Medias Kings Rd1: Carlsen and Ivanchuk open with wins

by ChessBase
6/11/2011 – All the ingredients for a super tournament are there, with ultra-talented players known for their creativity and combativeness. Magnus Carlsen, always in the center of the international spotlight, beat Nakamura in a powerful game in the opening round, while Ivanchuk did much the same against Radjabov, in a highly original King's Indian Averbakh. Express report with pictures.

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ROMGAZ and the Chess Club Society "Elisabeta Polihroniade” of Bucharest are staging a double round robin tournament with six top GMs: the world's second highest ranked player, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who at the age of 20 has an Elo rating of 2815. Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk, currently the world's number five, rated 2776; Sergey Karjakin, former child prodigy and youngest GM of all time, now playing for Russia, rated 2776; top US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, clear winner of this year's Wijk aan Zee tournament; Teimour Radjabov, at 2744 one of Azerbaijan's top GMs, and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, the best Romanian player, currently rated 2659. The competition is taking place from June 11th to 22nd 2011 in Medias, Romania.

Round one results

Round 1: Saturday, June 11, 15:30h
Vassily Ivanchuk 
1-0
 Teimour Radjabov
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
 Hikaru Nakamura
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
½-½
 Sergey Karjakin

Two wins and one draw – an excellent start of the Kings Tournament! Especially excellent was it for Carlsen and Ivanchuk, who with the white pieces convincingly defeated their opponents Nakamura and Radjabov. Ivanchuk made full use of Radjabov's mistake right after the opening, while Carlsen finely outplayed Nakamura in a complicated middlegame position. In a theorectical battle Nisipeanu-Karjakin, the Russian grandmaster proved better prepared and achieved a comfortable draw. – GM Dorian Rogozenco.


Hikaru Nakamura kibitzing Vassily Ivanchuk vs Teimour Radjabov

Ivanchuk,V (2776) - Radjabov,T (2744) [E73]
5th King's Tournament Medias ROU (1), 11.06.2011
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Bg5 Na6 7.f4 c6 8.Qd2 Nc7 9.Bf3 Ne6 10.Bh4 c5 11.dxc5 Nxc5 12.Rd1 Be6 13.b3 a5 14.Nge2 Qc7 15.0-0 a4 16.f5 gxf5 17.exf5 Bxf5 18.Bxf6 exf6 19.b4 Ne6 20.Nb5 Qb6+ 21.Kh1 Ng5 22.Bxb7 Qxb7 23.Rxf5 Ne4 24.Qd3 Rfe8 25.Ned4 Rac8 26.Rf4 Bf8 27.Rdf1 Re5 28.a3 Kh8 29.Nf5 Rd8 30.Nc3 Nxc3 31.Qxc3 Rde8 32.Rg4 Qc8 33.Qg3 h5 34.Rg8+ Kh7 35.Rxf8 1-0. [Click to replay]


A crushing win in 35 moves: Vassily Ivanchuk


The start of the top game Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura

Carlsen,M (2815) - Nakamura,Hi (2774) [D31]
5th King's Tournament Medias ROU (1), 11.06.2011
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 c6 6.Qc2 Bg4 7.e3 Bh5 8.Bd3 Bg6 9.Bxg6 hxg6 10.0-0-0 Nf6 11.f3 Nbd7 12.Nge2 b5 13.e4 b4 14.Na4 dxe4 15.fxe4 Qa5 16.Kb1 0-0 17.h4 Rfe8 18.e5 Nd5 19.h5 g5 20.h6 g6 21.Bc1 N7b6 22.Nc5 Bxc5 23.dxc5 b3 24.Qxb3 Qxc5 25.Nd4 Rxe5 26.Nf3 Re2 27.Nxg5 Qe7 28.Qd3 Rf8 29.Rdf1 f5 30.g4 Na4 31.Qd4 Qe5 32.Qxe5 Rxe5 33.gxf5 gxf5 34.Nf3 Re7 35.Rfg1+ Kh7 36.Rg7+ Kh8 37.Rhg1 Rfe8 38.Nh4 Rxg7 1-0. [Click to replay]


Magnus contemplating the opening line his American opponent has played...


... and playing his move after reaching a decision

Nisipeanu,LD (2659) - Karjakin,Sergey (2776) [E54]
5th King's Tournament Medias ROU (1), 11.06.2011
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 cxd4 9.exd4 a6 10.a3 Bxc3 11.bxc3 Qc7 12.Bd3 Qxc3 13.Bf4 Nc6 14.Re1 h6 15.Bd6 Rd8 16.Bc7 Rd7 17.Re3 Qb2 18.Re2 Qc3 19.Re3 Qb2 20.Re2 Qc3 1/2-1/2. [Click to replay]


Round one is under way ...


... with a small crowd of enthusiasts there to watch the start of the games

Round one impressions


The Natural Gas Documentation and Information Centre, where the games are played


Across the road: a department store and buildings under construction


A police car has escorted the players' convoy on the 20-minute from Bazna to Medias


Vassily Ivanchuk, who had been reported missing, is the first to emerge


The Carlsen clan, with Signe, Magnus and Henrik (carrying the obligatory OJ)


Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Motylev, the second of Sergey Karjakin (right)


In the playing hall Sergey faces his Romanian colleague Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu


A panorama view of the first round in full swing


In the press room Ivanchuk's second Šarūnas Šulskis follows the games with
GM Ian Rogers and his wife Kathy


Henrik Carlsen takes pleasure in his son's performance, while daughter Signe...


is engrossed in a book


After his game Magnus drops by to analyse with our colleague Dorian Rogozenco

We will provide our readers with annotated games by GM Rogozenco shortly.

Schedule and results

Round 1: Saturday, June 11, 15:30h
Vassily Ivanchuk 
1-0
 Teimour Radjabov
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
 Hikaru Nakamura
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
½-½
 Sergey Karjakin
Round 2: Sunday, June 12, 15:30h
Teimour Radjabov 
 Sergey Karjakin
Hikaru Nakamura 
 Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Vassily Ivanchuk 
 Magnus Carlsen
Games Report
Round 3: Monday, June 13, 15:30h
Magnus Carlsen 
   Teimour Radjabov
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
   Vassily Ivanchuk
Sergey Karjakin 
   Hikaru Nakamura
Games Report
Round 4: Tuesday, June 14, 15:30h
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
   Teimour Radjabov
Sergey Karjakin 
   Magnus Carlsen
Hikaru Nakamura 
   Vassily Ivanchuk
Games Report
Round 5: Wednesday, June 15, 15:30h
Teimour Radjabov 
   Hikaru Nakamura
Vassily Ivanchuk 
   Sergey Karjakin
Magnus Carlsen 
   Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Games Report
Round 6: Friday, June 17, 15:30h
Teimour Radjabov 
   Vassily Ivanchuk
Hikaru Nakamura 
   Magnus Carlsen
Sergey Karjakin 
   Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
GamesReport
Round 7: Saturday, June 18, 15:30h
Sergey Karjakin 
   Teimour Radjabov
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
   Hikaru Nakamura 
Magnus Carlsen 
   Vassily Ivanchuk
GamesReport
Round 8: Sunday, June 19, 15:30h
Teimour Radjabov 
   Magnus Carlsen
Vassily Ivanchuk 
   Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Hikaru Nakamura 
   Sergey Karjakin
GamesReport
Round 9: Monday, June 20, 15:30h
Hikaru Nakamura 
   Teimour Radjabov
Sergey Karjakin 
   Vassily Ivanchuk
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
   Magnus Carlsen
GamesReport
Round 10: Tuesday, June 21, 13:30h
Teimour Radjabov 
   Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Magnus Carlsen 
   Sergey Karjakin
Vassily Ivanchuk 
   Hikaru Nakamura 
GamesReport

Links

The 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 a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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