With one round to go, GM Alireza Firouzja is back as the sole leader at the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss. The French-Iranian GM beat GM David Howell, despite missing a brilliant defensive move from the Englishman in time-trouble. GM Fabiano Caruana and GM Grigoriy Oparin are trailing the leader by half a point.

GM Lei Tingjie won the women’s tournament with a round to spare by drawing her game today. The Chinese GM has qualified for the 2022 FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament.

First things first: the situation for the final round. Firouzja will defend his half-point lead with the black pieces against Oparin, while Caruana has the white pieces vs. Predke. The other top pairings are Yu-Vachier-Lagrave, Deac-Esipenko, Sargissian-Shirov, Anton-Sevian, and Howell-Keymer.

There are lots of possible scenarios for which a tiebreak calculation is needed and we might add a few scenarios later to this report. For now, here are the tiebreak criteria for the standings:

1. Buchholz Cut 1, which is the Buchholz score reduced by the lowest score of the opponents;
2. Buchholz, which is the sum of the scores of each of the opponents of a player;
3. Sonneborn-Berger, which is the added scores of every opponent the player beat and half of the score of every opponent the player drew;
4. Direct encounter between the players in the tie;
5. Drawing of lots.

Saturday’s top game between Firouzja and Howell had a slightly unusual start for the Englishman, who was up on the clock for a short while. It was a luxury he doesn’t often have, and one that didn’t last long.

“I was just choosing whether to go very sharp or just the way I played, very solid and wait for my chances,” said Firouzja about that early phase in the game. He pointed out that Howell had played a very safe and topical line in the Italian that he must have seen many times in the past year: “He chose a very solid opening. Obviously, it was played a lot in this Champions Tour and he was commentating all the games!”

But as the game progressed, Howell couldn’t avoid getting low on time once again and that led to some unavoidable inaccuracies. However, just when Firouzja seemed close to delivering the knockout blow, he missed a beautiful defensive move by his opponent.

Here, with four seconds left on the clock, Howel found 31…Qc6!!

“Of course, I just missed this 31…Qc6 and it was a shock to me because normally it’s very awkward, it’s very weird, this setup of mating on the back [rank] when you have a pawn on h3 but the bishop was on g3,” explained Firouzja.

At first, he was visually annoyed but then relieved: “I was lucky I had this 32.Bc2 and I was keeping the game going at least, I was not suddenly losing.”

Howell could have saved the game there but playing on increment basically until move 40, he lacked the time to calculate all the details and his next move was a mistake again. After that, he got into a tough endgame a pawn down that he couldn’t hold.

Asked about his chances to reach the Candidates, Firouzja said: “I think my chances got very low after yesterday’s loss but I’m happy I managed to get the win today against David because he played very good until here, he had four wins in a row, so he was in a very good mood, so this win was important. In general, I think I will have good chances tomorrow and we will see.”

Caruana, who was the only other player on 6.5 points, held the draw against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave without too much trouble. Black’s subtle 11…Rb8 was an old move of GM Efim Geller that modern engines still appreciate and one that MVL had also faced in a game six years ago. In what followed, White’s advantage was always minimal although Caruana needed to be a bit careful in the rook endgame.

There were four games among players on six points, but only one ended decisively. It was the 24-year-old Russian GM Oparin who beat his compatriot GM Nikita Vitiugov, who became Russian Champion last month and hadn’t lost in 33 classical games.

Oparin’s 11…Kd7 was a lovely move, and a good novelty.

Black has just played 11…Kd7!?N

It’s basically a typical idea (bringing the king to the queenside) executed nicely, as the player himself explained after the game. He felt that for both Bc8 and Qd8 it wasn’t clear yet which squares they belonged to, and therefore he preferred to start with the king instead of preparing queenside castling.

Oparin, who studies in Missouri, provided further explanation in excellent English: “It was a crazy game. Nikita went for a very strategically risky opening with White and then he had to destabilize the position. He went for this 16.Nd4 piece sacrifice which I did not accept. I think it was the right decision, I just wanted to keep my structure solid and not give him any counterplay. I felt I had the advantage from that point on, to be honest. It wasn’t easy but my pawn structure is so much superior [to] his that I felt that in the end, I should just grab those pawns.”

GM Alexei Shirov once again saved a difficult position vs. GM Yu Yangyi, which was good news for Caruana. According to our calculations, the American GM would have faced the Chinese player with the black pieces, a tougher pairing than his white game vs. GM Alexandr Predke tomorrow. (Now it’s MVL facing Yu in round 11.)

Shirov’s opening setup, with a double fianchetto against the Sicilian, was interesting but also, don’t miss the opportunity for White on move 40:

One of the players who is doing well in the final phase of this tournament is the 16-year-old GM Vincent Keymer of Germany. He won two games in a row and today 2020 Candidate GM Kirill Alekseenko was his victim. The two had also played in Biel earlier this year when the game ended in a draw in what was also a Ragozin opening.

“Back then it was a surprise to me and for this game, I prepared this line,” Keymer said. “I think he surprised me with his move 8…h6 but it’s always this kind of position that Black needs to find a way to get his counterplay pretty fast. I think in the game he mixed up the move order or forgot about an engine line and then it was really an uncomfortable position.”

