2013 World Cup: Round #4
August 10th-September 3rd, 2013 (Tromso, Norway) Match Scores (Round #4) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morozevich, A |
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RUS | Tomashevsky, E |
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RUS | |
| 2 | Kamsky, G |
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USA | Mamedyarov, S |
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AZE | |
| 3 | Svidler, P |
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RUS | Le Quang Liem |
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VIE | |
| 4 | Karjakin, S |
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RUS | Andreikin, D |
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RUS | |
| 5 | Caruana, F |
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ITA | Granda Zuniga, J |
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PER | |
| 6 | Gelfand, B |
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ISR | Vachier-Lagrave, M |
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FRA | |
| 7 | Kramnik, V |
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RUS | Ivanchuk, V |
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UKR | |
| 8 | Nakamura, H |
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USA | Korobov, A |
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UKR | |
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| Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | | Semifinals | Finals | |
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Official Website: https://www.chessworldcup2013.com/
Drum Coverage: https://www.thechessdrum.net/
All PGN Games (TWIC): https://www.theweekinchess.com/
Rules and Regulations: https://www.chessworldcup2013.com/
Tuesday, 20 August 2013
Kamsky uncorks “Fire on Board”… sacrifices several pieces…
Kramnik impressive in win over Ivanchuk…
Caruana nets point over Granda
August 10th-September 3rd, 2013 (Tromso, Norway)
Game Scores
Relatively hard-fought games today in an prelude of things to come. There were three decisive results. One of them was accented by Vladimir Kramnik’s impressive victory over Vassily Ivanchuk in an instructive attack on an exposed king. Fabiano Caruana took advantage of a rare opportunity when Julio Granda miscalculated an en passant capture and resigned immediately. It is the second time that the Peruvian has lost a game due to a one-move blunder. One wonders if he is getting a bit tired.
By looking at Gata Kamsky’s Sphinx-like posture, one would never know that a torrent of energy was boiling inside him. “Shakh” was completely overwhelmed. Photo by Paul Truong.
The win of the round (and the tournament) has to be Gata Kamsky’s spectacular tactical barrage in crushing Shahkriyar Mamedyarov in a Scheveningen. Commentators Lawrence Trent and Susan Polgar were discussing how both players had contrasting styles with Shahk being more aggressive and Kamsky being more positional. One could not tell by this game as Kamsky went on a sacrificial tirade.
In a very well-known Scheveningen, Kamsky adopted an aggressive stance with pieces situated along the third rank and begin his assault by sacrificing a piece with 18.f5!? After 18…Nxd2 Kamsky continued the hammerblows with 19. fxe6 Ne4 20. exf7+ Kh8 21. Nxd5!? (diagram #1) Bxd5 22. Rxe4!
Kamsky blasted the position open with a fussilade of sacrifices beginning with 18.f5!? then 21.Nxd5! However, things are a bit unclear after 21…Bxd5 22.Rxe4 g6 23.Ref4 when black could play 23…Qxe5. Looking at the final position after 30.Rxh5+! one can figure that the moves leading up to this were brutal indeed.
How did the game end? The Azeri player erred with 23…Kg7?? and the second wave of sacrifices later came with 27. Rh4 Be7 28. Qe3! (sacking a rook, but exploiting the diagonal) 28…h5 29. Qd4+ Kh6 30. Rxh5+! (diagram #2) If you ever lose this way you merely have to tip your hat to the other guy. Besides your name is now a famous footnote in all the books on combinations! Kamsky did not offer comments after the game.
There were some very thrilling games such as Le Quang Liem’s battle with Peter Svidler. Admittedly, Svidler stated that the game should have ended in about 22 moves since 23.Rxd5 would have ended the game rather quickly. In the press conference, Le stated he had seen the move after he played 23.exd5, but pointed out that 23.Rxd5 Rxd5 would be met by 24.e6+! Black would have had to resign immediately. However, Le played 23.exd5 and was slightly better, but made some mistakes and allowed black counterplay. Svidler was actually better in the final position, but accepted a draw based upon the notion that he was glad to have survived the first 20 moves. Interesting.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and his opponent Boris Gelfand have not needed a tiebreak. Will they settle matters tomorrow? Photo by Paul Truong.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (above) and Boris Gelfand had an interesting game… sort of. This game was not played as part of tiebreaks, but both players played quickly which indicated that the entire game may have been played out due to home preparation. The players played a wild series of moves in the Grunfeld which appeared to contain a number of forced sequences. The game ended in a perpetual check.
