GothamChess Wins On Time, Evens Match Score Before Rapid Games
IM Levy Rozman (GothamChess) bounced back from his loss against GM Pia Cramling in the first classical game to even the score 6-6 in the Battle of Generations. With the black pieces, he generated a powerful attack, but Cramling defended tenaciously to reach a drawn rook endgame. In fact, she thought she was lost, and she thought for too long on move 79 and lost on time.
The rapid portion begins on Friday, November 1, starting at 9 a.m. ET / 14:00 CET / 6:30 p.m. IST. Six games will be played before the blitz portion on Saturday.
Score After Classical Game 4 Of 4
The fourth and final classical game was an emotional rollercoaster—for fans as much as the players—in all three segments of the game. We can say that Rozman won the opening and middlegame battles, but when both players got low on time, he couldn't find a knockout blow. It was in the endgame that Cramling showed her class, for a very long time.
GothamChess sprang the opening surprise, playing an unusual 3...h6. Later, he played the opening novelty 12...b5!?, a "very Levy move," according to IM Alex Ostrovskiy. The engines aren't impressed, saying that White can close the position with 13.c5 with a space advantage, a move Cramling had two chances to play but didn't.
Instead, after her moves 13.Nc3 and 14.Nd2?!, Rozman gained a powerful initiative. She even criticized the latter move from the confessional booth during the game, showing that she was aware of the consequences: "So now it's very, very dangerous. I just hope somehow I will survive this."
So now it's very, very dangerous. I just hope somehow I will survive this.
—Pia Cramling
He brought his rook to the c-file and broke with 15...c5?!. It was more accurate to play 15...bxc4 first, as he pointed out after the game, but the defense was still difficult for his opponent.
But "somehow survive this" she did. At first, Rozman strung together the absolute best moves—moves 21 through 24 were flawless. But by move 29, things weren't so clear. Somehow Cramling centralized her bishop on d5, and her queen fended off any checkmating attacks. She was still a pawn down, but everything else about her position was ideal.
Ultimately, she did get the queens off and then also the minor pieces. We entered a drawn rook endgame, but Rozman remarked that he was still playing for the win: "Would a GM give me a draw in this position? No, a GM would try to beat me and make me confused."
Would a GM give me a draw in this position? No.
—Levy Rozman
His great hope to win the game was making sure that the white king would not reach the f-file; if Cramling achieved this, she'd have the well-known Philidor draw. The defense, as the game showed, was far from being as simple as engines would have you believe.
His tenacity in pressing for the win turned out to be greater than her resistance in defending, and he was awarded with three points for winning. You can see the full game annotations, with variations and thoughts by the players and commentators, below.
You can listen to Rozman's thoughts about the game in the video recap below.
We saw a confident and reinvigorated GothamChess after the game: "I can feel myself playing up to the level of the match, and like of all the people watching, and I felt like I should actually play good chess. So I feel like we've been fighting pretty well." He said the games were so good that he now wished this was just a 14-game classical match. Alas, we will see six games of rapid chess (15+10 time control) starting on Friday.
"If you told me I would be 2-2 after the classical, I would be happy," he said, "but I'm not really a subscriber to this theory that I'm the huge favorite in the blitz because my Chess.com 3+0 rating is so high." He mentioned that Cramling has experience playing Norway Chess armageddon games, against world-class players, and that he hasn't played an over-the-board blitz tournament since 2019.
Will youth prevail in the faster time controls, or will experience shine through? Share who you think will prevail in the rapid portion in the comments below.
The live broadcast was hosted by IM Alex Ostrovskiy and WFM Anna Cramling.
The Battle of Generations is an over-the-board match between GM Pia Cramling and IM Levy Rozman featuring multiple time controls: four classical games (90+30), six rapid games (15+10), and 12 blitz games (3+2). It takes place at the Svarta Hasten in Stockholm, Sweden. The prize fund is $10,000, with $6,000 going to the winner.
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