London Classic: Giri Beats Topalov With Tremendous Tactics

Anish Giri grabbed an early lead at the London Chess Classic as the only winner of the first round. The Dutch star tricked Veselin Topalov, but a tremendous trick it was.  

The Grand Chess Tour resumed on Friday with the first round of the London Chess Classic. Now turned into a 10-player round robin, the Classic is the third and last leg of the Grand Chess Tour.

The first, Norway Chess in June, was won by Veselin Topalov. The second, the Sinquefield Cup in August-September, was won by Levon Aronian. In each tournament the first prize is $75,000 and the winner of the tour gets an additional $75,000.

The only winner in the first round was Anish Giri, whose name is a bit bigger in the Netherlands than last week. The news that he has qualified for the Candidates’ was published in newspapers and even made it to the popular Dutch talkshow De Wereld Draait Door.

Perhaps it was this extra bit of inspiration (or the fact that chess is now even returning to Dutch advertising!) that helped Giri to win a game where he was under pressure. “I was optimistic based on the variations I saw,“ was how he put it himself.

Veselin Topalov played the sideline 5.Qa4 in the Fianchetto Grünfeld, but Giri knew the best reply (5...Nfd7) and even came up with a new plan in the opening. He got very active play but still ended up worse, which he felt was “unfair."

“First of all it was unfair after my 17...Nd3, it was undeserved that he is better. I don't like undeserved victories,” he said. “And I felt I should be able to hold this position.”

Giri did more than that. He played accurately, centralized his pieces and then outsmarted his opponent when the tactics appeared. 35...Qd5! was a nasty shot missed by Topalov, who soon got himself checkmated.

“I felt like a kid; I was doing very strange things,” said Giri about seemingly playing for tricks. He was reminded of his younger years, when he was surviving his way “with cheap tricks and zero understanding,” adding: “Today it worked again!”

Giri's 35..Qd5!! is a super wicked move -easy to miss and it's striking just how devastating it is. @londonchess2015 #londonchessclassic

— Jonathan Rowson (@Jonathan_Rowson) December 4, 2015

Beautiful finish to Topalov 0-1 Giri @anishgiri bit lucky but kudos for finding Qd5!! short of time Great buzz at 7th Classic #londonchess

— Malcolm Pein (@TelegraphChess) December 4, 2015

Of the four draws on the other boards, Alexander Grischuk vs Hikaru Nakamura was the best. In many rounds of top tournaments it would have been the game of the day in fact.

“I was completely lost,” said Grischuk afterward. “Actually I didn't see how I would lose by force, but it was terrible.”

The Russian GM went for a risky setup in the Berlin endgame, perhaps motivated by the many wins White scored in this opening at the European Team Championship. 

He didn't expect “people” to play 13...c5! and 14...Kd8. That's what Nakamura did, and it was White who had to be careful. In a sharp and highly complicated middlegame Nakamura eventually decided to go for a move repetition where the computer still like Black.

Magnus Carlsen's draw with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was the shortest; it was kind of a semi-rest day for these players. In an old line of the Sveshnikov Sicilian they left theory with Carlsen getting a slight edge maybe, but MVL could soon force a perpetual.

Carlsen has seven tournaments in a row without winning the 1st round. #LondonChess Last time he won R1 was in Shamkir '14. #2sjakk

— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) December 4, 2015

Carlsen said about his current form: “For me I just have to find the level that I’m used to playing at. As long as I’m there I can fight. Generally I don’t need extra motivation, so it’s all right. All the time you can be sure that if I’m criticized and there’s pressure I’m much harder on myself.”

Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian played a quiet game that started as a Closed Spanish with 6.d3. White had a knight against a bad bishop for most of the game, but that bishop wasn't so bad after all as it would reached the g1-a7 diagonal. A flawless top GM draw.

The same can be said for the game between Vishy Anand and Mickey Adams. This was an English Opening where Black never had any serious opening problems.

2015 London Chess Classic | Pairings & Results

The London Chess Classic takes place in Kensington Olympia, London and runs until Monday, December 14. December 9 is a rest day. You can watch live streaming commentary daily at Chess.com/TV with GMs Jan Gustafsson and Daniel King.