Morozevich-Tomashevsky was a long hard-fought draw while Nakamura-Korobov and Karjakin-Andreikin also split the point. Tomorrow should be exciting!
Official Website: https://www.chessworldcup2013.com/
Drum Coverage: https://www.thechessdrum.net/
All PGN Games (TWIC): https://www.theweekinchess.com/
Rules and Regulations: https://www.chessworldcup2013.com/
Gerard Demuydt (Europe-Echecs.com).
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
PART FOUR
Wednesday, 21 August 2013
Two Americans advance, but one is not Nakamura…
Kamsky, Caruana, Kramnik are through!
The agony of defeat… Nakamura dejectedly looks away before resigning.
August 10th-September 3rd, 2013 (Tromso, Norway)
Game Scores
Many picked two Americans to vie for the World Cup title, but it turns out that one of them is unexpectedly taking an early exit. Hikaru Nakamura was one such player many thought would go deep into the tournament, but he was ousted by Anton Korobov. Some questioned Nakamura’s choice of the Dutch, but after eschewing 18…Nxe5 (reaching equality), he was slowly outplayed. Very disappointing exit by the American who was looking to compete in his first Candidate’s tournament. He reflected on his disappointment…
Mamedyarov-Kamsky (after 24.d7)
This game was DRAWN a few moves later!
Gata Kamsky will move on after following his dashing win with a cliffhanger against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. “Shakh” hoping to announce “shahkmaty” at some point in the game was looking to equalize. The game appeared to get out of control with pieces strewn all over the board. Black had developed an attack, but white then got counterplay with a passed pawn. Black then found precise moves to arrive at a perpetual check. Really a nerve-wracking game!
Who was the other American? Well… many chess fans do not realize that Fabiano Caruana was born and raised in Miami and New York and played as a junior player for the U.S. until age 12. Those in the U.S. remember the talented, but diminutive bespeckled boy playing in the highest sections to challenge himself. He was an All-American scholastic player and because of his potential, his father then moved to Europe to further his chess ambitions. His stops have been Hungary, Switzerland and Spain.
Seems like a short while ago when a rising star emerged. Here is a 10-year old FM Fabiano Caruana playing at 2003 Foxwoods Open (Connecticut, USA). Photo by Daaim Shabazz.
Currently residing in Spain and playing under the Italian flag (dual citizen), Caruana vanquished Peruvian hero Julio Granda Zuniga in an interesting game. Caruana will advance to play the winner of Vachier-LaGrave/Gelfand match. The two will play a tiebreak tomorrow, the first for both players. Vachier-Lagrave weighs in…
Kramnik got his requisite draw against Vassily Ivanchuk to move on. He will have a rest day tomorrow and he is looking to be in good form. The other players will play seven tiebreaks. Exciting day tomorrow!
Official Website: https://www.chessworldcup2013.com/
Drum Coverage: https://www.thechessdrum.net/
All PGN Games (TWIC): https://www.theweekinchess.com/
Rules and Regulations: https://www.chessworldcup2013.com/
Thursday, 22 August 2013
Four Russians advance… Tomashevsky prevails in epic match!
There was so much tension in the room you could cut it with a knife!
Photo by Paul Truong.
August 10th-September 3rd, 2013 (Tromso, Norway)
Game Scores
Norway is generally a place temperate in climate, but today’s tiebreak matches raised the temperature about ten degrees centigrade! Today’s match between Alexander Morozevich and Evgeny Tomashevsky was a scorching affair featuring drama throughout at a 169-move must-win by Tomashevsky. During a theoretical battle in the Grunfeld (which included an odd e3 and f4 system for white), there was non-stop action which included a number of blunders… albeit in severe time pressure.
In the positions below, Tomashevsky blitzed out 36.Qf7-e7 (diagram #1) attacking the rook. Morozevich simply snapped the bishop off with 36…Qxb4. White resigned since 37.Qxd8 is met by the well-known “Philidor’s mate” after 37…Qxd4+ 38.Kh1 Nf2+ 39.Kg1 Nh3+ 40.Kh1 Qg1+ 41.Rxg1 Nf2# (diagram #2).
