By A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
The Netherlands’ top two grandmasters – Anish Giri and Jorden Van Foreest – played a four-game rapid match on the chess24.com server where the latter pulled off a nice 3-1 whopping of the former.
The showdown, ironically dubbed as Secret Training Matches and was broadcasted live on Chess24 on April 13, was the first of two training matches slated by Giri in preparation for the forthcoming Magnus Carlsen Invitational Online Rapid Tournament, which also to be hosted by Chess24. Giri, world number 10 player and Netherlands’ number 1, will next play GM Santosh Vidit Gujrathi.
The 21-year old Van Foreest was unforgiving to his compatriot, smacking the 26-year old Giri with the white pieces and allowing draws with the black pieces. I’ve replayed their games a couple of times and Giri, who is not exactly great in fast time controls, didn’t seem to have any winning chances in any of the games. He may find Vidit an even stronger adversary than Van Foreest.
At any rate, so many online tournaments and matches are now being played, or will be played online because of the coronavirus pandemic. The only drawback here is that results and games will take a wee bit longer to obtain than usual. As we write this, the semifinals results of the Pepe Cuenca and Divis Invitational is out, but no game files are available yet to share with our readers.
Giri, A (2764)-Van Foreest, J (2682) [E10]
chess24.com (1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Qc2 b6 9.Bf4 Nbd7 10.Nbd2 Nh5 11.e3 Bb7 12.cxd5 Nxf4 13.exf4 cxd5 14.Rfc1 Rc8 15.Qd1 Rxc1 16.Rxc1 Qb8 17.Bf1 Rc8 18.Bb5 Rxc1 19.Qxc1 Qc8 20.Qxc8+ Bxc8 21.Kf1 Kf8 22.Ke2 Bd6 23.Ne5 Nb8 24.a3 a6 25.Bd3 g6 26.h4 f6 27.Nef3 Nc6 28.b4 Kg7 29.Nf1 Ne7 30.Ne3 a5 31.Nc2 axb4 32.Nxb4 Bxb4 33.axb4 Nc6 34.Bb5 Nxb4 35.Kd2 Ba6 36.Ba4 Nd3 37.Ke3 Nb2 38.Bb3 Bc4 39.Bc2 b5 40.Kd2 Na4 41.g4 Nb6 42.Kc3 Be2 43.Nh2 Nc4 44.g5 h6 45.Kb4 Nd6 46.Kc3 Nf7 47.Kd2 Bh5 48.Bd3 b4 49.gxf6+ Kxf6 50.Nf1 Nd6 51.Ne3 Bf3 52.Bc2 Be4 53.Bd1 h5 54.f3 Bb1 55.Bb3 Nb5 56.Bxd5 exd5 57.Nxd5+ Kf7 58.Nxb4 Nxd4 0-1
Van Foreest, J (2682)-Giri, A (2764) [A15]
chess24.com (2) 2020
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 c6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Bg2 dxc4 5.0-0 Nbd7 6.a4 a5 7.Na3 Nb6 8.Qc2 g6 9.Nxc4 Nxc4 10.Qxc4 Bg7 11.d4 0-0 12.Bd2 Bf5 13.Qb3 Be4 14.Rfd1 Qc8 15.Ne5 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 Ng4 17.Bc3 Bxe5 18.dxe5 Qf5 19.Bd4 Nxe5 20.Qxb7 Qe4+ 21.Kg1 Qxe2 22.Bxe5 Qxe5 23.Re1 Qf6 24.Qxe7 Qxb2 25.Rac1 Qb4 26.Qxb4 axb4 27.Rxc6 Rfb8 28.Rb1 Rxa4 29.Rc4 h5 30.h4 Rb7 31.Kg2 Kf8 32.Re4 Rb6 33.Rb2 f5 34.Rd4 Ke7 35.f4 Kf6 36.Kh2 ½-½
Giri, A (2764)-Van Foreest, J (2682) [D16]
chess24.com (3) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 e6 6.e3 c5 7.Bxc4 Nc6 8.0-0 Be7 9.Qe2 0-0 10.Rd1 Bd7 11.e4 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Nxd4 13.Rxd4 Qb6 14.Rd1 Bc6 15.Bg5 h6 16.Bh4 Rfe8 17.e5 Nd7 18.Bg3 Red8 19.Nb5 Bxb5 20.axb5 Nf8 21.h4 Ng6 22.Qe4 Bc5 23.h5 Ne7 24.Bh4 Rxd1+ 25.Rxd1 Nf5 26.Rd7 Nxh4 27.Qxh4 Qa5 28.Rd1 Qb6 29.b3 a6 30.bxa6 bxa6 31.Rd7 Qc6 32.Rd3 Qc7 33.Qe4 Rd8 34.Bxa6 Qb6 35.Rd8+ Qd8 36.Qe2 Qd4 37.Bd3 Qf4 38.Kf1 Bd4 39.g3 Qe5 40.Qe5 Be5 ½-½
Van Foreest, J (2682)-Giri, A (2764) [A20]
chess24.com (4) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.Nf3 e4 3.Nd4 Nc6 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Qb3 Nxd4 7.exd4 a5 8.a3 Bxc3 9.dxc3 a4 10.Qc2 h6 11.Be2 d6 12.h3 Bf5 13.Be3 Bg6 14.g4 Qe7 15.0-0-0 b6 16.h4 h5 17.gxh5 Bxh5 18.Rdg1 Bxe2 19.Qxe2 Nh5 20.c5 bxc5 21.dxc5 d5 22.Rg5 g6 23.Rxd5 c6 24.Rd6 0-0 25.Qxh5 Qxd6 26.Qh6 Qe7 27.Bd4 f6 28.Rg1 Kf7 29.Qxg6+ Ke6 30.Re1 Kd7 31.Rxe4 Qf7 32.Qf5+ Kc7 33.Be3 Qd7 34.Qf4+ Kc8 35.Rd4 Qd6 36.Qxd6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rg4!. Black’s futile options are: 1…d6, Bd6 2.Sd7, Qf5#; 1…d5, Rxg4, Bf1 2.S(x)d7#; 1…Kd6 2.Bf4#; 1…Kf6 2.Qf5#; 1…Bxg4 2.Sc4#./PN
