The FIDE World Cup 2015 witnessed its third Armageddon game in as many rounds, and this time, it was the match-up between Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi that went down to the wire.
Nakamura-Nepomiachtchi
After a string of back and forth results in the rapid and blitz playoffs, Nakamura, playing with the black pieces, prevailed over Nepomniachtchi in the Armageddon game to book a 4th round date against Michael Adams.
However, the most important result of the day was Vladimir Kramnik, the 2013 World Cup Champion, getting knocked out of the World Cup. Interestingly, it was Andreikin, the runner up at the 2013 World Cup, who overcame Kramnik to storm into the ‘Round of 16’.
Meanwhile, Topalov, Wesley So, Adams, Vachier-Lagrave and Svidler turned out to be the remaining 5 qualifiers from the tie-breaks.
Six Games, Six Wins – Pavel Eljanov! (Picture Source: bakuworldcup2015.com)
The 2nd game of the 3rd round of the FIDE World Cup 2015 saw eminent players like Grischuk, Ivanchuk and Leko getting knocked-out of the competition, albeit against strong 2700+ Grandmasters.
Jakovenko-Ivachuk
To everyone’s amazement, Ivanchuk self-destructed right out of the the opening and went on to lose in an almost one-sided battle.
Eljanov-Grischuk
With Grischuk requiring a win with the black pieces against someone of Eljanov’s strength to stay in contention, it was always going to be a challenging task. However, in an attempt to maintain complexity in the position, Grischuk was simply left worse. Eljanov took advantage of the same and went on to win a convincing game. It must be noted that Eljanov has been in tremendous form so far, winning all his matches with a 2-0 scoreline.
In other important results, Yu Yangyi and Leko were knocked out by Karjakin and Giri respectively.
Meanwhile, the Indian Challenge at the World Cup came to an end with Sethuraman failing to equalize the scores against Mamedyarov after the second game resulted in a dry draw.
A total of 7 matches go into the tie-breaks, with the most surprising of them being Lu Shanglei vs Topalov. The Chinese youngster is rated 2599 at the moment while Topalov is ranked 3rd in the world with a whooping 2816.
On a day when draws took precedence with 12 of the 16 games finishing in draws, there was no lack of action whatsoever. Although the draws in Nepomniachtchi-Nakamura and Andreikin-Kramnik turned out to be pretty dry ones, there were others where the excitement was at its peak.
Areshchenko-Wei Yi
This was the most exciting draw of the day. The two played a wild game, with Areshchenko sacrificing a piece for three pawns in the middlegame. However, Wei Yi defended pretty well and kept Areshchenko’s attack at bay. The game then entered an endgame, with Wei Yi still possessing a minor piece for three pawns, and was soon agreed draw.
Topalov-Lu Shanglei
This was another draw which hogged a lot of attention. The Chinese youngster seemed inadequately prepared in the Sicilian Dragon and Topalov, playing White, had no trouble claiming a sizeable advantage. However, the former World Champion went wrong at important junctures and a near-equal endgame resulted. After that, Lu Shanglei had no problems in holding on to a draw.
Talking of the decisive results, Mamedyarov, Caruana and Karjakin overcame Sethuraman, Kovalyov and Yu Yangyi respectively. Although these 3 games were convincingly won, the remaining decisive game stood out as it witnessed a whole lot of action.
Grischuk-Eljanov
The most eventful game of the day was definitely Grischuk-Eljanov. Here, Grischuk’s perrenial time-trouble led him to go from winning to drawing and then finally, losing. It’s worth noting that Grischuk hasn’t won even a single classical game in this tournament so far.
Ukranian GM Alexander Areshchenko, who knocked out none other than Levon Aronian! (Picture Source: bakuworldcup2015.com)
The Round 2 of the FIDE World Cup 2015 turned out to be an exciting affair with many intense match-ups and a few upsets. Particularly, it was the Adams-Laznicka encounter that hogged the limelight in the ‘Round of 64’.
Adams-Laznicka
After winning one game each in the Classical Match, the two players continued to exchange blows in the Tie-Breaks as well. In fact, their first draw came only in the 7th game of their personal match. With nothing to separate the two, the players entered into an Armageddon game with Adams having the White pieces. The Armageddon, however, turned out to be anti-climax of sorts with Laznicka going down without any resistance whatsoever, thus enabling Adams to book a spot in Round 3.
Meanwhile, two other matches – Wei Yi vs Yuri Vovk and Fressinet vs Nepomniachtchi – were decided just prior to the Armageddon. Wei Yi and Nepomniachtchi came out victorious in these hard-fought matches.
The Round 2 also witnessed the departure of several notable players including Aronian, Harikrishna, Wang Hao and Navara.
Aronian-Areshchenko
With former world No. 2 Levon Aronian proving unsuccessful in breaching the defences of Areshchenko in the Classical games, the match entered the tie-breaks. However, in total contrary to the odds, Areshchenko beat Aronian 2-0 in the rapid games to create the biggest upset of Round 2.
