Wesley So vs Alexander Grischuk, Gruenfeld Defense, Three Knights Variation, Petrosian System D91
2018 Grand Chess Tour Paris (Rapid), Day 2
Wesley managed to have another dram day at the Grand Chess Tour! He scored 2.5/3 in the second part of the rapid portion of Paris. He defeated Kramnik and Grischuk in style and drew Levon. He is now in clear 1st with 4.5/6!
In this game he used opening preparation in a remarkable way. He managed to get a variation which Grischuk played against Gelfand a few years ago already, and in which Gelfand blundered and won. This time Wesley corrected Gelfand’s error and found an improvement. He played a novelty in the three knights Gruenfeld. A novelty which doesn’t give white a clear advantage, but gets black out of his comfort zone. That’s exactly what happened. Grischuk eventually fell in to Wesley’s precise play and lost material. A wonderful performance by Wesley! Let’s hope he manages to keep his advantage in the blitz portion as well.
Standings after day 2:
Wesley So 4.5/6
Levon Aronian 4/6
Sergey Karjakin 4/6
Viswanathan Anand 3.5/6
Hikaru Nakamura 3.5/6
Alexander Grischuk 3/6
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2/6
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2/6
Vladimir Kramnik 2/6
Fabiano Caruana 1.5/6
Game moves:
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Bg7 5. Nf3 Ne4 6. Bf4 O-O
7. Nxd5 c5 8. Qc2 f5 9. Bc7 Qd7 10. Be5 cxd4 11. Bxg7 Kxg7
12. Qd1 Nc6 13. Nxd4 e6 14. Nxc6 exd5 15. Qd4+ Rf6 16. Nb4
dxc4 17. Nd5 Qd8 18. O-O-O Be6 19. Nxf6 Qxd4 20. Rxd4 Nxf2
21. Nh5+ gxh5 22. Rg1 Kf6 23. g3 Ke5 24. Rf4 Ng4 25. Bg2 Ne3
26. Kd2 Nxg2 27. Rxg2 b5 28. Rh4 Rd8+ 29. Kc1 Bf7 30. Rf2 Rd7
31. e3 a5 32. Rd4 Re7 33. Rdf4 Be6 34. Rh4 Bf7 35. e4 fxe4
36. Rxe4+ Kxe4 37. Re2+ Kf3 38. Rxe7 Bg6 39. Re5 Kg2 40. Rxb5
Kxh2 41. Rg5 a4 42. Kd2 Kh3 43. Kc3 h4 44. gxh4 Kxh4 45. Rg1
Kh3 46. Kxc4 Kh2 47. Rg5 Be8 48. Kb4 h5 49. Re5 Bf7 50. Rf5
Be8 51. Rf8 Bd7 52. Rh8 Bg4 53. Kxa4 Kg3 54. b4 1-0