Zurich 2016

[Wayne Komer]

Zurich 2016

"The New Classics" In Zurich

October 27, 2015

From: http://chess-news.ru/en/node/20360

The fifth Zurich Chess Challenge will be even shorter and will take place from February 12-15, 2016 in the Savoy Hotel Zurich.

Six elite GMs will compete in this tournament:

Vishy ANAND
Vladimir KRAMNIK
Hikaru NAKAMURA
Levon ARONIAN
Anish GIRI
Alexey SHIROV

The competition is especially interesting due to its regulations.

The opening ceremony (February 12) will be marked with a concert of the world-renowned cellist Boris Andrianov. The Russian guitarist Dimitry Illarionov and the violinist Alena Baeva are also invited to perform. After the ceremony, the participants will play a blitz tournament (not counted), which will decide over the color distribution for the classical games.

The players will compete in a round robin with a new time control of 40 minutes per game with additional 10 seconds for each move. According to the director of the event Oleg Skvortsov, this is the future of classical chess, "The idea is to bring attention to this new time control and create a precedent, so that the elite GMs could play an hour-long game with a 10 minute add-up (no more than two hours for the entire game) counting the classical ELO points, - the businessman explained in the commentary to our website. - The Zurich competition will be formally counted for the rapid rating, but by the initial idea this is the new classical chess!"

According to the press release: "We preserve the Zurich system of point control but for another format. There are 2 points for a victory, 1 point for a draw in new classical chess and 1 point for a victory and 0.5 points for a draw in a blitz."

The blitz cycle will take place on February 15. The winner of Zurich Chess Challenge will be the player having collected the most of the points possible.

[Jack Maguire]

Re: Zurich 2016

Dennis Monokroussos writes about time controls in general and specifically those being implemented in Zurich.

http://worldchess.com/2015/11/05/can...be-good-chess/

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Zurich 2016

Zurich 2016

February 5, 2016

From the Official Site:

http://www.zurich-cc.com

Match between GM Boris Gelfand and GM Alexander Morozevich

In order to further promote the new time control suggested by main sponsor Oleg Skvortsov, the well known Grandmasters Boris Gelfand (Vice World Champion 2012) and Alexander Morozevich (Runner-up of the SG Zurich Jubilee-Open 2009) will compete in a two-round match on Saturday, February 13th at the Hotel Savoy Baur en Ville. This match will take place simultaneously to the first two rounds of the main event (3 pm & 6 pm) in the Festsaal.

SCHEDULE

Date:

Friday 12 February - Monday 15 February 2016

Rounds:

5 round robin new classical chess and blitz

Rate of play:

40 minutes per game with additional 10 seconds for each move

Please take note, that according to the rules of the Zurich Chess Challenge 2016, the winner of a classical 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.

Daily Schedule

Fri, February 12 - 18:00 Opening Ceremony & Blitz.

Sat, February 13 - 3 pm Round 1
- 6 pm Round 2

Sun, February 14 - 3 pm Round 3
- 6 pm Round 4

Mon, February 15 - 3 pm Round 5

- 6 pm blitz tournament with inverted colors of the new classical games
________

The above schedule seems to me to be a bit confusing.

The way things went in 2015 was this:

1) A blitz tournament determined the colors distribution on the first day of the tournament

2) After the opening, 5 classical games were played, followed by another 5 rapid games on the last day of the tournament

3) The final result was determined by combining the weighted scores in both the classical and rapid.

Rapid, classical with reduced time limit, blitz – I suppose it will all be sorted out in a week’s time.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Zurich 2016

Zurich 2016

February 8, 2016

There are some exceedingly interesting tables of statistics of how the players have performed against each other in classical, rapid and blitz.

It is good to have Alexei Shirov in there with the usual suspects.

http://www.zurich-cc.com

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Zurich 2016

Zurich 2016

February 12, 2016

Press Release

Opening Blitz

The tournament's favorite Hikaru Nakamura made his ambitions to win the competition again perfectly clear with a convincing victory in the Opening Blitz that was held to determine the starting numbers and colors for the Rapid. Even a loss in the last round against Indian Viswanathan Anand couldn't stop the "H-bomb" from finishing clear first with 3,5 out of five.

Three successive wins in the first three rounds against Armenian Levon Aronian, Russian Vladimir Kramnik and Dutch Anish Giri were followed by an unfortunate draw with white against Alexei Shirov, where Nakamura was clearly winning with two connected passed pawns on the queenside in a queen and bishop ending. But the Latvian Wizard found a way to keep the position alive with constant threats against Nakamura's king. Eventually, white stumbled and had to agree to a draw. Nevertheless Nakamura practically assured himself of clear first place being one point ahead before the final round, although Shirov could have caught up to him with a win against Giri, but the game ended in a draw after having reached a bloodless pawn and bishop ending.

