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Central control

In chess the tactics may change but the strategic fundamental principles are always the same, so that Chess Fundamentals is as good now as it was thirteen years ago.

Jos Ral Capablanca

Control of the centre has been considered to be the heart of chess strategy from time immemorial. But as the Cuban World Champion has pointed out, the fundamentals remain the same, though application may change in the course of time. Above I quote Capa from the 1934 edition of his Chess Fundamentals.

When Chess Fundamentals was released for the first time in 1921, the hypermodern era in chess had not flourished in full flow, whereas thirteen years later it had a great number of adherents: Reti, Nimzowitsch, Tartakower to name a few, and not to be left behind were the world champions Alekhine and Capa himself!

The hypermodernists, as they liked to call themselves, came up with the idea that centre control need not be achieved only by pawn occupation of central squares, but can equally be done from pieces controlling the centre from flanks.

Coming back to the Cuban genius comment, the fundamental principle of central control is all-inclusive and gives one room for improvement as and when the situation arises. This is a typical feature in any artistic endeavour.

While taking a look at a recent game of Indian super talent Arjun Erigasi, these thoughts about central control by various means were sparked. What if a flank pawn was given up in return for a central one in ordered to acquire control of central squares? Surely this must be a method envisioned by hypermodernists, right?

This is a position from the game Erigasi versus Aronian from the Goldmoney Asian Rapid 2021. This is a normal-looking position in a hanging-pawn structure. Here Erigasi continued with...

16.b4!

...which sparked added interest into a position with dynamic equilibrium. This is a real sacrifice of a pawn, which cannot be regained by any forced sequence of moves. So, what is the logic behind such a venture?

White wants to secure the central d4 square firmly in his control for occupation of his dark-squared bishop. The opened c-file can be a factor later on in the game. In the shorter run, White gains a few tempi with which he can build upon his initiative on the kingside. Of course, he also runs the risk of remaining a pawn down for the whole course of the game against none other than Aronian.

And bearing in mind that this was a rapid game, the intuitive decision is even more commendable!

16...cxb4 17.Bd4 Qd8 18.Rc1 Bb7 19.Qf3 Qd6

In the last few moves White has gained a few tempi to bring his pieces into the striking zone of Blacks kingside. He continued amassing more forces with

20.h4!?

However, at this moment White had a veiled tactical opportunity by means of 20.Nf5!? gxf5 21.Bc5! Qxc5 22.Rxc5 Bxc5 23.Qg3 check, followed by 24.Qc7 winning material similarly to the Lasker-Bauer theme using a double attack. But Black can avoid this with 21...Qd8 22.Bxe7 Qxe7 23.Qg3+ Kh8 24.Rc7! with another double attack. Black can survive, though, with 24...Ne4! and the game goes on.

20...Rfc8 21.h5 a5 and now White continued with

22.Bf5!

Not a difficult tactic based on overload, but nevertheless a pretty one! Of course, Black cannot recapture with 22...gxf5 because of 23.Nxf5 and Blacks queen is powerless to stop either a deadly check on g3, or defend his bishop on e7. The game continued with

22....Rxc1 23.Rxc1 Ne8?!

Perhaps it is here that Black starts drifting. Maybe Black could try to contest the c-file via the sixth rank with 23...Ra6!? and I have a feeling White has positional compensation for the pawn deficit, but this is debatable!

24.Qg4

White has slowly but surely moved his pieces near the striking zone, and Black falters, falling prey to a cute though not a standard tactic. Black continued with

24...Ng7?

Black apparently can still hold his fort with 24...Nf6 25. hxg6!? hxg6 26.Qg5 Nh7! which shows that the position is still in equilibrium, though the character of the game has been widely transformed! What William Cluley postulated in the 1850s still remains true: Chess is a game of equilibrium.

25.Bxg6?!

White was alert to win a pawn using a double attack. However if he had chosen the right order of moves, e.g. 25.Bxg7! Kxg7 26.Bxg6 Blacks position is due to collapse surprisingly quickly. But since this was a rapid game, one is not warranted to criticise a players decisions with an eagles eye.

25...fxg6 26.Bxg7 Rc8!

This is the difference compared to the variation 25.Bxg7, as Black is not forced to recapture.

27.Rd1

Master Class Vol.4: Jos Ral Capablanca

He was a child prodigy and he is surrounded by legends. In his best times he was considered to be unbeatable and by many he was reckoned to be the greatest chess talent of all time: Jose Raul Capablanca, born 1888 in Havana.

