Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

[Wayne Komer]

Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

November 22, 2016

The Korchnoi Zurich Chess Challenge will be held April 13-17, 2017.

The venue will be Congress House, which overlooks Lake Zurich. The famous Zurich 1953 Candidates’ Tournament, commemorated by David Bronstein’s book, was held there.

The field will be eight players, and while the time control will still be rapid, it will go from last year's experimental 40+10 to 45+30 for this year. There will also be a blitz portion, and just like last year, wins in rapid count for two points while wins in blitz count for one.

Already committed are GMs Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand, Hikaru Nakamura, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Peter Svidler, and Swiss number-one Yannick Pelletier. In addition, GM Boris Gelfand has replaced GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The eighth player will be the player with the best result in the Nutcracker Tournament next month.

"It's boring to watch six to seven hour games," organizer Oleg Skvortsov told Chess.com. Ever the staunch believer in capturing the audience's attention, Skvortsov remained certain that shorter games are the only way to market the game to the next generation.

Gelfand tops the list of the four experienced "Kings" in December's Nutcracker event. He will be joined by GMs Alexey Dreev, Alexei Shirov, and Alexander Morozevich (average age 44.5). The four "Princes" will be the younger GMs Grigoriy Oparin, Vladimir Fedoseev, Daniil Dubov, and Vladislav Artemiev (average age 19.5). In the event that Gelfand returns the best individual score at the Nutcracker, the second-place finisher will receive the final Zurich invite.

Whoever qualifies to attend Zurich will be treated to an expanded opening concert. Last year's dual violinists and one cellist will all return, and one additional concert violinist, Leonard Schreiber of Belgium, will join them.

https://www.chess.com/news/view/zuri...-explains-9103

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

[QUOTE=Wayne Komer;108668]The venue will be Congress House, which overlooks Lake Zurich. The famous Zurich 1953 Candidates’ Tournament, commemorated by David Bronstein’s book, was held there.[QUOTE]
"Four candidates, Max Euwe, David Bronstein, Gideon Stahlberg, and Miguel Najdorf, wrote books about this significant event" from an introduction of the Najdorf book. The tournament became a legend.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

January 20, 2017

Press Release

Date

Wed, 12 April 2017 - Mon, 17 April 2017

Venue

Opening: Hotel Savoy Baur en ville (Grand Ballroom), Paradeplatz, Zürich

Tournament: Kongresshaus (Gartensaal), Zürich

Participants

GM Kramnik Vladimir (RUS), ELO 2810
GM Anand Viswanathan (IND) ELO 2785
GM Nakamura Hikaru (USA) ELO 2784
GM Nepomniachtchi Ian (RUS) ELO 2767
GM Svidler Peter (RUS) ELO 2748
GM Gelfand Boris (ISR) ELO 2720
GM Oparin, Grigoryi (RUS) ELO 2616
GM Pelletier Yannick (SUI) ELO 2577

Format/Time Control

7 rounds New Classical with a time control of 45min + 30sec from 13 April to 16 April
7 rounds Blitz with a time control of 10min + 5sec on 17 April

Program

12 April: 6 p.m.: Opening ceremony with concert and Opening Blitz
13 April: 5 p.m.: New Classical, 1st round
14 April: 11 a.m.: 2nd round, 5 p.m. 3rd round
15 April: 11 a.m.: 4th round, 5 p.m. 5th round
16 April: 11 a.m.: 6th round, 5 p.m. 7th round
17 April: 11 a.m.: Blitz tournament, 5 p.m.: Closing ceremony

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

April 6, 2017

The official site is:

http://www.zurich-cc.com/en/

Opening Ceremony

The 2017 Kortchnoi Zurich Chess Challenge will start on 12 April in the Hotel Savoy Baur en Ville with an impressive opening ceremony that is highlighted by a musical performance of four superb musicians:

Ilya Gringolts, one of the most inspirational violinists today, Boris Adrianov, a multiple international prize winner for his amazing cellist talents, Dmitry Illarionov, probably the most talented guitarists of modern Russia, and Leonard Schreiber, a Belgian violinist with a reputation of being a preeminent soloist, who has had the honour to play for several Heads of States and Royalties even in private concerts. The audience in the Savoy can therefore expect a musical performance of an outstanding artistic value.

In addition, the opening ceremony will welcome the 12th World Chess Champion and chess legend Anatoli Karpov, the 1993 Vice World Champion Jan Timman, the Russian/Dutch Grandmaster Gennadi Sosonko, who was, like Karpov and Timman, a long-time rival and competitor of Viktor Kortchnoi, plus several other honorable guests well-known throughout the chess world and beyond.
The ceremony will be followed by a round robin Blitz tournament of the 8 participants of the Grandmaster tournament.

The entire event can be followed in a livestream that will be shown on the tournament website, www.zurich-cc.com

The hosts are also happy to announce, that to date 13 grandmasters with an ELO rating of 2600 and above have registered for the Kortchnoi Open that will be played parallel to the Grandmaster Tournament. Among them are well-known world class players like Alexei Shirov, Alexander Motylev, Eltaj Safarli, Eduardo Iturrizaga, Aleksandr Rakhmanov and Loek van Wely.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

April 12, 2017

The official site is:

http://www.zurich-cc.com/en/

Opening Blitz: Nakamura sets his claims

Written by Marc Lang

The Korchnoi Zurich Chess Challenge 2017 has had its first decisive result: The American Hikaru Nakamura won the Opening Blitz and thus made it very clear that he intends to repeat his success from 2015 and 2016 and therefore become the first player to win the tournament three times in a row.

Although the American's success could readily be expected, the course of the tournament indicated a small sensation at first - after the penultimate round, it was "Oldie" Boris Gelfand who was leading by half a point! But he failed to make the last step towards victory and fell victim to an unusual h4 by Ian Nepomniachtchi in the Najdorf Sicilian while Nakamura drew against Anand and therefore surpassed the Israeli with the better Sonneborn-Berger.

With this win, Nepomniachtchi moved up to equal forth place together with Indian Viswanathan Anand and behind of Vladimir Kramnik who scored a solid +1. The two "underdogs" scored very well in this extremely strong field. The local hero Yannick Pelletier recovered well after a devastating start with 0 out of 3 and managed to beat both Peter Svidler and Ian Nepomniachtchi. Grigoyi Oparin scored even better; after four round, he was trailing the leaders by half a point and only a blackout phase with two losses in a row cost him a place among the leaders.

The Opening Blitz has, however, no effect on the final rankings; it was held only to determine the pairings for the main tournament that will start tomorrow with

Kramnik - Anand
Nepomniachtchi - Svidler
Gelfand - Oparin
Nakamura - Pelletier

After the Opening, the tournament will now move on to the Kongresshaus, where the Grandmaster event will be hosted together with the Korchnoi Open. The 1st round will start tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. and will be broadcast and commented live on our website.
_________

Schedule
Date:
Wednesday, 12 April - Monday 17 April 2017

Venue:
New Classical and Blitz: Kongresshaus Zürich, Gartensaal

Rounds:
7 round robin both for the Classical and the Blitz tournament

Rate of play:
New Classical: 45 minutes per game with additional 30 seconds for each move

Blitz: 10 minutes per game with additional 5 seconds for each move

Please take note, that according to the rules of the Zurich Chess Challenge 2017 the winner of a Rapid game earns 2 points for the Overall Standings, in case of a draw each player earns 1 point and the loser 0 points.

In the Blitz games however, the winner earns 1 point, by a draw each player half a point and the loser 0 point.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

April 13, 2017

New Classical
Round One

Daniel King is the commentator. I have always thought that he sounds very much like those golf commentators that are parodied on The Simpsons.

He speaks fluent German and goes back in forth from English to German. It seems if you want to be a commentator these days, you should be a grandmaster and speak at least two languages.

The player tables are at one end of a large hall and the audience has all the rest. They seem somewhat noisy to me. A large portrait of Korchnoi overlooks the action. Anatoly Karpov is watching and Jan Timman is supposedly around. Anatoly was seen talking with Kirsan Ilyuhmzhinov yesterday at the opening. There are rumours that when Kirsan’s term is ended that he will support Karpov in a run for the presidency.

The sponsor, Oleg Skvortsov, likes a faster time limit for classic chess than is generally played now. He also likes fighting chess. He played an exhibition game against Vishy Anand after the opening, supposedly one in the romantic style. I attach it to the other Round One games.

There is also some question as to whether FIDE will still be stationed in Athens, where Georgios Makropoulos reigns supreme. This question in an interview with Vladimir Kramnik:

Oleg Skvortsov suggested an idea to move FIDE Headquarters from Athens to Zurich. All major sports organizations are based in Switzerland. How do you like this idea?