Anand took second place with his win against Nakamura in the last round, while Shirov finished 3rd. These three players have thus assured themselves to have three white games in the coming Rapid, while Kramnik, Aronian and Giri will have three blacks.

Nakamura 3.5/5, Anand 3.0/5, Shirov 3.0/5, Kramnik 2.5/5, Aronian 2.0/5, Giri 1.0/5

Schedule Rapid

Round 1, Sat. Feb. 13, 3:00 p.m.
Shirov-Kramnik
Nakamura-Giri
Anand-Aronian

Round 2, Sat. Feb. 13, 6:00 p.m.
Kramnik-Aronian
Giri-Anand
Shirov-Nakamura

Round 3, Sun. Feb. 14, 3:00 p.m.
Nakamura-Kramnik
Anand-Shirov
Aronian-Giri

Round 4, Sun. Feb. 14, 6:00 p.m.
Kramnik-Giri
Shirov-Aronian
Nakamura-Anand

Round 5, Mon. Feb. 15, 3:00 p.m.
Anand-Kramnik
Aronian-Nakamura
Giri-Shirov
_____

Zurich 2016
Opening Blitz
Round 4, Feb. 12, 2016
Nakamura, Hikaru – Shirov, Alexei
B34 Sicilian, Accelerated Fianchetto, Exchange

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Nb3 Nf6 7.Be2 a6 8.O-O b5 9.Re1 b4 10.Nd5 d6 11.Bf3 Rb8 12.Bg5 Nxd5 13.exd5 Ne5 14.Be2 h6 15.Be3 Bb7 16.a3 bxa3 17.Rxa3 O-O 18.Na5 Ba8 19.f4 Nd7 20.Nc6 Bxc6 21.dxc6 Nf6 22.b3 a5 23.Bf3 d5 24.c4 Qd6 25.Rxa5 Qxc6 26.Bxd5 Nxd5 27.Rxd5 e6 28.Rd3 Rb7 29.Qf3 Qa6 30.h4 h5 31.Bf2 Rfb8 32.Red1 Qa2 33.Rd8+ Kh7 34.Rxb8 Rxb8 35.Rd3 Qc2 36.Kh2 Ra8 37.Qxa8 Qxd3 38.Qf3 Qc2 39.c5 Bf8 40.b4 Qc4 41.Qb7 Qxf4+ 42.Bg3 Qf5 43.c6 g5 44.hxg5 h4 45.Bb8 Bg7 46.Qb6 Be5+ 47.Bxe5 Qxe5+ 48.Kh1 Qe1+ 49.Qg1 Qxb4 50.Qc1 Qe4 51.Kh2 Qe5+ 52.Kg1 Qd4+ 53.Kh1 Qe4 54.Qf1 Qxc6 55.Qxf7+ Kh8 56.Qf6+ Kg8 57.Qg6+ Kf8 58.Qh6+ Kg8 59.Qg6+ Kf8 60.Qh6+ Kg8 61.Qg6+ 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Feb. 12, 2016
Anand, Vishy – Nakamura, Hikaru
B04 Alekhine’s Defence, Modern Variation

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 c6 5.Be2 dxe5 6.Nxe5 Nd7 7.Nf3 g6 8.O-O Bg7 9.c4 Nc7 10.Nc3 O-O 11.Bf4 Ne6 12.Be3 Nf6 13.h3 Qc7 14.Qd2 Rd8 15.Rad1 b6 16.Rfe1 Bb7 17.Qc1 Nh5 18.Bf1 Rac8 19.b4 Qb8 20.c5 a5 21.bxa5 bxc5 22.dxc5 Qa7 23.Bc4 Nc7 24.Rxd8+ Rxd8 25.Rd1 Re8 26.Ng5 e6 27.Rd7 Qxa5 28.Nce4 Bc8 29.Rxf7 h6 30.Rxg7+ Kxg7 31.Nf3 Nd5 32.Bxh6+ Kh7 33.Nd6 Re7 34.Bf8 Rg7 35.Bxg7 Kxg7 36.Bxd5 1-0

Round 3, Feb. 12, 2016
Nakamura, Hikaru – Giri, Anish
B40 Sicilian King’s Indian Attack

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 e6 4.g3 d5 5.exd5 exd5 6.Bg2 d4 7.Qe2+ Be6 8.Ne4 Be7 9.d3 h6 10.O-O Nf6 11.Nxf6+ Bxf6 12.Bh3 Qd5 13.Bxe6 fxe6 14.Re1 O-O 15.Qxe6+ Qxe6 16.Rxe6 Nb4 17.Ne1 Rac8 18.Bd2 Nd5 19.Rd1 Kf7 20.Re4 Rc6 21.Nf3 Rb6 22.b3 Rc6 23.Rde1 b5 24.Ne5+ Bxe5 25.Rxe5 Rd8 26.R1e4 Rd7 27.a3 Nf6 28.Re1 c4 29.Rxb5 c3 30.Bf4 Nd5 31.Be5 a6 32.Ra5 Ne7 33.Re4 Re6 34.Rf4+ Kg6 35.Rg4+ Kf5 36.Rf4+ Kg6 37.Rg4+ Kf5 38.Rxd4 1-0