We haven’t written for a while about GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, the only female player in the open section. After six draws and three losses, she scored her first win in this round and it was a nice one:

Round 10 Standings (Top 20)

Rk.	SNo	Fed	Title	Name	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	3		GM	Firouzja, Alireza	2770	7.5	56.5	60	43.25
2	1		GM	Caruana, Fabiano	2800	7	55	59.5	41.75
3	39		GM	Oparin, Grigoriy	2654	7	50.5	54.5	37.25
4	11		GM	Yu Yangyi	2704	6.5	55.5	60	37.75
5	4		GM	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	2763	6.5	54	59	37.25
6	32		GM	Shirov, Alexei	2659	6.5	53.5	57	35.25
7	65		GM	Keymer, Vincent	2630	6.5	53	57	36
8	26		GM	Predke, Alexandr	2666	6.5	52.5	57	34.5
9	27		GM	Sargissian, Gabriel	2664	6.5	51	54.5	34.25
10	34		GM	Howell, David	2658	6.5	50	53.5	32.5
11	40		GM	Sevian, Samuel	2654	6.5	49.5	53	33.25
12	33		GM	Anton, Guijarro David	2658	6.5	49.5	53	32.5
13	6		GM	Esipenko, Andrey	2720	6.5	48.5	52.5	33.25
14	50		GM	Deac, Bogdan-Daniel	2643	6.5	48.5	51.5	32.75
15	89		GM	Petrosyan, Manuel	2605	6	54.5	58.5	34.5
16	54		GM	Sasikiran, Krishnan	2640	6	54	57.5	32.75
17	41		GM	Nihal, Sarin	2652	6	53	56.5	32.5
18	8		GM	Dubov, Daniil	2714	6	50.5	54.5	31.25
19	63		GM	Shevchenko, Kirill	2632	6	50.5	53	29.75
20	20		GM	Korobov, Anton	2690	6	50	54.5	32.25

(Full standings here.)

The women’s tournament has been decided one round before the end. GM Lei had no trouble drawing her game with Muzychuk (and even tried for more), which was enough to be untouchable tomorrow.

“I tried to play for a draw but my opponent, I think she forgot some lines because 14…Rxc6 instead of 14…bxc6 and 15.Qxb7 Qc8 and this must be drawish,” said Lei. “But she played 14…bxc6 and I thought: OK, this position, I can’t lose it so I want to play and I just want to enjoy playing chess. So right now, I’m a little confused about it because I don’t know if the endgame is good for me or just no chance.”

Lei added: “I think this tournament is a good opportunity to [get some exercise] and I think this time I learned a lot in Riga and I also got some confidence from this tournament so I’m quite happy about it.”

Apart from the $20,000 first prize, Lei has now also qualified for the 2022 Women’s Grand Prix where she will play for a chance to face GM Ju Wenjun in a match. The other Candidates are Goryachkina (as the runner-up of the last match), GMs Kateryna Lagno and Humpy Koneru (who both qualified from the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix), GMs Alexandra Kosteniuk, Tan Zhongyi, and Anna Muzychuk (who qualified via the FIDE World Cup) and most probably Mariya Muzychuk (as the qualifier on rating).

At this point, three women have scored a GM norm in the tournament so far. IM Lela Javakhishvili did so after nine rounds, and today her opponent WGM Zhu Jiner got one. Black’s 20th and 21st moves were a great resource. In the end, White was already in trouble when she blundered:

A GM norm was also scored by IM Bibisara Assaubayeva, who beat IM Polina Shuvalova convincingly:

Round 10 Women Standings (Top 20)

Rk.	SNo	Fed	Title	Name	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	7		GM	Lei Tingjie	2505	8.5	51.5	56	46.75
2	15		WGM	Zhu Jiner	2455	7	53.5	57.5	38.75
3	12		IM	Paehtz, Elisabeth	2475	6.5	58.5	63.5	40.25
4	1		GM	Muzychuk, Mariya	2536	6.5	57.5	61.5	39.5
5	4		GM	Harika, Dronavalli	2511	6.5	52	56	35.25
6	34		IM	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	2400	6.5	51.5	56	35.5
7	37		WGM	Cori, Deysi	2382	6.5	45	45	27
8	10		GM	Batsiashvili, Nino	2484	6	58.5	63.5	35.75
9	3		GM	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	2518	6	57	61	35
10	13		WGM	Pogonina, Natalija	2467	6	53.5	58	32.5
11	18		IM	Javakhishvili, Lela	2446	6	51.5	55.5	30.75
12	20		IM	Badelka, Olga	2438	6	49	51	28.25
13	21		IM	Munguntuul, Batkhuyag	2433	6	47	51	28.75
14	23		IM	Osmak, Iulija	2423	6	46	50	28.25
15	46		WIM	Vantika, Agrawal	2322	6	44.5	48.5	27.5
16	2		GM	Dzagnidze, Nana	2524	5.5	58	62	32.25
17	22		WGM	Zawadzka, Jolanta	2428	5.5	51	55	27.5
18	11		GM	Stefanova, Antoaneta	2475	5.5	48.5	52.5	26.25
19	32		IM	Sukandar, Irine Kharisma	2406	5.5	47.5	50	22
20	9		IM	Saduakassova, Dinara	2491	5.5	47	51	26.75

(Full standings here.)

In round 11, the top pairings are Zhu-Lei, Muzychuk-Dronavalli, Paehtz-Assaubayeva, and Badelka-Cori.

You can find all games of the tournament here for replay and download: FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss | FIDE Chess.com Women’s Grand Swiss.

Mikhail Tal Memorial: Lindores Abbey Blitz
Many of the Grand Swiss participants will also be participating in the Lindores Abbey Blitz, a nine-round blitz tournament on November 8, a day after the Grand Swiss finishes and a day before the anniversary of Mikhail Tal’s 85th birthday. You can follow the games and live broadcast live here. Don’t miss it! 

The FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss take place October 27-November 7, 2021 in Riga, Latvia. The format is an 11-round Swiss. The time control for the open group is 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, and finally 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment starting from move one. For the women, it’s 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment starting on move one. The top two finishers in the open and the winner among the women (Lei Tingjie) qualify for their respective 2022 Candidates tournaments.

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Earlier reports: