The London Classic is over and full reports in this column will follow in the new year. Meanwhile, we now know the line-up for the World Championship candidates tournament, which is to be staged in Berlin next March and will determine the challenger to Magnus Carlsen for the supreme title. Leading results in the Fidé (World Chess Federation) event in Palma de Mallorca were as follows: 1= Dmitry Jakovenko and Lev Aronian 5½.
The upshot is that the following players now have secure places in the Candidates tournament: Sergei Karjakin, Lev Aronian, Ding Liren, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Alexander Grischuk, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Vladimir Kramnik. The two games from Palma that caught my eye were, paradoxically, both wins against the normally super-solid Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri.
Li Chao-Giri; Palma de Mallorca 2017; Slav Defence
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 cxd5 It may seem harmless playing for a symmetrical position in this line of the Slav Defence, however the Exchange Variation has been employed with success at a very high level. Alekhine once used it to defeat Euwe, Botvinnik employed it to win against Tal while Portisch crushed Petrosian in the same line. If three world champions can succumb with Black, then the Exchange line clearly contains more than a drop of poison. 3 … cxd5 4 Nf3 Nf6 5 Nc3 Nc6 6 Bf4 Bf5 7 e3 e6 8 Qb3 Alternatives are 8 Bb5, as used by Botvinnik against Tal, and the immediate 8 Ne5. 8 … Bb4 9 Ne5 Qb6 10 Nxc6 bxc6 The trade on c6 has left Black with a slightly inferior pawn structure. However, Giri was playing in secure knowledge that he was following established theory. 11 Be2 Ne4 12 f3 Nxc3 13 bxc3 Be7 14 c4 Qxb3 15 axb3 Bb4+ 16 Kf2 a5 17 Rhc1 Natural but new. 17 Ra2 has been seen before.
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