World Cup Baku 2015

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Cup Baku 2015

World Cup Baku 2015

September 23, 2015

Eljanov’s interview from:

http://chess-news.ru/en/node/20105

The author of the only decisive game in the round gave Chess-News a commentary. According to the Ukrainian GM it was hard to guess his opponent's opening choice, "while preparing something new for every opening is really hard. That's why I stuck to the variation from my usual repertory - the one I had prepared."

"... Perhaps, I knew a little more than Hikaru. Quite surprisingly he spent around fifteen minutes after I played 10. Bg5. Probably, he was choosing between different variations, because there have been played thousands of games with the similar positions. Most likely he was unsure of his preparation. 12. Qc1 surprised him, because it really is a rare move. Then he played pretty quickly, although at some point it was better for him to spend some time on thinking."

"After 20. Nхb7! Qxb7 21. Bxc6 White has a big advantage which he has underestimated. He started thinking after this position, it was already too late though. He had to think before and try to prevent getting such a position.

... The endgame is pretty nasty for Black. His pieces are trapped: the knight on a6 is useless, same with the bishop on h7... I wasn't sure in the victory, but I hoped for it. At some point he offered a draw, but I was already thinking that I am close to winning, he just tried to check me..."

Until today, Eljanov has played against Nakamura in classical chess only once. It was five years ago at the Tal Memorial. Back then he was defeated. "And before that we have played when he was still very young, - Pavel recalls. - I beat him then but it doesn't matter at all. So, we could say we have played just one game - well now already two."

"What I think if Hikaru castles using two hands? Well, I wouldn't really care. Maybe in blitz it can have some psychological effect on certain players, but I personally don't see a problem in there."

Straight after leaving the playing hall, Pavel was checked by the guard with the metal detector. It's the rule introduced at the competition when the organizers can randomly check any chosen player after the game - all to prevent cheating.

"It was first time they checked me throughout the tournament, - GM says. - Maybe it is trendy to rebel against such method, but it doesn't bother me at all. Miss Sandu was unhappy when her games were broadcasted with delays, but I don't really understand why. I am, on the contrary, supporting all methods for identifying cheaters. They are seriously taking care of it at this competition."

[David Gordon]

Re: World Cup Baku 2015

In Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar – Karjakin, Sergey I believe there is a straightforward winning plan instead of 71.f4?
The play is 71.Bc5 intending 72.Bd6, 73.Bh2 74.Kf2 The white king is threatening Kg2 winning the Rook. Therefore black needs to play h3. Then 75.Bg1 76.Ng3 and the rook on h1 is trapped.

[Tyler Longo]

Re: World Cup Baku 2015

In Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar – Karjakin, Sergey I believe there is a straightforward winning plan instead of 71.f4?
The play is 71.Bc5 intending 72.Bd6, 73.Bh2 74.Kf2 The white king is threatening Kg2 winning the Rook. Therefore black needs to play h3. Then 75.Bg1 76.Ng3 and the rook on h1 is trapped.

I don't think this works. Black can just go h3 after Bc5, with the plan to escape via Rg1 and Rg2. For ex:

71. Bc5 h3 72. Bd6 [72. Kf2? h2 should be winning I think?] Rg1 and I should escape.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Cup Baku 2015

World Cup Baku 2015

September 24, 2015
Round Five, Game Two
Classical
Nakamura, Hikaru – Eljanov, Pavel
A15 English, Neo-Catalan

1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 d5 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Bd7 6.Qxc4 c5 7.Ne5 Qc8 8.O-O Nc6 9.Nxd7 Qxd7 10.Nc3 Be7 11.Qa4 Rc8 12.d3 O-O 13.Be3 Rfd8 14.Rac1 b6 15.Rfd1 h6 16.h3 Ne8 17.Nb5 Bf6 18.b3 Nd6 19.Nxd6 Qxd6 20.Bxc6 Qxc6 21.Qg4 Kf8 22.Rc4 Qd5 23.Rdc1 h5 24.Qf4 Bb2 25.R1c2 Be5 26.Qe4 Qxe4 27.Rxe4 Bd6 28.Rh4 g6 29.Rhc4 Rb8 30.d4 cxd4 31.Rxd4 Ke8 32.Kg2 Rb7 33.Rdc4 Ke7 34.Bg5+ f6 35.Be3 Rdd7 36.Rc8 Rd8 37.R8c4 Rdd7 38.Ra4 Rbc7 39.Rxc7 Rxc7 40.h4 e5 41.f4 Ke6 42.fxe5 Bxe5 43.Bf4 1/2-1/2

Sadly, Nakamura draws and now is out of the World Cup.

- Eljanov +34.4 in 10 games!! now rank 14 up 18 places

- Eljanov knocks out Jakovenko for 2nd time in 3 days
_________

Eljanov’s postgame interview with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam

Dirk – The first semi-finalist is known and it is Pavel Eljanov from Ukraine. You defended well today, were you really tested? Were there any moments when you felt insecure.

