 2464
11 27 IM Narva, Mai 2399 6.5 2463
12 36 GM Socko, Monika 2380 6.5 2439
13 10 IM Assaubayeva, Bibisara 2469 6.5 2437
14 17 IM Javakhishvili, Lela 2437 6.5 2405
15 43 WGM Kamalidenova, Meruert 2351 6 2481
16 30 IM Milliet, Sophie 2391 6 2474
17 1 GM Goryachkina, Aleksandra 2558 6 2440
18 24 WGM Divya, Deshmukh 2408 6 2414
19 7 GM Harika Dronavalli 2502 6 2413
20 22 IM Bulmaga, Irina 2423 6 2409

(Full results here.)

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 and featured a $460,000 prize fund.

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


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