3:00 and 6:00 p.m. Zurich time correspond to 9:00 a.m. and 12 noon Toronto/Montreal time

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Zurich 2016

Zurich 2016

February 13, 2016

From the Official Site

http://www.zurich-cc.com/96-rapid-ro...-in-touch.html

Rapid Round 1: Anand draws first blood

The Zurich Chess Challenge 2016 has started with three exciting games and one winner: The Indian Viswanathan Anand outplayed Armenian Levon Aronian in a seemingly calm Four Knights' Game, that suddenly came to live when white allowed his pawn structure to be damaged, but in return got a strong knight on f5, the open f-file and an attack.

However, material was a bit reduced after the exchange of two pairs of minor pieces, so the attack didn't seem to be very dangerous at first and maybe this is what Aronian thought when he first committed an inaccuracy by playing his king to h7 (instead, Re6 was probably better) and then blundered with the retreat Nc6-b8. Black didn't have time for such luxury, as Anand immediately proved by sacrificing a knight on h6. Aronian had to take it with the king, but in return his majesty was forced to talk a walk outside his own castle. Not the best thing to do for royalties and it was no surprise that Anand caught him only a few moves later by weaving a mating net.

Shirov - Kramnik was a YABB - Yet Another Bloody Berlin, as chess fans over the world nowadays tend to call this opening that has a strong tendency towards a draw, at least on high level. And the story was the same indeed, although at some point Kramnik's position looked a bit passive, but the Russian has such a huge experience with it that Shirov found no other way but to sacrifice a pawn in order to get some play. Kramnik took and soon afterwards returned it to reach a drawn endgame with opposite-colored bishops.

Nakamura - Giri was the clash of these two players who found themselves at the top and the bottom of yesterday's Blitz and most probably many saw Nakamura the clear favorite to win against the Dutch, but the game told a different story. Nakamura played the opening a bit too light-hearted maybe and got into trouble with black expanding on both wings. But although the position clearly seemed to favor black, Nakamura somehow managed to escape into a drawn ending. In the end, only two kings and two pawns were left of the previous battle.

Rapid Round 2: Anand on fire, Nakamura stays in touch

The 2nd round of the Zurich Chess Challenge again saw some fantastic fighting games on a very high level. Indian Viswanathan Anand scored his second victory in a row and thus made perfectly clear that, after his loss to Nakamura in the Armageddon decider last year, he's all ready to go for the tournament victory again.

Giri - Anand started slowly though. In a rather quiet Italian Game, both sides followed well-known paths and continued with slow manoeuvers when the game entered the stage of the middle-game, but then Anand tried to fight for the initiative by advancing on the queenside. The game still stayed level, but then the young Dutch followed a false plan: In order to get rid of the pressure against his pawn on f2, he moved it forward, but this made things only worse, as Anand was now able to open the file with the lever e6-e5. In a difficult position, Giri allowed his opponents heavy pieces to enter his position and the game ended with an irresistible mating attack.

Kramnik - Aronian left no room for excitement after the opening - Kramnik chose a quiet Réti setup and continued to play a bit passively, allowing his opponent to free his position and equalize. But all of a sudden, the Russian gave up an exchange for highly interesting play - he obtained an advanced passed-pawn on e6 and a knight for a rook. It seemed that Aronian was again on the track of losing, but he defended stubbornly, returned the exchange and reached an endgame with a pawn down, but opposite-colored bishops and a position that ran out of life, so a draw was agreed.

Shirov - Nakamura was bound to become a real fighting game, and that's what it turned out to be! Nakamura chose the French defense and Shirov reacted by pushing his pawn to e5 to enter the so-called Nimzovitsch Variation. By moving his knight to h6, the American allowed his opponent to compromise his pawn structure, but got plenty of play along the open g-file, where a black rook together with both doubled h-pawns soon attacked the white's king's castle. Shirov defended very well, but at some point overstretched the position. Probably seeking active counterplay, he sacrificed the exchange, but Nakamura kept his cool and just pushed his free h-pawn that was impossible to stop without losing more material.

After two rounds, it appears to be clear that the tournament heads towards being a race between Anand and Nakamura. Tomorrow, the two leaders will face each other in the 4th round; a game that will probably decide the outcome of the whole competition. Stay with us!