Pavel – Not really. My position was solid enough. All my pieces were fine. There might have been a few slight problems but I made a few good moves.

Dirk – You had a fantastic game yesterday. Was it a totally smooth game?

Pavel – The game was really fine. I didn’t mate in five but that really doesn’t matter.

Dirk – Your tournament so far has been really very impressive. You started with six wins and then there were two draws and tiebreaker and now you are proceeding to the semi-finals. Did you expect to come this far?

Pavel – It was not so easy at first against Kazakhstani player Jumbayev. In both games I was worse at some point but managed to win both. I was quite satisfied in my last games with my level of play. Today was rather easy.

Dirk – You gained 35 Elo points. You once had a huge rating and lost part of it. What do you blame that on – a lack of invitations to tournaments or a form problem?

Pavel – I played too ambitiously. There may have been other problems not directly connected with chess.

Dirk – You can deal with a high rating in the wrong manner?

Pavel – Yes, I think my real rating is around 2750 with a group of other players. I don’t consider that I am weaker than most of those.

Dirk – Did you have a training camp? Do you work with someone?

Pavel – I work alone.

Dirk – Was this just one of the tournaments?
Pavel – It was the most important one. I prepared for about a month working at home. I played in the Capablanca Memorial in Havana.

Dirk – I have asked Boris Gelfand if he prepared something special for tournaments and he said that was a silly question, he always prepares something special for a tournament.

(Eljanov with Tomashevsky and Rodshtein were seconds of Boris Gelfand)

Pavel – I am following Boris Gelfand!

Dirk – Do you have any time to go swimming or to the gym? Do other sports influence you?

Pavel – Yes, to both. Chess is one of the fairest sports. If you play well, you get a high Elo and get invitations.

I am a big Barcelona football fan, like Boris. Yesterday was not the best day for Barcelona, by far. Even Barcelona can play badly

Dirk – I suppose we should let you go. You have two free days – the tiebreak day and the rest day. So I guess that is two days of relaxing and watching sports?

Pavel – I am going to buy some clothes. For a tournament I usually pack for ten days but this could go on to October 5.

Dirk – When did you book your return ticket for?

Pavel – I didn’t.

Dirk – Congratulations.

[Laurentiu Grigorescu]

Re: World Cup Baku 2015

Nakamura knocked out again by a player coming from Ukraine - at the last edition Anton Korobov was the big story and beat Hikaru in a perfect game. Well, next time, maybe he will get Ivanchuck :-)

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Cup Baku 2015

World Cup Baku 2015

September 24, 2015

Round Five, Game Two

As previously posted, Nakamura drew with Eljanov. The former drops out of the World Cup and the latter goes on.

In the other three games, there were two early draws and a late win.

Round 5, Game 2, Sept. 24, 2015
Classical
Wei Yi – Svidler, Peter
C50 Giuoco Pianissimo

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d3 Nf6 5.h3 d6 6.c3 O-O 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Nh5 10.Bh2 Qf6 11.Nbd2 Nf4 12.Bxf4 gxf4 13.Qe2 Kh8 14.O-O-O Rg8 15.Rdg1 Bd7 16.g4 fxg3 17.Rxg3 Ne7 18.d4 Bb6 19.Qd3 Rad8 20.Rxg8+ Kxg8 21.Qe3 Nc6 22.Rg1+ Kh7 23.Qd3 Rg8 24.Rxg8 Kxg8 25.dxe5 Nxe5 26.Nxe5 Qxe5 27.Qf3 Qe7 28.h4 Kg7 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Game 2, Sept. 24, 2015
Classical
Karjakin, Sergey – Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
E10 Queen’s Pawn Game

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bf4 dxc4 6.e3 b5 7.Nxb5 Bb4+ 8.Nc3 Nd5 9.Qc2 N7b6 10.Bg3 O-O 11.Be2 c5 12.O-O cxd4 13.Nxd4 Bb7 14.Bf3 Qd7 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Game 2, Sept. 24, 2015
Classical
Giri, Anish – Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
E60 King’s Indian

