Round 4 of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament 2016 took place on Friday 22nd April. It would be the last round before the rest day and would see all games drawn.
The Berlin Defence of Vachier-Lagrave–Kramnik was quite interesting. It was Vachier-Lagrave’s second white game on the spin and it was no dull affair. White’s 12.Na3 was an interesting idea, the piece going to c4, e3, and then g4. It didn’t really yield all that much for White, though, the Knight spending some time on h2 before being re-developed to f3.
From the diagram position, there came 26…Nd5 27.Qb3 Nf4 28.Bxf4 exf4 29.Rad1 Rad8 and White pushed on with 30.e5. After an exchange of rooks, Black chose to counter on the flank, working his Queen to f5 and thrusting his g-pawn forward. The game culminated in an endgame in which both players seemed to have everything under control, White obtaining two connected pawns in return for a piece, but his King was over on the other side of the board and unable to support them. Thus, the spoils were shared.
Grandelius-Harikrishna was also an interesting tussle, in which White won a pawn but then struggled with activity. His light-squared bishop became quite the bystander, and Black’s bishop pair and well centralised knight served as extremely satisfying compensation for his pawn.
Black had the upper hand and was pressing, but the turning point came when White was able to give his Queen for knight and rook. When Black then exchanged his remaining rook, all chances had evaporated. It was not long before they were repeating moves and splitting the point.
Eljanov-Topalov was a Queen’s Gambit Declined, in which White was perhaps slightly better. Eljanov managed to establish his knight on the e5-square, and this was a very nice station for it. Unfortunately the position just didn’t have anything in it, niether player could utilise the open c-file, and when the endgame arrived there was very little in it. Quite an uneventful game really and the draw seemed a case of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’.
I am not sure whether Magnus Carlsen came in to the round with aspirations to increase his lead in the tournament, but Li Chao’s choice of the Exchange Slav left the Norwegian little opportunity. The Chinese GM, who replaced Sergey Karjakin of course, was feeling a little under the weather and therefore not up for a tussle with the World Champion, who had played a very nice game in his previous round and looked to be brimming with confidence. Under the circumstances I think a nice easy draw suited both.
White enjoyed the usual spatial advantage that can come with a Queen’s Gambit Declined in Giri-Aronian. Giri’s 21.e4 and 22.exd5 helped Black to breathe a little, however, and I think Aronian would have been quite satisfied. White had a rather nice knight and dark-squared bishop which fired along the h2-b8 diagonal, but an isolated Queen’s pawn, which Black blockaded very nicely. The players steadily exchanged pieces, White unburdening himself of the d-pawn, and the draw was agreed very quickly.
Standings after 4 rounds:
Carlsen — 3
Vachier-Lagrave, Kramnik — 2½
Li Chao, Topalov, Giri, Aronian — 2
Harikrishna, Eljanov — 1½
Grandelius — 1
Round 5: Sunday 24th April
Kramnik-Eljanov
Topalov-Grandelius
Carlsen-Giri
Aronian–Vachier-Lagrave
Harikrishna-Li Chao
Play begins at 16:00 local time. If you need to, you can check your time, here.
More Information: Atibox Norway Chess 2016 Website
[pgn height=300 layout=horizontal showmoves=figurine initialgame=first initialHalfmove=][Event “4th Norway Chess 2016”]
[Site “Stavanger NOR”]
[Date “2016.04.22”]
[Round “4.1”]
[White “Eljanov, Pavel”]
[Black “Topalov, Veselin”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2765”]
[BlackElo “2754”]
[ECO “D59”]
[Opening “QGD”]
[Variation “Tartakower variation”]
[WhiteFideId “14102951”]
[BlackFideId “2900084”]
[EventDate “2016.04.19”]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 b6 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. Rc1 Be6 12. b3 c5 13. Bb5 a6 14. Bd3 Nd7 15.
O-O a5 16. h3 Rfc8 17. a4 Nf6 18. Qe2 Bd7 19. Ne5 cxd4 20. exd4 Qd6 21. Qe3 Rxc1
22. Rxc1 Rc8 23. Rxc8+ Bxc8 24. Qc1 Be6 25. Qc6 Qxc6 26. Nxc6 Kf8 27. Kf1 Ne8
28. Ne5 Nd6 29. Ke2 g5 30. Ng4 Bxg4+ 31. hxg4 Ke7 32. f3 Ke6 33. Ke3 f5 34.
Bxf5+ Nxf5+ 35. gxf5+ Kxf5 36. g4+ Ke6 37. Ke2 Ke7 38. Ke3 Ke6 39. Ke2 Ke7 1/2-1/2
[Event “4th Norway Chess 2016”]
[Site “Stavanger NOR”]
[Date “2016.04.22”]
[Round “4.2”]
[White “Li, Chao b”]
[Black “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2755”]
[BlackElo “2851”]
[ECO “D14”]
[Opening “QGD Slav”]
[Variation “exchange variation, 6.Bf4 Bf5”]
[WhiteFideId “8604436”]
[BlackFideId “1503014”]
[EventDate “2016.04.19”]
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. e3 e6 8. Bd3
Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. O-O O-O 12. Rac1 Rfc8 13. h3 h6 14. Nd2 Nd7
15. a3 Nb6 16. Qb5 Qd8 17. Na4 Nxa4 18. Qxa4 Qa5 19. Qd1 Ne7 20. Qe2 Qa4 21. Qd3
Nf5 22. Qb3 Qa6 23. Qb4 Nd6 24. a4 Qb6 25. Qa3 a5 26. Rc5 Qb4 27. Qxb4 axb4 28.