Standing After Round Two

Anand 4/4
Nakamura 3/4
Kramnik 2/4
Giri 1/4
Aronian 1/4
Shirov 1/4

Zurich 2016 Rapid (40+10)
Round 2, Feb. 13, 2016
Giri, Anish – Anand, Vishy
C50 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 a6 7.a4 O-O 8.Re1 h6 9.h3 Be6 10.Bxe6 fxe6 11.Be3 Bxe3 12.Rxe3 Qd7 13.Nbd2 Qf7 14.g3 Nd7 15.Kg2 a5 16.Qc2 Nc5 17.Rf1 Qd7 18.b3 Ne7 19.Nc4 b5 20.axb5 Qxb5 21.Rb1 Nc6 22.Ncd2 Rab8 23.d4 exd4 24.Nxd4 Nxd4 25.cxd4 Na6 26.Qc3 Qb6 27.Nf3 Nb4 28.Qc4 Rbe8 29.Rc1 Rf7 30.Nd2 Ref8 31.f4 e5 32.Nf3 exf4 33.gxf4 d5 34.exd5 Qd6 35.Ne5 Rxf4 36.Kg1 Kh7 37.Rg3 R8f5 38.Rg4 Qf6 39.Rxf4 Rxf4 40.Rf1 Qg5+ 41.Kh2 Re4 42.Nf3 Qf4+ 43.Kg2 Re3 44.Qc1 Re2+ 45.Kh1 Qg3 0-1

Round 2, Feb. 3, 2016
Shirov, Alexei – Nakamura, Hikaru
C02 French, Advance, Milner-Barry Gambit

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 Nh6 7.b4 cxd4 8.Bxh6 gxh6 9.cxd4 Bd7 10.Ra2 Rg8 11.h3 h5 12.g3 h4 13.g4 Be7 14.Be2 f6 15.b5 Nd8 16.Qd3 Rg7 17.Nc3 Nf7 18.O-O h5 19.Na4 Qd8 20.exf6 Bxf6 21.Nc5 hxg4 22.hxg4 b6 23.Nxd7 Qxd7 24.Kh1 Rc8 25.Rc2 Rxc2 26.Qxc2 Nd6 27.Ne5 Bxe5 28.dxe5 Ne4 29.Kg2 Nc5 30.Rh1 Qe7 31.Qc1 Rh7 32.Qe3 Qg7 33.Rc1 Qf8 34.a4 Rf7 35.f3 Rf4 36.Rxc5 bxc5 37.a5 h3+ 38.Kg3 h2 0-1

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Zurich 2016

Zurich 2016

February 14, 2016

Round Three

An entertaining round this morning. It seemed that Nakamura was going down to Kramnik because of an ill-advised move but then it reached rook and pawn for Kramnik and knight and pawns for Naka, with the latter having a big time advantage, and finally a draw was agreed.

Jan Gustafsson is commentating from Hamburg, but if you switch over to the German, you can get Yannick Pelletier and Werner Hug in Zurich, so you get the interviews in English there.

http://www.zurich-chess-challenge.com/live.html

Oleg Skvortsov is in the front row watching “his tournament”, sitting next to Anatoly Karpov. Genna Borisovich Sosonko is commentating for the Russian audience. Viktor Korchnoi was in the other day.

The Round Three games:

Zurich 2016 Rapid
Round 3, Feb. 14, 2016
Nakamura, Hikaru – Kramnik, Vladimir
C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nbd2 Be6 7.O-O Nd7 8.Nb3 Bb6 9.Ng5 Bxb3 10.axb3 f6 11.Nf3 Nc5 12.Nd2 O-O 13.Nc4 Ne6 14.Kh1 Qd7 15.Qg4 Rad8 16.Be3 Bd4 17.Bxd4 Nxd4 18.Qxd7 Rxd7 19.Rxa7 Nxc2 20.Rxb7 Rxd3 21.h4 Nd4 22.b4 Ne6 23.Rc1 Ra8 24.b5 cxb5 25.Rxb5 Rad8 26.f3 h5 27.Kh2 Nf4 28.Rc5 R8d7 29.Na3 Rd2 30.R1c2 Nxg2 31.Rxc7 Ne3+ 32.Rxd2 Rxd2+ 33.Kh3 Rf2 34.Kg3 Rxb2 35.Rc1 f5 36.Nc4 f4+ 37.Kh3 Rf2 38.Nxe5 Nf1 39.Rxf1 Rxf1 40.Kg2 Ra1 41.Ng6 Ra2+ 42.Kg1 Ra1+ 43.Kg2 Ra2+ 44.Kg1 Kf7 45.Nxf4 g6 46.Ng2 Kf6 47.Kh2 Ke5 48.Kg3 Ra1 49.Nf4 Kd4 50.Kg2 Ra2+ 51.Kg3 Ra1 52.Kg2 Ra8 53.Kf2 Ra6 54.Ne2+ Ke5 55.Kg3 Rf6 56.Kf2 Rf8 57.Kg3 Rf7 58.Kf2 Ra7 59.Kg3 Ra8 60.Nf4 Rg8 61.Ne2 g5 62.hxg5 Rxg5+ 63.Kh4 Rg2 64.Ng3 Rh2+ 65.Kg5 h4 66.f4+ Ke6 67.Nf5 h3 68.Kg4 Rh1 69.Ng3 Rh2 70.e5 Rf2 71.Ne4 Rg2+ 72.Kxh3 1/2-1/2


Evidently, all of Naka’s troubles started with that 29.Na3 move.