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.e3 O-O 5.Be2 b6 6.O-O Bb7 7.Nc3 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Bd2 c5 10.dxc5 Nxc3 11.Bxc3 Bxc3 12.bxc3 Nd7 13.cxb6 axb6 14.Qd4 Qc7 15.Rfb1 Ra5 16.Qb4 e6 17.Qe7 Qd8 18.Qxd8 Rxd8 19.Rd1 Bc6 20.Nd4 Ba4 21.Rdb1 e5 22.Nb3 Ra7 23.Nd2 Rc8 24.c4 Bc6 25.Rb2 Kg7 26.f3 Re8 27.Kf2 e4 28.Nb3 exf3 29.gxf3 Ba4 30.Rd1 Re5 31.Rd5 Rxd5 32.cxd5 Bxb3 33.axb3 Kf6 34.f4 g5 35.Rc2 gxf4 36.exf4 Ke7 37.Rc6 Nf6 38.Bf3 Rd7 39.Rxb6 Nxd5 40.Bxd5 Rxd5 41.Kg3 h5 42.Kh4 Rf5 43.Rb4 Rd5 44.Rc4 Kf6 45.b4 Kg6 46.Rc6+ f6 47.Rc2 Rb5 48.Rb2 Kf5 49.Kg3 Ke4 50.Rb1 Kd3 51.Kf3 Kc2 52.Ra1 Rxb4 53.Ra5 Rb3+ 54.Ke4 h4 55.Kf5 Kd3 56.Kxf6 Ke4 57.f5 h3 58.Ra4+ Kf3 59.Kg5 Rb5 60.Ra2 Rb4 61.f6 Rg4+ 62.Kf5 Rf4+ 63.Ke6 Re4+ 64.Kd6 Rd4+ 65.Ke7 Re4+ 66.Kf8 Rb4 67.f7 Rf4 68.Rb2 Ra4 69.Rb6 1-0

__________

Dominatng the hall, is a large portrait of Heydar Aliyev, the Father of Azerbaijan. The current president is his son, Ilham Aliyev.

You may recall that at the Chenai World Championship in 2013, there was a large portrait of the Minister of Tamil Nadu, J. Jayalalithaa over the stage. She became the first incumbent chief minister in India to be disqualified from holding office due to conviction in a disproportionate assets case.

Be that as it may, it has always seemed to me to be the height of felicity, to have an enormous portrait of oneself up at an international chess tournament and to hand over an outsize novelty check to the winner at the prize-giving ceremony.
______

Postgame interview with Dirk and Anish Giri

Giri (commenting on the endgame which had White with two pawns and rook against Black with one pawn) – It might just be a draw. By pure luck, I made the right move.

Dirk – It was very pleasant that you had those extra ten minutes.

Giri – Yes, but even so, you are winning but you get nervous anyway.

(shows the endgame with White K and Q and Black with K on h2 and his pawn on h3)

There are very rare cases, in Dutch called "the swimming pool", in these positions, black king, white king and queen are on such squares where white cannot give a check and stop h2. This is called the swimming pool, at least that is what Dutch kids told me. But there is no swimming pool here, so he resigned.

Dirk – It must be a great feeling now. First there was an open tournament you said and now many players have left and there is an elite tournament.

Giri – An elite tournament with most of the elite players gone.

Dirk – Will we get to see all of your ties?

Giri – I wanted to wear them all right away but then said to myself, what if I stay here a while. I will run out of ties.

Dirk – You should show one new one at least because you might get knocked out. Eljanov said that he has run out of clothes and will use the break tomorrow to buy some new ones.

Giri – I wore a suit one day and Hikaru said, now you are serious. I replied that it was the tiebreak and perhaps my last chance to wear the suit.

I brought some clothes but planned to either buy more or put my others into the laundry. With the rest day I will go back to my old habit of watching the tiebreaks while ironing, thinking that could be me.

Dirk – That is very Zen. Did you buy a return ticket?

Giri – Yes, a single, because tickets are very expensive. But I didn’t know when I was going and where I was going to. My wife was in Georgia and now is back in Holland.

Dirk – Everything has gone pretty smoothly except for the rapid game where you were in trouble against Wojtaszek.

Giri – Yes there is no guarantee you won’t be in trouble. I am just playing and getting lucky. Also it is not the end of the world to be in trouble.

Dirk – You have two rest days now.

Giri – I didn’t realize that.

Dirk – Do you feel tired at the moment?

Giri – No, I feel happy that I have won. Generally if you have played badly, you feel exhausted.

Dirk – You are smiling but when you get back to your room will you punch the sky?

Giri – No, so far it is hard to move me. At every stage of this tournament you pass you are very happy but there is no time to celebrate and you are very far away from your ultimate goal.

Dirk – From the first ten seeds there is only you left amongst the last four.

Giri – Yes, Hikaru has left me so I am left to represent high society. Mickey Adams too. Many other players could have made it instead of me. It is just a matter of statistics. I think Hikaru underestimated his opponent in the first game. He played for a win when it wasn’t justified. When you are playing in strong tournaments you begin to think there are only ten really strong players around when, in truth there are many more and you will get reminded of that.

Dirk – You will get either Peter Svidler or Wei Yi.

Giri – I think Peter outplayed him today.

Dirk – Enjoy the tiebreaks and the ironing and all of those Zen moments.

Tomorrow there are two tiebreaks Svidler-Wei Yi and Mamedyarov-Karjakin battling it out.
_______

(Mark Crowther) – Has anyone heard of the concept of a “swimming pool” in Queen and Pawn endgames – as mentioned by Giri in his press conference?