Kramnik: I support it very ardently. Zurich is a city with rich chess tradition, unlike Athens. The world's oldest chess club is located in Zurich – it is more than 200 years old, and I often hold lectures in it. Oleg Skvortsov, who is a friend of mine, organizes a big tournament in Zurich for sixth straight year, and is an honored member of the aforementioned club. Also, Switzerland is ideally suited for the base of FIDE Headquarters. The country has always been perfectly neutral, and the fact that it hosts the IOC Headquarters speaks for itself. In the past FIDE was also based in Switzerland – in Lucerne and Lausanne. Perhaps one could start changes in FIDE with that.

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/nak...h-blitz-opener

After today, there are two classical matches a day. I understand they are not FIDE-rated.

Hikaru Nakamura is the favorite here but the game of the day is between Vladimir Kramnik and Vishy Anand.

Peter Svidler has been caught in some opening prep by Ian Neopomniachtchi.

After drawing his game against Oparin, Boris comes in to talk to Daniel. He hopes to play in the Grand Prix series, starting with Moscow. Boris likes to play in Zurich and especially enjoyed the concert at the opening.

Boris has a memory of visiting Viktor Korchnoi in the hospital after he had a stroke and he did not recognize any of the masters. They brought out a chessboard and then Viktor’s whole demeanor changed and he played very good chess.

Daniel said that he played Viktor four times in his life. In the two games he lost, Viktor was very gracious at the postmortem. After the two games he beat Viktor, there was no postmortem at all.

Daniel did interview Viktor after one London Chess Classic tournament and he asked him about Boris Gelfand’s game. Viktor was hard of hearing and said, “About my girlfriend’s game?”

Daniel: No, no, Boris Gelfand

Viktor: My girlfriend?

Nakamura is playing a lot of chess lately. He played in Gibraltar, the FIDE Grand Prix and the American Championship.

He is competing everywhere he can this year. Norway and Paris are coming up and his schedule will be a lot heavier.

Svidler saves his game. Anand goes down to Kramnik.

The games:

Korchnoi Zurich Challenge
Exhibition Game
April 12, 2017
Skvortsov, Oleg – Anand, Vishy
C53 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.b4 Bb6 7.e5 d5 8.exf6 dxc4 9.Qe2+ Be6 10.b5 Nb4 11.fxg7 Rg8 12.cxb4 Qf6 13.O-O Qxg7 14.g3 O-O-O 15.a4 d3 16.Qb2 Qxg3+ 17.hxg3 Rxg3+ 18.Kh2 Rxf3 19.Bg5 Bd4 20.Qd2 Rg8 21.Ra3 h6 22.Rg1 Rh3+ 23.Kg2 Rxg5+ 24.Kf1 Rxg1+ 25.Kxg1 Bd5 26.Ra1 0-1

(Pavel Eljanov) - Skvortsov-Anand - one of the most attractive and romantic game I've ever seen. Like at time of old maestros!

Korchnoi Zurich Challenge
Round 1, Apr. 13, 2017
Kramnik, Vladimir – Anand, Vishy
A30 English, symmetrical variation

1.c4 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.e3 e6 6.d4 cxd4 7.exd4 O-O 8.Nf3 d5 9.b3 Ne4 10.Bb2 Nxc3 11.Bxc3 b6 12.cxd5 exd5 13.O-O Nc6 14.Ne5 Nxe5 15.dxe5 Be6 16.Re1 Qd7 17.Qd2 Rac8 18.Bd4 Rc7 19.a4 Rfc8 20.Bf1 Bf8 21.Ba6 Rd8 22.h4 Bc5 23.b4 Bxd4 24.Qxd4 Qe7 25.Bd3 Kg7 26.a5 Rdc8 27.axb6 axb6 28.Bf1 b5 29.Bd3 Rc4 30.Bxc4 Qxb4 31.Rab1 Qxc4 32.Qd2 h5 33.Rbc1 Qb3 34.Rxc8 Bxc8 35.Qf4 Bf5 36.e6 Bxe6 37.Qe5+ Kh7 38.Ra1 1-0

Round 1, Apr. 13, 2017
Nepomniachtchi Ian – Svidler Peter
B46 Sicilian, Taimanov variation

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.e5 Qc7 8.Bf4 f5 9.g4 Ne7 10.gxf5 Nxf5 11.Bd3 Be7 12.Bxf5 exf5 13.Rg1 O-O 14.Qh5 d5 15.O-O-O Kh8 16.Rd3 Be6 17.Rdg3 Rf7 18.Rh3 g5 19.Bxg5 f4 20.Bxf4 Raf8 21.Ne2 Bxh3 22.Qxh3 Qc8 23.e6 Rxf4 24.Qg3 Rg8 25.Qxf4 Rxg1+ 26.Nxg1 Qxe6 27.Nf3 Bd6 28.Qe3 Qf6 29.Kb1 Kg7 30.a3 a5 31.h3 h5 32.Qd3 Bc5 33.Qe2 Kh6 34.h4 Qf5 35.Qa6 Qxf3 36.Qxc6+ Kg7 37.Qxc5 Qh1+ 38.Ka2 Qxh4 39.Qxd5 Qg4 40.c4 h4 41.c5 Kf6 42.Qd8+ Kf7 43.Qc7+ Kf6 44.Qd8+ Kf7 45.Qd3 Qe6+ 46.Kb1 Qe1+ 47.Ka2 Qe6+ 48.Ka1 Qe1+ 49.Ka2 1/2-1/2

Round 1, Apr. 13, 2017
Gelfand, Boris – Oparin, Grigoriy
D37 QGD, Hastings variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Be2 dxc4 8.O-O a6 9.a4 c5 10.d5 Nxd5 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.Qxd5 Nf6 13.Qe5 Be6 14.Ng5 Bd7 15.Bxc4 Qe8 16.a5 Bb5 17.b3 h6 18.Nf3 Rd8 19.Qf5 Qc6 20.Qc2 Nd5 21.Rad1 Nxf4 22.exf4 Qc7 23.Ne5 Bxc4 24.Qxc4 Bf6 25.b4 Bxe5 26.fxe5 Rxd1 27.Rxd1 Rd8 28.Rxd8+ Qxd8 29.h3 cxb4 30.Qxb4 Qc7 31.f4 1/2-1/2

Round 1, Apr. 13, 2017
Nakamura Hikaru – Pelletier, Yannick
A07 Reti, King’s Indian Attack, Yugoslav variation

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 c6 4.O-O Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 6.d3 Nbd7 7.Qe1 e5 8.e4 dxe4 9.dxe4 Be7 10.Nbd2 O-O 11.Nh4 Re8 12.Nc4 Bf8 13.a4 Qc7 14.Bd2 Nc5 15.Ba5 b6 16.Bc3 Nfd7 17.f4 f6 18.fxe5 fxe5 19.Ne3 Ne6 20.Nef5 Rad8 21.Kh1 Nf6 22.Nh6+ gxh6 23.Rxf6 Nd4 24.Rf2 Bg6 25.Qe3 Qg7 26.Raf1 Be7 27.Nxg6 Qxg6 28.Be1 Rf8 29.b4 Rxf2 30.Rxf2 Rf8 31.c3 Rxf2 32.Bxf2 Ne6 33.h4 Nc7 34.Qd3 Qd6 35.Qc4+ Qe6 36.Qxe6+ Nxe6 37.Be3 Bf8 38.Bh3 Kf7 39.Bf1 Nc7 40.Bc4+ Kf6 41.Kg2 Ne8 42.Bg8 Kg7 43.Be6 Nf6 44.Kf3 Kg6 45.Bf5+ Kg7 46.Ke2 h5 47.Kd3 Kf7 48.a5 1-0

Tomorrow’s two matches:

Round Two, New Classical
6:30 a.m. Toronto/Montreal

1. Anand-Pelletier
2. Oparin-Nakamura
3. Svidler-Gelfand
4. Kramnik-Nepomniachtchi

Round Three, New Classical
11 a.m. Toronto/Montreal

1. Nepomniachtchi-Anand
2. Gelfand-Kramnik
3. Nakamura-Svidler
4. Pelletier-Oparin

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

April 14, 2017

New Classical
Rounds Two and Three

From the official site:

Round Two - Hikaru Nakamura scored his second successive win today against Grigoryi Oparin to take over the sole lead in the tournament. On second place is Vladimir Kramnik, who had an overwhelming position against Ian Nepomniachtchi and could have won almost as he pleased, but being up a piece in a rook ending, he allowed his opponent too much activity plus two connected passed pawns on the queenside that advanced further and further. In the end, Kramnik had to return the piece in order to stop the pawns and a drawn position was reached.

The second decisive result of today's morning round was Anand - Pelletier, where the Swiss player tried a rather passive variation in the French Defense that allowed him to get the bishop pair, but also lost a lot of time which Anand used to build up pressure on the kingside. Pelletier tried to stop the advance of Anand's pawns with an early ...h5, but Anand sacificed a pawn to open up the position on the queenside and to advance his h-pawn all the way down to h7, where it seriously cramped the Swiss player's position. After a few inaccuracies on Pelletier's side, Anand was able to win back the pawn on d5, thus gaining two conected pawns in the center that swept away all that came into their path. When the white queen finally penetrated into the black camp, Pelletier had to resign.

The only quiet draw happened in Svidler - Gelfand. It started as an English opening. Svidler played an unusual move very soon (Ng5) and at first seemed to get some nice active play, but Gelfand defended excellently and gained counterplay on Svidler's pawn weaknesses. A couple of moves later, a draw was called by a repetition of moves.

http://www.zurich-cc.com/en/145-kzcc...a-hastens-away

Round 2, Apr. 14, 2017
Anand, Vishy – Pelletier, Yannick
C11 French, Steinitz variation

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Be7 7.Be3 b6 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bb5 Ndb8 10.Qf2 c4 11.Ne2 a6 12.Bxc6+ Nxc6 13.c3 b5 14.g4 h5 15.gxh5 Rxh5 16.h4 Rh8 17.Qg2 Bf8 18.f5 exf5 19.Bg5 Qc7 20.h5 Be6 21.h6 Kd7 22.h7 Re8 23.Bd2 Kc8 24.a4 b4 25.Nf4 Qd7 26.Ng5 g6 27.Kf1 b3 28.Re1 Nd8 29.Re2 Qb7 30.Ngxe6 Nxe6 31.Nxd5 Be7 32.Nxe7+ Rxe7 33.d5 Nf8 34.Bh6 Re8 35.Bxf8 Rexf8 36.Rh4 Kd8 37.Rd2 Re8 38.e6 Re7 39.Qg5 1-0

Round 2, Apr. 14, 2017
Oparin, Grigoriy – Nakamura, Hikaru
C54 Giuoco Piano, d3 variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.O-O a6 7.a4 O-O 8.Re1 Ba7 9.h3 Ne7 10.Nbd2 Ng6 11.d4 Re8 12.Qb3 Qe7 13.Nf1 c6 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.Ng5 Rf8 16.a5 Nh4 17.g3 Ng6 18.Kg2 Ne8 19.Qc2 Nd6 20.Bb3 Kh8 21.Qe2 h6 22.Qh5 Qe8 23.Be3 f6 24.Nf7+ Nxf7 25.Qxg6 Bxh3+ 26.Kh2 Bxf1 27.Bxa7 Ng5 28.Qxe8 Rfxe8 29.Rxf1 Rxa7 30.Rad1 b6 31.axb6 Rb7 32.Bc2 a5 33.Rd6 Rxb6 34.b3 Ne6 35.Rb1 Nc5 36.b4 axb4 37.Rxb4 Ra6 38.Rc4 Ra2 39.Bd1 Nb7 40.Rdxc6 Rxf2+ 41.Kg1 Rd2 42.Bh5 Ra8 43.Rc8+ Rxc8 44.Rxc8+ Kh7 45.Bg4 Nd6 46.Rc6 Kg6 47.Bf3 Nf7 48.c4 Ng5 49.Bg2 Kh5 50.c5 Kg4 51.Ra6 Rc2 52.c6 Kxg3 53.Ra3+ Kf4 54.Ra6 h5 0-1

Round 2, Apr. 14, 2017
Svidler, Peter – Gelfand, Boris
A30 English, symmetrical

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Ng5 e6 8.d3 Bg7 9.Nge4 b6 10.Qa4 Bb7 11.Bg5 f6 12.Bf4 Nxf4 13.Nxf6+ Kf7 14.gxf4 Bxf6 15.Bxc6 Bxc3+ 16.bxc3 Qf6 17.d4 Bxc6 18.Qxc6 Qxf4 19.e3 Qf6 20.Qc7+ Qe7 21.Qf4+ Qf6 22.Qc7+ Qe7 23.Qf4+ Qf6 1/2-1/2

Round 2, Apr. 14, 2017
Kramnik, Vladimir – Nepomniachtchi, Ian
A48 King’s Indian, Torre Attack

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.e3 O-O 5.Nbd2 d6 6.c3 c5 7.Bd3 b6 8.O-O Bb7 9.Re1 Nc6 10.h3 Rc8 11.Qe2 Rc7 12.a3 Qc8 13.e4 cxd4 14.cxd4 Nd7 15.e5 dxe5 16.d5 Nd4 17.Nxd4 exd4 18.Bxe7 Re8 19.d6 Rc5 20.f4 Nf6 21.Nb3 Rc6 22.Rac1 Nd5 23.Bb5 Nxf4 24.Qg4 Rxc1 25.Nxc1 d3 26.Nxd3 Nxd3 27.Qxc8 Bxc8 28.Rd1 Nxb2 29.Rc1 Bd4+ 30.Kf1 Nd3 31.Bxd3 Be6 32.Bb5 Rb8 33.d7 a6 34.Rd1 Bxd7 35.Bxd7 Be5 36.Rd5 Bb2 37.Bd6 Ra8 38.Rd2 Ba1 39.Bc7 b5 40.Ba5 Bf6 41.Re2 Kg7 42.Kf2 Bd4+ 43.Kf3 Bc5 44.Bc3+ Kf8 45.Bb4 Bxb4 46.axb4 Rd8 47.Bc6 Rd4 48.Re8+ Kg7 49.Re7 Rxb4 50.Bd5 Kf6 51.Rxf7+ Ke5 52.Bb7 a5 53.Rxh7 a4 54.Bc6 a3 55.Bxb5 Rxb5 56.Ra7 Rb3+ 57.Kg4 Kd4 58.Kg5 Kc3 1/2-1/2

Round Three

The games:

"I didn't do anything in the opening," Nepomniachtchi said of the offbeat beginning. "I just wanted to offer a draw, then I realized it's Sofia Rules...In the short time control, I shouldn't give up on my position so quick."

36…c3?, better is Qh5

Round 3, Apr. 14, 2017
Nepomniachtchi, Ian – Anand, Vishy
A35 English, symmetrical, Four Knights system

1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 g6 7.Ng5 e6 8.Nge4 f5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.Nc3 d4 11.Nd5 Bd6 12.d3 Be6 13.h4 Be5 14.Nf4 Bf7 15.Bd2 Rc8 16.Rc1 b6 17.O-O Bxf4 18.Bxf4 Bd5 19.e4 dxe3 20.fxe3 O-O 21.Bg5 Qd6 22.e4 Bxa2 23.exf5 gxf5 24.b3 Nd4 25.Bf4 Qe6 26.Re1 Qf7 27.b4 Bd5 28.bxc5 Bxg2 29.Kxg2 Rxc5 30.Rxc5 bxc5 31.Qa4 Rc8 32.Kh3 Ne6 33.Re5 c4 34.Qa6 Nxf4+ 35.gxf4 Rc7 36.Re2 c3 37.Qd6 Qd7 38.Rg2+ Kf7 39.Qe5 Qc6 40.Qg7+ Ke8 41.Re2+ 1-0

Round 3, Apr. 14, 2017
Gelfand, Boris – Kramnik, Vladimir
D35 QGD, Exchange variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 c5 7.Nf3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.Qxd2 O-O 11.Rc1 b6 12.Bd3 Bb7 13.O-O Nd7 14.Qf4 h6 15.h4 Rc8 16.Rxc8 Qxc8 17.Rc1 Qb8 18.Qxb8 Rxb8 19.Rc7 Nf6 20.Ne5 Bxe4 21.Bxe4 Nxe4 22.Rxf7 a5 23.Rc7 b5 24.f3 Nd6 25.Ra7 a4 26.h5 Nf5 27.Nc6 Rc8 28.Ra6 Kh7 29.Kf2 b4 30.g4 b3 31.axb3 axb3 32.gxf5 b2 33.Rb6 Rxc6 34.Rxb2 exf5 35.Ke3 Rc3+ 36.Kf4 g5+ 37.Kxf5 Rxf3+ 38.Ke4 Rf1 39.Rb7+ Kg8 40.d5 g4 41.Rb6 Kf7 42.Rxh6 g3 43.Rg6 Rh1 44.Rxg3 Rxh5 45.Kd4 Ke7 46.Kc5 Rh6 47.Rg7+ Kd8 1/2-1/2

Peter Svidler came in to the postmortem with Daniel and talked with machine gun-rapidity.

"Don't try this at home," was his warning to viewers. "Don't try to play this line... The position I had out of the opening, you usually grovel for a few hours and then perhaps not lose."

His saving grace was that same fundamental axiom of chess. "The old Soviet School of counting the pawn islands -- the old rule holds true," he said. Like golf, lower numbers are better, and Svidler at least had that going for him.

Nakamura overplayed his hand on the f-file, and the blockading/discovered defense tactic 23... Nf5 swung the initiative to Black for the first time all game. Svidler did not relent.

From Mike Klein on chess.com

https://www.chess.com/news/view/four...-nakamura-6261

- I just love Svidler, he can beat anyone on his day. Kind of like Ivanchuk.

Round 3, Apr. 14, 2017
Nakamura, Hikaru – Svidler, Peter
A36 English, symmetrical, Botvinnik System reversed

1.c4 g6 2.Nc3 c5 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.e3 e5 6.Nge2 Nge7 7.O-O O-O 8.Nd5 d6 9.Nec3 Bf5 10.d3 Qd7 11.a3 Bh3 12.Rb1 Bxg2 13.Kxg2 Nxd5 14.cxd5 Ne7 15.b4 cxb4 16.axb4 Bh6 17.e4 Bxc1 18.Rxc1 Rfc8 19.Qd2 Rc7 20.f4 Rac8 21.fxe5 dxe5 22.Rc2 Qd6 23.Qf2 Nf5 24.exf5 Rxc3 25.Rxc3 Rxc3 26.Qf3 gxf5 27.Qxf5 Qxd5+ 28.Kh3 Rc6 29.g4 Rd6 30.Rf3 Qe6 31.Qg5+ Kf8 32.Re3 Qh6+ 33.Qxh6+ Rxh6+ 34.Kg3 Rb6 35.Re4 f6 36.h4 Rd6 37.Re3 Rd4 38.g5 Kg7 39.b5 Rb4 40.gxf6+ Kxf6 41.Rf3+ Kg7 42.Rf2 Rxb5 43.Ra2 a5 44.Kg4 Kf6 45.Ra3 Kg6 46.h5+ Kf6 47.Ra1 Rb4+ 48.Kg3 a4 49.Rf1+ Kg5 0-1

Round 3, Apr. 14, 2017
Pelletier, Yannick – Oparin, Grigoriy
E00 Catalan Opening

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.d4 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 O-O 7.O-O Nbd7 8.Qc2 Ne4 9.Nc3 Nxd2 10.Nxd2 c6 11.Rfd1 Rb8 12.Rac1 f5 13.e3 Nf6 14.Nf3 Bd6 15.Ne2 Qe7 16.Nf4 Bd7 17.Nd3 Be8 18.Nfe5 g5 19.f4 gxf4 20.gxf4 Bh5 21.Bf3 Bxf3 22.Nxf3 Kh8 23.c5 Bc7 24.Kh1 Rg8 25.Rg1 Ng4 26.Qe2 Rg6 27.Rg3 Rbg8 28.Rcg1 Qf8 29.Nf2 R6g7 30.h3 Nf6 31.Rxg7 Rxg7 32.Qd1 h6 33.Rxg7 Qxg7 34.Qg1 Ne4 35.Qxg7+ Kxg7 36.Kg2 b6 37.cxb6 axb6 38.Nxe4 fxe4 39.Ng1 Bd6 40.Ne2 Kf6 41.Kf2 c5 42.b3 cxd4 43.Nxd4 e5 44.fxe5+ Bxe5 45.Nc2 Ke6 46.a4 Kd6 47.Ke2 Bc3 48.Kf2 Kc5 49.Ke2 Kd6 1/2-1/2

Standing after Round Three

1-4 Svidler, Nepomniachtchi, Kramnik, Nakamura 4/6
5 Gelfand 3/6
6-7 Oparin, Anand 2/6
8 Pelletier 1/6

Tomorrow’s two matches:

Round Four, New Classical
6:30 a.m. Toronto/Montreal

1. Anand-Oparin
2. Svidler-Pelletier
3. Kramnik-Nakamura
4. Nepomniachtchi-Gelfand

Round Five, New Classical
11 a.m. Toronto/Montreal

1. Gelfand-Anand
2. Nakamura-Nepomniachtchi
3. Pelletier-Kramnik
4. Oparin-Svidler

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

April 15, 2017

New Classical
Rounds Four and Five

From the official site:

Round Four definitely belonged to Ian Nepomniachtchi who showed another example of his outstanding talent and creativity. His unfortunate victim, Boris Gelfand, employed his favorite Najdorf variation of the Sicilian which promised a real fight and that's how it turned out. For some time, both players tried to improve the position of their pieced to prepare them for the decisive clash, but just as it seemed that Gelfand would prepare an attack on the white king, it was Nepomniachtchi who used the lines opened by Gelfand to start an assault on the Israeli's monarch and with a few moves, Gelfand faced inevitable mate and had to resign.

Anand - Oparin began as a highly theoretical Spanish Opening that saw both players manoeuvring behind their lines for many moves and thus improving their position. But then Oparin decided to open lines on the queenside for active play, but this turned out to be a boomerang as the Indian used these lines to invade the Russian's camp with his queen, which eventually cost Oparin two pawns and forced him to resign.

Svidler - Pelletier saw a quiet Réti Opening that led the game to a long and high level positional battle without any tactical clashes. For some time it would seem that Svidler got a small advantage that he would be able to convert due to his ELO advantage of more than 200 points, but Pelletier defended well and went into an ending with a temporary pawn deficit, but active pieces that eventually forced Svidler to repeat moves.

The longest game of today's morning round was Kramnik - Nakamura where the Russian again showed his new love for apparently quiet queen's pawn openings. This time, he even employed the Colle System, which is a very rare guest on top-level tournaments due to its reputation of being rather drawish. But Kramnik wouldn't be Kramnik if he didn't manage to squeeze some play out of the position and soon exerted serious pressure on Nakamura's position. Later, Kramnik sacrificed a pawn to increase his influence over the dark squares and almost got a winning position, but after the erroneous 44.Qa5 (instead of 44.Qa7!), Nakamura managed to slip out into an ending with queens and minor piece that proved impossible to win.

Round 4, Apr. 15, 2017
Anand, Vishy – Oparin Grigoriy
C95 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Breyer

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Bc2 Re8 13.Nf1 Bf8 14.Ng3 g6 15.a4 c5 16.d5 c4 17.Bg5 h6 18.Be3 Nc5 19.Qd2 h5 20.Kh1 Qc7 21.Ng5 Bg7 22.Nf1 bxa4 23.Qe2 a5 24.Nd2 Ba6 25.Bxc5 Qxc5 26.Bxa4 Reb8 27.Bc6 Ra7 28.Ra2 Bh6 29.Ngf3 Nd7 30.Bxd7 Rxd7 31.Rea1 Rb5 32.Qxc4 Qxf2 33.Qc6 Ra7 34.b4 Bxd2 35.Nxd2 Qe3 36.Nc4 Qxe4 37.Nxd6 Qxd5 38.Qxd5 Rxd5 39.Ne4 Kg7 40.Rxa5 Bd3 41.Rxa7 Bxe4 42.Re1 1-0

Round 4, Apr. 15, 2017
Svidler, Peter – Pelletier, Yannick
A07 Reti, King’s Indian Attack

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 c6 4.O-O Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 6.c4 e6 7.d4 Nbd7 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Qb3 Qb6 10.Qe3+ Be7 11.Nh4 Bg6 12.Nxg6 hxg6 13.Nc3 Qd8 14.Qd3 O-O 15.Bf4 Re8 16.Rad1 Qa5 17.a3 a6 18.Rfe1 Rad8 19.b4 Qb6 20.Na4 Qa7 21.Nc5 a5 22.Bd2 b6 23.Nxd7 Rxd7 24.bxa5 bxa5 25.Rc1 c5 26.dxc5 Bxc5 27.e3 Rb8 28.Rb1 a4 29.Bc3 Rxb1 30.Rxb1 d4 31.Bxd4 Bxd4 32.exd4 Qxd4 33.Qc2 Rd8 34.Bf1 Qe4 35.Qxe4 Nxe4 36.Rb4 f5 37.Rxa4 Rd1 38.Kg2 1/2-1/2

Round 4, Apr. 15, 2017
Kramnik, Vladimir – Nakamura, Hikaru
D05 Queen’s Pawn game, Zukertort variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 e6 4.Nbd2 c5 5.b3 cxd4 6.exd4 Nc6 7.Bb2 g6 8.Bb5 Bg7 9.O-O O-O 10.Re1 Qb6 11.a4 Bd7 12.c4 a6 13.Bxc6 Bxc6 14.c5 Qc7 15.b4 Ne4 16.Ne5 Nxd2 17.Qxd2 b5 18.cxb6 Qxb6 19.Rec1 Rfc8 20.Rc5 Be8 21.Nd3 Rcb8 22.Bc3 Qd8 23.Ra5 Bf8 24.Nc5 Rb6 25.g3 Bd6 26.h4 Bc7 27.b5 axb5 28.Rxa8 Qxa8 29.axb5 Qc8 30.Ba5 Rxb5 31.Bxc7 Qxc7 32.Qg5 Rb8 33.h5 Qd8 34.Qe5 gxh5 35.Ra7 Rb6 36.Qxh5 Kg7 37.Qg4+ Kf8 38.Qf4 Kg7 39.Qg4+ Kf8 40.Kg2 h6 41.Qf3 Kg7 42.Qa3 Qf6 43.Ra8 Bb5 44.Qa5 Bc6 45.Qxb6 Bxa8 46.Qc7 h5 47.f3 Qf5 48.Nd7 Bb7 49.Qc5 Ba6 50.Kf2 Kh7 51.Ne5 Kg7 52.Nd7 Bc4 53.Qf8+ Kh7 54.Ne5 Qc2+ 55.Kg1 Qd1+ 56.Kh2 Qd2+ 57.Kh3 Bf1+ 58.Kh4 Qh2+ 59.Kg5 Qxg3+ 60.Ng4 hxg4 61.Qxf7+ Kh8 62.Qf8+ Kh7 63.Qf7+ Kh8 1/2-1/2

Round 4, Apr. 15, 2017
Nepomniachtchi, Ian – Gelfand, Boris
B92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky variation

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.Qd3 Be6 10.Bd2 Nbd7 11.Nd5 Bxd5 12.exd5 Nc5 13.Nxc5 dxc5 14.c4 Qc7 15.Rae1 Bd6 16.Qh3 Rfe8 17.Bc3 g6 18.Bd3 Nh5 19.g3 Re7 20.Re2 Rf8 21.Rfe1 f5 22.f3 Nf6 23.Qh4 Nd7 24.Qg5 Ref7 25.Qd2 Qd8 26.Kh1 Re8 27.a4 h5 28.a5 Kh7 29.Bc2 b5 30.axb6 Nxb6 31.Qd3 Qb8 32.g4 Nd7 33.gxf5 gxf5 34.f4 e4 35.Qh3 Kh6 36.Rg2 Bxf4 37.Bd1 1-0

Round Five - Oparin - Svidler can be called the game of today's round. It started as a highly unusual Sicilian Najdorf, with Oparin playing first 6.h4 and then 8.f4 - something you can only do when you are an established Grandmaster. If any chess pupil adopted this setup, he would definitely be disciplined by his chess trainer not to weaken his structure so early. However, chess has changed a lot since the days of Botvinnik and Petrosian and computer showed that you don't need to care about positional play anymore as long as you don't blunder anything. In any case, Svidler kept his cool and repelled the early assault on the kingside by conquering the strong outpost on e5 tor his knights. After both players had castled to the opposite wings, Oparin kept on attacking on the kingside, but the man from St. Petersburg not only managed to keep his king safe, but also launched a counterattack in the center that forced Oparin to exchange queens in a highly unfavourable moment. Svidler went into the driver's seat by attacking and winning Oparin's weak pawns and his passer on g4 finally won the day.

On the adjacent board, Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi fought a battle for the lead and one that could already have proven decisive in terms of the overall winner - had Nepo won, it would have been very difficult for the American to close the gap of three points in the final two rounds and the blitz. However, Nakamura played splendidly and quickly gained an advantage in what seemed to be some strange version of a Grunfeld Defense. He first exchanged black's strong bishop on g7, then split up his opponent's pawns on the queenside and finally raised the pressure on the dark squares until finally Nepomniachtchi had to give up a vital pawn and soon after had no moves left but to resign.

In Gelfand vs Anand, the Indian continued to follow main sponsor Oleg Skvortsov's advice at the Opening Ceremony: To fight for a win at all cost. And he succeeded again after bravely accepting Gelfand's pawn sacrifice in the opening. It first seemed that the Israeli had too much of an attack for the pawn, but Vishy quickly extinguished white's initiative and took over by returning the pawn in favour of a massive pawn chain in the center that shut out Gelfand's white-squared bishop from play. Soon Anand's rooks penetrated into the white camp and, with his knight joining the attack, he wove an unbreakable mating net around Gelfand's king. Anand is now the only player in the tournament who hasn't played a single draw so far (3 wins, 2 losses).

http://www.zurich-cc.com/en/158-kzcc...-nakamura-lead

Round 5, Apr. 15, 2017
Gelfand, Boris – Anand, Vishy
A37 English, symmetrical variation

1.c4 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 e6 6.d4 Nxd4 7.Bf4 Ne7 8.Nxd4 cxd4 9.Nb5 e5 10.Nd6+ Kf8 11.Bd2 Qb6 12.Nxc8 Rxc8 13.Qb3 f5 14.Bxb7 Rc7 15.Bg2 e4 16.O-O Kf7 17.Rfc1 Rhc8 18.Bf4 Qxb3 19.axb3 Rb7 20.Bd6 Ke6 21.c5 Rxb3 22.Rxa7 Nc6 23.Ra2 Be5 24.Bxe5 Kxe5 25.f3 d3 26.exd3 Nb4 27.d4+ Kxd4 28.Ra7 d5 29.fxe4 fxe4 30.Rd1+ Rd3 31.Rda1 Rxc5 32.Bf1 Rd2 33.Rxh7 Nd3 34.b4 Rcc2 35.b5 Ne5 36.Ra4+ Kc5 0-1

Round 5, Apr. 15, 2017
Nakamura, Hikaru – Nepomniachtchi, Ian
A48 King’s Indian, East Indian Defence

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.c4 O-O 5.Be2 b6 6.O-O Bb7 7.Nc3 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Bd2 Nd7 10.Nxd5 Bxd5 11.Bc3 c5 12.Rc1 e6 13.Qa4 a6 14.Qa3 Qb8 15.dxc5 Bxc3 16.Qxc3 bxc5 17.Nd2 a5 18.a4 Qb7 19.e4 Bc6 20.b3 Rfb8 21.Qe3 Qc7 22.Rfd1 Rb4 23.Nc4 Rab8 24.Rc3 Nf6 25.f3 Nd7 26.Qd2 Nb6 27.Qg5 Nxc4 28.Bxc4 e5 29.h4 Kg7 30.h5 h6 31.Qe3 Rd8 32.Rxd8 Qxd8 33.hxg6 fxg6 34.Qxc5 Qb6 35.Bb5 1-0

Round 5, Apr. 15, 2017
Pelletier, Yannick – Kramnik, Vladimir
E05 Catalan, open, Classical line

1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.d4 O-O 6.O-O dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bg5 Nbd7 11.Nc3 h6 12.Bxf6 Nxf6 13.Rfe1 Bd5 14.Nxd5 exd5 15.Qb3 Rb8 16.Ne5 c6 17.Rac1 a5 18.e3 Bd6 19.e4 Bb4 20.Re2 dxe4 21.Bxe4 Qxd4 22.Rd1 Qc5 23.Nd7 Nxd7 24.Rxd7 Qh5 25.Re3 Kh8 26.Kg2 f5 27.Bb1 Rbd8 28.Rxd8 Rxd8 29.Re5 Rf8 30.Qe6 Qf7 31.Qxf7 Rxf7 32.Bxf5 g5 33.g4 Re7 34.Rxe7 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Apr. 15, 2017
Oparin, Grigoriy – Svidler, Peter
B90 Sicilian, Najdorf

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h4 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f4 g6 9.Be2 Nbd7 10.g4 h5 11.g5 Ng4 12.Rf1 exf4 13.Bxf4 Nde5 14.Qd2 Qc7 15.O-O-O Rd8 16.Nd5 Bxd5 17.Qxd5 Bg7 18.Nd4 O-O 19.Kb1 Rfe8 20.c3 Rc8 21.Bxg4 hxg4 22.h5 gxh5 23.Nf5 Re6 24.Rh1 Ng6 25.Bg3 Qb6 26.Nxg7 Kxg7 27.Rxh5 Qe3 28.Bxd6 Qxe4+ 29.Qxe4 Rxe4 30.Rhh1 Nf4 31.Rdf1 Nh3 32.Rf5 Rc6 33.Rd1 Re6 34.Bg3 Kg6 35.Rff1 Re3 36.Bb8 Rf3 37.Rxf3 gxf3 38.Rf1 f2 39.Bg3 Rc5 40.Kc2 Rxg5 0-1

Standing in Classical after Round Five

1-2 Svidler, Nakamura 7.0
3-5 Kramnik, Nepomniachtchi, Anand 6.0
6-7 Pelletier, Gelfand 3.0
8 Oparin 2.0

Round 6 Pairings, Apr. 16, 2017

1. Anand-Svidler
2. Kramnik-Oparin
3. Nepo-Pelletier
4. Gelfand-Nakamura

Round 7 Pairings, Apr. 16, 2017

1. Nakamura-Anand
2. Pelletier-Gelfand
3. Oparin-Nepo
4. Svidler-Kramnik

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

April 16, 2017

New Classical
Round Six

From the official site:

Round Six - The start of the game Gelfand vs Nakamura, however, could not have promised less - in a Queen's Pawn Game with Bf4, Gelfand quickly exchanged the queens and the rooks plus a couple of minor pieces to end up in a balanced ending with the Israeli having a good but ineffective bishop versus Nakamura's potentially dangerous knight. Everything appeared to be set for the draw, but then Gelfand allowed the American to expand his pawns on the kingside until they got dangerous potential to create a deadly passed pawn. Maybe white missed the final idea of g4-g3 connected with the manoeuver of Ng4-h2 to win the white bishop. With only seconds on the clock, Gelfand had to resign.

