2013 World Cup: Semifinals

I was told by a prominent FIDE official that FIDE made titles easier to obtain through subzonals in order to popularize chess. I believe it is waters down the importance since there is so much of a gap between players of the same ranking. For example you can have an IM who is rated 2100 (earning it a weak subzonal with 6/9) and one rated 2500 (who has not gotten the third norm but has beaten a number of strong players).

Kramnik trying to figure out what went wrong.

2013 World Chess Cup August 10th-September 3rd, 2013 (Tromso, Norway) Games Scores
1	Tomashevsky, E		RUS	½-½	Andreikin, D		RUS
2	Kramnik, V		RUS	½-½	Vachier-Lagrave, M		FRA
PGN Games (Round 6.2)

Vladimir “Volodya” Kramnik was close to advancing to the finals, but a lapse of attention allowed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave escape to rapid tiebreaks. The Russian played his usual steady style and won a pawn after accumulating pressure. Despite this advantage, black should draw. Yet, white’s advantage kept growing as Kramnik continued to grab space on the kingside.

With MVL’s back to the wall and Kramnik pressing, there was a lot of speculation about whether Sergey Karjakin would qualify with a win by the Russian. Karjakin played poorly against Dmitri Andreikin and was eliminated from the World Cup, but would qualify due to rating.

Post-mortem analysis of the ending.

However, Karjakin would have to wait since Kramnik missed the win after 62.Ke4?? In the post-mortem, both players admitted not seeing the pattern with 62.Nd7! followed by restructuring the pieces and ushering the pawn forward. Without any way to make progress, Kramnik had to ditch the pawn and try to win a R+N versus R ending to no avail. MVL would defend as happened earlier when Le Quang Liem held off Alexander Grischuk in the same ending.

Tomshevsky-Andreikin was a game where white did not gain much pull in the position and black always had dynamic compensation for his weakened d-pawn. The two will go to tiebreaks where both will have a qualifying spot on the line. Dmitri Andreikin is a specialist at faster time controls while Tomashevsky will have had plenty of practice given his marathon match with Alexander Morozevich.

2013 World Chess Cup August 10th-September 3rd, 2013 (Tromso, Norway) Games Scores
1	Andreikin, D		RUS	1½-½	Tomashevsky, E		RUS
2	Kramnik, V		RUS	1½-½	Vachier-Lagrave, M		FRA
PGN Games (Round 6.3)

Two Russians will man the final table once again in the World Cup. Vladimir Kramnik and Dmitri Andreikin have reached the final match of the 128 players. The final four players have been the most consistent, but the last two have been able to avoid blunders.

In Vachier-Lagrave and Kramnik’s match, the Frenchman played the unambitious Scotch and ended up ceding the initiative quickly. After 15…Qh4, Kramnik was moving quickly and what was to be MVL’s specialty (rapid format) was an utter failure. He inexplicably chased Kramnik’s queen to a better square after 18. Be2 Qg6 19. Qd1 Bh3! Now white’s pieces are totally discombobulated. The final error came after 20. Bf3 Bf5 21. Rh4?? Bc2! 22. Qxc2 (22.Be4 loses to 22…Qxd1 23.Bxg6 Nxg6 hitting two pieces). White resigned after 22…Nxf3+ which nets a whole rook. Kramnik up one.

In the second game, MVL would try to equalize, but did not have much chance in an English and the game was completely sterile. MVL allowed a three-fold repetition instead of facing a slightly worse ending. It was a good run for the FIDE nominee who beat Alexander Morozevich to advance. Meanwhile Kramnik reaches the final and it is the first time he has reached a final in the knockout system. His opponent… Russian Champion, Dmitri Andreikin.

Evgeny Tomashevsky was already battle-tested when he sat down to face Dmitri Andreikin. The first game showed grit and determination by Andreikin who had obtained the two bishops for a compromised pawn structure. However, the position soon became closed, so the bishops were traded and both sides were left with flailing two rooks and knights that could do no harm.

The Chebanenko variation was the discussion in an entertaining second game. The game kept a brisk pace and open files and heavy pieces meant that neither king would be safe. However, white has some initiative since his king was a tad bit safer. As pieces zipped around the board, black seemed to be trying a counterattack while white was trying an attack of his own. The problem was that Tomashevsky had less than a minute and was forced to find accurate moves, but was still doing well. Finally the wall cracked and collapsed after 39…Qh7? 40.Qxd5! Black resigned after 40…Qxh5 41. Qxd4+ Kg8 42. Rh3.

Dmitri Andreikin plays the final move 42.Rh3 ending the tournament for Evgeny Tomashevsky.

Both Kramnik and Andreikin appeared to draw for colors and Andreikin picked black. In the post-mortem Andrekin discussed his progress as a player and as the current Russian Champion. He will have the sole distinction of having made the finals by only winning one classical game and thus, losing rating points! He states that he is happy to qualify for the Candidates’ tournament, but is not sure on how to prepare.