(Robert Ris) – Famous endgames, Timman and Bohm were studying this type of ending in a swimming pool! Later they composed a study on their “swimming pool” analysis.
_______

Tweets

(Nakamura) - When your opponent plays better than you in a short format like this, there’s not much one can do but move on to the next event.

(MVL) – First classical loss in a World Cup, courtesy of Anish Giri. Time to refresh now!

(Jonathan Rowson) – MVL off form today. Volunteered for slight disadvantage, sacrificed pawn for no reason. Almost like he had decided he’d lose!

(Olimpiu G. Urcan) – It is very likely that Peter Svidler owns Grunfeld Defence books that are older than Wei Yi.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Cup Baku 2015

World Cup Baku 2015

September 24, 2015

Jan Gustafsson analyzes the difficult endgame between Anish Giri and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in Round 5, Game 2.

Although he was incredibly bright during the postgame, having won, Anish Giri really agonized during that endgame.

He bows his head over the board and at one point almost touches the piece with his nose. Jan Gustafsson wonders if he would have been penalized for that, having already been warned. See the last few moments of this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2vzIEd7Oys

The "swimming pool" reference is not mentioned, so it is no use looking for it, darn it.

[Jack Maguire]

Re: World Cup Baku 2015

(Olimpiu G. Urcan) – It is very likely that Peter Svidler owns Grunfeld Defence books that are older than Wei Yi.

Whereas Peter Svidler has been playing the Grunfeld "non-stop" for 29 years (of his 39) and Wei Yi is only 16, I thank that's a given (:

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Cup Baku 2015

(Olimpiu G. Urcan) – It is very likely that Peter Svidler owns Grunfeld Defence books that are older than Wei Yi.

Whereas Peter Svidler has been playing the Grunfeld "non-stop" for 29 years (of his 39) and Wei Yi is only 16, I thank that's a given (:

World Cup Baku 2015

Grunfeld Books

To see how many books on the Grunfeld one could have, I went in to the Catalogue of the National Library of the Netherlands and found:

17 books published after 1999

2 books published in 1999

43 books published before 1999

Wei Yi was born June 2, 1999

How many of these Peter Svidler owns, it is impossible to say.

Congrats on the big posting coming up!

[Jack Maguire]

Re: World Cup Baku 2015

While I would surmise that Giri has no real preference for his semi-final opponent, never having played Wei Yi and plus 1, minus 1, equal 5 against Svidler, surely Eljanov will be strongly rooting for Karjakin today. Mamedyarov absolutely owns Eljanov with 5 wins, a single loss, and 4 draws at classical chess, and another 3 wins and a draw in 4 Rapid/Blitz games. That's a composite plus 8, minus 1, equal 5, or 75%. Bear in mind that's a good deal higher % than Carlsen's plus 11, minus 0, equal 18, or 69%, against Nakamura.

[Jack Maguire]

Re: World Cup Baku 2015

Given those Eljanov-Mamedyarov numbers just cited, Shakh must be considered an excellent bet at 8 to 1 to win the World Cup. Moreover, there's not a single player remaining who has a plus score against Mamedyarov. The strong favourite, Giri, at 6/5 (surely a bad bet at these odds) is plus 1, minus 2, equal 4 in his 7 classical encounters with Shakh and plus 4, minus 3, zero draws in 7 Rapid/Blitz games.

https://www.marathonbet.co.uk/en/betting/Chess/

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Cup Baku 2015

World Cup Baku 2015

September 25, 2015

Tiebreaks

The games:

Round 5, Game 3, Sept. 25, 2015
25+10
Svidler, Peter – Wei Yi
D97 Grunfeld, Russian Variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 O-O 7.e4 Be6 8.Qd3 c5 9.d5 Bg4 10.Ng5 h6 11.h3 Bc8 12.Nf3 e6 13.dxe6 Bxe6 14.Be3 Qe7 15.Rd1 Nc6 16.Qd6 Qxd6 17.Rxd6 c4 18.Rxe6 fxe6 19.Bxc4 Rfe8 20.Nb5 Na5 21.Bd3 Rec8 22.Ke2 Nc4 23.Nxa7 Nxe3 24.Nxc8 Nxg2 25.Ne7+ Kf7 26.Nxg6 Kxg6 27.Rg1 Rxa2 28.Rxg2+ Kf7 29.Ne5+ Kf8 30.Ng6+ Kf7 31.Nf4 Rxb2+ 32.Ke3 Bf8 33.Bc4 Rb6 34.Nxe6 Rxe6 35.e5 Nd7 36.f4 b5 37.Bxe6+ Kxe6 38.Rd2 b4 39.f5+ Kxf5 40.Rxd7 Kxe5 41.Kd3 Kf6 42.Rd5 Ke6 43.Rb5 Kf6 44.Ke4 Be7 45.Kf4 Bd6+ 46.Ke4 Be7 47.Kf4 Bd6+ 48.Kg4 Ke6 49.Kh5 Kd7 50.Kxh6 Kc6 51.Rf5 b3 52.Rf1 Kc5 53.h4 b2 54.Rb1 Be5 55.Kg6 Kc4 56.Rxb2 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Game 3, Sept. 25, 2015
25+10
Karjakin, Sergey – Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
C67 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence, Open Variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.h3 Ke8 10.Nc3 Be6 11.g4 Ne7 12.Nd4 Bd7 13.f4 h5 14.f5 hxg4 15.hxg4 Rh4 16.Rf4 Nd5 17.Nxd5 cxd5 18.Nf3 Rh8 19.Be3 c5 20.c3 g5 21.Nxg5 Bh6 22.Rf2 Rg8 23.Rh2 Bxg5 24.Bxg5 Bxf5 25.gxf5 Rxg5+ 26.Rg2 Rxg2+ 27.Kxg2 Ke7 28.Rd1 Rg8+ 29.Kf3 Rg5 30.Kf4 Rg2 31.Rxd5 b6 32.b3 Rf2+ 33.Ke4 Re2+ 34.Kf3 Rxa2 35.Rd3 Ra1 36.Ke4 Re1+ 37.Kd5 f6 38.exf6+ Kxf6 39.Rf3 Re5+ 40.Kc6 c4 41.bxc4 Rc5+ 42.Kb7 Rxc4 43.Kxa7 b5 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Game 4, Sept. 25, 2015
25+10
Wei Yi – Svidler, Peter
C50 Giuoco Pianissimo