However, from a practical point of view, White has regained his lost material and Blacks king lacks a proper pawn cover. When short of time, this usually tilts the balance in favour of the attacker, which happened after further interesting moments, when Erigasi Arjun was able to crown his highly creative play with a well-deserved victory.

Arjun Erigaisi | Photo:Aditya Sur Roy

This is the position after Whites sixth move from the game Sargissian-Bok from the European Team Championship 2017.

Here the Armenian Grandmaster continued...

7.b4!?

...with an idea, in spirit, similar to the game we have discussed earlier. White embarks on this flank pawn thrust/sacrifice in order to secure the complete control of the central d4-square. He also opens the c-file in the process and gains a few tempi for maximising his development.

7...cxb4 8.Bb2

It is important to note that White also stops Blacks normal development as he has to waste a further move in protecting his g-pawn before moving his dark-squared bishop, which would in turn delay his castling. Such factors also come into account while observing the pawn sacrifice.

8....Nc6 9.Rc1 a6?!

I have a feeling that Blacks position does not warrant such a luxury as to make a pawn move on the queenside in order to stop Bb5.

10.Nd4 Nxd4 11.Bxd4

I love this position: the bishop on d4 is super powerful. He also threatens to bring his other bishop to a dominating diagonal with Bd3 on the next move.

11...Bf5 12.Be2 Qd7 13.Qb3

By putting pressure on d5, White stalls any freeing ideas associated with Rc8 etc.

13...Be6 14.0-0 f6 15.Bh5+ Bf7 16.Bxf7+ Kxf7?!

Surely better was 16...Qxf7, and now perhaps 17.a3!? is worth considering as to meet 17...bxa3 with 18.Qb6!?

17.Bb6 Be7 18.Rc7

White has made full use of the gambit. He has captured the c-file and entered the seventh Rank. Black's King remains dodgy on f7 and Black's pawns are falling one after the other soon.

18...Qd6 19.Rfc1 Rhe8 20.Ba5

Middlegame Secrets Vol.1 + Vol.2

Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!

White regained material with interest and soon enough won the game.

Gabriel Sargissian | Photo: Mark Livshitz

The next game we are going to deal with is one by the enigmatic genius Sultan Khan. How can I not include this example! In his game against Stahlberg from the Prague Olympiad in 1931, things have clearly gone wrong for the British Champion. He has wasted tempi in the opening, is on the verge of losing his bishop pair to Whites a3 and his knights on e7 and g8 have trouble even breathing.

Here he came with the spectacular wing gambit, which is the theme of our study. His excellent feel for squares and the statics of a position shine with clarity. Readers would of course know of his excellent win against Capa in a Queens Indian with a2-a3, which was a deep move to indirectly control the centre. The system which is currently named after Petrosian was first used by Mir Sultan Khan to indirectly control the e4-square by preventing Bb4.

He continued in the above position with

9....b5!

At the cost of one pawn, Black strives to stay in the game and not get run over immediately. He gains control of the d5-square, which is of paramount importance to complete his development. Only if one of the knights can come to d5 can the other go to e7 and the king can castle to safety. Without a doubt, this is Blacks best chance of a defence, and one that aesthetically looks good as well!

10.cxb5 Nd5 11.0-0 Nge7 12. a3 Ba5 13. Bg5 h6 14.Bxe7 Nxe7 15.Be4 c6!

The audacity of the move is stunning! Black wants to preserve his light-squared bishop, even at the cost of making his pawn structure more ugly. But he opens lines and creates more freedom for his pieces. Whites advantage remains, but Black is changing the character of the game and making a fight out of what he has within his means.

16.bxc6 dxc6!?

Sultan still wants to preserve his light-squared bishop. He absolutely knew no prejudice with regard to so called 'correct play' as he was completely self-taught like a future day Alpha Zero!

17.Na4 0-0 18.Nc5 Rb8 19.b4 Bb6

Whites advantage still very much remains, as both sides have not committed any sort of errors. But the nature of play has become different. Black fought and drew this game at the end! This is indeed creditable against such a formidable player as Gideon Stahlberg. White further won another pawn by playing

20.Nxb7 Rxb7 21.b5

I wonder if Sultan himself would have traded quality for the prospect of winning a pawn. The fact that Whites advantage remains just as before and only got transformed is an unshakable truth as is with energy in this universe!

