Philidor’s heir

There was a time when France was the dominant power in world chess. When Howard Staunton commenced his remarkable series of match victories in the mid-1840s, his ascent was seen as an assumption of the sceptre wielded by that great 18th-century master of the game, André Danican Philidor. After Philidor came Labourdonnais, who was succeeded by St Amant, and it was Staunton’s annihilation of the French champion at the Café de la Regence in Paris in 1843, which heralded the end of French hegemony over the chessboard.
 
It is true that Alexander Alekhine, the mighty Russian champion, represented France in the chess Olympiads of the 1930s, but he was anything but a homegrown Francophone. Now though, at last, a true heir to Philidor has emerged in the person of French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, the victor of the elite tournament in St Louis, where even the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen succumbed to Gallic ingenuity and persistence.
 
The scores in St Louis were: 1. Vachier-Lagrave 6; 2= Carlsen and Anand 5½; 4= Karjakin and Aronian 5. Meanwhile, the top five world ratings after St Louis reveal a leap by Vachier-Lagrave to seize the no. 2 spot: 1. Carlsen 2827, 2. Vachier-Lagrave 2804, 3. Kramnik 2803, 4. Aronian 2802, 5. Caruana 2799.
 
Carlsen–Vachier-Lagrave; St Louis 2017
(see diagram 1)
 
A complicated game has resulted in a winning position for Carlsen. 46 Rg2 This throws away all White’s advantage. 46 Rd2 wins material for which Black cannot gain sufficient compensation. 46 … Bh3 47 Rxg3 Bxf1 Now the position is approximately equal. 48 Rf3 This is a very odd blunder. After 48 Bxd8 Rxd8 49 Rf3 the game will very likely be drawn. 48 … Be2 This simple attack against the rook means that Black wins material. 49 Bxd8 Bxf3 50 Bxb6 Carlsen manages to wriggle around but Vachier-Lagrave easily navigates his way to a simple endgame with an extra pawn.