World Cup Matches, Tromsø

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Cup Matches, Tromsø

World Cup

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Round 3 Game 1

Results

1. Aronian – Tomashevsky QGD 0-1
2. Malakhov – Caruana Guioco .5-.5
3. Kramnik – Areshcheno English .5-.5
4. Le, Q. – Grischuk Grunfeld 1-0
5. Karjakin – Eljanov Caro-Kann .5-.5
6. Adhiban – Nakamura Ruy Lopez 0-1
7. Gelfand – Moiseenko Anti-Nimzo 1-0
8. Hammer – Kamsky Dutch 0-1
9. Mamedyarov – Wei Yi Nimzo Ind .5-.5
10.Lagrave – Dominguez Sicilian 1-0
11.Dubov – Korobov English .5-.5
12.Andreikin – Dreev English .5-.5
13.Svidler – Radjabov KID 1-0
14.Ivanchuk – Kryvoruchko Ruy Lopez .5-.5
15.Granda Zun. – Giri Reti 0-1
16.Vitiugov – Morozevich Nimzo Ind .5-.5
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From This Week in Chess

Favourites Levon Aronian and Alexander Grischuk were defeated and in one of the last games to finish Julio Granda Zuniga was pressing for a win but down to the increment when he blundered an entire piece by transposing the correct order of moves he had calculated.
Levon Aronian was coughing during the game and reportedly hasn't been well but certainly not using this as an excuse so far. Aronian was defeated by Evgeny Tomashevsky who described the win as the best of his career so far.

Tomashevsky said the early critical stage was between moves 15-20, 18.Nxe4 was an error (18.Nd3) and 19.Qb3 a further one, 22.f3 was accompanied with a draw offer but Tomashevsky said he didn't see the point of playing chess if you were going to agree a draw in such positions. Aronian desperately clung on 31...Qg4+ (31..Raf8) wasn't quite precise but the ending was horrible for Aronian and Tomashevsky thought 39.Kf2? left no hope at all. Aronian has a tough task to win with black in game 2.

Le Quang Liem put Alexander Grischuk's Gruenfeld under sustained pressure and the Russian cracked under time pressure. Hikaru Nakamura said he'd had a miserable time playing the same Exchange Ruy Lopez Adhiban tried in the past and gradually outplayed his young Indian Opponent. Boris Gelfand was quietly impressive in defeating Alexander Moiseenko. Gata Kamsky refuted a rather over-excited Jon Ludvig Hammer sacrifice with very little difficulty. Maxime Vachier Lagrave defeated Leinier Dominguez Perez after offering an early draw because he's another player not feeling so well.
Peter Svidler surprised Teimour Radjabov with a slightly delayed Exchange King's Indian. Radjabov just took far too much time to reply and then took passive options after that and was crushed. Pretty much his problem ever since the start of the Candidates, a real crisis of confidence. The final decisive games of the day was wince inducing, Julio Granda Zuniga put Anish Giri under a lot of pressure but started to get down to the increment and just when the computer gave him a two pawn advantage he transposed moves in a variation and lost a piece.

Elsewhere in the drawn games Kramnik quickly took the game to a draw after making an error in the opening against Alexander Areshchenko. Alexander Morozevich was winning somewhere against Nikita Vitiugov but after sacrificing the exchange could only draw in the end. Yi Wei held Shakhriyar Mamedyarov very easily with black in a Nimzo-Indian. Daniil Dubov was surprised in the opening by Anton Korobov and immediately steered to a draw.
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ChessVibes comments:

- Wei Yi is incredibly well-prepared in the opening. No weaknesses in his game thus far, and he is a White win away from advancing yet again.
I wouldn't be surprised if Radjabov drops out of the 2700 club soon. He has lost 74 rating points since the beginning of the year. Losing another 22 doesn't seem that unlikely.
Nakamura is making the most of his favorable pairings. Looks like he will advance again without having to go to tiebreaks. Those extra rest days have to be invaluable as the tournament progresses.
Outstanding technique from Tomashevsky, a great victory. I think he will get a simple draw tomorrow. Aronian got what he came for: a spot in the Candidates. I think going home now, getting over this cold, and preparing for St. Louis makes a lot of sense.

- Never before have I seen so many terrible games by elite players on the same day. Grischuk for instance is one of my idols, but even I would be ashamed of the way he traded down into a clearly lost pawn endgame. Unbelievable.

- Vachier-Lagrave has probably put up the quietest 5-0 ever.

- Holy crap, I had no idea he was 5-0

- Where can I bet on the results?

- According to the Houdini stats on the official web site, Gelfand made 17 straight top-choice moves from move 12 to move 28, leaving him with an advantage of +6 and a trivial win. That is master chess.

- Right! I thought you would say Gelfand was cheating LOL!

- Boris Gelfand will win this World Cup.
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Vachier-Lagrave has beaten Shabalov 2-0 and then Ortiz Suarez 2-0 and today, beat Dominguez 1-0 making that five straight wins in the World Cup. The site Live Chess Ratings has him at 2740 and 17th in world ratings, just behind Giri and Svidler and just ahead of Ivanchuk and Kamsky.

http://www.2700chess.com/
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GM and writer Ian Rogers (Australia):

This writer is another who is leaving Tromso, leaving behind the remaining 32 Grandmasters, the efficient team of Norwegian organisers having their trial run for the 2014 Tromso Chess Olympiad and the security guards - finally allowed to search spectators as well as players. Leaving also the remarkable town of Tromso itself; above the Arctic Circle resulting in bright sun at 4am, a city library that looks like the Sydney Opera House, a labyrinth of mountain tunnels including three roundabouts and, of course, the $30 hamburgers and $60 pizzas.

http://www.uschess.org/content/view/12323/721

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Cup Matches, Tromsø

World Cup

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Round Three, Game Two

Tomashevsky has drawn with Aronian, a perpetual. Tomashevsky goes on and Aronian, the favourite, is out.
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From the Official Web Site:

Levon Aronian, Leinier Dominguez, Teimour Radjabov, Alexander Moiseenko, Jon Ludvig Hammer and B. Adkhiban were eliminated from the tournament.

