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Round three got off to an explosive start today, as the top 2 seeds both lost their games. Judit Polgar continues to impress, defeating Karjakin with White, and Emil Sutovsky used the Black pieces to upset Ivanchuk. Mamedyarov and Gashimov both took draws as Black, and Ponomariov was unable to convert his game with White against Efimenkov. Another of my favorite picks - Morosevich - lost with Black to Grischuk. Bacrot got nothing with White against Radjabov and drew quickly. Jakovenko defeated Jobava with White.
Kamsky has apparently shaken off that scare in round one, defeating Nepomniachtchi with White today, and Cuban star Leinier Domingues scored with White against Igor Lysyj of Russia. The other 5 games were drawn, although not all routinely. Moiseenko teetered on the brink with Black against Navara, eventually drawing with a Knight against 2 Knights and a pawn. Theirs was the last game to finish.
Tomorrow should be a great round. Several of the dangerous players will have White, looking to eliminate their opponents after relatively peaceful draws today. Will Karjakin storm back against Polgar? Can Morosevich beat Grischuk with White? Who knows what Ivanchuk will do with Sutovsky!
Round three got off to an explosive start today, as the top 2 seeds both lost their games. Judit Polgar continues to impress, defeating Karjakin with White, and Emil Sutovsky used the Black pieces to upset Ivanchuk. Mamedyarov and Gashimov both took draws as Black, and Ponomariov was unable to convert his game with White against Efimenkov. Another of my favorite picks - Morosevich - lost with Black to Grischuk. Bacrot got nothing with White against Radjabov and drew quickly. Jakovenko defeated Jobava with White.
Kamsky has apparently shaken off that scare in round one, defeating Nepomniachtchi with White today, and Cuban star Leinier Domingues scored with White against Igor Lysyj of Russia. The other 5 games were drawn, although not all routinely. Moiseenko teetered on the brink with Black against Navara, eventually drawing with a Knight against 2 Knights and a pawn. Theirs was the last game to finish.
Tomorrow should be a great round. Several of the dangerous players will have White, looking to eliminate their opponents after relatively peaceful draws today. Will Karjakin storm back against Polgar? Can Morosevich beat Grischuk with White? Who knows what Ivanchuk will do with Sutovsky!
Hi Hal,
Hope you are having a good time and that you are making the very necessary contacts.
You are a good person who is making a special contribution to chess for Canada on the International Scene. The Canadian Chess Comuunity is lucky to have you!
The 3rd round wrapped up yesterday. It looked like we might have an early finish despite the large number of tiebreaks (10 of 16 matches). Only two matches remained after the 25+10 round. My match was Svidler - Caruana which Svidler won 2-0. I then partnered with my colleague Carl Rist of Norway for Dominguez - Lysyj. These guys went all the way to Armageddon. Lysyj drew the right to choose, and he chose Black. Dominguez played a beautiful game and forced Lysyj to resign. Twice now Black has been chosen for Armageddon ans twice Black has lost.
The Moiseenko - Navara match had a strange twist in it. In their second classical game, Moiseenko questioned Navara on a touch move, which would have resulted in the loss of Navara's Queen. Moiseenko then acquiesced and Navara proceeded to reach a won Q vs R position. With mate in few, Navara offered a draw. Alex was shocked but accepted the gift. Their 25-10 match was drawn, and Navara outplayed Alex in the 10+10 to advance to round 4. He will now face Zherebukh, who eliminated Mamaedyerov in the playoffs yesterday.
Today's games promise more great battles. You will notice that Ivanchuk stormed back against Sutovsky, who went a little crazy with White in their classical game, to remain in the hunt. 2007 Canadian Open Xiangzhi Bu will Ivanchuk's next opponent. I borrowed these pairings from Bob Armstrong:
Section 1: Judit Polgar ( Hungary ) - Lenier Dominguez ( Cuba )
Section 2: Peter Svidler ( Russia ) - Gata Kamsky ( USA )
Section 3: Ruslan Ponomariov ( Ukraine ) - Lazaro Bruzon ( Cuba )
Section 4: Vugar Gashimov ( Azerbaijan ) - Peter Heine-Nielson ( Denmark )
Section 5: Xiangzhi Bu ( China ) - Vassily Ivanchuk ( Ukraine )
Section 6: Dmitry Jakovenko ( Russia ) - Teimour Radjabov ( Azerbaijan )
Section 7: Yaroslav Zherebukh ( Ukraine ) - David Navara ( Czech Republic )
Section 8: Alexander Grischuk ( Russia ) - Vladimir Potkin ( Russia )
The first game of round 4 featured no fewer than 6 wins from 8 games. In his first ever classical game with Judit Polgar, Dominguez won nicely with Black. On board 2, Ivanchuk settled for a draw with the Black pieces against Bu. David Navara used the Black pieces to thrash Zherebukh on board 3. David built up a huge lead on the clock and managed to steal a bucket of material as well. Bruzon sacrificed the exchange for two pawns as White but Ponomariov held him off during their first game in 5 years.