Round 3, Feb. 14, 2016
Anand, Vishy – Shirov, Alexei
C77 Ruy Lopez, Anderssen Variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 g6 7.O-O Bg7 8.Nbd2 O-O 9.Re1 Nh5 10.Nf1 f5 11.Ng3 fxe4 12.Bb3+ Kh8 13.Ng5 Nf4 14.Nf7+ Rxf7 15.Bxf7 Qf8 16.Bb3 exd3 17.Bc4 d5 18.Bxd3 e4 19.Bf1 g5 20.c4 dxc4 21.Nxe4 Ne5 22.Bxf4 gxf4 23.Ng5 Bf5 24.Qd5 c6 25.Qa5 b5 26.Rad1 Qe7 27.Ne4 Rg8 28.Nd6 Bc2 29.Qd2 Bxd1 30.Qxd1 Rf8 31.Ne4 f3 32.g3 Rd8 33.Qc1 Nd3 34.Bxd3 cxd3 35.Qxc6 Bxb2 36.Kf1 Qd7 37.Qxd7 Rxd7 38.Rd1 Rd5 39.Nd2 b4 40.Nxf3 Bc3 41.Ne1 d2 42.Nf3 Ra5 43.Nxd2 Rxa2 44.Ne4 a5 45.Nxc3 bxc3 46.Rc1 Ra3 47.Ke2 a4 48.Rc2 Rb3 49.Kd3 a3 50.Kc4 a2 51.Rxa2 Rb2 52.Ra8+ 1/2-1/2

Round 3, Feb. 14, 2016
Aronian, Levon – Giri, Anish
D43 QGD, Semi-Slav, Hastings Variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.Qb3 dxc4 8.Qxc4 Nd7 9.e3 g6 10.Ne4 Qe7 11.Ne5 Qb4+ 12.Qxb4 Bxb4+ 13.Ke2 Be7 14.f4 b6 15.Kf2 Bb7 16.Rd1 Rd8 17.Be2 O-O 18.Bf3 c5 19.Ng3 Nxe5 20.dxe5 Ba6 21.Ne4 Bd3 22.Nf6+ Kg7 23.Nd5 exd5 24.Rxd3 d4 25.exd4 Rxd4 26.Rxd4 cxd4 27.Ke2 f6 28.Kd3 fxe5 29.fxe5 Rc8 30.Rd1 Bg5 31.Ke4 Be3 32.Rd3 Kf7 33.Ra3 Rc7 34.Be2 Ke7 35.Ra4 Bc1 36.Rxd4 Bxb2 37.Rc4 1/2-1/2

With two “classical” rapid games to go, today and tomorrow, the amazing Anand is one point ahead of Nakamura. Of course, then there will be the blitz tournament.

Nakamura-Anand coming up in half an hour.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Zurich 2016

Zurich 2016

February 14, 2016

Round Four

From the Official Site:

The focus of today's round clearly laid on the clash of the leaders: Would Nakamura be able to beat Anand with the white pieces and thus take over the lead? But the Indian stood firm and even took over the initiative, so in the end it was the American who had to force a draw. The draw offered a chance for the rest of the field to catch up - and two of them grabbed it brilliantly.

Nakamura - Anand started with a Grunfeld reversed, an opening that is said to be a little uncomfortable for black. Nakamura appeared to be surprised by Anand's opening choice and spent some time to think about the best way to react, but although he chose a highly interesting pawn sacrifice, Anand was very well prepared and most likely had most parts of the opening phase standing on his board at home already. The Indian's pawn structure got weakened, but in return he got the bishop pair and a dangerous passed-pawn as compensation. Facing black's active pieces threating to intrude his camp, Nakamura sacrificed a pawn to enter an ending with rook and opposite-colored bishops that was impossible to win for Anand.

Shirov - Aronian impressive showed that, despite it's reputation of being a drawish opening, the Berlin Wall can become very nasty for white if he presses too much. Maybe Aronian had Shirov's temper in mind when he decided on today's opening, who knows. Shirov tried to force an attack against the Armenian king, but Aronian defended with impressive coolness and after the smoke cleared it became evident that it was Shirov's king who was in mortal danger. Trying to reduce the pressure, Shirov gave up two pawns, but his counterplay petered out and Aronian won.