Nevertheless, at a later point, White committed errors at the face of stiff and original resistance from the master craftsman wielding the black pieces. At the end, Black drew the game being one pawn down in an opposite-coloured bishop position. One can only wonder at the foresight of Sultan Khan at vehemently refusing to exchange his light-squared bishop for his opponents counterpart. Of course, it is not correct to reason out an artists masterpiece: its just there to be enjoyed. The rest of the game is a wonderful example of the beauty of staying in the moment, which Sultan did really well.

Check out the aforementioned games with some added thoughts in the replayer below:

Select an entry from the list to switch between games

See original here:
Hypermodern games of chess - ChessBase

I have no doubt that you've heard the saying, "Chess is 90% tactics" many times. It is so overused that it is impossible to trace who said it first. While in general I agree with this statement, I would still slightly modify it. So, channeling my inner Yogi Berra, I would say: "Chess is 90% tactics. The other half is pattern recognition."

As we start our journey into the beautiful world of chess, we learn thousands of different patterns. If I remember correctly, the very first pattern I learned was the "staircase checkmate." It is simple and beautiful in its geometry:

Notice that there was a much faster checkmate available, but beginners practically never do it because once they learn this method, they are happy to execute the familiar pattern. By the way, what was the first chess pattern that you learned? Please share it in the comments.

As we get stronger, we learn more and more patterns and they become more sophisticated than the "staircase checkmate" above. The more patterns you know, the easier it is for you to find good moves in your games.

Here is a good example. When I was 15 years old, I was lucky enough to be a student of the famous Botvinnik-Kasparov school and therefore had an opportunity to appreciate GM Mikhail Botvinnik's chess wisdom on many different occasions. Usually, it went like this: we showed the patriarch our games and somewhere in the middlegame, when the position was getting extremely complicated, GM Garry Kasparov would start shooting variations with machine-gun speed. Then, after a moment of silence when everyone was still filled with awe, Botvinnik would say softly that a similar position actually happened in some forgotten game from a Moscow Championship before WWII, between so and so, and this is what should be done here.

It was much easier to appreciate Botvinnik's recommendation, which was purely based on his pattern recognition, compared to the ultra-complicated Kasparov variations. To be fair, Kasparov's method is more precise, and that's why chess is 90% tactics!

In some positions, you cannot play a move just because this is what should be played in similar situations because in this particular case, the move would lose due to some tactics. But in order to learn how to play good chess in general, pattern recognition is invaluable. At some point, when you get experienced in chess, every single position reminds you of something! Let's take a look at a very recent brilliancy by GM Viswanathan Anand.

Many chess players would be surprised by Anand's last two moves. First he gave up his center with 9.dxc5 and then he played 10.a3 which doesn't help development. In general, moves like these shouldn't be played, so what's going on there? Well, this interesting pattern has been known for over 100 years and became quite famous after the following iconic game:

This is probably Pillsbury's most famous game. As you can see, the mysterious 7.a3 move takes away the b4 square from Black's pieces, and prepares the b2-b4 push which would significantly cramp Black's position. But let's get back to our main game:

Wait a second, wasn't White's idea to play b2-b4? Why did Anand castle on the queenside then? What's going on there? Well, let me explain. First of all, the b2-b4 idea is still valid here, and as a matter of fact, was played in this position by another world champion:

Nevertheless, I am not surprised by Anand's move at all since this is his favorite way to attack. It goes way back. When I was preparing for my first World Junior Championship in 1987, it was clear that Anand was one of the main contenders (which turned out to be true, since he won the tournament). When I analyzed his games before the tournament, I noticed that he loved to castle on the queenside and go straight for a checkmate. When the tournament started, the very first game where I actually saw Anand in action, confirmed my finding:

As you can see, even though judging by Anand's comment the position was new to him, he still found the most aggressive way to attack which of course involved castling on the queenside. In this tournament, I was lucky enough to play Anand as White and the game was a relatively boring draw, but later in our games Anand played White, castled on the queenside two times, and won both games! Now you can understand why I wasn't surprised by the move 12.0-0-0 played by Anand in our earlier example.

This pattern is also well-known and usually leads to a crushing attack. In the following game, world champion Emanuel Lasker used this pattern as early as he possibly could, before he even finished his development or castled!

The final cute little pattern would make an excellent Puzzle Rush problem. Can you solve it?

This pattern where you sacrifice a queen in order to get a new queen and checkmate an opponent is quite common. Yet, I find it funny that the very same day this pattern was played in another high-profile game. The only difference is that this time it was an American super grandmaster who beat a former world champion, and not vice versa as in the Anand-So game!