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d3 Nf6 5.h3 d6 6.c3 a6 7.Bb3 Ba7 8.Nbd2 h6 9.Qe2 Be6 10.Bxe6 fxe6 11.Nf1 O-O 12.Ng3 Qe8 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.Qxe3 Nh5 15.Nxh5 Qxh5 16.O-O Ne7 17.Kh2 Rf6 18.d4 Raf8 19.Ng1 Ng6 20.g3 Qg5 21.Qe2 h5 22.dxe5 dxe5 23.Rad1 h4 24.Rd3 hxg3+ 25.Rxg3 Qh4 26.Qe3 Qh5 27.Rg4 Nf4 28.Qg3 Qh7 29.Rg5 R8f7 30.Rd1 Qh6 31.Qg4 Kh7 32.Rd8 g6 33.f3 Nh5 34.Qg2 Rf8 35.Rd7+ R6f7 36.Rd1 Qg7 37.Qg4 Qf6 38.h4 Nf4 39.Kh1 Kg7 40.Rd2 Rh8 41.Qg3 Rh6 42.c4 Kf8 43.b3 Rfh7 44.Rh2 Ke8 45.Rg4 Kd7 46.Qf2 Kc8 47.Ne2 Nxe2 48.Qxe2 Rxh4 49.Rhxh4 Rxh4+ 50.Rxh4 Qxh4+ 51.Kg2 Qg5+ 52.Kh2 Kd7 53.Qd3+ Ke7 54.Qc3 Qf4+ 1/2-1/2


Round 5, Game 4, Sept. 25, 2015
25+10
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar – Karjakin, Sergey
E21 Nimzo-Indian, Three Knights

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 b6 5.Bd2 Bb7 6.g3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Bg2 O-O 9.O-O d5 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Qc2 Nd7 12.Nxd5 Bxd5 13.Ng5 g6 14.Rad1 Bxg2 15.Kxg2 Be7 16.Ne4 Qc8 17.Qxc8 Rfxc8 18.Bg5 Nc5 19.Bxe7 Nxe4 20.f3 Rc7 21.Bd8 Rcc8 22.Bh4 Nc5 23.Rd2 Kg7 24.Rfd1 e5 25.Rd6 Ne6 26.Rxe6 fxe6 27.Rd7+ Kg8 28.Bf6 Rc2 29.Rg7+ Kf8 30.Rxh7 Rxe2+ 31.Kh3 e4 32.Kg4 exf3 33.Kxf3 Rc2 34.Kg4 Rc5 35.Rh8+ Kf7 36.Rxa8 Kxf6 37.Rxa7 Rc2 38.b4 Rc4+ 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Game 5, Sept. 25, 2015
10+10
Svidler, Peter – Wei Yi
D97 Grunfeld, Russian Variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 O-O 7.e4 Be6 8.Qb5 Bd7 9.Qb3 c5 10.d5 Qb6 11.Bc4 Bg4 12.Be3 Nbd7 13.Nd2 Ne5 14.h3 Bc8 15.Be2 e6 16.Qxb6 axb6 17.f4 Ned7 18.dxe6 fxe6 19.Bc4 Nb8 20.O-O Nc6 21.e5 Ne8 22.a3 g5 23.fxg5 Nxe5 24.Be2 Nd6 25.g4 Bd7 26.Nce4 Nxe4 27.Nxe4 Bc6 28.Nf6+ Kh8 29.Bd2 Ng6 30.Bc3 e5 31.Kh2 h6 32.Nh5 hxg5 33.Bd3 Nh4 34.Nxg7 Nf3+ 35.Kg3 Kxg7 36.Bf5 Nd4 37.Rae1 Rae8 38.Re3 Rf7 39.Rfe1 Rxf5 40.gxf5 Nxf5+ 41.Kg4 Nxe3+ 42.Rxe3 Kf6 43.Re1 Bd7+ 44.Kg3 Bf5 45.h4 gxh4+ 46.Kxh4 Bd3 47.Kg4 Bf5+ 48.Kf3 Bd7 49.Rxe5 Rxe5 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Game 5, Sept. 25, 2015
10+10
Karjakin, Sergey – Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 d6 5.O-O Be7 6.c3 O-O 7.Re1 a6 8.Ba4 b5 9.Bc2 d5 10.Nbd2 d4 11.h3 Nd7 12.Bb3 Bb7 13.Bd5 dxc3 14.bxc3 Bd6 15.Nb3 Nb6 16.c4 Na4 17.Bd2 Qe7 18.Qc2 bxc4 19.dxc4 Bb4 20.Bxc6 Bxc6 21.Bxb4 Qxb4 22.Nxe5 Qd6 23.Nxc6 Qxc6 24.Nd4 Qc5 25.Nb3 Qe5 26.Rad1 Rfe8 27.Re3 Rab8 28.Rd5 Qb2 29.Qxb2 Nxb2 30.c5 Nc4 31.Re2 a5 32.Rd4 a4 33.Rxc4 axb3 34.axb3 Rxb3 35.Rd2 Kf8 36.f3 Rb5 1-0

