Caruana Beats Niemann, Returns To 2800 Club

After round two of the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss, seven players are on a perfect score in the Open and five in the Women's. 

In the Open, top seed GM Fabiano Caruana beat GM Hans Niemann and broke 2800 in the live ratings for the first time since 2021. Kazakh IM Ramazan Zhalmakhonov (rated 2447) gets the "biggest upset award" so far. Against an average opposition of 2665 across two rounds, he is the only international master with a perfect score. 

In the Women's, the Muzychuk sisters won their games, and GM Anna Muzychuk is on a 2/2 score. She will play IM Irina Bulmaga in round three. Another Kazakh prodigy, 18-year-old WIM Meruert Kamalidenova, upset GM Valentina Gunina to stay on a perfect score. An interesting pairing to watch tomorrow will be on board one, which features two former women's world champions: GM Tan Zhongyi vs. Antoaneta Stefanova. 

Round three begins on Friday, October 27, at 9:30 a.m. ET / 15:30 CEST /19:00 IST.  

• Open
• Women's 

In a Swiss tournament, competitors play others on the same score; for example, those who lost in round one played someone else who also lost. Most of the time, this entails an easier pairing, but here nobody gets a break—win, draw, or lose. Every game was a battle.

"at least ill get an easier game tomorrow" pic.twitter.com/g6l4x5yYVJ

— MrDodgy but spooky (@ChessProblem) October 26, 2023

A rule regarding tardy arrival to the playing hall attracted some attention. The rule is:

4. 3. 3. A player who arrives in the playing area after the actual start time of his/her game shall be charged USD 500 (five hundred), unless the Organiser decides otherwise, depending on the circumstances of the delay. A player who arrives in the playing area more than 15 minutes after the actual start time of his/her game shall lose his/her game by default, but without financial penalty, unless the Chief Arbiter decides that the delay was due to an event of force majeure.

GM Hikaru Nakamura and others can be seen protesting the first sentence in the video below, but it remains in place.

Open

32 players, all with one point, filled the top 16 boards. 

The standout game was, without question, Caruana vs. Niemann on board one. The former won all four of their previous classical encounters with Black, and this was his first time playing White against the latter. Their most recent game was 11 days ago at the U.S. Chess Championship.

Niemann thought for about two minutes before opting for 3...Nf6, the solid Berlin Defense—and solid he was until move 22 when the game took an immediate and decisive turn. 22...Qa6? allowed Caruana to overtake the d-file and, three moves later, after 25.Rd7, Leko already said: "I just don't see how Black is surviving." Naroditsky added: "It's a disaster."

With this victory, Caruana adds another game to his perfect record against Niemann and crosses the 2800 mark in the live ratings for the first time since 2021 (exactly 750 days after falling below the 2800 threshold). GM Rafael Leitao annotates our Game of the Day below. 

In his podcast, Caruana says: "To be honest, both my opponents in the first rounds didn't play anywhere near their best levels." He also talks about the journey back to 2800. He starts: "It was a terrible period, I was very tilted. I mean, terrible for my chess after the Candidates. My confidence was very low..."

GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda was awarded yesterday's Game of the Day, but in round two he succumbed to a caveman-style attack by Serbian number-two GM Alexandr Predke, who joins the leading pack. 

The final attack started with the ambitious 18.g4!? and quickly reached decisive proportions. On the surface, the initiative looked unstoppable, but two incredible computer moves never materialized in the game.

24.Nc3!! (which Leko joked might get a player disqualified if played) and the defensive queen sacrifice 24...Qxg5!!. As it went, the attack went smoothly and flowed uninterrupted. 

After the game, Predke revealed that 8.Qc2 was a piece of preparation he was proud of. He found it after a game against GM Sabino Brunello, where he started with 8.a3. "After the game, I thought about maybe I can play Qc2 immediately and, OK, I checked this."

GM Arjun Erigaisi won with Black against "El Nino" GM David Anton Guijarro. In a Benoni-style opening with reversed colors, Arjun took advantage of his massive center to win material and the game. 

Going into this day, there was just one player over the age of 50 with a full point, GM Alexei Shirov (51). GM Evgeniy Najer, 46, was the second oldest. On the other hand, 15 players on a full point were 25 years old or younger. Five were 20 or younger.

GM Erwin l'Ami, 38, is the oldest player left with a perfect score. after taking down GM Vladimir Fedoseev in round two in a complicated endgame with all the heavy pieces still on the board. His prize is the white pieces vs. Caruana on board one tomorrow.

GM Andrey Esipenko's was one of the last games to end, and he ground down GM Rinat Jumabayev in the following rare endgame with the black pieces:

IM Shreyas Royal scored a royal upset against GM Jaime Santos Latasa in round one, but Serbian number-one GM Alexey Sarana (also formerly Russian) won their encounter on Thursday to join the lead.

On The Heels Of Leaders

Behind the seven leaders, there are 30 players just behind by half a point. It's a long tournament and a half point is insignificant right now.

There are so many players on 1.5 points, but here is a list of the 2700+ players who drew in round one but won in round two: GMs Anish Giri, Alireza Firouzja, Nikita Vitiugov, Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (rated 2698, OK!), Bogdan-Daniel Deac, and Sam Shankland (also rated 2698 but gets a pass). 

Talking about how difficult every round is, whether one wins or loses, Giri said: "It's sort of hard to realistically expect to qualify by this route, but somebody will qualify and it might as well be you... I know that if I don't play, my chances are zero!"

I know that if I don't play, my chances are zero!

