There wasn’t much action in Round 4 of the ongoing FIDE Grand Prix Series opening leg in Berlin, but the three decisions produced during the round proved crucial to some of the players.
All draws in Group A meant Hikaru Nakamura kept his precarious half-point lead over Alexander Grischuk and Andrey Esipenko. In Group B, Vladimir Fedoseev caught Radoslaw Wojtaszek on top with a victory over Grigory Oparin in 41 mpove of a Sicilian. In Group C, Levon Aronian kept his fukll point lead after drawing with Santosh Gujarathi Vidit, while Daniil Dubov got a share of 2nd place with Vidit after beatin Vincent Keymer. In Group D, Wesley So showed superb technique in defeating Lenier Dominguez Perez with the black pieces in 39 moves of a Guioco Piano to grab a full-point lead going to the last two rounds.
Here are the standings after Round 4:
GpA 1. Nakamura, 2½; 2-3. Grischuk, Esipenko, 2; 4. Bacrot, 1½.
GpB 1. Wojtaszek, Fedoseev, 2½; 2-3. Rapport, 2; 4. Oparin, 1.
GpC 1. Aronian, 3; 2-3. Vidit, Dubov, 2; 4. Keymer, 1.
GpD 1. So, 3; 2-3. Dominguez Perez, Harikrishna, 2; 4. Shirov, 1.
Nakamura,H (2736)-Bacrot,E (2642) [C11]
Berlin A (4.2) 2022
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.a3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bc5 10.Qd2 g5 11.Nf3 d4 12.Bxd4 Nxd4 13.Nxd4 gxf4 14.Qxf4 Nxe5 15.Nb3 Ng6 16.Qf3 Ba7 17.Bxa6 0-0 18.Bd3 Qh4+ 19.Qg3 Qh6 20.h4 f5 21.Nd2 Bb8 22.Qf2 Ba7 23.Qg3 Bb8 24.Qf2 Ba7 25.Qg3 Bb8 ½-½
Oparin,G (2681)-Fedoseev,V (2704) [B30]
Berlin B (4.1) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Bc4 d6 5.d3 Be7 6.a4 Nf6 7.Bg5 Nd7 8.Bd2 0-0 9.Nd5 Nb6 10.Nxb6 axb6 11.c3 Kh8 12.b4 Qe8 13.b5 Nd8 14.h4 f5 15.h5 Be6 16.Qb3 Qd7 17.Kd1 fxe4 18.dxe4 Bxc4 19.Qxc4 Qg4 20.Qd3 c4 21.Qe3 Ne6 22.Rg1 Nf4 23.Kc1 Qxh5 24.Kc2 Qg6 25.g3 Nd3 26.Nh4 Qe6 27.Nf5 Rxf5 28.exf5 Qxf5 29.g4 Nb4+ 30.Kd1 Qc2+ 31.Ke1 Qb2 32.Rc1 Nd3+ 33.Ke2 Rf8 34.f3 e4 35.Rh1 d5 36.fxe4 Rf2+ 37.Kd1 Qb3+ 38.Rc2 Qb1+ 39.Rc1 Nxc1 40.Qxf2 Nd3+ 41.Ke2 Qxh1 0-1
Dubov,D (2720)-Keymer,V (2664) [B12]
Berlin C (4.1) 2022
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3 Qb6 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.0-0 Qxb2 9.Qe1 cxd4 10.Bxd4 Nxd4 11.Nxd4 Bb4 12.Ndb5 Ba5 13.Rb1 Qxc2 14.Rc1 Qb2 15.Na4 Bxe1 16.Nxb2 Ba5 17.Nd6+ Ke7 18.Nxb7 Bd8 19.Nxd8 Kxd8 20.Rfd1 Rb8 21.Nc4 g5 22.Nd6 Bg6 23.Rd4 Ne7 24.g4 Rb6 25.Bb5 Rb8 26.Ra4 Nc8 27.Rc8+ Rc8 28.Rxa7 Rc7 29.Ra8+ Ke7 30.Rxh8 f6 31.Rc8 Ra7 32.Rc6 1-0
Vidit,SG (2727)-Aronian,L (2772) [A13]
Berlin C (4.2) 2022
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 d5 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nbd7 6.Qxc4 a6 7.Qc2 c5 8.Nc3 Qc7 9.d4 b5 10.Bf4 Qa7 11.d5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 exd5 13.a4 Be7 14.axb5 Qb6 15.Ne5 Nxe5 16.Bxd5 Bb7 17.Qe4 Bxd5 18.Qxd5 0-0 19.Bxe5 Qxb5 20.0-0 Rfe8 21.Bc3 a5 22.e3 a4 23.Rfd1 Qb3 24.Ra3 Qxd5 25.Rxd5 c4 26.Ra2 Rec8 27.Kf1 a3 28.bxa3 Rxa3 29.Rxa3 Bxa3 30.Ke2 Be7 31.Rd7 Bf6 32.Bxf6 gxf6 33.Kd2 Ra8 34.Kc3 Ra3+ 35.Kb2 Rb3+ 36.Kc2 Ra3 37.Kb2 Rb3+ 38.Kc2 Ra3 ½-½
Dominguez Perez,L (2752)-So,Wesley (2772) [C50]
Berlin D (4.1) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 a5 7.Re1 Ba7 8.Nbd2 0-0 9.h3 Be6 10.Bb5 Ne7 11.d4 Ng6 12.Ba4 Nh5 13.Nf1 Nhf4 14.Ng3 exd4 15.Nxd4 Bxd4 16.cxd4 d5 17.Qf3 Qf6 18.Bd1 Qh4 19.Bd2 c6 20.Rc1 f5 21.exf5 Bxf5 22.Nxf5 Rxf5 23.Qg3 Qxg3 24.fxg3 Nd3 25.Bc2 Rf2 26.Bxd3 Rxd2 27.Bxg6 hxg6 28.Re7 Rxb2 29.Rce1 Rf8 30.Rd7 Rff2 31.Ree7 Rxg2+ 32.Kf1 Kh7 33.h4 Kh6 34.Re5 Rbf2+ 35.Ke1 Rxa2 36.Kf1 Rh2 37.Kg1 Rag2+ 38.Kf1 Rb2 39.Kg1 Rhd2 0-1
******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nfg3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bc6 2.Qe5#; 1…c4 2.bxc4#; 1…Rxf6 2.Rd2#.