I hope I managed to convince you that knowledge of chess patterns is extremely important for any chess player. These patterns are everywhere, and the more you know, the easier it will be for you to win your own games!

View post:
Patterns, Patterns Everywhere! - Chess.com

KDlearns' first introduction to chess was the same as it was for many other people: he was mercilessly destroyed by his older family members and didn't play for years after that. His reintroduction to chess follows another familiar pattern: he started playing daily games with a friend after being inspired by The Queens Gambit.

What follows is a little less conventional. KD started streaming two months into learning chess, in order to keep himself accountable and play on a regular schedule. People started watching, he began collaborating with other chess content creators, and now he finds himself in the middle of the online chess world, with an audience of thousands looking to him for chess advice and entertainment.

Read on to get KD's top tips for chess improvement, ringside stories from the world's biggest chessboxing event, and an insight into the world of chess tennis.

Your YouTube description contains the phrase To learn is to live. Whats the importance of learning for you?

So I equate learning with growth, and I know that if I'm growing, then I'm living; doing the opposite of dyingthat's probably a little bit overdramatic! But in any endeavorchess, tennis, academics, or anything elseif I am learning, it means that I'm making progress and I'm moving forward.

Moving forward in general is kind of what drives me. It's part of the whole the journey is greater than the destination cliche, but for me, making that progress is what makes life exciting. Anything I can do to help others also adopt a similar mentality, thats what Im here for!

Who are some of your favorite chess content creators? Is there anyone in particular who inspires you?

Honestly, over the last two and a half years, I think I've watched at least a little bit of just about everyone. Sometimes it's for research purposes, sometimes it's for pure entertainment, but usually it's for both reasons at the same time!

Obviously, anyone who is a chess content creator has to give a big shout-out to IM Levy Rozman (GothamChess) for being one of the people who's really exploded this whole scene.

But I've also followed a lot of the CSquared podcast, IM Eric Rosen, GM Ben Finegold, and other people like WGM Dina Belenkaya, ToshQueen, Witty_Alien, Gauri Chess The list can go on and on forever. But everyone has their own special voice or their way of presenting or creating or mashing together entertainment and education into a video. Just because I didn't list someone's name specifically doesn't mean I don't watch them and really value their participation in the chess world!

I try to take inspiration from everyone a little bit; I think if I try to take too much inspiration from one single person then it feels too much like I'm being a copycat. What I want to do is be involved in the chess community but also have my own voice.

You've had some interesting chess collaborations, including cardio chess and chess trivia. Whats been your favorite one so far?

You did name two very good ones! Cardio chess is essentially a little play on chessboxing where you combine the mental and physical aspects, but instead of punching each other it's a lot of physical exercises; the more reps you do, the better time odds you get against your opponent in the next round of chess.

I was lucky enough to compete against both chessboxing champion Dina Belenkaya and also against the world chessboxing champion from 2018, Mat Thomas, in that event Both of those are on YouTube. I won't give any spoilers but I'm pretty proud of how some of those went!

On collaborations within the chess world, between creators and even just between members of the chess community, this is one thing that I've been insanely impressed by. When I had a 600 blitz rating, I had people in my community who were 2000+ who were doing study group sessions with me and were just willing to share any and all chess knowledge.

Theres a similar vibe when I reach out to other content creators; everyone's been so receptive to collaborations or sharing information. To me that makes the online chess community such a unique and positive experience for so many people, myself included.

I think Checkmate Trivia Showdown is probably one of my favorite ones. Its a bit more recent but I've been trying to learn more about the chess world, and I feel like learning completely random trivia about chess has been a great way to do that. Its been a fun way to share things like Here's some famous games you might not have known or Here's some completely random grab-bag openings.

I'm researching a lot of stuff so I can put it into the show and then I'm testing all the contestants. That's been one of my favorite collaborations because I want to uncover as much as possible about the chess world and that's helped me do it. And not only do it for myself, but for other people as well!

Imagine you could do a chess-based collab on your stream with anyone in the world. Who would it be, and why?

So recently I've discovered that certain professional tennis players are also big fans of chess. The easy answer here would be Roger Federer, Carlos Alcaraz, and Andrey Rublev. I think Rublev made the opening move for one of the biggest women's chess tournaments a while back [the 2022 Astana Womens Grand Prix], Federer played with Tani, and Alcaraz has mentioned chess is an important part of his mental game

I played tennis for a couple of decades of my life, including college tennis. When Federer retired, I cried! I'm such a tennis fan, and it was a big part of my identity growing up. So to be able to do something chess-related or even chess-tennis-related with those three would be just absolutely incredible.

