Month: September 2015

World Cup Round 6 Tie-breaks: It’s Svidler vs Karjakin!

With Svidler already through to the Finals, only the Eljanov-Karjakin match-up remained to be decided in the tie-breaks. However, this lone match provided a whole lot of excitement for the viewers with Karjakin making the cut to the finals.

The ’25+10′ rapids took off with Eljanov scoring a resounding victory in the first game. But Karjakin bounced back fantastically by scoring a nice technical win in the second encounter. Quite amazingly, it was Eljanov’s first loss in the tournament up to that point.

The match, then, entered the ’10+10′ rapid round. In the first game, Karjakin scored a crucial victory after Eljanov got over-ambitious on the King-side. With Eljanov requiring a forced win in the second game, the Ukrainian GM opted for an interesting approach against Karjakin’s Queen’s pawn opening. In fact, the approach worked out very well for Eljanov as he was seen dominating for the major part of the game. But Eljanov was unable to convert his large advantage and the game ended in a draw. Thus, Karjakin secured a place in the World Cup Final while also qualifying for the Candidates Tournament 2016.

With Svidler and Karjakin set to lock horns in the Final, it must be noted that an all-Russian World Cup Final will be witnessed for the 3rd consecutive time in as many editions.

World Cup 6.2: Svidler through to the Finals!

Into the Finals - Peter Svidler! (Pic Source: www.bakuworldcup2015.com)
Into the Finals – Peter Svidler! (Pic Source: www.bakuworldcup2015.com)

After overcoming Giri convincingly with the Black pieces in the first game, all Svidler had to do in the second game was to hold a draw from the White side. Svidler did exactly that as he held Giri without much fuss. With this result, the 7-time Russian champion has stormed into the Finals of this prestigious competition. A place in the Final of the World Cup also means a direct qualification to the Candidates Tournament 2016, which Svidler will now be eligible to play.

Meanwhile, the Karjakin-Eljanov encounter saw a quick draw in the English Opening. With the classical match tied 1-1, the duo will now fight for a final berth in the Tie-breaks to be played today.

Poikovsky 01: Sutovsky and Bologan early leaders

The 16th Poikovsky International Tournament started with the bottom two seeds — Israeli GM Emil Sutovsky (2635) and Moldovian GM Viktor Bologan (2607) — going into an early lead.

While Sutovsky put it across Russian GM Denis Khismatullin (2651) with the white pieces, Bologan was able to beat the second seeded Russian GM Alexander Morozevich (2711) with the black pieces.

Check out the results and pairings here.

 

World Cup Round 5 Tie-breaks: The Russians advance!

The Round 5 tie-breaks saw the Russian duo of Svidler and Karjakin make the semi-finals by overcoming Wei Yi and Mamedyarov respectively. Both the match-ups were decided in the ’10+10′ rapids after all the games in the ’25+10′ Rapid round ended in draws. Svider managed to beat Wei Yi 1.5-0.5 whilst Karjakin completed a 2-0 sweep against Mamedyarov.

Semi-Final Pairings:

Eljanov vs Karjakin

Giri vs Svidler

The semi-finals will be played after a rest day tomorrow.

World Cup 5.2: Nakamura, MVL Knocked-out

The Round 5.2 of the FIDE World Cup 2015 witnessed World No. 4 Nakamura and French No. 1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave getting knocked-out of the competition. With Nakamura requiring a win on demand against an in-form Eljanov, the former could only manage a draw against Eljanov’s accurate play and as such, had to exit the competition.

Giri – Vachier-Lagrave
The game took off with MVL’s favourite Grunfeld Defence, with the Dutch GM choosing a calm approach against it. In fact, the opening battle ended favourably for Giri as he emerged with a slight advantage. Giri kept on pressurising MVL and the game soon went into a better endgame for White, which was anything but easy to win. However, Giri displayed impeccable technique which led to the French GM breaking under pressure. Giri duly grabbed his chances and rounded up the matters on move 69.

Thus, Giri and Eljanov have advanced to the Semi-Finals of this prestigious event whilst the other two match-ups – Wei Yi-Svidler and Karjakin-Mamedyarov – will be decided today in the Tie-breaks.