On board 5 Gashimov eventually defeated Peter Heine Nielsen, who had one very stubborn Bishop for a Rook but eventually Gashimov was able to zug the minor piece and win the last game of the round. Potkin is still marching forward, defeating on less a player than Alexander Grischuk with White on board 6. Right before Grischuk resigned I thought from Potkin's face that he had messed up. I guess it was an expression of relief? Radjabov scored with White against Jakovenko on Board 7 and Svidler did likewise against Kamsky on board 8. Kamsky was shaking his head in disappointment for the last half hour of the game.
Since everything is prepared for tomorrow we will leave for the playing hall at 2:10 instead of 2:00. Perks of the job eh!
The first game of round 4 featured no fewer than 6 wins from 8 games. In his first ever classical game with Judit Polgar, Dominguez won nicely with Black. On board 2, Ivanchuk settled for a draw with the Black pieces against Bu. David Navara used the Black pieces to thrash Zherebukh on board 3. David built up a huge lead on the clock and managed to steal a bucket of material as well. Bruzon sacrificed the exchange for two pawns as White but Ponomariov held him off during their first game in 5 years.
On board 5 Gashimov eventually defeated Peter Heine Nielsen, who had one very stubborn Bishop for a Rook but eventually Gashimov was able to zug the minor piece and win the last game of the round. Potkin is still marching forward, defeating on less a player than Alexander Grischuk with White on board 6. Right before Grischuk resigned I thought from Potkin's face that he had messed up. I guess it was an expression of relief? Radjabov scored with White against Jakovenko on Board 7 and Svidler did likewise against Kamsky on board 8. Kamsky was shaking his head in disappointment for the last half hour of the game.
Since everything is prepared for tomorrow we will leave for the playing hall at 2:10 instead of 2:00. Perks of the job eh!
From a brief look at the computer evaluations of the position, it would appear that Kamsky blundered a possibly drawn position into a sure loss in a single move (well it was obvious to Houdini). I think it was move 48.
Just back from a mayoral reception after a wild day in round 4. After 6 decisive games yesterday, we have 5 tiebreaks tomorrow.
Domingues appeared to be in charge of his game with Polgar - Rook +3 pawns vs the 2 Bs, but Judith gradually outplayed him and forced a R and B vs Rook which she somehow won. Ivanchuk appeared dominant against Bu with White but could not manage more than a draw. Ponomariov could not win with White against Bruzon so they are also back tomorrow. Peter Heine Nielsen ground down the great Gashimov to force a tiebreak, and Grischuk cashed in with White against Potkin.
Navara rolled Zherebukh to go 2-0 in their match. Radyabov bent but did not break, holding off Jakovenko in order to advance. Svidler shocked Kamsky with Black, spotting a lovely double rook sac for mate. Svidler was also way ahead on the clock. When I later asked him if this was preparation he replied, "No I just blundered my way through it."
Just back from a mayoral reception after a wild day in round 4. After 6 decisive games yesterday, we have 5 tiebreaks tomorrow.
Domingues appeared to be in charge of his game with Polgar - Rook +3 pawns vs the 2 Bs, but Judith gradually outplayed him and forced a R and B vs Rook which she somehow won. Ivanchuk appeared dominant against Bu with White but could not manage more than a draw. Ponomariov could not win with White against Bruzon so they are also back tomorrow. Peter Heine Nielsen ground down the great Gashimov to force a tiebreak, and Grischuk cashed in with White against Potkin.
Navara rolled Zherebukh to go 2-0 in their match. Radyabov bent but did not break, holding off Jakovenko in order to advance. Svidler shocked Kamsky with Black, spotting a lovely double rook sac for mate. Svidler was also way ahead on the clock. When I later asked him if this was preparation he replied, "No I just blundered my way through it."
Hal: Can see you walking by from time to time on the live feed. Fun interviews with the players after their games. The commentators (not quite sure who they are - but they are competent and fun to listen to) add to things.I think everybody across the world were sitting on the edge of their seats wondering if Polgar would convert the RB vs R ending (after a great comeback from earlier in the game).
I sat there for 15 minutes and couldn't see the simple win if Kamsky took the second rook (duh). Beautiful game by Svidler. He explained in the interview that the idea came to him as a result of switching around the sequence of moves in his combo analysis - I talked about this idea just last night when playing somebody.