Peter Svidler, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Boris Gelfand, Hikaru Nakamura, Gata Kamsky guaranteed their places in the fourth stage.

Julio Granda Zuniga equalized the score by defeating Anish Giri. After yesterday's upset Alexander Grischuk played the longest game of the round against Le Quang Liem and managed to equalize the score after 154 moves and 6,5 hours. Gary Kasparov’s comment on this: If Grischuk had shown 50% of this tenacity yesterday, he wouldn't need it so much today! He lost game one with no chances, very odd.

Vachier-Lagrave’s string of victories came to an end today with the draw with Dominguez. The ChessTalk “bump” didn’t work here!

These 10 matches will be decided on tiebreaks on the 19th of August:

Morozevich-Vitiugov
Mamedyarov-Yi Wei
Karjakin-Eljanov
Dreev-Andreikin
Caruana-Makakhov
Granda Zuniga-Giri
Kramnik-Areshchenko
Kryvoruchko-Ivanchuk
Dubov-Korobov
Le Quang Liem-Grischuk
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From morley on ChessVibes comment:

So we get to see "the kid" in tiebreaks. Mamedyarov is World Rapid Champ, so I think Wei Yi might be at the end of this great event. Wei Yi's live rating is around 2575 now, does anyone know what the record is for youngest player to break 2600?

Nice comebacks by Granda and Grischuk! Granda has already won tiebreaks all the way to Armageddon in the first match, and Grischuk, well, is Grischuk, and thrives in shorter time control situations. I think they will both move on to round 4.

Aronian had plenty of time on the clock and several chances to get an edge after the Nxh7 sac, but couldn't pull it off. Of course, what was hardly an important game for him, career-wise, was perhaps the most important of Tomashevsky's career.

(to be continued)

[Laurentiu Grigorescu]

Re: World Cup Matches, Tromsø

"Outstanding technique from Tomashevsky, a great victory. I think he will get a simple draw tomorrow. Aronian got what he came for: a spot in the Candidates. I think going home now, getting over this cold, and preparing for St. Louis makes a lot of sense."

How did Aronian get the spot in the Candidates by being eliminated in R3? Is it a condition for players that qualify on rating to also participate in the World Cup and reach R3?

[Jason Manley]

Re: World Cup Matches, Tromsø

It was a condition for players that qualify by rating to also participate in the World Cup or the Grand Prix. That's why Aronian and Kramnik were here- if either of them were to make the final, Karjakin would get the vacated rating qualifying spot.

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Re: World Cup Matches, Tromsø

It was a condition for players that qualify by rating to also participate in the World Cup or the Grand Prix. That's why Aronian and Kramnik were here- if either of them were to make the final, Karjakin would get the vacated rating qualifying spot.

Why then did Vladimir Kramnik state in his interview with Susan Polgar that he was playing ... "for fun"? It struck me as odd at the time mind you ...

[Jason Manley]

Re: World Cup Matches, Tromsø

I suppose that since he only needed to show up to qualify for the Candidates, his result doesn't matter as much to him, so he's playing for fun in that sense. First place is $120 000, though, which sounds like a bit more than playing for fun to me.

[Laurentiu Grigorescu]

Re: World Cup Matches, Tromsø

So far Nakamura, Svidler, and Gelfand were impressive in their smooth sailing to R4. Julio Granda - Zuniga was almost perfect against Giri but unfortunately colected just one point. Hope he will win the tie breaks, as he is the better player.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Cup Matches, Tromsø

Tromso World Cup

Round Three, Game Two (continued)

Interviews and Comments:

Susan: I spoke to some of the players here and asked what is your longest game ever and people are telling me numbers that I never heard before in my time. Games used to end 100, 120, 130 moves, that would be a really long day. People are telling me that their longest games are 160, 170 moves! I don’t know how this happened but it wasn’t true when I was an active player.

(At the end of Round Two – with Lev Aronian)
Susan: Forgetting this tournament, in general, which do you prefer – classical, rapid or blitz?
Lev: If I say I like playing FischerRandom, would I be too original?
Susan: No, No – I love FischerRAndom, partly because I am one of the few persons to not only have had the experience of playing Bobby himself but also of fine-tuning the rules with him while he was still with us. I am a big fan of FischerRandom. I am hoping that in my lifetime it will be more popular and there will be more events.
Lev: I hope so. It gives a chance to slowly retiring players as well.
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Lawrence: I thought I was seeing double déjà vu in Dreev-Andreikin, which is basically the same position they had yesterday with reverse colours. Of course, Andreikin got nothing with white.
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Susan: A few more moves in the Radjabov-Svidler game. A sharp position. What is interesting here psychologically in such a situation is that they have tremendous respect for each other. They may wonder why their opponent is moving so quickly. Why are their evaluations of this opening different? Peter is happy with a draw and he will move on, while Radjabov must win to move on. They have opposite interests so one will be disappointed with the analysis they had earlier.
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Lawrence: Granda Zuniga blundered in an almost winning position yesterday when short of time and gave the whole point to Anish Giri. Anish Giri has today set up a Maroczy Bind-type structure and Zuniga must take chances to break through.
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Susan to Boris Gelfand: You were born in Minsk and now live in Israel.
Boris: Rishon LeZion is (the fourth-largest city in Israel, 8 kilometers south of Tel Aviv), a city of two hundred thousand.
Susan: A suburb of Tel Aviv. You are married with two children.
Boris: My daughter is seven and will be eight and my son is two years old.
Susan: Does your daughter play chess?
Boris: Yes. Do you know that in my city, they learn to play chess from the kindergarten level.
Susan: Will we see another Gelfand in chess?
Boris: I don’t think so. She enjoys playing with her father but she is much more interested when she paints. I prefer her to do something she is good at. But of course chess will help her as it helps a lot of children.
Susan: Does she follow your games?
Boris: She follows results, for sure. But also she follows game shots - what happened, what is the result. It is difficult for her to understand that when you win, it is not always mate. So she says OK, your opponent resigns and I say right.
Susan: And you will play the games over when you get home?
Boris: The first round game with Rahman that I played, there were nice stalemates possible etc; I will show her that.
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Susan: Good luck for the next round Hikaru.
Hikaru: It has been nine years since I was in the fourth round, against Adams in 2004. Hopefully this time I will do better.
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Peter Svidler to Susan and Lawrence – You should start off with a certain question today.. Do you know what the match score was today?
Lawrence – I am completely lost here!
Peter: If you knew what the match score was today and so had to make a draw, why would you chose an opening with black where you would be a rook down by move 16?
Lawrence: That is the question!
Peter: The variation is obviously prepared and my notes go up to 20…Qxg4. My notes end with the evaluation “with compensation”. The position is in my notes and it says “nice breach play for black”.
I’m down a rook down in a match where I need a draw.
Lawrence: It is very difficult play for white.
Peter: It’s not a bad choice as such, it is an interesting choice not made consciously. I caught myself after a bit, saying why am I doing this? Why, go for a position when one variation means I won’t be slightly worse but I will be dead.
Then I almost punished myself for being a chicken. If you go to move 26, any sane person would play Rxd2 and go for a win and probably will win (Rxd2 27.Rxd2 Nf1+ 28.Kg2 Ne3+ 29.Kh2 Nf1+). To be fair, I missed b3 and thought what I was doing (Nxc4 and Qc5) was getting a draw from a position of strength.