Kramnik - Giri was THE game of the day. Starting with a modest Réti again, the Russian slowly increased his pressure on Giri's queenside by taking over the control over the dark squares. Giri defended very well, but with very precise play Kramnik forced one weakness after another and, exactly when the right moment had come, broke through in the center with d4-d5 after which, according to the engines, white was clearly winning. However, Kramnik missed the correct continuation and thus brought Giri back into the game. Pressing for a win, Kramnik gave up his queen for two black rooks - and immediately after that, Giri made a seemingly active queen move that allowed Kramnik to carry out a winning combination with the beautiful move Rc7. Facing mate or decisive material losses, Giri had to resign.
After the penultimate round, Anand is still one point ahead of Nakamura, who was joined by Kramnik. Aronian is at 50 percent now and Giri and Shirov share last place.

The last round pairings are:

Vishy Anand – Vladimir Kramnik
Levon Aronian – Hikaru Nakamura
Anish Giri – Alexei Shirov

The Blitz tournament will follow. In it the players will have the inverted colours of the classical rapid that just finished.

Zurich 2016 Rapid
Round 4, Feb. 14, 2016
Kramnik, Vladimir – Giri, Anish
A07 Reti, King’s Indian Attack

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.d4 c6 5.O-O Nf6 6.b3 O-O 7.Bb2 Bf5 8.c4 a5 9.Nc3 Ne4 10.cxd5 Nxc3 11.Bxc3 cxd5 12.Ne5 Nc6 13.Qd2 a4 14.Nxc6 bxc6 15.b4 Bc8 16.e4 Ba6 17.Rfe1 dxe4 18.Bxe4 Bb5 19.Rac1 e6 20.a3 Qd6 21.Bb2 Rfd8 22.Red1 Rac8 23.Rc5 Qb8 24.Rdc1 Qb7 25.Qg5 h6 26.Qf4 Qd7 27.Bf3 g5 28.Qe3 Rc7 29.Qc3 Rdc8 30.Be4 Qd6 31.Bb1 Kf8 32.Qc2 Ke7 33.Re1 Kf8 34.d5 e5 35.Rc1 Bf6 36.Qf5 Bg7 37.dxc6 Bxc6 38.Qc2 Qe6 39.Qf5 Qd6 40.Ba2 Be8 41.Qxc8 Rxc8 42.Rxc8 Qd2 43.R1c7 Qxb2 44.Rxf7+ Kg8 45.Rxe8+ Kh7 46.Bd5 1-0

Round 4, Feb. 14, 2016
Shirov, Alexei – Aronian, Levon
C67 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence, Open Variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 Be7 10.h3 Nh4 11.Rd1+ Ke8 12.Nd4 Ng6 13.f4 h5 14.Ne4 h4 15.Be3 a6 16.c4 Rh5 17.Rd3 f6 18.exf6 gxf6 19.Rf1 Bd7 20.f5 Ne5 21.Rc3 Kf7 22.Bf4 Rd8 23.Bxe5 fxe5 24.Nf3 Bxf5 25.Nxh4 Bxh4 26.g4 Ke7 27.gxf5 Rd4 28.Nc5 Rd2 29.Kh1 Rxb2 30.Rd3 Bf6 31.Ne4 Rh4 32.Re3 Rxa2 33.Rb1 b6 34.Rbe1 Rc2 35.c5 b5 36.Ra3 Rf4 37.Rxa6 Bh4 38.f6+ Kf7 0-1

Round 4, Feb. 14, 2016
Nakamura, Hikaru – Anand, Vishy
A08 Reti, Kings Indian Attack

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.O-O Nc6 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 e5 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.c4 Be6 9.Bg5 Rc8 10.Qa4 Qd7 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.e3 d4 13.exd4 exd4 14.c5 Bxc5 15.Rc1 Qe7 16.Bxc6+ Kf8 17.Nd2 Kg7 18.Qb5 Bb6 19.Qd3 Rc7 20.Be4 Rhc8 21.Rxc7 Rxc7 22.Rd1 Qc5 23.Nb3 Qe5 24.Nd2 f5 25.Bg2 Qc5 26.b3 Qc2 27.Nc4 Qxd3 28.Rxd3 Bxc4 29.bxc4 Rxc4 30.Bd5 Rc3 1/2-1/2
_______

The faster time limit is supposed to make the games more spectator friendly. I don’t find them so. I am just getting settled in and the game is over. I have been so used to prolonged defences with fortresses, discussions of the Vancura, Lucena and Philidor Positions and miracle saves that it is disappointing to have hardly finished my morning cuppa when the first game is finished and one has to wait 90 minutes for the second.