I might be crying as I shake hands with Roger; he may not be the official GOAT by the stats and numbers, but he'll always be my favorite. And that's never gonna change.

Speaking of Chess Tennis You recently took part in the Chess Tennis World Championship! How did it go?

It was intimidating, I will say, because I think the format in general favors chess players. So I knew I needed to really perform well in tennis, and then just scrape out a few wins in chess and hope for the best. Unfortunately, I scored four out of seven rounds in tennis and scored two out of seven in chess.

Honestly, two out of seven in chess was my goal, but for tennis I was hoping to get six or even possibly seven out of seven, having previous collegiate tennis experience. The only issue is that I've been playing too much pickleball!

If you're not in the U.S., that might make no sense to you, but it's a newer racket sport predominantly popular in the U.S. and I did not realize how much that was not going to translate back into my tennis game.

I do have to give all my opponents credit; I think this is where the mental toughness required to play chess really does translate to other games. I wasn't playing my best tennis, but these competitors were so mentally tough. They were willing to be gritty and compete as hard as possible, both over the chessboard and on the tennis court. So even though personally I think I should have won a couple more tennis matches, credit to my opponents for sticking it out and getting those wins over me.

But yeah, it was such an interesting combination. I went there alongside IM Eric Rosen, and Eric got to the semifinals, so it was a lot of fun to go through the experience with him throughout the tournament and then also cheer him on in the semis.

What do you think the overlaps are between the two sports (if any)?

I really do think that mental toughness is a huge benefit of chess, and I definitely saw that come through in this tournament.

Another huge aspect is ownership and accountability. Chess and tennis are both very individualistic sports, which means that if you win that is to your credit, but if you lose, that is also your fault. There's no hiding, you are the one responsible for both your success and your failure. I think that puts a lot more pressure on you, but learning to deal with that pressure and learning to be functional in the moment is so important for an athlete or competitor.

I feel like chess and tennis can both teach you super valuable life lessons in that sense.

I found a list of chess books you recommend for improving players. Can you describe the following books in five words each?

Ill do my best!

Silmans Complete Endgame Course. Best overall endgame book ever.

Dvoretskys Endgame Manual. I tried, until I couldnt.

My System by Aron Nimzowitsch. Friend recommended, never readexposed.

Artur Yusupov: Build Up Your Chess (2 & 3). These are great, my five words would be: I want all the stars.

At the end of every chapter, he gives puzzle exercises and their difficulties are 1, 2, and 3 starsyou have to get every variation correct to earn extra stars. But its an amazing series. My Discord community has gone through a lot of the Yusupov books in study group sessions, and its been immensely helpful for me and others in developing our chess.

You create some of the best chess merch out there; fans include Chess.coms very own IM Danny Rensch. Whats your favorite piece of merchandise that youve designed?

I know Danny was sporting the Excuse My French T-shirt while he was commentating on the Chess Clash event! I do like that shirt but I dont think its my favorite, mostly because I dont actually play the French Defense! I have two favorites, theyre kind of close: one is the "Sac! Sac!! Mate." shirt, which has a great move, a brilliant move, and then a period to symbolize that its over.

My other favorite is the one Im wearing right now; on the front theres a little KDlearns logo with a pawn wearing a graduation cap signifying the whole learning process, and on the back theres a pawn looking into a mirror... In the mirror theres a queen, and it says "Trust The Process." It goes with the theme of learning through failure and keeping the end goal in mind.

You were in Dina Belenkayas corner for her chessboxing match. What was that experience like?

Everything about that weekend was quite crazy! Dina is such a badass that I feel like I was more nervous than her. There were multiple times when I was getting starstruck because I was meeting Ludwig and GM Fabiano Caruana and Danny Rensch for the first time, and shes just coaching me through how to act normal around these people! It was like Im supposed to be helping you, not the other way around!

But honestly, I loved every bit of it, getting to meet all sorts of different chess personalities, as well as getting to know Dina better. She has her content personality which is very brash and trash-talking-centric, but shes insanely kind and just amazing to work with. So I was happy to be able to be her videographer and personal hype man in the corner!

Im glad I wasnt the one getting punched because Andrea looked quite scary. It was just an awesome culmination of the competition as well as meeting so many people in person for the first time, like WFM Anna Cramling and all the other people I mentioned earlier.

Overall it was a 10/10 experience except my rental car got stolen, so Im now forever banned from renting from Hertz.

