2019 Paris Rapid & Blitz Recap Day 5
The 2019 Paris Rapid and Blitz Champion was the player who lead all tournament, but despite this the result was anything but a foregone conclusion. Similar to yesterday, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave played well below his usual exemplary blitz form, but in the end it was just enough to stay ahead of the pack. He lost particularly tough games against Nepo and Dubov, but picked up a couple wins against Naka and Dubov. His nervous last round draw with Shakhriyar was just enough to leave him half a point ahead of the field. The Frenchman should be given credit for holding his nerve, not to mention his incredible rapid performance that allowed him to take home first place honors. He’ll receive $37,500 and 13 GCT points for his efforts. Well done Maxime!
Vishy Anand pretty much snuck up on the rest of the field. He had an incredible finish, scoring five out of his last six, and passed Nepo by beating him with Black in the last round. Had Shakh managed to win his promising position against MVL, the Indian legend would have had a chance to play a playoff for first. Vishy receives a cool $25k and 10 GCT points.
Ian Nepomniachtchi and Alexander Grischuk both had their chances to fight for first place. Nepo was within half a point of the lead at several points, and would have overtaken Maxime if not for a tough loss against Grischuk himself. Both players could have tied for first with last round wins, but they lost rough games against Vishy and Fabiano. They receive $17,500 and 7.5 GCT points each.
Jan-Krzysztof Duda had the best score of the day, and jumped into clear 5th. Fabiano Caruana got clear 6th as a result of his last round victory. Hikaru Nakamura, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Daniil Dubov, and Anish Giri didn’t have the best result in Paris, but they definitely played their share of interesting games and scored plenty of nice wins.