Round 5, Game 6, Sept. 25, 2015
10+10
Wei Yi – Svidler, Peter
A01 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack, Modern Variation

1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bd6 5.Ne2 O-O 6.O-O Re8 7.Ng3 a6 8.Be2 Bf8 9.c4 d5 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Nc3 Be6 12.Rc1 Ndb4 13.d3 Qd7 14.a3 Nd5 15.Nce4 a5 16.Ng5 Nb6 17.Nxe6 Qxe6 18.Bg4 Qd6 19.Qc2 Nd5 20.Rfd1 Red8 21.Bf3 g6 22.Ne4 Qe6 23.Nc5 Bxc5 24.Qxc5 Ra6 25.Qc4 Rb6 26.g3 Nde7 27.Qxe6 fxe6 28.b4 axb4 29.axb4 Nd5 30.Bc3 Rd7 31.d4 exd4 32.Bxd4 Rxb4 33.Bc5 Ra4 34.Be2 Ra5 35.e4 Nf6 36.Rxd7 Nxd7 37.Be3 Kf7 38.Rb1 Nd8 39.f4 b6 40.Rd1 Ke7 41.f5 exf5 42.exf5 Nf7 43.Bf4 Nde5 44.Rc1 c6 45.Be3 b5 46.Bc5+ Kf6 47.fxg6 hxg6 48.Rf1+ Ke6 49.Bd1 Ng5 50.Bb3+ Nc4 51.Kg2 Ra8 52.Bb4 Ne4 53.Re1 Kd5 54.Rd1+ Ke5 55.Re1 Kd4 56.Rd1+ Ke3 57.Rc1 c5 58.Re1+ Kd4 59.Rd1+ Ke5 60.Bxc4 bxc4 61.Be1 Ra3 62.Kf1 Ra2 63.Rc1 Kd4 64.Rd1+ Ke3 65.Rc1 Kd3 66.Rd1+ Nd2+ 67.Bxd2 Rxd2 68.Ke1 c3 0-1

Round 5, Game 6, Sept. 25, 2015
10+10
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar – Karjakin, Sergey
E21 Nimzo-Indian, Three Knights