—Anish Giri

Nakamura, playing Black against GM Raunak Sadhwani, didn't really get a single chance to play for a win in an Alapin Sicilian. The players made their second draw in this tournament in 25 moves. 

In his video, he analyzes the Caruana-Niemann game before his own. "This game is simply a masterclass in understanding of the Berlin pawn structure from Fabiano," he concludes.

About his own game: "There are a lot of rounds still left and if I gambled and lost the second round... there's a good chance that my tournament would be ruined." He also added: "If this were round eight or round nine or round 10, there's a good chance that I would've tried to play on."

Nakamura is just one of 37 players with one point, but there are still nine rounds ahead. 

Move 40, Catastrophes, Upsets, And Recoveries 

Mistakes and blunders often occur at or around move 40. GM Rauf Mamedov seemed to have a fortress against Firouzja despite being a pawn down. On move 40, however, he blundered the in-between move 41.Bxf6!, which Firouzja found to reach 1.5/2 points.

The dreaded move 40 strikes again and Alireza Firouzja has 50 minutes to figure out the win now!#FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/kL3PkONIgy

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 26, 2023

GM Murali Karthikeyan's splendid queen sacrifice against Firouzja in 2019 attained deserved attention, and his victory over GM Magnus Carlsen earlier this month attracted even more. His queen sacrifice against Shankland did not pan out the same way and the American GM won convincingly to also go 1.5/2. A queen is a queen, sometimes, after all.

Karthikeyan, who beat Carlsen last week, gave up his queen for the knight on h5 (and rook on h8). Leko says he likes the idea, but "a queen is a queen"! https://t.co/uoSqrNrNcX #FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/un5BlaycxQ

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 26, 2023

One of the last games was GM Sandro Mareco vs. GM Kirill Shevchenko, where the latter survived what Leko called "the miracle of the tournament." The game ended in a draw.

Newly crowned World Junior Champion GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi (2555), 16 years old, defeated GM Matthias Bluebaum (2668). And  GM Aryan Tari (2619) took down GM Pentala Harikrishna (2716). Both have 1.5 points after their wins.

Tari said: "Of course, it's a perfect start. I drew yesterday with Black and today I beat Harikrishna... He's been a stable 2700 player for many years." He also said: "I haven't checked with an engine, but I think I played one of my best games, so I'm pretty happy about that!"

I played one of my best games, so I'm pretty happy about that!

—Aryan Tari

Kazakh IM Zhalmakhonov (2447) continues his miracle run, beating GM Alan Pichot (2650) in round one and six-time African Chess Champion GM Bassem Amin (2687) in round two, his highest-rated victory to date. That game ended with a Puzzle Rush tactic:

IM Zhalmakhanov finishes with a cheeky checkmate threat and goes 2/2 after defeating six-time African Champion Amin Bassem!

He beat 2650-rated Alan Pichot yesterday.#FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/BZEjFFYINd

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 26, 2023

By the way, Pichot did bounce back from yesterday's upset loss by beating GM Dennis Wagner in round two. His reward? A game with GM Gukesh D in the next round!

Another strong recovery is GM Vidit Gujrathi's. After blundering in time trouble in round one, he beat countryman GM Abhijeet Gupta to land a 50% score.  

Some exciting matchups tomorrow include Arjun vs. Sarana, Esipenko vs. Predke, Firouzja vs. Zhalmakhonov, and on a slightly lower board, Shirov vs. Abdusattorov sounds like a tactical slugfest in the making.

 Round 2 Standings | Top 20 

(Full results here.) 

Women's

Five players remain at the top of the standings with a perfect score, followed by eight players a half-point behind.

Seeded first and second, respectively, GMs Aleksandra Goryachkina and Alexandra Kosteniuk made their second draws in the tournament, and so are now a point behind the tournament leaders. 

The Muzychuk sisters both won their games on the second day. Third-seed Mariya Muzychuk is on 1.5/2 after winning a model game against a dubious handling of the Modern Defense by IM Ana Matnadze, who drew top-seed Goryachkina in round one.

Her sister, Anna, received a tremendous gift on move 40: 

Horror on move 40! 😱😱😱😱https://t.co/A7ckaKrCrb#chess #womeninchess #FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/s9j7vOUz45

— Women's Chess Coverage (@OnTheQueenside) October 26, 2023

Former World Champion Tan won a technical endgame with better bishop vs. knight with rooks on against WGM Divya Deshmukh, while Stefanova emerged from the move-40-scramble a pawn up against WGM Savitha Shri. Bulmaga took down WGM Mihaela Sandu. 

But the standout game, and upset, was Kamalidenova's victory against Gunina, where she converted a winning advantage by sacrificing a rook—and then a knight!—to take the opponent's king out for a walk.

As an example of the tournament's strength, IM Alice Lee lost in round one. Her supposed "easier pairing?" 2506-rated IM Polina Shuvalova. The latter won with Black.

IM Eline Roebers was winning against IM Vaishali R, who gained her third GM norm last week in the Qatar Masters, but stubborn defense led to a draw.

The two former world champions on board one will be the main attraction in the next round. Bulmaga vs. Anna Muzychuk will be on board two, and it remains to be seen if Kamalidenova can continue her good fortune against GM Elisabeth Paehtz. 

Round 2 Standings | Top 20 

(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 starts 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 $140,000 prize fund and runs concurrently. The top two players qualify for the 2024 Women's Candidates Tournament.

Previous Coverage:

• Caruana Leads Pack Of 32 Winners
• FIDE Grand Swiss 2023: Who Will Qualify For A Shot At World Title?