Susan: When was he out of his book?
Peter: Up to 15. Bf4, he was very fast and it does look like white is winning. But the whole point is d3 when it gets incredibly messy. It is a pity I spoiled a theoretical position by just winning the material back. I am a bit sad, not because of the result, but because I potentially spoiled something which could have been quite nice.

[Event "WorldCup 2013"]
[Site "Tromso"]
[Date "2013.08.18"]
[Round "20.13"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[BlackClock "00:05:38"]
[BlackElo "2746"]
[Board "13"]
[ECO "A16"]
[WhiteClock "00:19:13"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.g3 c5 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.h4 h6 8.O-O Bg7 9.Nxd5 Qxd5 10.d3 O-O 11.Be3 Qh5 12.Rc1 b6 13.d4 Rd8 14.Nd2 cxd4 15.Bf4 d3 16.Re1 Nd4 17.Bxa8 Bg4 18.f3 dxe2 19.Qa4 Rxa8 20.fxg4 Qxg4 21.Kg2 Rd8 22.Bc7 Rd7 23.Rc4 Qf5 24.Qxa7 Nc2 25.Rxe2 Ne3+ 26.Kh2 Nxc4 27.Nxc4 Qc5 28.b3 Rxc7 29.Qxb6 Qxb6 30.Nxb6 e6 31.Nc4 Bd4 32.Rc2 e5 33.b4 e4 34.a4 f5 35.a5 Rb7 36.Rd2 e3 37.Rxd4 e2 38.Rd8+ Kf7 39.Nd6+ Kf6 40.Rf8+ 1/2-1/2
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Susan: We have the star of this round, Evgeny Tomashevsky. You went all out, sacrificing a pawn and a knight and you achieved a draw against Aronian.
Evgeny: 19.Nxh7!? Is a bold and quite proper move. Another possibility was 19.Nh3. There were several reasons of playing so. Firstly I wanted to play chess because I don't play against such great opponents so often. Secondly, the position itself forced me to make difficult decisions, because Levon played a provocative opening. I wanted to prepare for it but I forgot about it. I think White should play principle d6 and probably after that White has a clear advantage [...] I have to sacrifice if I want to play principle chess.

[Event "WorldCup 2013"]
[Site "Tromso"]
[Date "2013.08.18"]
[Round "20.1"]
[White "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[BlackClock "00:00:38"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[Board "1"]
[ECO "E10"]
[WhiteClock "00:02:08"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 Bd6 6.Nc3 O-O 7.g3 Bc7 8.d6 Ba5 9.Bg2 Ne4 10.O-O Nxc3 11.bxc3 Bxc3 12.Bg5 Bf6 13.Qd5 Na6 14.Rac1 Rb8 15.Qf5 b5 16.e4 Bxg5 17.Nxg5 g6 18.Qg4 f6 19.Nxh7 Kxh7 20.f4 Bb7 21.f5 Qe8 22.e5 Bxg2 23.Kxg2 fxe5 24.Rce1 gxf5 25.Rxf5 Rxf5 26.Qxf5+ Qg6 27.Qxd7+ Kg8 28.Rf1 c4 29.h4 c3 30.h5 Qe4+ 31.Kh3 Kh8 32.Qe6 Nc5 33.Qf6+ Kh7 34.Qf7+ Kh8 35.Qf6+ Kh7 36.Qe7+ Kh8 37.Qf6+ 1/2-1/2
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Jon Ludvig Hammer and Evgeny Tomashevsky were both very excited young men describing their games the last two days. The first is out, the second goes on.
The Svidler game is quite extraordinary. Peter is a rook down and the Houdini evaluation is equal. He seemed to walk into the variation with open eyes shut! He seemed to be just as excited as Jon Ludvig and Evgeny when describing his game.
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Dana on the Prediction Derby is still quite interesting. He said this yesterday after Evgeny won the first game against Lev:

Today's most sensational news is that the #32 seed, Evgeny Tomashevsky, has won his game as Black against the top seed, Levon Aronian! If Tomashevsky can complete the upset with a draw (or better) as White tomorrow, that will of course have a huge effect on the Prediction Contest. The 29 percent who chose Aronian, including me, would be able to kiss our chances of winning goodbye. Nevertheless, I will be rooting for Tomashevsky. Watching an exciting and unpredictable tournament is more important to me than winning the contest.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Cup Matches, Tromsø

Tromso World Cup

Round Three Playoffs

Monday, August 19, 2013

Game Three Results

1. Caruana-Malakhov 1-0
2. Kramnik-Areshchenko 1-0
3. Grischuk-Le Q. 0-1
4. Karjakin-Eljanov 0.5-0.5
5. Mamedyarov-Wei Yi 1-0
6. Korobov-Dubov 1-0
7. Andreikin-Dreev 0-1
8. Kryvoruchko-Ivanchuk 0-1
9. Granda Zun.-Giri 1-0
10.Vitiugov-Morozevich 0.5-0.5