Lastly, you've been quite serious (and successful) about chess improvement over the last couple of years. What advice do you have for people who want to improve their game?

I think I can break this down into three main tips: the first one is my favorite and hopefully everyone elses favorite when they embark on their chess improvement journey: puzzles. Youve gotta do your puzzles, ideally every day. You have to train your board vision, and eventually your puzzles can get more targeted. Recently Ive been doing more endgame puzzles because thats what Ive identified as one of my weaknesses.

Number two would be analyzing your games. Im guilty of this, but I don't mean just clicking the Game Review, smiling at the brilliant move or high accuracy, and moving on. Take the time to actually sit down, review it without the engine first, annotate it, and then double-check your analysis with the engine on. Thats what Ive found really, really helped. I cant do that with every single game that I play, but I try to tell myself I will play 2-5 rapid games throughout the week, and those games I will do a full analysis on. I can still just play random games for fun without any pressure, but 2-5 times a week Ill do my homework and try to push myself forward.

Number three is just consistency. Even if its a little bit every day, working on your chess a little bit is better than working on your chess whenever you feel like it. Building that foundation day by day goes a long way. I try to do five puzzles every day at minimum when pushing for chess improvement, and many days itll turn into a lengthier puzzle session, but getting into the habit of doing it every day really helps.

Consistency is one of the essential parts of delayed gratification. In the modern world of social media and constant dopamine hits, appreciating delayed gratification is something thats a good life skill to have.

You can find KDlearns on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter/X, and Twitch.

Previous Streamer/Creator of the Month articles:

Link:
Learning And The Art Of Chess Tennis - Chess.com

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave has pulled off the mission impossible of beating world number-one Magnus Carlsen, not in just one match but two, to win the 2023 AI Cup and qualify for the Champions Chess Tour Finals in Toronto. "Maxime was strong and I failed at the critical moments," said Carlsen, after failing to win a game while Vachier-Lagrave won three.

That meant heartbreak for GM Vladimir Fedoseev, whose victory over GM Vladislav Artemiev in the Division II Grand Final would have meant a spot in Toronto if not for Vachier-Lagrave's heroics.

GM Sam Sevian ended the season with the extraordinary feat of winning Division III three times, after also winning two matches against GM Rauf Mamedov.

See what happened

The final day of the AI Cup meant the Grand Final in all three divisions.

To win the AI Cup, Vachier-Lagrave knew that he would first have to beat Carlsen in a four-game match, and then again in a two-game "reset." It was a mountain to climb, but climb it he did!

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," a Chinese proverb runs, and for the French grandmaster that step was an extraordinary win in the first game of the first match.

Grand Final: Vachier-Lagrave 2.5-1.5 Carlsen

One of the questions going into the day was whether we would see a repeat of the phenomenally hard-fought and accurate play we'd seen from the same two players in their match two days earlier, when Carlsen had scraped home as the winner with a draw in the final sudden-death game. The answer was yes and no.

The first moves highlighted one difference, since after four Sicilians in that match, Carlsen opened 1.d4, and then Vachier-Lagrave went for the Queen's Gambit Accepted with 1...d5 2.c4 dxc4.

Any expectation of quieter games was dispelled when the Frenchman went for one of his typical pawn sacrifices for activity early in the middlegame, and he was making Carlsen burn up time to preserve a nominal advantage. By the time we reached the endgame, however, a draw looked inevitable, and only the five-time world champion could be better.

Queens have just been exchanged, and if here Carlsen had put his bishop on e5 it's inconceivable that he could have lost with his extra pawn. Instead, however, he went for 28.Bd6?!, allowing Vachier-Lagrave to capture the knight and then the pawn on d4. Carlsen must have held out some hopes for his b-pawn, but instead things went from bad to worse as he soon dropped another pawn.

Maxime later had a sober assessment of the first match: "I think I was quite dominated throughout, but I got this lucky break in game one where he over-pushed and then gave up this pawn on f2, thinking probably that he was forcing a draw, but actually he wasnt."

Carlsen didn't get another chance and found himself having to resign.

It was already clear that Carlsen wasn't at the top of his game, but then neither was Vachier-Lagrave. He commented:

Today I feel like I played a bit worse actually, but Magnus as well was quite tired. I dont know about the quality of the moves, but at least I was missing a lot of ideas for Magnus, and Magnus was also missing a lot of ideas for me. That was not happening two days ago.