Harikrishna-Sethuraman
P. Harikrishna, World No. 21 and India’s best bet at the World Cup, was knocked out by compatriot S. P. Sethuraman in the Classical Section itself. After Harikrishna failed to make most of the White pieces in Game 1, Sethuraman successfully broke Harikrishna’s Berlin Wall in Game 2 to storm into the 3rd Round. Sethuraman will next face World No.22 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who knocked out Women’s World No.1 Hou Yifan in Round 3.
A convincing victory with the black pieces over IM Van Foreest helped GM Duda Jan-Kryzystof take a half point lead after Round 7 over his nearest rivals.
The Van Foreest-Duda encounter took off with the Fianchetto Variation in the Sicilian Dragon, albeit via an unusual move order. Duda played powerful and precise chess throughout – constantly keeping his opponent under the pump. Van Foreest, however, was unable to match Duda’s energetic play, and as such, went down on move 43.
After 7 Rounds, Duda is being closely followed by GM Ulvi Bajarani, whom he will face next.
In the Girls Section, WGM Abdumalik Zhansaya of Kazakhstan continued her marvellous display by winning her 7th game on the trot in as many rounds. With this victory, Abdumalik is one and a half point clear off her nearest competitors – WGM Saduakassova and WFM Buksa.
Unstoppable: Abdumalik Zhansaya on 5/5! (Credits: Maria Emelianova from wjcc2015.fide.com)
Open Section
The fifth round of the World Junior Chess Championship 2015 saw the ‘battle of the leaders’ between GMs Grigoryan and Antipov turn out to be a complicated affair. However, Grigoryan held his nerves to score an all important victory, which also helped the Armenian youngster regain his sole lead with 4.5/5. He is being closely followed by a total of 5 players, who are on the joint-second spot with 4 points each.
Meanwhile, Indian IM Shardul Gagare scored a crucial victory over higher-rated IM Alan Pichot to move on to 3.5/5.
In the Girls section, WGM Abdumalik Zhansaya continued her fantastic run in the tournament to notch up her 5th consecutive win in as many games. Only WFM Nataliya Buksa is close on Abdumalik’s heels with 4.5/5.
Amongst Indian hopes, WIM Michelle Catherina drew WGM Mammadzada Gunay to take her points tally to 3.5/5.
The top-table game in the 4th Round of the World Junior Chess Championship 2015 between IM Van Foreest and overnight leader GM Karen Grigoryan ended peacefully. This allowed GM Mikhail Antipov to catch up with Grigoryan after scoring a victory over GM Bluebaum. As such, the duo of Grigoryan and Antipov is currently leading the pack with 3.5 points each.
Meanwhile, a total of 12 players, including Indian IM S L Narayanan, are on the joint-second spot with 3 points each.
In the Girls section, WGM Abdumalik Zhansaya is ruling the roost with a perfect score after 4 Rounds. Three others – Drogovoz Irina, Buksa Nataliya and Bivol Alina – are close on Abdumalik’s heels with 3.5 points each.
Amongst Indians, WIM Michelle Catherina has notched up 3 points and is joint-third with 5 others.
In the second round of the World Junior Open Chess Championship 2015, Indian IM Shardul Gagare succeeded in holding top-seeded GM Duda Jan-Kryzystof to a draw. The Gagare – Duda encounter took off with the Bogo-Indian Defence and the ensuing positions always seemed slightly better for White. However, Gagare decided to play it safe and resorted to a draw by repetition on move 31.
After two rounds, a total of 5 players, including Indian IM S L Narayanan, are leading the pack with a perfect score of 2/2.
Just requiring a draw to clinch the title, World No. 11 Levon Aronian effortlessly held Veselin Topalov with the black pieces to register a convincing victory in the 3rd edition of the Sinquefield Cup. Not only did the Armenian Grandmaster win with a full-point margin, but he also remained undefeated in this 9-round Super-GM event.
Aronian was followed by as many as 4 players – Giri, Carlsen, Nakamura & Vachier-Lagrave – on the 2nd spot. However, Carlsen and Nakamura were adjudged 2nd and 3rd respectively, thanks to their superior tie-breaks.
Meanwhile, Viswanathan Anand finished joint 8th along with Fabiano Caruana. The Indian Grandmaster failed to score even a single victory in the second leg of the ‘Grand Chess Tour’ after having secured the runners-up spot at Norway earlier this year.
The 7th round of the Sinquefield Cup 2015 turned out to be an eventful one with the two leaders – Carlsen and Aronian – encountering completely different fates in their respective games. World Champion Magnus Carlsen was outplayed by Alexander Grischuk in a Sicilian Najdorf while Levon Aronian scored a crucial victory over the hero of Round 6 – Hikaru Nakamura.
After 7 Rounds, Aronian is leading the pack with a tally of 5 points, one full point clear of Carlsen, Giri, Grischuk and Vachier-Lagrave.