Game Four Results

1. Malakhov-Caruana 0-1
2. Areshchenko-Kramnik 0-1
3. Le Q-Grischuk 1-0
4. Eljanov-Karjakin 0.5-0.5
5. Wei Yi-Mamedyarov 0.5-0.5
6. Dubov-Korobov 0.5-0.5
7. Dreev-Andreikin 0-1
8. Ivanchuk-Kryvoruchko 1-0
9. Giri-Granda Zun. 0.5-0.5
10.Morozevich-Vitiugov 0.5-0.5

Game Five Results

1. Eljanov-Karjakin 1-0
2. Andreikin-Dreev 1-0
3. Morozevich-Vitiugov 0.5-0.5

Game Six Results

1. Karjakin-Eljanov 1-0
2. Dreev-Andreikin 0-1
3. Vitiugov-Morozevich 0.5-0.5

Game Seven Results

1. Eljanov-Karjakin 0.5-0.5
2. Morozevich-Vitiugov 0.5-0.5

Game Eight Results

1. Karjakin-Eljanov 1-0
2. Vitiugov-Morozevich 1-0

Tomorrow’s Pairings (Round Four)

1. Tomashevsky-Morozevich
2. Kamsky-Mamedyarov
3. Le-Svidler
4. Karjakin-Andreikin
5. Caruana-Granda
6. Gelfand-Lagrave
7. Kramnik-Ivanchuk
8. Nakamura-Korobov

Interviews and Comments

Lawrence: The winner of this competition will go through to the Candidates next year. Aronian and Kramnik are already in that tournament due to their standings in the world and their average ratings. Given the form of certain players – Vachier-Lagrave could be a bit of a shock winner, Nakamura wouldn’t surprise anyone although he has been a bit lucky with his draw.

A tweet: Why would Aronian and Kramnik play in a tournament from which they have already qualified? Confused.

The reason they have played this tournament is that according to FIDE rules they have to choose either this tournament or the Grand Prix Series. So they either play one tournament or several. The money here can’t be a bad incentive either.
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Susan: Mamedyarov is from Azerbaijan, where chess is extremely popular. It is the birthplace of Gary Kasparov. The next host of the World Cup is Baku as well as the Chess Olympiad after Tromso – 2016 will be in Baku (17 Sept – 30 Sept).
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Susan to Fabiano Caruana: A few minutes ago we were wondering if the top players have a different set of openings for different time controls?
Fabiano: There are some opening ideas, which are not fully correct but might work if your opponent doesn’t have too much time to think. I think every player has that, not ready to use in a classical game but would in rapid or blitz. Myself, I don’t play much rapid or blitz so I don’t have a repertoire.
Susan: Do you prefer at large classical games rather than rapid or blitz?
Fabiano: I don’t mind rapid or blitz at all, I just don’t have much practice. I don’t really mind shorter time controls.
Susan: What does chess preparation mean for you?
Fabiano: Well, (in classical) it involves a lot of work on the openings. It is non-stop keeping up with the trends because hundreds of games are played every day. A few are very important. You have to keep up with everything and analyze new ideas of other players and develop your own ideas, which is the most difficult. There is a wide variety of openings, so it is constant work. You have to try to focus on general chess preparation and of course, physical preparation.
Susan: What do you do for physical preparation?
Fabiano: I go to the gym and swim but you can only swim in the summer. I used to ride my bike but don’t do that any more.
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Lawrence: Congratulations, Vassily.
Vassily: In the second game I was in very big danger because my king was unprotected and probably with precise play my opponent could get appreciable advantage but I was lucky and exchanged queens and there was no danger.
Susan: How is rapid chess different from classical chess?
Vassily: In 25+10 there is no big difference. 5+2 is another game.
Susan: You are a legend in Ukrainian chess. Why is Ukrainian and Russian chess so dominant?
Vassily: Good coaches and the popularity of chess. In the Soviet Union, it was considered that each intelligent family needed to have a chessboard at home. Not everybody was a good player but at least it was a sign of an intelligent family.
Lawrence: Talking of culture, do you have any favorite poets?
Vassily: It depends on my mood but I like Pushkin and Mayakovsky and the Ukrainian writer, Lina Kostenko, for example.
[One feels that Lawrence was trying to get Ivanchuk to quote some poetry but Chukky didn’t snap up the bait!]
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Lawrence (after almost six hours commentating) One thing is for sure, it’s been a long day - I don’t know about you, but I need a steak.
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A colorful description of two of yesterday’s games from dana mackenzie’s blog:

Julio Granda Zuniga, down 1-0 against Anish Giri, pulled out a win as Black, hypnotizing Giri with his dancing knights. And in the longest game of the tournament, Alexander Grischuk banged his head against the defensive wall of Le Quang Liem for 100 moves before Le finally cracked. Around move 110 Polgar and Trent, commenting on the official website, started taking bets on when Le would resign. Trent predicted move 158, and he was almost right! Grischuk got to the Lucena position on move 152, and Le’s resignation finally came on move 154.
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Morley on ChessVibes comments: Not many players could survive a rapid tiebreak against Mamedyarov. He is world champ for a reason. Regardless, this was a great event for Wei Yi: 4/6 against 2725 avg. opposition, good for a 2850 performance rating and +22 rating points. Hopefully he will get an invite to Tata B or C in 2014, he might be something special.
Granda really dominated Giri, even in the game that he lost in classical. He is doing really well, and I would say he is the favorite if he gets to tiebreaks against Caruana.
Speaking of Caruana, I can't believe Malakhov turned a mate in 7 into a helpmate in 5. Simply unbelievable.
Kramnik - Ivanchuk is clearly the match of the next round. Ivanchuk killed Kramnik's hope in the previous Candidates tournament, and I'm sure Kramnik has not forgotten ...
Oh, and it looks like Nakamura's World Cup finally starts tomorrow!
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Sergey Karjakin's manager, Kirill Zangalis, shared his impressions on the Round 3 tiebreak:
"I have never seen such emotional chess. This could be compared to the football penalty shoot-out, which is usually considered to be the most exciting show for fans. Such incredible things were happening in today's clashes Malakhov - Caruana and Karjakin - Eljanov, that it could literaly take your breath away. I went through the most incredible emotions of my life."