Meanwhile, Nepomniachtchi and Pelletier had played an interesting game that begun with the so-called "Hedgehog Setup", an opening pattern that is known to be extremely solid for black and difficult to crack, but it's also rather passive and therefore a rare guest in top tournaments. Nepo impressively demonstrated why - he didn't rush things at all, but calmly placed his pieces on the best possible squares and only then began with concrete measures against the Swiss king. All of a sudden, Pelletier was forced to give up an exchange for no compensation in order to protect his weakness on f7. He could have resigned immediately, but continued playing for some moves without getting the chance to come back into the game.

Last year's runner-up Viswanathan Anand continued his policy of "no prisoners" against Peter Svilder and scored his second win in a row and already his fourth in the tournament. In a Sicilian Defense, the former World Champion advanced his kingside pawns early to gain space and drive the knight on f6 away and with the first chance given sacrificed a piece on e6 for a dangerous attack against the black king that was stuck in the center. Svidler tried a counter-attack combined with an exchange sacrifice to release the pressure, but only to find himself in an ending with two minor pieces vs. a rook and two pawns that turned out to be highly inferior. The Russian then tried a desperate pawn advance in the center with the idea of forking the white rooks with his bishop, but after the simple 29.Rb3 this only resulted in the loss of another pawn. A few moves later, Svidler called it a day.

The last game on stage was Kramnik vs Oparin and again saw the former World Champion opting for a calm Colle System in the opening. Oparin, however, treated the position very well and even came out with a better position, having the pair of bishops against Kramnik's two knights. But in time pressure, the young Russian player lost track and the game ended in a highly interesting position with Oparin having two strong bishops versus Kramnik's rook and three pawns. However, Oparin managed to set up a successful blockade and when the smoke finally cleared, a drawn position was reached by force.

Before the final round of the New Classical, Nakamura is in the lead again with 9 points followed by Anand and Nepomniachtchi with 8 and Svidler and Kramnik with 7. Today at 5pm, the leaders will clash in the games Nakamura - Anand and Svidler - Kramnik, so stay tuned to see who will get the best position for the final Blitz tomorrow.

The games:

Zurich Korchnoi Challenge
Round 6, Apr. 16, 2017
Anand, Vishy – Svidler, Peter
B83 Sicilian, Scheveningen

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Qe2 a6 8.O-O-O Qc7 9.g4 b5 10.g5 Nd7 11.h4 Bb7 12.a3 Rc8 13.Bh3 b4 14.axb4 Nxb4 15.Nxe6 fxe6 16.Bxe6 Qa5 17.Kb1 Rxc3 18.bxc3 Nc6 19.Rh3 Be7 20.Bd4 Nc5 21.Bxc5 Qxc5 22.f4 Kd8 23.Qe3 Qxe3 24.Rxe3 h6 25.c4 hxg5 26.hxg5 Rf8 27.f5 Ne5 28.Rg1 d5 29.Rb3 Kc7 30.cxd5 Rh8 31.f6 Bf8 32.d6+ 1-0

Round 6, Apr. 16, 2017
Kramnik, Vladimir – Oparin, Georgiy
D05 Queen’s Pawn game

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 e6 3.e3 d5 4.Bd3 b6 5.O-O Bb7 6.b3 Bd6 7.Bb2 O-O 8.Nbd2 c5 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Qe2 Nbd7 11.c4 dxc4 12.Nxc4 Qe7 13.Rad1 Rfd8 14.Nd4 Ne4 15.Kh1 Qh4 16.Bxe4 Qxe4 17.f3 Qh4 18.Nb5 Nf6 19.Be5 Nd5 20.e4 Nf4 21.Qc2 Qg5 22.Bc7 Rdc8 23.Bxf4 Qxf4 24.Qe2 Bc6 25.a4 h5 26.Nd4 Be8 27.Nb5 Bc6 28.Rd3 a6 29.Nbd6 Rd8 30.Rfd1 h4 31.Qd2 Qxd2 32.R3xd2 f6 33.Rd3 Ra7 34.e5 Rad7 35.b4 Bxb4 36.Nxb6 Ra7 37.exf6 gxf6 38.h3 a5 39.Rd4 Ra6 40.Ndc8 Rxd4 41.Rxd4 e5 42.Rxh4 e4 43.fxe4 Bc5 44.e5 Rxb6 45.Nxb6 Bxb6 46.exf6 Be3 47.Rc4 Bd5 48.Rc7 Bf7 49.h4 Bd4 50.Rc6 Bb3 51.Rd6 Be5 52.Ra6 Bc3 53.h5 Kf7 54.h6 Kg6 55.f7+ Kxf7 56.g4 Bxa4 57.g5 Bc2 58.Kh2 Bd3 59.Ra7+ Kg6 60.h7 Kxg5 61.Rxa5+ Kh6 1/2-1/2

Round 6, Apr. 16, 2017
Nepomniachtchi, Ian – Pelletier, Yannick
A30 English, symmetrical, hedgehog System

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 c5 3.g3 e6 4.Nf3 b6 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.O-O Be7 7.Re1 d6 8.d4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bxg2 10.Kxg2 O-O 11.e4 a6 12.b3 Qc7 13.Bb2 Nbd7 14.f4 Rfe8 15.Qf3 Bf8 16.Rad1 Rac8 17.Re2 Qb8 18.g4 e5 19.Nf5 g6 20.Ng3 exf4 21.Qxf4 Re6 22.g5 Ne8 23.Nd5 Ne5 24.Rf2 Rc7 25.Nxc7 Qxc7 26.Ne2 Bg7 27.Nc3 Qb7 28.Nd5 Nc7 29.Ba3 Qb8 30.Ne3 Ne8 31.Ng4 Re7 32.Nh6+ Bxh6 33.gxh6 Re6 34.Bb2 f6 35.Rd5 Nf7 36.Qg4 Nc7 37.Rd3 Qe8 38.Rxf6 Nxh6 39.Rxe6 Nxe6 40.Qh4 Nf7 41.Qf6 Qd7 42.Kg1 Kf8 43.e5 1-0

Round 6, Apr. 16, 2017
Gelfand, Boris – Nakamura, Hikaru
D37 QGD, Hastings variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.a3 Nc6 9.Be2 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Qxd1+ 11.Rxd1 a6 12.Bd6 Bxd6 13.Rxd6 Rd8 14.Rxd8+ Nxd8 15.Bd3 Bd7 16.Ke2 Kf8 17.Rd1 Ke7 18.Ne5 Nc6 19.Nxd7 Nxd7 20.Ne4 Rc8 21.Rc1 Nd4+ 22.Kd1 Rxc1+ 23.Kxc1 Nc6 24.Kc2 f5 25.Nd2 g5 26.b4 a5 27.bxa5 Nxa5 28.Be2 Nf6 29.Kc3 Nd5+ 30.Kc2 Nf6 31.Kc3 Kd7 32.h3 Kd6 33.Nc4+ Nxc4 34.Kxc4 b6 35.Kb5 Kc7 36.Kc4 h5 37.Bf3 h4 38.Ba8 Nd7 39.f4 g4 40.Kd4 b5 41.hxg4 fxg4 42.Be4 Nf6 43.Bd3 g3 44.Bf1 Ng4 0-1

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

April 16, 2017

New Classical
Round Seven

From the official site:

http://www.zurich-cc.com/en/165-kzcc...iking-distance

Round Seven - The most important game of the round was definitely Nakamura vs Anand, the clash of last year's winner and runner-up. With a win, Anand could have overtaken the American in the table, but it soon became clear that Nakamura wasn't going to take any risks and after an ending with opposite-coloured bishops was reached, Anand scored his first draw in this tournament.

Svidler vs Kramnik went roughly the same - Kramnik employed a solid Russian defense that proved impossible to crack despite Svidler's efforts. Soon the rooks came of, then some minor pieces and after the queen swap the players shook hands for Kramnik's 5th draw in the 6th game.