In a must-win situation, Tomashevsky faced a rather drawish exchange variation of the Caro Kann and for 50 moves it appeared as if they would split the point and Moro would advance. With time ticking down, Tomoshevsky kept shuffling his queen and two rooks for a breakthrough. At one point both sides employed an “Alekhine’s Gun” as a threat to blast the position open. Finally Tomashevsky was able to break with 78…b4! and subsequently stole a pawn.
Black to move and win in 98 moves!
After the four rooks were traded all that was left were the queens and a draw seemed imminent. Meanwhile both players were down to seconds with ten seconds added on after each move. Both sides started grabbing stray pawns creating passed pawns of their own. A race ensued!! White queened first, but after black queened the king gobbled up the last white pawn. Thus a 10-minute blitz game last more than an hour! Tomashevsky found a way to escort his pawn one square from glory and Morozevich resigned. What a game!! If there was a masseuse on the premises I hope the players made use of the services.
The games would move on to blitz and the two gladiators tested a Caro Kann for the second game in a row and this game descended into a complete mess. Morozevich sacrificed a pawn to attack the king, but black held and was soon pressing for the initiative. The game ended unceremoniously when white blundered with 51.Nf4?? Now Morozevich was in a must-win in the second blitz.
In this game, he ultimately got the kind of unbalanced game he wanted. In fact both sides had three connected passed pawns on opposite sides of the board! However both sides traded blunders as the clock ticked down to final seconds. Moro made the final blunder and allowed an improbable minor piece mating attack. He had to sack a piece and settled for a draw conceding the match. Ironically, Tomoshevsky missed mate in one in the final position! He had difficulty finding words to describe the 429-move tiebreak match. What tension and excitement!
Evgeny Tomashevsky at press conference after epic match.
Photo by Paul Truong.
In Le-Svidler, there was less excitement relatively speaking, but after a draw in the first game Svidler won a thrilling game ending in a bishop and knight mate. Le resigned on move 135 before mate could be delivered and the Russian would move on.
Le Quang Liem (seated left) showed his tremendous talents and his parents were proud of his efforts. He fell to Peter Svidler, but he has a bright future. The 22-year old will begin at Webster University this fall. Photo by Anastasia Karlovich.
Neither Maxime Vachier-Lagrave or Boris Gelfand had to endure a tiebreaker, but both were up to the task. In this match, it appeared that the Israeli did not use his usual composure and experience over the Frenchman. He took unnecessary chances and paid the price. In both games, he was worse and only inaccuracies saved him from a 2-0 loss instead of the actual 1½-½ score. MVL will move on to face Fabiano Caruana. It is interesting the Vachier-Lagrave did not originally qualify for the World Cup, but received a nomination from FIDE. He is making use of it!
Hikaru Nakamura considers Dmitri Andreikin a dark-horse to win the Cup. Photo by Anastasia Karlovich.
Sergey Karjakin was expected to do deep into this tournament. He made it to the fifth round in 2011 and would need to beat Dmitri Andreikin to advance. However, these tiebreaks were never in doubt and Karjakin played listless chess and was soundly beaten in both games. The first in a Torre attack where he was brutally crushed in 32 moves and in a French Defense where he was simply outplayed. Another failed attempt by the former prodigy to compete for the world title. As more young talent (Fabiano, Caruana, Anish Giri, Daniil Dubov, Wei Yi) continues to emerge has Karjakin lost his edge?
Official Website: https://www.chessworldcup2013.com/
Drum Coverage: https://www.thechessdrum.net/
All PGN Games (TWIC): https://www.theweekinchess.com/
Rules and Regulations: https://www.chessworldcup2013.com/
Gerard Demuydt (Europe-Echecs.com).
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
PART FOUR
PART FIVE
PART SIX
PART SEVEN
The point about Caruana’s background is often unknown or ignored even by those who consider themselves chess enthusiasts. It is a point of confusion and clearly needs to be acknowledged. What is clear is that his heritage is Italian (eight grandparents from Italy), but of course his journey started in the U.S. as a scholastic player. In Evgeny Atarov’s long interview last year, he seems totally unaware Caruana’s background which makes him appear very uninformed with assumptions such as…
As a result, articles like this mislead people when learning about this rising star. When confronted by a blogger, Atarov admitted that he did not research Caruana’s background. I have known of several people who said they had no idea that Caruana was born and learned chess in the US. Why is there so much ignorance? Perhaps it has as much to due with America’s inability of adequately covering their young stars than anything else.
Link: https://whychess.com/node/2908