[Laurentiu Grigorescu]

Re: World Cup Matches, Tromsø

Julio Granda Zuniga pulled it off! He is the now the only player under 2700 and the oldest in the tournament, if I am not mistaken. Hope he will play well against Caruana. It will be interesting to see Nakamura - Korobov, but the match of the round is Kramnik- Ivanchuk.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Cup Matches, Tromsø

Tromso World Cup

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Round Four, Game One

Kamsky slaughters Mamedyarov in what they are calling the game of the tournament:

White: Gata Kamsky Black: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

Sicilian B47 Bastrikov Variation

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. f4 d6 7. Be3 Nf6 8. Qf3 a6 9. Bd3 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. Kh1 Bd712. Rae1 b5 13. a3 Rab8 14. Nxc6 Bxc6 15. Qh3 Rfd8 16. Bd2 d5 17. e5 Ne4 18. f5 Nxd2 19. fxe6 Ne4 20. exf7+ Kh8 21. Nxd5 Bxd5 22. Rxe4 g6 23. Ref4 Kg7 24. e6 Rf8 25. Qe3 Bc5 26. Qe1 Bd6 27. Rh4 Be7 28. Qe3 h5 29. Qd4+ Kh6 30. Rxh5+ 1-0

Some ChessBomb comments:

- very very beautiful game by Kamsky
- down goes mamedyarov
- don’t play the Sicilian kids!
- I think this is Kamsky’s Evergreen
- what does that mean?
- a player’s best game, always green and beautiful
- But let's all remember that game where he missed Rxh2. He needs another then like this one to wipe out that memory
- Kamsky doesn't want to interview? He has always been a bit temperamental, I guess. Hard to like.

Indeed, Kamsky didn’t go to the interview after the game, electing to wait until this match is over to tell us what happened.
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Quang Liem Le always seemed to have the upper hand against Svidler.

Susan: We were puzzled at the draw at the end.
Peter: Why not play on? I was so happy to be alive..
Peter discussed the trouble he was in through the midgame and was so relieved when the tide started to turn, that he was glad to have the draw.
A lot of Vietnamese speakers were watching the game and commenting. It's a pity that their hero couldn’t have put the game away with his move 22.
+++++++

In Ivanchuk-Kramnik, Vassily started getting nervous near the time control and moved his queen to b4 instead of 42. Qc2 and that was about it.

Kramnik came to the press conference and talked nonstop with screensful of variations. It will be quite interesting to look at his annotation of this game in NIC one day.

His first words to Lawrence and Susan were: "I would have preferred that this happened in London, not here."

"It was a theoretical line that he seemed not to know so well – Aronian-Giri, which Aronian won as white. I was fortunate to have reviewed it this morning. I also played this line in the Kazan Candidates Matches in 2011 and analyzed it deeply."

Vladimir pointed out various places where Ivanchuk had a draw but panicked. He was quite generous with Vassily’s play in general.

Vladimir did look very strong and in control. One person’s tweet appeared on the screen:

Kramnik is the Lao-Tzu of chess. Calm and collected.

In spite of that, he said at the end of the discussion, “Tomorrow, Vassily will jump on me!”

It was very hard not to feel deeply for Vassily. He wanted to discuss the game with Vladimir at the board but the arbiters shooshed him away and Vassily, looking like your disappointed grandfather, walked away.
++++++++

Caruana-Granda Zuniga only lasted 21 moves. The game seemed more or less equal until black’s 20…f5 and white played 21.exf6 e.p. and Granda Zuniga promptly resigned.
+++++++

ChessBase’s summation of the day’s action:

Hikaru Nakamura tried an unusual approach against Anton Korobov's Najdorf, more of a positional style in which White tries to regroup to take advantage of the weak d5 square. However at some point White's regrouping became stagnant and with no way of making progress the players agreed to a repetition.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Boris Gelfand had a wild affair, although it is clear that at least one player had prepared the entirety of the game. The game was very theoretically important, with Gelfand playing the 16...a6! novelty that started a long forcing variation. Gelfand had to play many forced moves, but he found them all and at the end White won a rook but had to allow a perpetual check.

Fabiano Caruana obtained a complex position against Julio Granda Zuniga. The Italian pointed to 16...Bxc3 as an inaccuracy, but it seems that Black's position was manageable until his blunder with 20...f5?? Black counted on a pin to discourage the en passant, but simple tactics allowed White to capture this pawn and immediately win the game as Black had nothing better than to resign since the pin was nothing but a ghost.

Peter Svidler can count his lucky stars after he survived a horrible position against Le Quang Liem. The position was almost completely symmetrical, but Black was unable to castle and his attempt to do so artificially backfired as White was able to create a lot of central and kingside pressure. White had several important chances in the position, but the most important was 23.Rxd5! instead of 23.exd5 as in the resulting position the trade of rooks would have been a huge improvement for White. As it was in the game Black obtained compensation for the pawn and at the end was even the one thinking of continuing the game to try to win.

Kramnik scored a very important win with Black, and will only need to hold a draw tomorrow to advance. Kramnik noticed his opponent was nervous when Black held the advantage, and this led him to mistakes.
++++++++

Results

1. Morozevich-Tomashevsky 0.5-0.5
2. Caruana-Granda Zuniga 1-0
3. Ivanchuk-Kramnik 0-1
4. Le-Svidler 0.5-0.5
5. Andreikin-Karjakin 0.5-0.5
6. Nakamura-Korobov 0.5-0.5
7. Vachier-Lagrave-Gelfand 0.5-0.5
8. Kamsky-Mamedyarov 1-0

- geez... Kamsky could have bought mame some dinner first, before he...
- Why does Granda not know en-passant?
- Kramnik got a bit lucky to beat Ivanchuk, so only needs a draw with white tomorrow to go through. A shame that Ivanchuk self-destructed.
- Vachier Lagrave is in great shape! He almost made Gelfand shiver today
- Lots of games between top players, good commentary from Susan I really like this tournament.
- Too bad for Granda and Ivanchuk; they must be tired to play such moves.
I guess Nakamura's tournament STILL hasn't started... let's see some blitz already!
+++++++++

Age of the Contestants

A lot has been said about the youngest and oldest players. I have constructed a table of the players left to show the relevant information with birth date, birth year and age.