But as we always had at least two hard fights per round, the remaining games compensated the spectators in terms of drama and tactics. The first happened in Oparin vs Nepomniachtchi, when white somehow overestimated his attacking chances against his opponent’s king and sacrificed a pawn he got no compensation for. A few moves later, Oparin even invested a whole piece to fire up his attack, but Nepomniachtchi kept his cool and repelled it with ease and, after Oparin's resignation, joined Nakamura in the lead.

Even more dramatic was Pelletier - Gelfand, where both players deliberately repeated their game from the Opening Blitz - and just like in that game, Pelletier allowed his opponent to sacrifice his bishop on h2 for an attack on the white king. As Pelletier stated in the post mortem, he had his computer calculating the variation for about 1 minute and as it showed something like "+2", he decided that Bxh2+ wasn't at all possible. As it turned out, the evaluation switches to "-0.7" after 1min and 30 seconds - and only if white proves to find quite a few only moves in a row, which is almost impossible over the board and with limited time. Therefore, it was no surprise that Pelletier faltered and, facing mate or decisive material losses, had to resign.

Before tomorrow's Blitz we have to joint leaders with Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi (both 10 points), while Anand is one and Svidler and Kramnik 2 points behind.

Round 7, Apr. 16, 2017
Nakamura, Hikaru – Anand, Vishy
A30 English, symmetrical variation

1.c4 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.e3 e6 5.d4 cxd4 6.exd4 d5 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Nc3 Ne7 9.Nge2 Nbc6 10.O-O O-O 11.Be3 Be6 12.Nf4 Nf5 13.Ncxd5 Bxd5 14.Nxd5 Ncxd4 15.Bd2 Re8 16.Kh1 Re6 17.Rc1 Rd6 18.Nc3 Ne2 19.Qxe2 Rxd2 20.Qb5 Nd6 21.Qb3 Qb6 22.Ne4 Nxe4 23.Bxe4 Bxb2 24.Qxb6 axb6 25.Rcd1 Rad8 26.Bf3 Ba3 27.Rfe1 Rxd1 28.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 29.Bxd1 b5 30.Kg2 Bc5 1/2-1/2

Round 7, Apr. 16, 2017
Pelletier, Yannick – Gelfand, Boris
D45 QGD, Semi-Slav

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.b3 O-O 8.Be2 b6 9.O-O Bb7 10.Bb2 Qe7 11.Rad1 Rad8 12.Rfe1 Rfe8 13.Bf1 e5 14.cxd5 e4 15.Nh4 Bxh2+ 16.Kxh2 Ng4+ 17.Kh3 Ndf6 18.g3 g5 19.f3 gxh4 20.Nxe4 Nxe4 21.fxg4 Qd6 22.Qg2 hxg3 23.Qg1 g2 0-1

Round 7, Apr. 16, 2017
Oparin, Georgiy – Nepomniachtchi, Ian
B90 Sicilian, Najdorf

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Qd3 Nbd7 7.Be2 g6 8.Bg5 Bg7 9.O-O-O h6 10.Bh4 O-O 11.Kb1 Qc7 12.Qe3 b5 13.g4 Bb7 14.g5 hxg5 15.Bxg5 b4 16.Nd5 Bxd5 17.exd5 Nxd5 18.Qe4 N7f6 19.Bxf6 Nxf6 20.Qg2 Rfc8 21.h4 e5 22.h5 exd4 23.Bd3 Nxh5 24.Rxh5 gxh5 25.Rg1 f5 26.Bc4+ d5 27.Qxd5+ Kh8 28.Bb3 d3 0-1

Round 7, Apr. 16, 2017
Svidler, Peter – Kramnik, Vladimir
C67 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence, open variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 O-O 9.Nc3 Ne8 10.d4 Bf6 11.Re1 d5 12.Bd3 c6 13.Ne2 g6 14.c3 Ng7 15.Ng3 h5 16.h3 h4 17.Nf1 Bf5 18.Ne3 Bxd3 19.Qxd3 Re8 20.Bd2 Qd6 21.Ng4 Nf5 22.Qf3 Bg7 23.Bf4 Qf8 24.Bg5 f6 25.Bf4 Rxe1+ 26.Rxe1 Re8 27.Qd1 Rxe1+ 28.Qxe1 Kf7 29.Kf1 Qe7 30.Qxe7+ 1/2-1/2

Classical Final Standing

1-2 Nakamura, Nepomniachtchi 10.0
3 Anand 9.0
4-5 Kramnik, Svidler 8.0
6 Gelfand 5.0
7 Pelletier 3.0
8 Oparin 2.0

Mon, 17 April:

11:00 a.m. Blitz tournament with inverted colors of the Rapid games (5 a.m. Toronto/Montreal time)

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

April 17, 2017

Blitz Tournament

From the official site:

http://www.zurich-cc.com/en/166-all-...-is-king-again

The winner of 2015 and 2016 is also on top in 2017 again - on the final day, the American Hikaru Nakamura again showed his outstanding class and won the Blitz tournament half a point ahead of the Indian Viswanathan Anand and a full point ahead of Ian Nepomniachtchi, who had shared first place with Naka after the Classical.

The question on who would be the overall winner was essentially decided after four rounds, when Nakamura had already shaken off the rest of the field by a full point, as he only drew once against Svidler. In round 5, the leaders clashed, but Nepomniachtchi never had any chances to win this game and eventually was happy to share the point. So with two rounds to go, it all seemed to be settled, but then Nakamura drew against Gelfand while Nepo beat Pelletier and all of a sudden the margin had closed to half a point only, so if Nakamura lost against Anand (with black) in the final round and Nepomniachtchi beat Oparin, the Russian would have won the tournament. But Naka had no desire to make any presents and quickly led his game against the former Indian World Champion to a draw, when it became clear that he had the better Sonneborn-Berger regardless how Nepomniachtchi's game ended. In the end, Nepomniachtchi even lost and thus came in second with a full point behind of Nakamura. Anand finished third with 13,5 followed by Svidler, Kramnik, Gelfand, Oparin and Pelletier.

Standing in Blitz after Round Seven

1. Hikaru Nakamura 5.0
2. Viswanathan Anand 4.5
3. Ian Nepomniachtchi 4.0
4. Peter Svidler 4.0
5. Boris Gelfand 4.0
6. Vladimir Kramnik 3.0
7. Grigoriy Oparin 2.5
8. Yannick Pelletier 1.0

Combined Final Standing

1. Hikaru Nakamura 15.0
2. Ian Nepomniachtchi 14.0
3. Viswanathan Anand 13.5
4. Peter Svidler 12.0
5. Vladimir Kramnik 11.0
6. Boris Gelfand 9.0
7. Grigoriy Oparin 5.5
8. Yannick Pelletier 4.0

Games from the Blitz Tourney

Round 2, Apr. 17, 2017
Nakamura, Hikaru – Oparin, Grigoriy
A05 Reti, King’s Indian Attack

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 b5 3.Bg2 Bb7 4.Na3 a6 5.c4 b4 6.Nc2 e6 7.O-O Be7 8.d4 Be4 9.a3 bxa3 10.b3 O-O 11.Bxa3 d6 12.Ne3 c6 13.Qd2 Nbd7 14.Nd1 Qb6 15.Nc3 Qxb3 16.Ne5 dxe5 17.Bxe7 exd4 18.Nxe4 Nxe4 19.Bxe4 Rfe8 20.Bxc6 Ra7 21.Qxd4 1-0

Round 2, Apr. 17, 2017
Nepomniachtchi, Ian – Kramnik, Vladimir
D36 QGD, Exchange, positional line

