Naiditsch only made a draw in the event
After a deserved rest day, the Grenke Chess Classic resumed with an interesting round.
The higlight of the day was Arkadij Naiditsch‘s win. He keeps demonstrating that he’s willing to fight for every half point at all costs. He defeated Daniel Fridman in a very exciting 45-moves game to reach the second place, half point behind Fabiano Caruana.
The game started with a King’s Indian Defense where Naiditsch chose a direct pawn advance on the kingside, probably knowing that this would be uncomfortable for his solid colleague. Leaving the opening, it seemed that Fridman had a good position with better positional features due to the backward black d6-pawn and the weaknesses around his king.
The sacrifices chosen by Arkadij reminded of the failed attempts to attack the World Champion two days ago. However, this time the offensive was well justified and the initiative was enough to put Fridman in deep trouble. When they got to this stage of the game, both players had very little time on the clock to make a considerable amount of moves. This fact makes black’s 37…d5 move even more impressive.
Fridman resigned on move 44 when it’s clear that the simplification will lead to a winning endgame for his opponent.
It’s noteworthy to point that Naiditsch played 5 of the 6 decisive games in the tournament; he only signed a draw on the first round. A very welcomed fighting spirit by the spectators!
Anand - Adams
The oldest players of the Grenke Classic, Viswanathan Anand (43) and Michael Adams (41), drew their game right after the time control.
The Indian chose the “Spanish Torture” with 6.d3 to look for a way to outplay his experienced opponent. However, the Englishman was well prepared for this possibility and demonstrated with his quick play that he was ready to stop any offensive attempt. After the queens were exchanged on move 34, it was pretty clear that the game would end in a draw.
Meier - Caruana
Tournament leader Fabiano Caruana faced GM Georg Meier and chose the Slav Defense with black. The Italian offered the bishop pair in exchange of active play on the kingside.
A tense fight followed, and when they reached the 30th move, it was Meier the one who missed a golden opportunity to take down the young Caruana. Instead of the natural 30.Bf4, he could have played the not-so-obvious Qf4. It’s natural that the German missed this move given the fact that he had very little time on his clock. After the simplifications, the draw was unavoidable.
Official website / Replay the games with analysis
Round 7 on 14/02/2013 at 15:00
Meier Georg – Fridman Daniel
Caruana Fabiano – Anand Viswanathan
Adams Michael – Naiditsch Arkadij