Caruana 30-Jul 1992 21
Le 13-Mar 1991 22
Vachier-Lagrave 21-Oct 1990 22
Andreikin 05-Feb 1990 23
Karjakin 12-Jan 1990 23
Nakamura 09-Dec 1987 25
Tomashevsky 01-Jul 1987 26
Korobov 25-Jun 1985 28
Mamedyarov 12-Apr 1985 28
Morozevich 18-Jul 1977 36
Svidler 17-Jun 1976 37
Kramnik 25-Jun 1975 38
Kamsky 02-Jun 1974 39
Ivanchuk 18-Mar 1969 44
Gelfand 24-Jun 1968 45
Granda Zuniga 25-Feb 1967 46

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Cup Matches, Tromsø

Tromso World Cup

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Round Four, Game Two

Late Breaking News: Kramnik v Ivanchuk is a draw after 30 moves, so Vladimir goes through and Vassily is out.

Mamedyarov v Kamsky had Gata on the ropes with Shakh being more than an hour up in time. With less than five minutes Gata has found amazing resources in the position. Lawrence says that he is a miracle worker able to cure illnesses.

- this is old school chess: 19th century stuff
- if you think this is boring, chess is not for you
- looks like an easy draw, amazing if Kamsky saw it from 23…Rb2 or earlier
- Kamsky has played some brilliant chess this match
- I’ve wondered what Morphy would hae been like on an acid trip. Now I know.

The players have just agreed to a draw, so Kamsky goes through and Mamedyarov is out.

Mamedyarov-Kamsky D90 Grunfeld, Three Knights Var

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. h4 dxc4 6. e4 O-O 7. h5 c5 8. hxg6 hxg6 9. d5 b5 10. Bh6 Bxh6 11. Rxh6 b4 12. Na4 Kg7 13. Rh4 c3 14. bxc3 bxc3 15. Rc1 Rh8 16. Rxh8 Qxh8 17. Nxc5 Nbd7 18. Nxd7 Bxd7 19. e5 Ne4 20. Qd4 Bf5 21. Qe3 Qh1 22. Nd4 Rb8 23. d6 Rb2 24. d7 Rxf2 25. Qxf2 Nxf2 26. Nxf5+ gxf5 27. d8=Q Qh4 28. Ke2 Qe4+ 29. Kxf2 Qf4+ 30. Ke2 Qxc1 31. Qd1 Qb2+ 32. Kd3 Qxa2 33. Kxc3 Qa5+ 34. Kb3 ½-½
++++++

All games are over. The results:

Tomashevsky-Morozevich 0.5-0.5
Granda Zuniga-Caruana 0-1
Kramnik-Ivanchuk 0.5-0.5
Svidler-Le 0.5-0.5
Karjakin-Andreikin 0.5-0.5
Korobov-Nakamura 1-0
Gelfand-Vachier Lagrave 0.5-0.5
Mamedyarov-Kamsky 0.5-0.5

Going Home

Ivanchuk
Mamedyarov
Granda Zuniga
Nakamura

Going Through

Kramnik
Kamsky
Caruana
Korobov

Going to the Tiebreakers tomorrow

Tomashevsky-Morozevich
Svidler-Le
Karjakin-Andreikin
Gelfand-Vachier-Lagrave
++++++++

Susan: Why would you let your opponent see your emotions at the board? I always was impressed by Gary Kasparov, with his facial expressions and body language giving hints to his opponents, even so he was still a dominating force in chess. Can you imagine if he was more of a poker-face?
Lawrence: Exactly. I can tell you who has a fantastic poker-face, Alexander Grischuk. That’s because he is a poker player, you wouldn’t know he was in trouble at the board.
Who in this tournament has the best poker-face?
Susan: Gata Kamsky and perhaps the Chinese players.
Lawrence: It certainly isn’t Hikaru Nakamura..

Susan: I have asked various players when they have booked their flight home. I was surprised that with some relatively lower rated players, their federations booked their flights for September 4. They are now stranded.

Lawrence: Someone has tweeted that great poker-faces are Wei Ye, Carlsen and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – aka MVL and Korobov.

Lawrence: Another question tweeted – Why don’t Susan and I rely on the computer analysis during our commentating?
Well, you have access, so you don’t need us. We are trying to explain what is going through a player’s mind without using a computer. We are here to explain the ideas and key concepts. The computer doesn’t understand fully understand – especially of the closed or positional nature.
+++++++++

Kramnik: The match went very smoothly with me. I was expecting a very tough match with tiebreaks. We have a lot of draws between us but it was still very fighting chess. The first game between us was in 1993 (Linares), 20 years ago. I won it actually, it was one of my biggest moments at the time. I won with black and Vassily was number three in the world at that time. It is in the book of my best games. [Game No. 138 in Kramnik’s My Life and Games (2000)]
Susan: When have you booked your flight home?
Kramnik: I already changed it once and I will go and change it again now. I had put it on the 23rd and now I will put it to the 26th. If it works, I will keep changing it by three days.
Lawrence: The first man through! You would be mad to bet against him winning, especially if he keeps changing his plane ticket. Maybe that is what I should do for my tournaments, do you reckon that would help me?
++++++++++

Susan: Gata Kamsky, congratulatons!
Gata: I gave my fans a small heart attack today. I was completely lost at one point.
Susan: Let’s just talk about yesterday’s game first. People are calling it the game of the tournament.
Gata: Not really. I was actually forced to sacrifice a piece. I play positional chess but was forced to attack. My opponent helped me in these two games.
Susan: In today’s game by 7.h5 you were out of your book?
Gata: My king was really under attack and with seven minutes to go I was completely lost and I started playing quickly because I was desperate.
Susan: When did you think you were all right again?
Gata: I was confident until he played 24. d7 and I had to find Qh4 and I was really nervous. I shouldn’t play like this. I’m an old person and should be playing normal solid chess and instead I am playing swashbuckling chess like a pirate.
Lawrence: A lot of chess fans a very happy that you played that game and you are through to the next round
++++++

