The Round 4.1 of the FIDE World Cup 2015 turned out to be a round of exciting top-level chess with Mamedyarov, in particular, hogging the limelight for his dashing victory over Caruana.
Mamedyarov-Caruana
The game took off quite interestingly with Mamedyarov sidestepping Caruana’s King’s Indian/Grunfeld with 3.Bg5. Soon, a complex battle ensued, with the position resembling a King’s Indian of sorts, albeit with black’s f-pawn missing. However, Caruana misplayed the position by allowing a further weakening of the Kingside which helped Mamedyarov launch a dangerous offensive on Caruana’s King. The American GM failed to keep Mamedyarov’s pieces at bay and went on to resign on move 39. A superb victory for the local hero!
Svidler-Topalov
In the currently topical 3…Nd7 line in the Moscow Variation against the Sicilian, Topalov opted for a Hedgehog setup. However, Svidler simply occupied a lot of space and Topalov’s position lacked breathing space for his pieces. The Bulgarian GM made desperate attempts to get back into the game, but Svidler’s energetic play denied any real chances to the former. As a result, the game ended in a convincing victory for Svidler on move 65.
Meanwhile, Nakamura outplayed Adams while Ding Liren overcame Wei Yi in a ‘back-and-forth’ game. The rest of the games ended peacefully.