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 b6 5.g3 Bb7 6.Bg2 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 O-O 8.O-O d6 9.d5 Na6 10.Nd4 e5 11.Nf5 Bc8 12.Qc2 Nc5 13.e4 Bxf5 14.exf5 h6 15.h3 Re8 16.Be3 Qd7 17.g4 Qa4 18.Qe2 Nfd7 19.h4 f6 20.Kh2 Kf7 21.Kg3 Rh8 22.Rh1 e4 23.Bd4 Ne5 24.Bxe5 dxe5 25.Bxe4 Rad8 26.Rab1 Qa3 27.Rhc1 Rd6 28.f3 Ke7 29.Rc2 Kd8 30.Qe3 Kc8 31.Rb4 Rhd8 32.Rcb2 Re8 33.Rb5 Kd7 34.Bc2 Ke7 35.Kf2 a6 36.R5b4 Kf7 37.Ke2 Qa5 38.Kd2 Qa3 39.Kc1 Rh8 40.Kb1 Rdd8 41.Ka1 Rd6 42.Kb1 Rdd8 43.Be4 Rd6 44.Rg2 Kf8 45.Ka1 Ke7 46.Rb1 Kd8 47.Rgb2 Kc8 48.Bc2 Rdd8 49.Rg1 Rd6 50.Rbb1 Rdd8 51.Rgc1 Rd6 52.Be4 Rdd8 53.Qd2 Rd6 54.Qc2 Qa4 55.Qe2 Qa3 56.Qd2 Rdd8 57.Rh1 Rd6 58.Qc2 Qa4 59.g5 hxg5 60.Qxa4 Nxa4 61.hxg5 Rdd8 62.Bc2 Nc5 63.Rbg1 Kd7 64.Kb2 Kd6 65.a4 Nb7 66.Kc1 Na5 67.Bd3 Nb3+ 68.Kd1 Nc5 69.Bc2 Nb7 70.Ke2 Na5 71.Bd3 Nb7 72.Ke3 Nc5 73.Bc2 Rdf8 74.Kf2 Nb7 75.Ke3 Nc5 76.Ke2 Nb7 77.Kf2 Nc5 78.Ke3 Nb7 79.f4 Nc5 80.Kf3 e4+ 81.Kg4 Re8 82.Re1 a5 83.Rh5 Kd7 84.Re2 Kd6 85.Bd1 Nd3 86.Reh2 Rxh5 87.Rxh5 Nf2+ 0-1

Thus, Svidler and Karjakin go on to the next round on Sunday and Mamedyarov and Wei Yi go home.

We were treated to three master classes almost when, successively, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura and Peter Svidler joined the commentary group. They all looked happy. There is no shame in having one bad day and losing in the knockout.

In the semifinal, we will have Peter Svidler-Anish Giri and Pavel Eljanov-Sergey Karjakin.

Kasimdzhanov implies in a tweet that this is a triumph for the Russian Chess School!

[Jack Maguire]

Re: World Cup Baku 2015

These 'Chess By The Numbers' probabilities are looking somewhat dubious after Giri's meltdown against Svidler today. Imho, any 'chess math' that gives Giri a better than 70% chance of beating Svidler in a 2 game match is seriously flawed (:

https://chessnumbers.wordpress.com/w...015-world-cup/

[Jack Maguire]

Re: World Cup Baku 2015

Like a number of prohibitive favourites (Caruana, Nakamura, and Topalov all spring to mind) before him, Giri now falls to the longest shot on the board at 21/2.

https://www.marathonbet.co.uk/en/betting/Chess/

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Cup Baku 2015

World Cup Baku 2015

September 27, 2015
Round Six, Game One
Semifinals

Dirk and Miro in the commentators chairs again.

The players have their tables on an elevated stage in the Grand Ballroom of the Fairmont Hotel. ChessCast/Livestream is handling the technical part of the broadcast. I was surprised to see that Livestream headquarters in Brooklyn and has offices in Los Angeles, London, Bangalore (India) and Zaporizhia (Ukraine).

In the same format as here, Eljanov and Karjakin played in World Cup 2013 Tromso. In Round 3, Karjakin eliminated Eljanov 4.5-3.5. In Round 4 Andreikin knocked out Karjakin. They know each other well. They were members of the same Ukrainian National Team in 2004.

In his first five games with Wei Yi Peter had promising positions but wasn’t able to win. He finally go through in game 6. In an interview at the end he said:

“The first two games were decent and I had my chances. Three and four were just horrible and he made the last mistake. The quality dropped significantly. People are tired. Mistakes start creeping in!

“I had so many chances in the first three games. It's kind of ironic that the game I won, strategically the position was just awful.

“People start to lose their minds. As the match progressed, it became more evident that we're not in control of what's going on. I got very lucky in the final one.”

Anish Giri just goes wrong with 29.Nf5 and 30.Bxa4, loses and has to win with black to stay in the World Cup.

World Cup Baku 2015
Round 6, Game 1, Sept. 27, 2015
Classical
Giri, Anish – Svidler Peter
C92 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Flohr-Zaitsev System

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.c3 d6 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 exd4 12.cxd4 Nd7 13.Nf1 Na5 14.Bc2 Bf6 15.Rb1 c5 16.d5 Nc4 17.b3 Nce5 18.N3h2 Ng6 19.Ng3 Bc8 20.Rf1 Nb6 21.Ng4 Bxg4 22.hxg4 h6 23.Nf5 Ne7 24.Ne3 b4 25.g3 a5 26.Kg2 a4 27.bxa4 Qd7 28.Qd3 Ng6 29.Nf5 Nxa4 30.Bxa4 Rxa4 31.Rh1 Ne7 32.g5 hxg5 33.Ne3 Rxa2 34.Bd2 Ng6 35.Nf5 Ne5 36.Qe2 g6 37.Nh6+ Kg7 38.Nf5+ Kg8 39.Nh6+ Kg7 40.Nf5+ gxf5 41.Qh5 Ng6 0-1

- Nice job by Svidler in winning this game. IMHO Giri has been the toughest player to beat this year. He had a long undefeated streak going earlier.