Susan: People know very little about Nakamura’s victor – Anton Korobov. He’s a Ukrainian from Kharkov who actually retired from chess after becoming Ukrainian Champion in 2002 and then came back. Yesterday, he said that he made a big mistake there. Everyone thought that was retiring from chess but he said he meant coming back!
Susan: Welcome, Anton Korobov. We heard you majored in languages in college. Is it true that you quit chess for five years? I made a mistake coming back.
Anton: I don’t like to travel, just to stay at home in Kharkov and think about life.
It was a good experience for me to play against brilliant people like Kramnik and Nakamura.
Susan: When did you return to chess?
Anton: About four years ago. But I thought about quitting chess two years ago after the World Cup
Susan: What would you do? Are you married?
Anton: No (audience laughs). I am free
Lawrence: All of you girls out there, he is free. We got 170,000 people watching today so the odds are pretty good for you and for me. What will you do on your day off?
Anton: I will walk and fish.
Susan: Have you fished before?
Anton: No.

Anton would not say who his seconds were, what he philosophizes about when he is home alone, why he keeps quitting chess – an altogether mysterious man! Susan asked why he didn’t play on the Ukrainian chess team and he said because he wasn’t asked. When Susan said that they might think he would suddenly quit chess when he was playing, he answered that he hadn’t thought about that!
++++++++
Viewers' comments

- The live commentary had mentioned that Korobov actually quit professional chess for a while to - after all - attend university (studying English and German if I remember correctly). They quoted him that "this" was his worst decision: not quitting chess but quitting to quit !!? He is indeed 'quite a character' .... The same was actually the case for Granda, who tried to become a local politician, then a farmer. And there is Gata Kamsky who had also quit chess for a while.
- Kamsky - Mamedvarov produced two of the craziest games of the tournament. Particularly after Rb2 in today's game, the ensuing tactics are pretty amazing.
Korobov seems like quite a character. I didn't know much about him before this event, but he played well against Nakamura and cracked a lot of dry jokes in the press conference. I hope he beats Kramnik!
- Korobov looks a little bit like Canadian singer Ron Sexsmith.
- Strange interview by Korobov, it was hard to tell if he was being humorous or really pissed off with life in general. Anna Ushenina is a brave lady to be trained by him.
- What’s the history between Korobov and Nakamura? Korobov said in the interview they had some 'negotiation' during ICC game and now he is happy to take revenge? The guy is by the way a complete psycho, unless he was faking the interview.
- At the press conference Korobov was asked:
"When was the moment when you felt like "ok that's it, the game now is over"?"
"Even now I don't have the feeling that the game is over..."
+++++++++

You know that old math problem about the likelihood of two people of a group of 30 in a room celebrating the same birthday – a probability of .71, i.e. a 71% chance.
Well, looking at the birthdays in my earlier post of 16 finalists, I find that the two identical birthdates are Korobov June 25, 1985, Vladimir Kramnik June 25, 1975. If you subscribe to the astrological view of life, the two should share some amazing similarities!
+++++

The players are showing the strain of a long tournament without breaks but so are the viewers. I guess the chessbomb crowd have been watching the games with one eye and the commentary with the other for 5 or 6 hours a day. How are these guys showing the strain? Well, they have started talking about how "hot" Susan Polgar is!

[Hans Jung]

Re: World Cup Matches, Tromsø

Thanks for providing the excellent ongoing commentary Wayne. Susan Polgar has done a fantastic job.

[Laurentiu Grigorescu]

Re: World Cup Matches, Tromsø

I find Korobov's play today against Nakamura being outstanding. Nakamura did not have the slightest chance, White's strategy being close to perfection.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: World Cup Matches, Tromsø

Tromso World Cup

Round Four, Game Three Tiebreak

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Susan and Lawrence are joined informally at the front desk by Vassily Ivanchuk, who is evaluating and analyzing with amazing speed.

The games are:

Tomashevsky-Morozevich
Le-Svidler
Andreikin-Karjakin
Vachier-Lagrave-Gelfand

Lagrave has just beaten Gelfand in a Grunfeld.
Andreikin beats Karjakin in a Torre Attack
Le-Svidler is a draw from a Reti
Tomashevsky-Morozevich is a draw from a Grunfeld

Lawrence asks Vassily whom he likes to win the tournament and he replies that he has no favorites and is just looking in.

Karjakin and Gelfand have to win their next games or they go home
++++++

Round Four, Game Four

Hikaru Nakamura joins the team commentating but Vassily appears from time to time eating and drinking. Then, Maxime agrees to a draw with Gelfand and joins the others at the table. What an tournament he has had so far: 2-0 against Shabalov, 2-0 against Suarez, 1.5 against Dominguez and now .5,.5,1 and .5 against Gelfand for 8/10.

Morozevich-Tomashevsky is a draw and Andreikin knocks out Karjakin.
Boris Gelfand is gone after a 72-move draw against Maxime Vachier Lagrave. MVL was in full control all the way in that game.

Svidler-Le goes on and on. As I write this, they are at move 108. It is white with N, B and d pawn versus black’s R and b pawn. Guesses as to the final move of the game: Maxime 160, Hikaru 139, Susan goes for 148.

Peter mates Quang Liem Le with N and B in 135 moves. It is amusing to hear three grandmasters and a master shouting out the moves for the elementary mate.

There is one match progressing to the next tiebreak round - Morozevich-Tomashevsky in 10 moves +10 sec

Round Four, Game Five

Peter Svidler joins Susan and Lawrence.

He says that Alexander may have a partial refutation of the Grunfeld line they are playing and that a 10-minute game is the perfect time to spring it on your opponent.

Peter said that he had a difficult match. Le is an extremely dangerous player. He clearly came prepared and motivated for this match. Anybody who beats Sasha deserves a lot of credit.

