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ROMGAZ
and the Chess Club Society "Elisabeta Polihroniade” of Bucharest
are staging a double round robin tournament with six of the world's top GMs:
the young Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaidjan, Elo 2756, ranking 5th in the world),
the experienced Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, Elo 2746, 12th in the world), Alexei
Shirov (Spain, Elo 2745, 13th), Boris Gelfand (Israel, Elo 2733, 15th), Gata
Kamsky (USA, Elo 2720, 24th), as well as the best ever rated Romanian chess
player Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Elo 2675, 55th in the world), 2005 European Champion.
The competition is taking place from June 14th to 25th 2009 in Bazna, Romania.
Round 8: Monday, June 22, 2009 |
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Boris Gelfand |
½-½ |
Vassily Ivanchuk |
Alexei Shirov |
½-½ |
Teimour Radjabov |
Gata Kamsky |
½-½ |
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu |
The start of round eight in Bazna
The highly expected game Gelfand-Ivanchuk turned out to be a small disappointment. In order to catch up with Ivanchuk and fight for the first place in the tournament Gelfand needed to win the game. Easier said than done. The English Opening led to a position where active play from White’s side was connected with taking risks. Gelfand showed a practical approach and objectivity: having achieved no advantage and with less time on the clock the Israeli GM forced a draw by repetition on move 20.
Top encounter ended quickly: Boris Gelfand vs Vassily Ivanchuk in round
eight
After yesterday’s difficult and unlucky game, Shirov decided to choose today against Radjabov a safe variation. Against Radjabov’s Sveshnikov Sicilian Shirov played a long theoretical line, producing a mini improvement on move 26. White’s plus was much too small to claim any real advantage. Radjabov was playing very accurately and the draw was agreed on move 38.
Start of the game Alexei Shirov (left) vs Teimour Radjabov
In Kamsky-Nisipeanu the American GM missed very good winning chances. In the opening Black didn’t have any problems, then in an equal middlegame Nisipeanu went with his knight to a wrong direction, which gave Kamsky the chance to take over the initiative. After the time control White remained with a pawn up in endgame. Most of the players would have slowly converted this advantage into a full point, but Kamsky went for a beautiful knight sacrifice. In the arising position White could win only with a very difficult study-like solution, which Kamsky found only after the game with the help of his computer. In the game Nisipeanu succeeded to hold a draw.
The longest game: Gata Kamsky vs Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Gelfand,Boris - Ivanchuk,Vassily [A04]
Kings' Tournament Bazna ROM (8), 22.06.2009
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nb5 d6 6.g3 a6 7.N5c3 Nf6 8.Bg2 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Bf4 Qc7. This natural move is new. 11.Na3 Rd8 12.Rc1 Typically for such positions White threatens Nc3-d5. 12...Ne5 13.Qb3 Nfd7. The development of the bishop via d7 to c6 is bad because of the mentioned idea Nc3-d5: 13...Bd7 14.Rfd1 Bc6 15.Nd5 exd5 16.cxd5 and the change of pawn structure favours White. 14.Rfd1 Rb8
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Shirov,Alexei - Radjabov,Teimour [B33]
Kings' Tournament Bazna ROM (8), 22.06.2009
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 Bg5 12.Nc2 Ne7 13.h4 Bh6 14.a4 bxa4 15.Ncb4 0-0 16.Qxa4 Nxd5 17.Nxd5 a5 18.Bb5
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Kamsky,Gata - Nisipeanu,Liviu Dieter [D02]
Kings' Tournament Bazna ROM (8), 22.06.2009
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.c3. Sometimes with the white pieces Kamsky starts the game without any ambitions for the opening advantage. We witness such a case. 5...Qb6 6.Qb3. Both sides would are happy to exchange queens, but only if it would open the a-file for their own rook. 6...c4 7.Qc2. After 7.Qxb6 axb6 Black has a pleasant endgame thanks to the plan to advance the b-pawn to b4. 7...Bf5. A standard developing move – White cannot take the bishop in view of 8...Qxb2 and the rook a1 is gone. 8.Qc1 h6. Another standard move – Black defends against a possible Nf3-h4 by making square h7 available for the bishop. 9.Be2 e6 10.h3 Qd8 11.b3. A logical novelty. White needs more space on the queenside and is ready to exchange some pawns. 11...b5 12.bxc4 bxc4
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51.Kd4? [After having analyzed the position in his hotel room, Kamsky found the solution: 51.Kc5 Ne4+ 52.Kb4!! A study like move designed to provoke the advance of the opponent's a-pawn.
a) 52.Kd4 Ng5 53.c4 Nxh3 54.Kc5 Ng5 55.Kb5 Ke5 is a draw;
b) 52.Kc6 Nxc3 53.d6 (53.h4 Nxa2) 53...Ke6 54.a3 (54.a4 Nd5 55.a5 Nb4+=; 54.d7 Ke7 55.h4 Kd8 56.h5 Ne4 57.h6 Ng5 58.a4 Nh7 59.a5 Ng5 60.a6 Nh7 61.Kd6 Ng5=) 54...Nd5 55.h4 Nb6 56.h5 Nc4; 52...a5+ (52...Ke5 53.c4 Kd6 54.h4 Nf6 55.Kb5 wins) 53.Kc4! Nd6+ (or 53...Ke5 54.h4 Nf6 55.a4 Kd6 56.Kb5 Nxd5 57.c4 Nf4 58.Kb6 Kd7 59.c5) 54.Kc5 Ne4+ 55.Kc6 Nxc3 56.d6 Ke6 57.a3! It is important to take control over square b4! 57...Nd5 58.h4 Nf6 59.h5 and White wins.
51...Nb5+ 52.Kd3. White could still return to the winning path: 52.Kc4 Nd6+ 53.Kc5. 52...Ke5 53.c4 Nd6 54.h4. [54.c5 Ne4=] 54...Nf5 55.h5 Kd6
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In spite of having three passed pawns for the knight, White cannot make much progress, since 56.Ke4 runs into a check on g3. 56.Kc3 Kc5 57.Kb3 Nh6 58.Ka4 Kxc4 59.d6 Kc5. Draw agreed in view of 59...Kc5 60.d7 Nf7 61.Ka5 Kc6 62.Ka6 Kxd7 63.Kxa7 Kc7. Draw. [Click to replay]
LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. |
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