2011 World Cup: Round #2

Down to 64 players. Which of these players will go the distance?
Photos from https://chess.ugrasport.com/.

Unfortunately the blunderfest continued as fortune shined on Vassily Ivanchuk. Alexander Alekseev was a couple of moves away from drawing when he blundered with 96.Kg4?? allowing a tactic ending the game immediately. Sergei Azarov was blown off the board by Vugar Gashimov after playing the dubious Schliemann Gambit against the Ruy Lopez. Black found himself on the losing end of a miniature.

There were a couple of brutal attacks meted out by two Russian players. Nikita Vitiugov smashed through black’s kingside and surrounded the naked king. A crushing loss was imminent and occurred after 28 moves. Alexei Shirov got a taste of his own medicine after receiving a royal thrashing at the hands of Vladimir Potkin, also 28 moves. White ended the game with the beautiful 28.Rxf7! with a winning attack. Not to be outdone, Ukrainian Yaroslav Zherebuhk put a beating on Ruben Felgaer of Argentina… another kingside romp with white crashing through.

Will Karjakin be the next upset victim? Wesley So will come full steam.

There were a couple of unsporting draws with Kamsky and Kasimdzhanov suing for peace in just 16 moves. Gupta and Shankland took 15 moves while Ni and Ponomariov only took 12 moves. There were some hard fought draws including Nepomniachtchi and Riazantsev’s 88-move game going to K+N vs. K+N. In the losing column, four 2700-level players face elimination: Zoltan Almasi, Francisco Vallejo-Pons, Alexeij Shirov and Etienne Bacrot.

Official Site: https://chess.ugrasport.com/
Games: Main Site, PGN (TWIC)
Drum Coverage: https://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2011/08/25/2011-world-cup-khanty-mansiysk-russia/

Don’t let the befuddled look fool you. Ivanchuk has everything under control. His opponent Alekseev is talking a stroll, but would be eliminated from match play. Photos from https://chess.ugrasport.com/.

The Ukraine’s Vassily Ivanchuk recently received the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise IV degree “for his significant personal contribution to the independence of Ukraine, the establishment of its sovereignty and international authority, conscientious and impeccable service to the Ukrainian people.”

Ivanchuk is continuing to add to this image by advancing to the third round of the FIDE World Cup eliminating Evgeny Alekseev of Russia. He will go on to play Emil Sutovsky of Israel with whom he has an overwhelming score of six wins, no losses and six draws. Many are picking Ivanchuk as the odds-on favorite and to continue the dominance of his generation (i.e., Anand, Gelfand and Ivanchuk).

Gata Kamsky was in a good mood during the press conference.

Gata Kamsky also punched his ticket for the next round when he capitalized on a blunder by former FIDE World Cup champion, Rustam Kasimdzhanov. After a rather level game, but with Kamsky pressing, Kasimdzhanov sacrificed a piece with 34…Nxf4? Kamsky snatched the gift and quickly went for the kill as a predator onto wounded prey. It didn’t take long before Kamsky weaved a mating net and black would have to donate an exchange to stave off mate. Instead, he resigned.

Speaking sacrificed pieces, Alexander Onischuk tried a similar plan for a kingside attack, but got little compensation for the knight. David Navara diplomatically commented in the post-game interview that his opponent may have missed something or gotten the move order mixed. There were some chances for black to complicate matters, but Navara always had enough resources on defense.

Sam Shankland of the USA saw his run ended by Abhijeet Gupta of India after falling behind in a knight ending. It is possible that the American could have set up a fortress by playing more actively. Vladimir Potkin eliminated Alexei Shirov sending home one of the rating favorites along with Hungary’s Zoltan Almasi who was beaten by Romania’s Mircea-Emilian Parligras.

Sergei Movesesian played the Women’s World Champion Hou Yifan and narrowly escaped. He then faced the strongest female player in history and lost to Judit Polgar. He may be one of the few players to say he had that honor!

There are several more favorites who could be sent packing in no less than 13 tiebreak matches… almost as many as last round (17) with half the players!

Official Site: https://chess.ugrasport.com/
Games: Main Site, PGN (TWIC)
Drum Coverage: https://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2011/08/25/2011-world-cup-khanty-mansiysk-russia/