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GRENKE Chess Classic 2015





It's him again! Magnus Carlsen won the Grenke Classic 2015. Congratulations to the World Champion! In the last round Carlsen and Naiditsch drew their game, and went on to play tiebreak games. But it wasn't exactly a walk in the park for the super-Norwegian, who had to face a very pugnacious Arkadij Naiditsch in the playoffs. It was a rollecoaster: Magnus won the first of the two Rapid games (10+2) and most everyone at that point was quite sure it was going to be a matter of routine for the Number One. But Naiditsch, in a crazy second Rapid game, won, to keep Magnus at the board for two more Blitz games (5+2). The two foes drew both Blitz games, to go on to Armageddon. Carlsen played White, and he had to win to clinch the final victory. Which the World Champion did, in good style. The Grenke classic 2015 was a very interesting tournament, with ups and downs, which helped the show.

IM Christof Sielecki commentates on the playoffs!


 


 

Round Reports

Round 1
Four draws in the first round in Baden-Baden, Germany. Carlsen-Aronian was an interesting game, with Aronian playing good attacking chess, but Carlsen - who is an amazing defender - rebuffed all Levon's efforts to get ahead, and entered in a slightly better endgame. Aronian managed to equalize, and the game ended in a draw. Anand and Caruana battled over an old-fashioned Giuoco Piano opening, and went through a lot of exchanges, to come up playing a rook endgame. Then they exchanged rooks and both queened a pawn, to agree to a draw in a specular and - in a way - unusual position. Bacrot - Baramidze was the most interesting game, with a novelty in the opening, but both players were really precise and careful, and the game ended in a draw.



HERE is GM Joel Benjamin's video recap.

And here is a 5-minute preview of the video:




Round 2
Chess at its best is when apparently simple moves allow their maker to keep his opponent under pressure, to establish long-term advantage and, ultimately, to win the game. This is what World Champion Magnus Carlsen is good at. Today's game against Adams, who is a very good positional player, showed yet again how incredibly strong is the fashion-model from Norway. Studying his games leaves the chess aficionado in awe, with only one idea in mind: I want to play like this guy! Carlsen's was the only decisive game today in Baden-Baden, therefore now Magnus leads solo with 1.5/2, followed by Caruana, Bacrot, Anand, Baramidze, Aronian and Baramidze with 50%. Adams closes the standings with 0.5/2.



HERE is GM Larry Christiansen's video recap.

And here is a 5-minute preview of the video:



Round 3
A blunderful day in Baden-Baden! Round 3 was quite crazy, with Baramizde and Aronian blundering their games away, and Magnus Carlsen losing - again - to Arkadij Naiditsch. Carlsen chose a rather unusual opening, and got aggressive, showing he wanted to win the game. He had won a convinging game - actually a minor masterpiece - yesterday, and he felt confident. So confident to even sacrifice a piece. Obviously chess engines were all for Arkadij after the piece sac, but Magnus is Magnus, and he managed to more or less equalize the position in the endgame. Then he played a very rare boo-boo move, only to realize it was wrong and lose two tempi to take it back. More than enough to lose a game at this level. Caruana took advantage of Levon's blunder, and won his game almost on the spot after that disgraceful move played by the strong Armenian. Same thing for Michael Adams, who didn't miss the chance to win his game with Baramizde after the latter's blunder. After 3 rounds Caruana and Naiditsch lead, followed by Carlsen, Anand, Adams and Bacrot.



HERE is GM Ben Finegold's video recap.

And here is a 5-minute preview of the video:



Round 4
Arkadij Naiditsch, the local hero, leads the pack after today's victory against his fellow countryman Baramidze. The all-German match was rather crazy, with Baramidze playing like there were no tomorrow: launching a full-force attack that unfortunately - for him - didn't lead anywhere. Obviously the Game Of the Day was Anand vs. Carlsen. It is always a sort of rematch when World Champion and his latest challenger meet over the board. Alas, Anand played a rather anonymous game today: he got nothing out of the opening, then tried to attack Carlsen's position, but blundered in a quite unusual way, to leave Carlsen with a clear advantage. Magnus is able to win games in which the advantage is almost invisible, so it was not a problem for the Norwegian genius to win in a few moves. After 4 rounds, Naiditsch leads alone with 3/4, followed by Carlsen and Caruana, half a point behind. It's not easy to keep calm and go ahead with your pace when such a chess powerhouse is chasing you, but the German GM seems to be going through a period of good form. Three rounds to go, and the tournament promises to be extremely interesting to follow!

HERE is GM Ronen Har-Zvi'svideo recap.

And here is a 5-minute review of the video:



Round 5
Carlsen wins again, and Anand loses again. The two contenders of the World Championship Match seem to be the absolute protagonists of this tournament so far. Well, of course we won't forget to mention German GM Naiditsch, who is still in the lead, though now sharing it with Magnus. They lead with 3.5/5, followed by Caruana half a point behind. Anand, with 1.5/5, sits in a rather sad 7th position, followed only by Baramidze with 1.0/5. With two rounds to go, Baden-Baden seems to have indicated the possible winners: Magnus, Naiditsch and Caruana. We know that chess is full of surprises, and a bad day can happen to everyrone but, once again, Magnus seems to be the favorite. Follow with us the penultimate round tomorrow, it'll be fun! 

HERE is GM Jon Speelman's video recap.

And here is a 5-minute preview of the video:



Round 6
The first two players in the world faced each other today, in what could be called the top-game of the whole tournament. Unfortunately they drew in only 23 moves which, considered the rest of the round's results, leaves the standings basically unchanged. Anand today decided to play methodically and obtained a quiet victory over Baramidze, who now is even more alone in the sink, with 1 point out of 6 rounds. With one round to go, Magnus and Naiditsch lead with 4.0/6, followed by Fabisno Caruana half a point behind. Tomorrow, in the last round, Carlsen plays Bacrot with white, Naiditsch plays Aronian with white and Caruana plays Baramidze with black. Looking at the results so far, the easiest prevision is the there may well be a three-player tie, with Magnus, Fabiano and Arkadij.



HERE is GM Lars Bo Hansen's video recap.

And here is a 5-minute preview of the video:

 

Round 7
It's him again! Magnus Carlsen won the Grenke Classic 2015. Congratulations to the World Champion! In the last round Carlsen and Naiditsch drew their game, and went on to play tiebreak games. But it wasn't exactly a walk in the park for the super-Norwegian, who had to face a very pugnacious Arkadij Naiditsch in the playoffs. It was a rollecoaster: Magnus won the first of the two Rapid games (10+2) and most everyone at that point was quite sure it was going to be a matter of routine for the Number One. But Naiditsch, in a crazy second Rapid game, won, to keep Magnus at the board for two more Blitz games (5+2). The two foes drew both Blitz games, to go on to Armageddon. Carlsen played White, and he had to win to clinch the final victory. Which the World Champion did, in good style. The Grenke classic 2015 was a very interesting tournament, with ups and downs, which helped the show.



HERE is GM Max Dlugy's video recap.

And here is a 5-minute preview of the video:

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