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.Qc2 h6 7.Bh4 Be7 8.e3 O-O 9.Bd3 Re8 10.Nge2 Nh5 11.Bxe7 Qxe7 12.O-O Nd7 13.Rae1 Nf8 14.Nc1 Nf6 15.Nb3 Ne6 16.f3 a5 17.Na4 Qd8 18.Nbc5 Nf8 19.Qb3 b5 20.Nc3 Ne6 21.Nxe6 Bxe6 22.Qc2 Qb6 23.Qf2 a4 24.Rc1 b4 25.Ne2 Ra5 26.h3 c5 27.dxc5 Rxc5 28.e4 Nd7 29.Rxc5 Qxc5 30.Rc1 Qxf2+ 31.Kxf2 Ne5 32.Bb5 Rb8 33.Rc5 Bd7 34.Ba6 Rb6 35.Rxd5 f6 36.Ra5 g5 37.g3 Kf8 38.Nd4 Rd6 39.f4 gxf4 40.gxf4 Rxd4 41.fxe5 Rxe4 42.exf6 Rf4+ 43.Ke3 Rxf6 44.Bb5 Bxh3 45.Rxa4 Be6 46.b3 h5 47.Rxb4 Ke7 48.Be2 Rf5 49.Rh4 Ra5 50.Re4 Kf6 51.b4 Ra3+ 52.Kd4 Bf5 53.Rh4 Rxa2 54.Bxh5 Rd2+ 55.Kc3 Rd3+ 56.Kc4 Kg5 57.Rh2 Rd8 58.Bf3 Kf4 59.Bc6 Rd1 60.b5 Bd3+ 61.Kc5 Rc1+ 62.Kd4 Bxb5 63.Bxb5 Kg5 64.Rf2 Re1 65.Be2 Ra1 66.Bf3 Kf4 67.Be4+ Kg3 68.Rf8 Ra4+ 69.Ke3 Ra3+ 70.Bd3 Kg4 71.Rg8+ Kh5 72.Ke4 Ra4+ 73.Kf5 Kh4 74.Be4 Kh3 75.Kf4 Kh2 76.Rg2+ Kh3 77.Rg1 Ra2 78.Rg8 Kh2 79.Rh8+ 1-0

Round 4, Apr. 17, 2017
Nakamura, Hikaru – Kramnik, Vladimir
A07 Reti, King’s Indian Attack

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c6 3.Bg2 Bg4 4.O-O Nf6 5.h3 Bh5 6.d3 Nbd7 7.Qe1 e5 8.e4 Be7 9.Nh4 O-O 10.Nd2 Re8 11.Nb3 a5 12.a4 Nc5 13.Nxc5 Bxc5 14.Bg5 h6 15.Bd2 Nh7 16.Kh2 Nf8 17.Be3 Ne6 18.Bxc5 Nxc5 19.Qc3 b6 20.exd5 cxd5 21.d4 Ne4 22.Qd3 exd4 23.Qxd4 Rc8 24.Nf5 Qg5 25.g4 Rxc2 26.f4 Qg6 27.Nh4 Qf6 28.Qxf6 Nxf6 29.gxh5 Nxh5 30.Kg1 Ng3 31.Rf3 Ne2+ 32.Kh1 g6 33.Bf1 Rxb2 34.Rd1 d4 35.Ng2 Re4 36.Re1 Kg7 37.Rxe2 Rexe2 38.Bxe2 Rxe2 39.Rd3 b5 40.axb5 Rb2 41.Rxd4 Rxb5 42.Kh2 g5 43.Rd6 f6 44.Kg3 Kg6 45.Ne3 gxf4+ 46.Kxf4 Rb4+ 47.Kf3 a4 48.Ra6 Rd4 49.Ng2 Kg5 50.Ra5+ f5 51.Ne3 Rd3 52.Rxa4 Rd6 53.Ra5 Rf6 54.Ng2 Rb6 55.h4+ Kg6 56.Nf4+ Kh7 57.Rxf5 Rb7 58.h5 Ra7 59.Rb5 Rd7 60.Ke4 Rf7 61.Re5 Ra7 62.Nd5 Ra1 63.Re7+ Kh8 64.Kf5 Rg1 65.Nf4 Kg8 66.Ra7 Rf1 67.Ra6 Kg7 68.Rg6+ Kh7 69.Rg4 Ra1 70.Nd5 Kh8 71.Kg6 Ra5 72.Rc4 Ra6+ 73.Nf6 Rc6 74.Rd4 Rd6 75.Rd5 Rd7 76.Nxd7 1-0

Round 7, Apr. 17, 2017
Anand, Vishy – Nakamura, Hikaru
C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Be3 Bd6 7.h3 Be6 8.Nc3 Nd7 9.Ng5 Nf8 10.O-O f6 11.Nxe6 Nxe6 12.Ne2 O-O 13.c3 Kh8 14.Qb3 Qc8 15.d4 exd4 16.cxd4 c5 17.dxc5 Nxc5 18.Qc2 Ne6 19.Nd4 Nxd4 20.Bxd4 Qe6 21.a3 Rad8 22.Rad1 Rfe8 23.Rfe1 a5 24.Bc5 Be5 25.b4 axb4 26.axb4 h6 1/2-1/2

Round 7, Apr. 17, 2017
Nepomniachtchi, Ian – Oparin, Grigoriy
B90 Sicilian, Najdorf

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Nb3 e6 7.g4 b5 8.a3 Bb7 9.Bg2 Nfd7 10.g5 Nc6 11.h4 Be7 12.f4 h6 13.Qg4 b4 14.Ne2 bxa3 15.bxa3 Qc7 16.Bb2 hxg5 17.hxg5 Rxh1+ 18.Bxh1 g6 19.Qh3 Na5 20.Qh8+ Nf8 21.Nxa5 Qxa5+ 22.Bc3 Qc5 23.Qh3 e5 24.Rb1 Bc6 25.Bb4 Qc4 26.Rb3 Bb5 27.Bf3 a5 28.Bd2 Bd7 29.f5 Qxc2 30.Rc3 Qb1+ 31.Rc1 Qb3 32.Nc3 Rc8 33.Qf1 Bxg5 34.Bxg5 Rxc3 35.Rxc3 Qxc3+ 36.Kf2 gxf5 37.Qb1 Ne6 38.Bf6 Nd4 39.Be2 Qc2 40.Qxc2 Nxc2 41.exf5 Bxf5 42.a4 Bd7 43.Bd1 Nb4 44.Bg5 Nd3+ 45.Kg3 Nb2 46.Be2 Nxa4 47.Bd2 Nc5 48.Bxa5 Ke7 49.Bb4 f5 50.Ba3 Kf6 51.Bc4 Be6 52.Bb5 f4+ 53.Kf3 Kg5 54.Bc6 Bg4+ 55.Kg2 e4 56.Bxc5 dxc5 57.Bxe4 Kf6 58.Kf2 Ke5 59.Bg6 0-1

Black wins in 18 moves after 59…Kd4.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

Korchnoi Zurich Challenge 2017

April 18, 2017

Blitz Tournament

The game from Round Two, Nepo vs Kramnik

Round 2, Apr. 17, 2017
Nepomniachtchi, Ian – Kramnik, Vladimir
D36 QGD, Exchange, positional line

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.Qc2 h6 7.Bh4 Be7 8.e3 O-O 9.Bd3 Re8 10.Nge2 Nh5 11.Bxe7 Qxe7 12.O-O Nd7 13.Rae1 Nf8 14.Nc1 Nf6 15.Nb3 Ne6 16.f3 a5 17.Na4 Qd8 18.Nbc5 Nf8 19.Qb3 b5 20.Nc3 Ne6 21.Nxe6 Bxe6 22.Qc2 Qb6 23.Qf2 a4 24.Rc1 b4 25.Ne2 Ra5 26.h3 c5 27.dxc5 Rxc5 28.e4 Nd7 29.Rxc5 Qxc5 30.Rc1 Qxf2+ 31.Kxf2 Ne5 32.Bb5 Rb8 33.Rc5 Bd7 34.Ba6 Rb6 35.Rxd5 f6 36.Ra5 g5 37.g3 Kf8 38.Nd4 Rd6 39.f4 gxf4 40.gxf4 Rxd4 41.fxe5 Rxe4 42.exf6 Rf4+ 43.Ke3 Rxf6 44.Bb5 Bxh3 45.Rxa4 Be6 46.b3 h5 47.Rxb4 Ke7 48.Be2 Rf5 49.Rh4 Ra5 50.Re4 Kf6 51.b4 Ra3+ 52.Kd4 Bf5 53.Rh4 Rxa2 54.Bxh5 Rd2+ 55.Kc3 Rd3+ 56.Kc4 Kg5 57.Rh2 Rd8 58.Bf3 Kf4 59.Bc6 Rd1 60.b5 Bd3+ 61.Kc5 Rc1+ 62.Kd4 Bxb5 63.Bxb5 Kg5 64.Rf2 Re1 65.Be2 Ra1 66.Bf3 Kf4 67.Be4+ Kg3 68.Rf8 Ra4+ 69.Ke3 Ra3+ 70.Bd3 Kg4 71.Rg8+ Kh5 72.Ke4 Ra4+ 73.Kf5 Kh4 74.Be4 Kh3 75.Kf4 Kh2 76.Rg2+ Kh3 77.Rg1 Ra2 78.Rg8 Kh2 79.Rh8+ 1-0

had the ending of B+R vs R and both players playing on increment. Kramnik lost by playing 74….Kh3 when Ra6 would have drawn.

Benko calls this the “headache ending”. Wikipedia says that computer endgame tablebases show that 40.1% of the legal positions with this material are legal wins and Mednis estimated that less than 4% of starting positions that occur in games are theoretical wins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook_a...s_rook_endgame