Rfc1 Rxc5 29. dxc5 Rc8 30. Kf1 Nc4 31. Nxc4 Rxc5 32. b3 dxc4 33. bxc4 Ra5 34.
Ra1 Rc5 35. Rc1 Ra5 36. Ra1 Rc5 37. Rc1 1/2-1/2
[Event “4th Norway Chess 2016”]
[Site “Stavanger NOR”]
[Date “2016.04.22”]
[Round “4.3”]
[White “Giri, Anish”]
[Black “Aronian, Levon”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2790”]
[BlackElo “2784”]
[ECO “D37”]
[Opening “QGD”]
[Variation “classical variation (5.Bf4)”]
[WhiteFideId “24116068”]
[BlackFideId “13300474”]
[EventDate “2016.04.19”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 c6 8. h3 b6
9. b4 a5 10. a3 h6 11. Bd3 Ba6 12. O-O Qc8 13. Rb1 axb4 14. axb4 Qb7 15. b5 cxb5
16. Nxb5 Rfc8 17. Ne5 Nxe5 18. Bxe5 Rc6 19. Qe2 Nd7 20. Bg3 Qc8 21. e4 Nf6 22.
exd5 Nxd5 23. Qe4 Nf6 24. Qf3 Bb7 25. cxb6 Rxb6 26. Qe2 Qc6 27. f3 Nd5 28. Rbc1
Qd7 29. Nc7 Rc8 30. Nxd5 Bxd5 31. Kh2 Bd6 32. Rxc8+ Qxc8 33. Bxd6 Rxd6 34. Rb1
Qd8 35. Qe5 Rb6 36. Rxb6 Qxb6 37. Be4 f6 38. Qf4 Bxe4 39. Qxe4 Kf7 40. Qf4 h5
41. h4 Ke7 42. Qe4 Qc7+ 43. Kh3 Kf7 44. d5 Qd7 45. dxe6+ Qxe6+ 46. Kg3 Qxe4 47.
fxe4 g5 48. hxg5 fxg5 49. Kf3 1/2-1/2
[Event “4th Norway Chess 2016”]
[Site “Stavanger NOR”]
[Date “2016.04.22”]
[Round “4.4”]
[White “Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime”]
[Black “Kramnik, Vladimir”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2788”]
[BlackElo “2801”]
[ECO “C65”]
[Opening “Ruy Lopez”]
[Variation “Berlin defence”]
[WhiteFideId “623539”]
[BlackFideId “4101588”]
[EventDate “2016.04.19”]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. h3 Ne7 8. d4 Bb6
9. Bd3 Ng6 10. Re1 Re8 11. Qc2 c6 12. Na3 Bc7 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 dxe5 15.
Be2 h6 16. Nc4 Nh7 17. Rd1 Qf6 18. Ne3 Qg6 19. Bg4 Bxg4 20. Nxg4 Bb6 21. a4 h5
22. Nh2 Nf6 23. a5 Bc5 24. b4 Bf8 25. Re1 a6 26. Nf3 Nd5 27. Qb3 Nf4 28. Bxf4
exf4 29. Rad1 Rad8 30. e5 Rxd1 31. Rxd1 Qf5 32. Re1 g5 33. Nd4 Qg6 34. e6 Kh8
35. Qd1 fxe6 36. Nf3 g4 37. Ne5 Qf5 38. hxg4 hxg4 39. Nxg4 Bg7 40. Qd7 Rf8 41.
f3 c5 42. Qxe6 Qxe6 43. Rxe6 Bxc3 44. bxc5 Bxa5 45. Re7 Bb4 46. Rc7 Rf5 47. Rxb7
Bxc5+ 48. Kf1 a5 49. Rb5 a4 50. Nf2 Rh5 51. Ra5 a3 52. Nd3 Rh1+ 53. Ke2 Bd6 54.
Ra6 Rh6 55. Kd1 Kg7 56. Kc2 Rg6 57. Kb3 Kf7 58. Nxf4 Bxf4 59. Rxg6 Kxg6 60. Kxa3 1/2-1/2
[Event “4th Norway Chess 2016”]
[Site “Stavanger NOR”]
[Date “2016.04.22”]
[Round “4.5”]
[White “Grandelius, Nils”]
[Black “Harikrishna, Pentala”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2649”]
[BlackElo “2763”]
[ECO “C11”]
[Opening “French”]
[Variation “Burn variation”]
[WhiteFideId “1710400”]
[BlackFideId “5007003”]
[EventDate “2016.04.19”]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. Qd2 b6 8.
O-O-O Bb7 9. Nc3 c6 10. Nf3 Nd7 11. Qh6 Qc7 12. Qg7 Rf8 13. Qxh7 f5 14. Bc4 Nf6
15. Qh6 Ng4 16. Qd2 O-O-O 17. h3 Nf6 18. Ne5 Kb8 19. Rhe1 b5 20. Bb3 b4 21. Ne2
c5 22. Qe3 Ne4 23. f4 cxd4 24. Nxd4 Bc5 25. Nef3 Rg8 26. g4 fxg4 27. hxg4 Rxg4
28. Ne5 Rxd4 29. Rxd4 Rg3 30. Qxe4 Bxe4 31. Rdxe4 Rg1 32. Rxg1 Bxg1 33. Rxb4+
Bb6 34. a4 Ka8 35. Kb1 Qe7 36. Rc4 Bc7 37. Nd3 Bd6 38. a5 Kb8 39. Ba4 Qb7 40.
Rc6 Bxf4 41. Nc5 Qe7 42. Na6+ Kb7 43. Nc5+ Kb8 44. Na6+ Kb7 45. Nc5+ 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