Susan: How do you see the growth of chess in Asia?
Peter: The dominance of the Soviet Union was because it was a prestigious thing for parents. They would check whether their boy was any good at chess and if he was, he would be discovered in this kind of atmosphere. The same thing is happening in Asia. With so many people, there is no way that they won’t have young players coming up.
Susan: Is there still the support in Russia for chess as in the past?
Peter: The situation is better now but it will never be the same as before. There was an unbelievable amount of support in the past to have something at which we were superior to the West.
Susan: What about respect and prestige rather than support?
Peter: Grandmasters won’t be like minor rock stars anymore
Susan: If Peter Svidler were to walk down the streets of St. Petersburg now..?
Peter: People who recognize me and approach me happens about twice a year. I am not a celebrity of any kind. That’s frankly how I like it.
++++++++

Tomashevsky blunders on the 35th move and Morozevich wins. Another game to go and Tomashevsky must win with the black pieces to stay in the contest.
+++++++

Round Four, Game Six

Jarle Heitmann, Director of Communications, comes in and tells Susan and Lawrence how pleased the organizers are with the job they have been doing. He presents them with two very sharp letter openers to open all the fan mail they have been getting. Lawrence wonders how he will get his through customs.
Jarle explains that with the length of this contest, it was decided to have two teams commentating and the new one comes in tomorrow. (ten Geuzendam and Short).

Morozevich vs Tomashevsky opens with the Exchange Variation of the Caro-Kann.
Black just shifts wood hoping to run down Morzevich’s clock. Rather a boring game.
After move 75 Morozevich appears to talk to the table referee saying they are making no progress and so it is a draw.
Susan says you just cannot do this. There are strict rules of “no progress” as long as there is a pawn move, the 50-move rule is in effect again.
Lawrence says it is now 87 moves, this is a torture chamber, waterboarding on the chessboard! Morozevich is losing his patience and makes a bad move. The game has gone on for 50 minutes and this is a 10-minute game with increments!
Everything has fallen apart for Morozevich. 104 moves now. Tomashevsky needs to win this to go on to the next tiebreak.
It is a queens and pawns endgame but seems to be slipping away now for Tomashevsky.

Tweet on the screen: This game has me shaking already and I am on my comfy chair watching. Imagine how the two players feel!

The ten-minute game now has taken an hour.

Another screen tweet: I’m on my last fingernail now.

The commentators are now predicting a 200-move game with two queens on the board!
Now Susan and Lawrence have switched on the computer and are asking for the table base. It is 156 moves with each side having just one queen and black ready to queen another. A wild game. Table base says mate in 20 moves for black. It is 164 moves played. Call Eugene Nalimov and ask him what he thinks.

Finally, Tomashevky wins in 169 moves and this means two more games today.

I am retired and this is exhausting me, just sitting in front of the computer. Oh, for a more leisurely pursuit like digging ditches! Actually, they probably use backhoes to do that these days, but you know what I mean.
+++++

Round Four, Game Seven

Tomashevsky as black beats Morozevich in 56 moves. Lawrence has called for a pizza to sustain him, a salami pizza I believe. He has asked for a bed to be sent down if the match today lasts any longer.

The time control is 5 minutes with 3-second increments for the last game and the one about to begin.
+++++

Round Four, Game Eight

Evgeny Tomashevsky is 26 years of age, born in Saratov. Partly for being a mostly positional player, partly for wearing glasses and being well-educated, Tomashevsky, in spite of his young age, earned himself the nickname "Professor" among the chessplayers. He was one of the seconds to Boris Gelfand for the World Chess Championship 2012.

Vassily Ivanchuk is back again, sending in his suggestions to the commentators.

Talk of a bed for Lawrence earlier, elicited the memory of Tony Miles at Tilburg in 1985. He injured his back during the event and the organisers allowed him to play stretched out on his stomach on a hospital massage table. This annoyed some of his opponents a great deal, they protesting; Korchnoi was one, I think.

Back to the game, Evgeny, just needing a draw, ends up with a mate in one against Morozevich but takes the draw. Imagine a 45.e4 checkmate (after 44. Nf7+ Kf5). To contradict Breyer, “After white’s P-K4, black’s game is in its last throes”.

Evgeny is tired but happy, as they say and has just been told that he plays Gata Kamsky tomorrow.
He says he can’t imagine how disappointed Sasha must be having lost the tiebreak.

Susan and Lawrence thank everyone and say goodbye.

Tomorrow’s games

Svidler-Andreikin
Tomashevsky-Kamsky
Lagrave-Caruana
Kramnik-Korobov

Viewers comments

(the last is rather outrageous!)

- These guys need a masseuse!

- What a struggle between Morozevich and Tomashevsky. B+N mate by Svidler. Ivanchuk munching and wandering around the commentary room spouting brilliant variations! Definitely the best day of tiebreaks.

As far as the remaining matches go ...

Kamsky - Tomashevsky: Kamsky looked shaky during his match against Shimanov, but he has really found his form and played two brilliant games against Shak... I am going to pick Kamsky in classical games. Evgeny has to be exhausted after today.

Svidler - Andreikin: I think Andreikin is going to win this in the tiebreaks. It is going to be a close match, but Liem really let Peter off the hook a few times. The always gentlemanly Svidler mentioned a few times how lucky he is to have gotten through the round, but I doubt Andreikin will let such chances slip.

Caruana - MVL: I have no idea. They are both young, on form (neither has lost a game yet, classical or otherwise), and really want to win the event. Probably the most interesting match up.

Kramnik - Korobov: Again, I have no idea. I have a feeling Kramnik is going to kick into high gear now that he has a shot at big prize money; he himself said that he wasn't taking the event too seriously, but if he got to the semifinals he would really try to win. Korobov is kind of a dark horse still, but he clearly has the skills needed to progress.

- The quality of the games is really poor for the money they are being paid. I don't care about excusal stories on tension, etc. There is no excuse for not seeing a mate in one move on this level. GMs should be made to pay. Not necessarily these GMs, but any GMs, as long as someone is punished.