Vincent Keymer barged into the world’s high 10 rating spots within the FIDE dwell scores which might be up to date in actual time on Wednesday after his victory in 39 strikes with black items towards Awonder Liang, the Cinderella story of the Chennai Grand Masters match. The win additionally helped Keymer put daylight between him and his pursuers — India’s Arjun Erigaisi and Awonder himself — on the high of the standings as he leads by a 1.5 factors with simply two extra rounds left. Arjun Erigaisi performed out a brief draw towards Anish Giri, which he defined was compelled partially as a result of he was beneath the climate coming into the sport.
Keymer, who helped Gukesh turn out to be the world champion final yr as a part of the Indian teen’s workforce, has performed some pragmatic chess in Chennai. After defeating three gamers who have been rated under the 2700 mark within the first three video games (Nihal Sarin, Pranav V and Karthikeyan Murali), Keymer performed out attracts towards the strongest males within the occasion, Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi and Arjun. Then, discovering himself taking up Awonder within the seventh spherical, he struck once more.
It was a end result that Awonder noticed coming. A day earlier than he sat throughout the desk to tackle match chief Keymer, the American grandmaster with one of many cheeriest tendencies within the sport, had a grim tackle his possibilities the following day towards the German GM. Having breached the 2700 ranking threshold for the primary time in his profession, Awonder mentioned he was abruptly feeling a pointy stab of stress to maintain his ranking secure at that mark.
INTERACTIVE: How Vincent Keymer defeated Awonder Liang
That stress, he felt, may damage him and value him the sport towards match chief Keymer, he prophesied.
Awonder’s prediction got here true on Wednesday. Awonder had advised Chessbase after the earlier spherical how he was driving the wave of his unpredictability in Chennai: as a result of he often performs in open tournaments, his openings are barely totally different — “weaker” was the time period he used — than what his opponents had been anticipating at Chennai. However with six rounds behind them, the factor of shock was gone.
Keymer took a wholesome edge within the recreation from the nineteenth transfer itself, a blunder by his opponent. Quickly, by the twenty ninth transfer, Keymer was up a rook in return for 2 much less pawns, a large materials benefit moreover the sting on the board. He transformed that benefit into victory with out breaking into sweat.
For Awonder, it was solely his second defeat of the match.
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For Keymer, who has already received a Freestyle Chess occasion earlier within the yr, even a easy draw on Thursday will probably be sufficient.
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