2013 World Cup: Round #5
August 10th-September 3rd, 2013 (Tromso, Norway) Match Scores (Round #5) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kamsky, G |
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USA | Tomashevsky, E |
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RUS | |
| 2 | Svidler, P |
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RUS | Andreikin, D |
|
RUS | |
| 3 | Caruana, F |
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ITA | Vachier-Lagrave, M |
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FRA | |
| 4 | Kramnik, V |
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RUS | 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/
Friday, 23 August 2013
Kramnik breaks out on top… other games drawn.
… and there were only eight!
August 10th-September 3rd, 2013 (Tromso, Norway)
Games Scores
As predicted, there would be more drawn games in this round given the parity and the careful treading of the tournament situation. Gata Kamsky and Evgeny Tomashevsky took the day off and agreed a draw in only 16 moves. Tomashevsky just won a mammoth match with Alexander Morozevich and Kamsky has also had two tiebreaks. Last round Kamsky played an intense match with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov resulting in two of the most exciting games of the tournament. Perhaps both needed the break.
One could argue that Vladimir Kramnik does not need to win this tournament, but thus far he is playing steadily. He beat Anton Korobov today in a game where he exploited glaring weaknesses. Kramnik thrust forward his queenside pawns to gain space and developed a dangerous initiative. Black tried sacrificing the exchange, for a strong defensive position. Korobov had a strong knight on d5 and Kramnik’s task was not obvious.
Peter Svidler kibitzes in Kramnik-Korobov.
Kramnik could have lost a pawn, but Korobov missed his chance! At the same time, his king’s cover was coming undone. Kramnik forced the issue with 36.h4! further weakening the black kingside. Under immense pressure, Korobov tried to huddle a fortress, but the Russian bore in (missing 38.Qb4!) 40.Qb8+ Ne8 41.Re7. In the final assault on the black king, Kramnik’s queen took the burden and delivered the finishing blows.
MVL thought he had slight winning chances.
Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are two young contemporaries and this matchup may be a sample of things to come for future competitions. Caruana seemed to get in a little trouble playing the Grunfeld and fell into time pressure after following 30 minutes behind. At the press conference, MVL stated that he estimated his winning chances to be as high as 60% and as low as 30%. In the final phase, it was clear this would go to 0%. They shook hands.
While the Kamsky-Tomashevsky could be referred to as a “damp squib” the Andreikin-Svidler affair had quite a bit of dynamism with black equalizing against the Torre Attack. One commentator said the opening was as dull as boiled cabbage, but the game featured a pair of gallivanting black rooks. In the final position, black was for choice, but they decided to rest for tomorrow. At this point all of the players are cognizant of their physical stamina.
Photos by Paul Truong.
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/
Saturday, 24 August 2013
Kramnik, Tomashevsky move on… Kamsky ousted!
August 10th-September 3rd, 2013 (Tromso, Norway)
Games Scores
It appears that accepting an early draw yesterday led to Gata Kamsky’s undoing. A day after Evgeny Tomashevsky played more than 400 moves of chess the previous day, Kamsky agreed to a 16-move draw essentially giving the Russian a chance to catch his breath. Should he have played a more positional opening or even played a bit longer? Perhaps. None of this matters now as Tomashevsky arrived today refreshed and showed his energy by trotting out the Marshall Gambit.
Kamsky played the Anti-Marshall, but the game still steered into muddy waters with attacking chances for black. By move 25, pieces had melted away from the board and the position was headed for another draw. Kamsky was two pawns up, but black had compensation due to piece activity and white’s naked king. Disaster struck when Kamsky begin to take chances to secure his position and steal the point. On 36.Qd4?? white forgot about a small detail in the position. Black saw the winning plan after 36…h3 37.Kf1 h2 38.Kg2 h1(Q)+! This is probably the move Kamsky overlooked. After 39.Kxh1 Qh3+ 40.Kg1 Rg6+ white loses the queen to avert checkmate. Shocking loss for the American who had played exciting chess in the previous round only to run out of steam.
Peter Svidler and Dmitri Andreikin drew quickly in an ancient line of the Advanced Caro-Kann after 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5!? The youngest remaining participants Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave played an interesting battle with white getting a slighter better structure with the two bishops. Despite the probing, neither side could make progress. Vladimir Kramnik held on to the draw to advance after Anton Korobov developed a slight pull in the position. The edge was never enough to give him enough for the win.
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/
Sunday, 24 August 2013
FIDE nominee Maxime Vachier-Lagrave continues fantastic run…
Three rating upsets accent exciting round!
August 10th-September 3rd, 2013 (Tromso, Norway)
Games Scores
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was once dubbed by Viktor Korchnoi as “the French player with two names” but it has soon become the French player known as “MVL”. After missing the cut to qualify for the World Cup, he was nominated by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and now has made the semi-finals. One can say that FIDE made good choice in their selections.
Fabiano Caruana (right) battles the Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. He was hoping to turn the Caro-Kann into the “Caro-Can’t”. Photo by Paul Truong.
Admittedly, Fabiano Caruana talked about his lack of dexterity in faster time controls. Thus, MVL was going into the tiebreaks with the advantage that he was the better rapid player. While the first game was hard fought, neither side gave an inch. However, MVL’s strength came to fore in the second game when Caruana fell behind on time trying to untangle his Dutch Defense.
Caruana was able to get a reasonable position after shuffling pieces around. The game then opened and in the face of a tactical melee, MVL played 48.Ne5! sacrificing a piece… which actually could not be taken without handing over the advantage. However, white was able to get rid of black’s only good defender of the light squares after 49.Nxd7. Caruana’s position collapsed and in the final position he was without any playable moves.
A “Russian Derby” featured current Russian champion Dmitri Andreikin
versus six-time Russian champion, Peter Svidler.
Photo by Paul Truong.
In Andreikin-Svidler, the six-time Russian champion was no match for the current Russian champion. Svidler was totally outclassed in a Trompowsky attack, a line bearing some venom without undue risk. White got a space advantage and while there was little to speak up black sacrificed a pawn for initiative. Combined with Svidler’s time pressure, the activity against black’s exposed king was a bit much. Svidler blundered with 29…Nd5?? losing massive material after 30.Qb3!
In the second game, Andreikin trotted out the solid Caro-Kann and played the same 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5!? as in the second classical game. That game ended a draw in 20 moves when white could get nothing. Needing a win, Svidler tried to snatch a pawn and grab space, but black had enough compensation with his active pieces. In actuality, black stood slightly better and looked to go up 2-0, but Svidler was forced to yield a three-fold repetition. Thus Andreikin would go on to face fellow-Saratov citymate Evgeny Tomashevsky.