Saw Judit Polgar in the audience today as well as Oleg’s wife Natalia Skvortsova and Kramnik’s daughter Daria.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Zurich 2016

Zurich 2016

February 15, 2016

From the Official Site:

Rapid Round 5: Nakamura!

The stage is set for a dramatic Blitz showdown beginning at 6pm in the Savoy, as the two favorites, Indian Viswanathan Anand and American Hikaru Nakamura, are now level with 7 points each, with Russian Vladimir Kramnik only one point behind. We're expecting the tournament to be decided only in the very last round - or even later.

Anand - Kramnik was expected by many to have a high probability to end in a draw, as both sides had to avoid a loss at all costs. Kramnik again chose the Berlin Wall and Anand avoided all well-trodden paths with the quiet 4.d3. Kramnik defended very well and, with precise play, never gave Anand the chance to develop an initiative. Instead, the game quickly steered into a rook endgame were neither side had any winning chances.

Giri - Shirov started as a quiet Réti game, where the young Dutch soon got the bishop pair, but Shirov remained solid and had a couple of active knights to fight with. After the exchange of queens, Giri had a slight advantage, but Shirov defended excellently and managed to eliminate all pawns in the center and on the queenside, so that the draw became obvious.

Aronian - Nakamura showed the great fighting spirit of the American player. He chose a solid Queen's Gambit setup that, at first, appeared to be rather passive, but offered excellent chances to play. Aronian had the initiative on the queenside, but Nakamura had everything well protected and when the tension grew, the Armenian committed an error that cost him a pawn. Searching for counterplay, Aronian gave away a second one, but the "H-Bomb" didn't allow Aronian back into the game and, after losing a third pawn, Aronian resigned.
Before the Blitz tournament, we now have the perfect scenario for a dramatic showdown: Anand and Nakamura are ahead of the field, both with 7 out of 10, and Kramnik in lurking position only one point behind.

Nakamura wins the 2016 Zurich Chess Challenge!

by Marc Lang

It was an amazing finish with tremendous tension and a final result that was only decided with the very last game of the tournament. Again, it's Hikaru Nakamura who is on top of the Zurich Chess Challenge! The three leaders of the Rapid: Anand, Nakamura and Kramnik, all scored 3.5 out of 5 in the Blitz tournament, but Nakamura had the better tiebreak that gave him the small advantage to edge out runner-up Viswanathan Anand again.

Before the final round, all three leaders still had chances to win the competition: Anand was leading with 10,0 points, followed by Nakamura with 9,5 and Kramnik still have a point behind. The pairings of the last round were Kramnik - Anand and Nakamura - Aronian, so even Kramnik had chances to win if he beat Anand and Nakamura didn't win against Aronian. By choosing a slow King's Indian setup with white, Kramnik tried to keep the game going and hoping to lure Anand into making a blunder, but the Indian player didn't do him this favour and instead took over the initiative, but it wasn't enough to seriously shake Kramnik's position and so a draw was agreed.

Meanwhile, Giri mated Shirov - a seemingly unimportant result, as they both were at the bottom of the table. However, as Nakamura had won against Giri and drawn with Shirov, while Anand had scored opposite, a win against Giri was now worth 2 points more than a win against Shirov! Therefore, if Nakamura scored a full point versus Aronian, he would be the winner of the competition!

Showing excellent nerves and demonstrating brilliant endgame technique even under enormous pressure, this is exactly what the American did. In a double rook endgame, he converted his extra pawn with the precision of a machine. Being two rooks down and with his two connected passed pawns being caught, Aronian stopped the clock and congratulated the American to his second successive win in Zurich.

Final result of the Zurich Chess Challenge 2016

1. Nakamura 10.5
2. Anand 10.5
3. Kramnik 9.5
4. Giri 5.5
5. Aronian 5.5
6. Shirov 3.5

The games:

Zurich 2016 Rapid
Round 5, Feb. 15, 2016
Aronian, Levon – Nakamura, Hikaru
D37 QGD, Hastings Variation

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 Nbd7 7.c5 c6 8.h3 b6 9.b4 a5 10.a3 h6 11.Bd3 Ba6 12.O-O Bxd3 13.Qxd3 Qc8 14.Rfc1 Qb7 15.Rab1 axb4 16.axb4 Rfc8 17.Nd2 Bd8 18.Nb3 Bc7 19.Bxc7 Qxc7 20.Ra1 Qb7 21.b5 Rxa1 22.Rxa1 bxc5 23.Na5 Qa8 24.Nb3 Qb7 25.Na5 Qa8 26.Nb3 Qb8 27.dxc5 cxb5 28.Qd4 b4 29.Na4 Qb5 30.Qb2 Ne4 31.f3 Nexc5 32.Naxc5 Nxc5 33.Rc1 Rc7 34.Qe5 Qb6 35.f4 Na6 36.Ra1 Rc3 37.Nd4 Nc7 38.Rb1 f6 39.Qh5 Rxe3 0-1