The Frenchman also shared his secret to preserving his lead:

Somehow this mix of solidity and finding practical resources to get counterplay, this obviously is one of the things Im very good at, at least I consider myself to be very good at. I did manage this today. Theres something I feel I didnt manage too well todaymy calculation was a bit shaky, but overall its kind of normal. I was feeling tired already from the start of the day and throughout it got worse.

That ability to find resources came in handy in the second game of the day, when Carlsen threatened to take over on the black side of a quiet Berlin Defense before Vachier-Lagrave's counterplay ensured a draw.

Game three, however, was where the former world champion missed a huge chance to hit back. He'd had time to refresh his memory of some sharper replies to the Queen's Gambit Accepted and struck early in the center. Vachier-Lagrave reacted badly and, after some twists and turns, found himself completely lost.

Time was low, but if Carlsen had kept queens on the board, he would have had a huge advantage. Instead, he took on f5 with his queen, going for an endgame. Suddenly the winning margin grew narrow, and soon Black found a way to defend and escape with a draw.

Carlsen had such episodes on his mind when he summed up later: "Im disappointed obviously. I was hoping to do quite a bit better today, but Maxime was strong and I failed at the critical moments, so thats I think a fair outcome."

That meant Carlsen had to win the final game on demand with the black pieces to take the match to armageddon. He switched to the Caro-Kann, but this time nothing went his way, and in fact, Vachier-Lagrave got to launch a kingside attack.

Soon all Carlsen could do was save the game with a draw by perpetual check, but that was fine by Vachier-Lagrave, since it meant he'd won the first match and forced a Grand Final "reset." He managed to retain his momentum in the second, decisive match.

Grand Final Reset: Vachier-Lagrave 2-0 Magnus Carlsen

The key game was again the first, when Carlsen unleashed an extraordinary queen sacrifice.

Vachier-Lagrave said he'd checked this "very briefly," and though he blitzed out his moves he forgot a final touch. Carlsen was on top, but one slip turned the tables. Instead of taking the rook on a8, he played 31.g5? and got hit by 31...Rac8!

He commented:

I just didnt see that he could play Rc8 and threaten Qc2. I was calculating other things. If Id seen that, I would have taken the rook, and I would have had a very, very safe position, and I think presumably good winning chances. So things often go my way, they didnt today, but I think the margins were fine, and, as I said, I think its a fair outcomehe was better today!

GM Rafael Leitao has analyzed that stunning Game of the Day.

That meant Carlsen again had to try and win with the black pieces on demand, and this time he chose the Sicilian. It worked out much better, and the Norwegian seemed to be weaving his magic, until Vachier-Lagrave suddenly went for a bishop sacrifice on h7 that transformed the game.

He explained his reasoning:

I thought it might disrupt the course of the game, because at that moment he had too much flow going for him, all his moves were coming in easy, and I thought, thats not what I want, especially Im down three-four minutes, and he can just apply pressure and play forever, so this was a practical decision. Of course, if it loses by force then I look very stupid, but it worked out very well in the end!

It worked to perfection, though it was also losing by force!

In the end, it seemed Vachier-Lagrave could barely believe he'd done it.

It wasn't only about winning the tournament, since despite only playing Division I once all season, Vachier-Lagrave had qualified to join Carlsen, and GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Denis Lazavik, and Alireza Firouzja, in the Champions Chess Tour Finals in Toronto this December, for a chance to win the $200,000 top prize.

Carlsen saw it as absolutely fitting that Vachier-Lagrave had made it.

Its hard to find a more deserving qualifier for the Finals. Its amazing. I think he was very, very strong in the Speed Chess Championship as well. Over the two and a half matches that we played now, he was better, so its good to see Maxime doing well. There was never any real reason for him to all of a sudden be falling off, so I think this is the level that hes always been capable of playing at, and happy to see him back!

Carlsen had failed to make it three Division I victories in a row (and four total), but he wasn't too downhearted:

Im not going to sit here and be extremely disappointed by losing in the Grand Final against such a field. I always want to win, but he was very strong and I failed at the critical moments, so Im definitely not heartbroken by this loss.

Neither player has long to dwell on the outcome, since they're both flying on Saturday to Albania, where the 2023 European Chess Club Cup team event starts Sunday.

Division I Bracket

For one person to succeed others must fail, and it was tough on Fedoseev, who did his job by beating Artemiev for a second time in this event to win Division II. The match turned on a single win, which Fedoseev scored in the theoretically drawn but notoriously difficult to defend rook and bishop vs. rook endgame.

One careless check by Artemiev and it was over.