Beirut 05: Valles leads after getting a walkover

In a strange flow of events, French IM Manuel Valles (2386) shot into sole lead at the Beirut International Tournament after getting a walkover as GM Sergey Kasparov (2475) did not turn up.

The top seed Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov drew with Russian GM Sergey Volkov (2589) to slip to joint second place.

You may check the Round 6 pairings here.

World Cup 5.1: Eljanov beats Nakamura

The Round 5.1 of the FIDE World Cup 2015 witnessed only one decisive game in which Pavel Eljanov swiftly overcame Hikaru Nakamura. Amongst the drawn games, Svidler – Wei Yi and Vachier-Lagrave – Giri turned out to be pretty sedate affairs while the Mamedyarov – Karjakin encounter proved quite interesting, with Mamedyarov even possessing the better chances for a decent part of the game.

Eljanov-Nakamura
With an in-form Eljanov pitted against the strong American, this match-up was expected to be a close call. However, the Ukrainian Grandmaster continued his fine run of form in this tournament as he defeated the World No. 4 player without allowing him even a single chance for counterplay. This convincing win takes Eljanov’s tally of victories in the Classical games in this tournament to 7, by far the highest.

World Cup Round 4 Tie-Breaks: Wei Yi wins the Chinese derby

The Round 4 Tie-Breaks started off with 4 matches, 3 of which were decided in the ’25+10′ Rapid games. Anish Giri, Pavel Eljanov and Sergey Karjakin overcame Radoslaw Wojataszek, Dmitry Jakovenko and Dmitry Andreikin respectively. However, the Chinese derby – Wei Yi vs Ding Liren – went a round further while providing a lot of action.

Wei Yi – Ding Liren
After scoring a win each in the Classical format, the two Chinese players entered the tie-breakers. Quite contrary to the general expectations, the first 3 games in the tie-breaks ended peacefully, although they were not at all short of excitement. However, Wei Yi scored an all-important victory in the second game of the ’10+10′ rapid round, despite being worse for a major part of the game, to knock-out his compatriot and book a spot in the 5th Round of this prestigious event. The 16 year old Chinese Grandmaster will next face Peter Svidler in the ‘Round of 8’.

Round 5 Pairings:

Vachier-Lagrave vs Anish Giri

Wei Yi vs Svidler

Mamedyarov vs Karjakin

Eljanov vs Nakamura

Beirut 03: Tiviakov top seed; Nine lead

The 8th Beirut International Open 2015 began with Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov (2611) as the top seed. Nine players share the lead with a perfect 3.0/3.

Already in the fourth round, crucial clashes have been scheduled to take place with GM Tiviakov taking on Armenian GM Tigran Kotanjian (2495).

You may check the Round 4 pairings here.

World Cup 4.2: Topalov, Carauna Knocked-out

The Round 4.2 of the FIDE World Cup 2015 saw some big guns getting knocked-out. With 4 players requiring a ‘win on demand’ to stay alive in the competition, only Wei Yi could register a victory. The remaining 3 players – Topalov, Caruana and Adams – could only draw their respective games, and as such, were knocked out of the tournament.

Wei Yi – Ding Liren
After an almost flawless opening and middlegame, Wei Yi was right on the course to a convincing victory in the endgame. However, that was when lightning struck as Wei Yi made a couple of errors and the resulting position was almost equal. But Ding Liren failed to capitalize on the drawing chances and Wei Yi went on to win a crucial game. As a result, the Wei Yi – Ding Liren match-up has now entered the tie-breaks.

Wesley So – Vachier-Lagrave
After failing to make the most of the White pieces, Vachier-Lagrave had a tough task with the black pieces in the second game of the mini-match. Matters further worsened for MVL as Wesley So held a comfortable advantage in the middlegame, thanks to MVL’s poor pawn structure. However, Wesley So blundered on the 22nd move and MVL duly grabbed his opportunity. The Frenchman went on to convert his slight material advantage accurately, thus winning an all-important game which helped him book a place in the ‘Round of 8’.

A total of 4 match-ups will be decided in the Tie-Breaks.