Zurich 2016 Blitz (4 min + 3 sec)
Round 5, Feb. 15, 2016
Nakamura, Hikaru – Aronian, Levon
C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nbd2 Be6 7.O-O Bd6 8.d4 Nd7 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.Nxe5 Bxe5 11.f4 Qd4+ 12.Kh1 Bd6 13.Qe2 O-O-O 14.f5 Bd7 15.Nf3 Qa4 16.b3 Qa5 17.Bd2 Bb4 18.Bxb4 Qxb4 19.Qf2 b6 20.Ng5 Qe7 21.f6 gxf6 22.Qxf6 Qxf6 23.Rxf6 Be8 24.Nxf7 Bxf7 25.Rxf7 Rd2 26.Rc1 Rg8 27.Rg1 Rxc2 28.Rxh7 Rxa2 29.g4 Ra5 30.h4 Re5 31.g5 Rxe4 32.g6 Ree8 33.h5 a5 34.g7 Kb7 35.Rh6 Re5 36.Rh8 Rxg7 37.Rxg7 b5 38.Rg3 c5 39.h6 Rh5+ 40.Kg2 c4 41.bxc4 b4 42.Rh3 Rg5+ 43.Kf3 b3 44.Kf4 a4 45.Kxg5 1-0

_________

An added note for mathematicians:

The 2016 Zurich Chess Challenge not only features top-level chess, but also mathematical excellence: Today, we were glad to welcome a very special and highly decorated guest. Mr Manjul Bhargava, the 2014 winner of the Fields Medal, the highest honor a mathematician can receive and the correspondent of the Noble Prize, has come to visit the tournament. Not only because he loves chess, but also because he's an ardent supporter of Viswanathan Anand and one of his closest friends.

"Chess is amazing because it's so strongly related to Mathematics", Mr Bhargava told us with a warm and charming smile, "I've never played it on a high level, but I love to follow the games of Viswanathan Anand." According to Manjul, the two met at the International Congress of Mathematics held 2006 in Madrid, where Viswanathan Anand came to visit because of his addiction to Mathematical Science. Talking to each other, they were surprised to learn that they were not only admirers of each other, but also shared a lot of other interests, like traditional Indian Music. Anand's wife Aruna is a classical Indian dancer, while Mr Bhargava is a passionate player of the Tabla instrument, a classical Indian percussion instrument.

Mr Bhargava received his Fields Medal in 2014 for his approach to solve cubic equations. He is seen by many as the successor of the famous Indian mathematician S. Ramanujan, an incredibly talented scientist and autodidact who revolutionized mathematics at the beginning of the 20th century. A similarity that was even discovered by Hollywood, as Mr Bhargava was hired as the main consultant for the Hollywood movie "The man who knew infinitiy", starring Dev Patel (known from the Oscar winning "Slumdog Millionaire") and Jeremy Irons, that is scheduled to release on April 29 and that was the opening movie at the Zurich Film Festival - another reason for Manjul's visit to Switzerland.

His talent for mathematics was discovered very early. Only at the age of two, young Manjul had enormous pleasure stapling empty oranges he found in the kitchen and thus tried to find out how many of them are needed to build a pyramid. Later, after joining school, he had been so far ahead of his schoolmates, that the teachers allowed him to skip the mathematical lessons because they were simply too boring for him. He was only present at the exams and, of course, always got an A+. After school, he went to Harvard to study and later became third youngest full professor in Princeton University's history.

We're very proud to welcome such an honored guest in our midst and wish Mr Bhargava all the best for his coming projects!

[There are similarities between the career of the Indian mathematician Ramanujan (mentioned above) and Mir Sultan Khan]

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Zurich 2016

Zurich 2016

February 16, 2016

Early photos of the blitz final showed a well-dressed, balding guy among the seated spectators with the caption "Now that's a prominent guest indeed!"

In other words everyone should know who he was. I puzzled over this with no help and then later thought he might be the head of FIFA, who had relinquished his post. But what his name was..?

The write-up in chess.com this evening confirmed my suspicions:

Round Four was momentous for the final standings. Another career sportsman must have sensed this -- suspended FIFA President Sepp Blatter showed up and sat on the front row. Skvortsov told Chess.com that the two had never met before, but Blatter was staying at the Hotel Savoy Beau en Ville and heard about the chess tournament. He decided to come down.

"Football is like chess," Blatter said to Skvortsov. "Some figures to defend and some to attack."

Blatter is only two months in to his eight-year ban by the FIFA Ethics Committee. The organization is based in Zurich.

Mike Klein at

https://www.chess.com/news/nakamura-...ar-finish-1688