112...Kg3! attacked the rook on h4 and also threatened mate-in-1 by bringing the rook to the a1-square. Artemiev allowed checkmate on the board.

That looked likely to mean a dream day, and tournament, for Fedoseev.

In the end, however, Vachier-Lagrave denied Fedoseev a spot in Toronto.

Division II Bracket

Sevian, meanwhile, has carved out a niche for himself as the absolutely dominant force in Division III. He scored a third victory by "doing a Vachier-Lagrave" and coming from the Losers bracket to beat Mamedov twice on the same day and clinch the title.

Division III Bracket

The Champions Chess Tour 2023 (CCT) is the biggest online tournament of the year. It is composed of six events that span the entire year and culminate in live in-person finals. With the best players in the world and a prize fund of $2,000,000, the CCT is Chess.com's most important event.

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"Obviously, it's very disheartening to be accused of cheating," chess grandmaster Hans Niemann said. Asked about a bizarre idea that vibrating anal beads could signal players about the best moves, he replied, "That is not a serious theory." Tim Vizer/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

"Obviously, it's very disheartening to be accused of cheating," chess grandmaster Hans Niemann said. Asked about a bizarre idea that vibrating anal beads could signal players about the best moves, he replied, "That is not a serious theory."

Chess prodigy Hans Niemann says he is "unfazed, perspicacious, and composed" as he competes in the World Junior Chess Championship. But Niemann is also answering questions about an improbable method of cheating, one year after controversy took over the chess world.

"Have you ever used anal beads while playing chess?" Piers Morgan asked Niemann on Monday's episode of his talk show.

"Your curiosity is a bit concerning, you know, maybe you're personally interested," Niemann replied as Morgan persisted in asking about the bizarre idea. "But I can tell you no."

The theory came up repeatedly during the nearly 20-minute interview, in which Niemann spoke directly about cheating allegations against him, his recently resolved lawsuit against five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen and the Chess.com website, and his attempts to move on after making mistakes.

Drama erupted in elite chess last September when Carlsen called Niemann a cheater after losing to him. Niemann says his victory was fair and square.

Online, the drama generated slews of "what-if" theories, as chess players and fans debated whether and how it might be possible for a player to cheat during in-person or "over-the-board" games. Some discussed a buzzer that could fit into a shoe. But a next-level and hopefully, purely hypothetical idea got the most attention: anal beads that could vibrate via remote command to guide a player's moves.

The bead theory came from chess commentator Eric Hansen; it was then picked up by Elon Musk in a since-deleted tweet. That brings us to Piers Morgan, who did his best to get to the bottom of it all.

"Obviously, it's very disheartening to be accused of cheating after that victory" over Carlsen, Niemann said of the allegation. As Morgan pressed for more answers about anal beads, the young chess grandmaster added, "That is not a serious theory. That was something that was taken out of context and that was never a serious thing."

This month, Niemann, 20, entered the World Junior Chess Championship with the tournament's top ranking. Worldwide, he is currently ranked at No. 69, with Carlsen at the No. 1 spot.

Niemann says he has learned from his mistakes, and also from being pilloried by other chess players and some media outlets.

But he has also admitted to cheating during online chess games twice, when he was 12 and 16 years old. Niemann insists he hasn't cheated since, and never in an over-the-board game. Last year, Chess.com released a report accusing him of cheating in more than 100 games an accusation Niemann says is unfounded.

In a sport long associated with young prodigies, suspicions have spread beyond Niemann's case. Consider former world champion Vladimir Kramnick's recent announcement that he will no longer play matches on Chess.com, saying there were "[just] too many obvious cheaters here and nothing is done to clean the platform from those small crooks."

One week before Kramnick made those comments, he lost two games to Niemann. But Niemann notes that Kramnick didn't single him out. And he says he has proven himself in the past year.

"In over-the-board tournaments, I have continued to play chess at a very, very high level," he told Morgan.

When Niemann's $100 million lawsuit was resolved, Chess.com issued a statement saying that while it stands by its report on Niemann from last October, it also reiterated, "we found no determinative evidence that he has cheated in any in-person games."

Carlsen also seemed ready to move forward, stating, "I am willing to play Niemann in future events, should we be paired together."

Niemann says Carlsen and others tried to bully him. He also says he's ready to play the Norwegian again if and when they're matched against each other in a tournament.

"You know, it's not gonna be the last time that I beat him," Niemann said during the interview with Morgan.

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Chess scandal: Hans Niemann denies using vibrating beads to cheat - NPR