Wow - my predictions have been near opposite to reality! I thought Bu would continue to give Ivanchuk problems today but the Ukranian star scored 2-0 in the 25 +10. He rose to prominence along with Gelfand back in the late 80's and has maintained a higher rating than Boris, yet Gelfand has the title shot. Is it Chukie's time to shine? He will be in tough against Radjabov tomorrow.
I had the first two games between Polgar and Domingues. Judith scored a simple looking win from the White side of an f4 Sicilian, and Domingues countered her Centre Counter as White, even returning to the Rook vs 2 minors theme which had bitten him yesterday. Meanwhile fellow Cuban Bruzon won with Black, as did Ponomariov to keep their match alive.
During the 10 + 10's I was reassigned to Gashimov - Nielsen because one of the Arbiters is Azeri. Their first two games had also been decisive for White, but in the 10 +10's it was all Gashimov. He ground down the Dane with White in game one, and then pinned Peter's pony on the c file in decisive fashion as Black.
In the end, the two Cubans were facing their destinies in the blitz round. I worked Bruzon - Ponomariov along with Norway's IA Carl Rist. Bruzon got nothing as white and they drew. As White, Pono found a nice peice sac which netted him 4 pawns. Then he found a way... Domingues had excellent winning chances in his first blitz game with Judith but finally drew with Black. I did not see how Judith managed to win the second game with Black, only that she had done so. Such was the end of Cubanity - the last of the World Cup warriors from FIDE America.
So Polgar plays Svidler, Ivanchuk plays Radjabov, Navara faces Grischuk and Ponomariov has Gashimov. Or should I say the Ukraine plays Azerbaijan and Russia gets the Hungry Checks.
Tomorrow morning I finally take a boat excursion on the Irtysh river to the confluence of the Ob. I've waited 6 years for this. It means skipping lunch but I'll live.
What a show to watch over the internet, and in high definition.
Must be a great feeling for you, Hal, to be there "live".
Can you feel some nervousness from the players?
In one of the tiebrak games between Dominguez and Polgar, when the Cuban took the black pawn on f7, it was quite funny to see the movement of your eyebrows as if you were saying "Wow, I did'nt see this one coming"!
Well, Judit did not see it either, nor did the live commentators.
(Should I add that I was miles away from guessing that move myself :()
A question for you: why are there two arbiters in some of the tiebreak games?
Is each one of them recording the moves of both players, or are you assigned to write down the moves of "your" player?
Great job Mr. Bond and give my acknowledgments to the organizers for putting that show live on the web.
Thanks for your comments Guy - it is quite thrilling to be here, especially on tiebreak days. Thanks also for telling me about the live feed. I never see this, but I an imagine I reacted slightly to Domingues going for f7. I saw this possibility for a few moves but doubted he would go for it, especially after Judith had used her two minors against the Rook and pawns on the previous day (actually the Chief Arbiter told me that Domingues had a threefold claim on that second game, and although he was frequently consulting his scoresheet, he was never confident enough to risk an incorrect claim because this would have given Judith 3 more prescious minutes).
When we go to the second round of tiebreaks, two Arbiters are assigned to each game if possible, and as you surmised, each writes the moves of one player. In the 10 + 10 this is really only needed for the opening moves but it is useful practice in any case because it is easy to mistakenly write both players moves in the same column.
With only 4 games today it was a ghost town in the playing hall. The Aribters out number the players (three Deputies, one Deputy Chief and the Chief) so the allocation issues are reversed. My colleague Faik Gasanov is Azeri so he covered Svidler - Polgar and Grischuk - Navara, while I took Ivanchuk - Radjabov and Ponmariov - Gashimov. Carl Rist went shopping.
Polgar was happy to find a perp with Black against Svidler and they finished first. Ponomariov spent a lot of time with White trying to find something against Gashimov's preparation(?) and they drew next. Then came Grischuk - Navara. Grischuk was way down on the clock with White but I guess Navara felt he had done his job with Black and accepted the draw offer. Ivanchuk did the job with White against Radjabov, who was frequently glaring at Vassily, perhaps looking for clues in a face that is difficult to read.
Yesterday was my last day as Arbiter. In an unusual move, I was appointed as a substitue on the Appeals Committee because one of the members had to leave early.
Although we are of course allowed in the tournament hall, we have our own (small)room where we hang out most of the time. The WIFI is superb and I am enjoying the actual broadcast.
Ivanchuk was walloped today by Radjabov so they go to tiebreaks tomorrow. Polgar just lost with White to Svidler so her journey is over. At this moment Navara has a pawn and looks close to winning against Grischuk, while Ponomariov and Gashimov appear quite level.
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