(Mark Crowther) - Anish Giri has been impressive in the event so far but he had a terrible day today. He just went very badly wrong. It happens.

(Peter Svidler) - It’s more that he lost the game than I won it. And in a situation where the Anish had to make a decision at each move, I only had one reply and at some point he made a mistake. I think the series moves 27. bxa4, 28. Qd3, 29., Nf5 30. Bxa4 may not be correct.

(Olimpiu G. Urcan) - Let's not read too much into Anish Giri losing after a long streak on a day with a rare supermoon lunar eclipse.

(A Zaitsev on Giri-Svidler) - Fond memories of this variation, which was all the rage when I joined my chess club 25 years ago.
___________

The guys field some questions from the viewers:

Que – I have a two year old child, when is the best time to teach him chess?

Guys (shocked) – He hasn’t started yet?!

Generally, there is a theory that you can never start too young. They teach children tennis at 6 because that is the earliest they can handle a racquet, so perhaps they can get a couple of years of chess in first. It helps to develop mental activity and logic, even if the child doesn’t pursue the game. Magnus’s father wanted him to learn at 4 but he wasn’t interested until he was 8 and the rest is history.

Miro says that in his time, the only strategic game available was chess, there were no computers. And that is what made it so attractive.

Que – How does a grandmaster visualize the board and evaluate the position?

Miro – That is hard to say, the way to explain it, it is like a diagram not a 3D picture of the board. If you are reading a chess book and you work out variations from the initial diagram in your head, it is like that. You can develop an intuition and that tells you when to pursue a line or to stop. You have seen Peter Svidler sitting at the board calculating but not really looking at the board.
Pattern recognition plays a part. With recognizable positions, grandmasters can remember them easily.

Dirk – Musicians can read a musical score and hear the music!

I had an extraordinary experience. Before the Internet, when games became readily available online, I gave Garry Kasparov a few bulletins from a recent tournament. And in the last game (with no diagrams), White had agreed to a draw but in fact was winning. Garry looked at the score, read it through and then said, “Kg2?”, which, in fact, was the move that would have won!.
______

Round 6, Game 1, Sept. 27, 2015
Classical
Eljanov, Pavel – Karjakin, Sergey
E15 Queen’s Indian, Nimzowitsch Variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 c6 8.Bc3 d5 9.Ne5 Nfd7 10.Nxd7 Nxd7 11.Nd2 O-O 12.O-O Rc8 13.Re1 c5 14.cxd5 exd5 15.Rc1 cxd4 16.Bxd4 Nc5 17.Bb2 d4 18.Nf3 d3 19.exd3 Nxd3 20.Rxc8 Qxc8 21.Rxe7 Nxb2 22.Qd7 Qc1+ 23.Re1 Qc8 24.Qxc8 Rxc8 25.Bh3 Rd8 26.Ne5 g6 27.Bf1 Bxf1 28.Kxf1 a5 29.Re3 f6 30.Ng4 Kf7 31.Rc3 h5 32.Ne3 Nd3 33.Rc7+ Ke6 34.Rb7 Nc1 35.Rxb6+ Kf7 36.Rb7+ Ke6 37.Rb6+ Kf7 38.a4 Rd3 39.b4 axb4 40.Rxb4 Ra3 41.Nc4 Ra1 42.Kg2 Nd3 43.Rb7+ Ke6 44.Rb6+ Ke7 45.a5 Ra4 46.Rc6 Ne1+ 47.Kf1 Nf3 48.Rc7+ Ke6 49.Ke2 Nxh2 50.Kd3 Nf3 51.Rc6+ Kf5 52.Kc3 g5 53.Rc5+ Ke6 54.Kb3 Ra1 55.Kb2 Ra4 56.Kb3 Ra1 57.Kb2 Ra4 58.Nb6 Rb4+ 59.Ka3 Rb1 60.Ka2 Rb4 61.Rc6+ Kf5 62.a6 Ne5 63.Rxf6+ Kxf6 64.Nd5+ Ke6 65.Nxb4 Nd7 66.Nd3 Kd6 67.a7 Nb6 68.Kb3 Kc7 69.Kc3 Kb7 70.Kd4 Kxa7 71.Ke4 Nc4 72.Ne5 Nb2 73.Nf7 h4 74.Nxg5 hxg3 75.fxg3 Kb7 76.g4 Kc8 77.Kf5 Nd1 1/2-1/2

- How did Eljanov miss 22.Qd2? For a GM this is such an easy move (22.Qd2 Nd3 23.Rxa7 Nc5 24.Nd4 Bb7 25.Bxb7 Nxb7)

Instead Eljanov played his queen to d7, and allowed his opponent to equalize. Karjakin seems to have missed one or two easy draws, and eventually had to defend a RN vs RN ending a pawn down, which he did splendidly.