Medias Kings Rd4: Hard fights, but no knockouts

by ChessBase
6/14/2011 – It is always disappointing to report that all games ended in draws. In this round, however, you will find interesting hard-fought games. Carlsen almost got a good advantage with black against Karjakin, but missed his chance, while Nakamura pressured Ivanchuk. Radjabov played his pet Schliemann, always an interesting game. Illustrated report with full commentary by GM Dorian Rogozenco.

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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 four results

Round 4: Tuesday, June 14, 15:30h
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
½-½
  Teimour Radjabov
Sergey Karjakin 
½-½
  Magnus Carlsen
Hikaru Nakamura 
½-½
  Vassily Ivanchuk

Commentary by GM Dorian Rogozenco

The fourth round of the Kings' Tournament brought three draws: for the first time there were no decisive games. The reason for it partly became clear at the press conference, where both Karjakin and Radjabov admitted that they are still feeling the tiredness after being in Kazan, where the Candidates matches were played (Radjabov as a player, Karjakin as Kramnik's second).

Today Karjakin achieved nothing against Carlsen's Caro-Kann. Moreover, at some point the Russian had to forget about his initial ambitions and play for a draw in an endgame with a pawn down. He succeeded it thanks to the activity of his pieces.


Former boy prodigy and youngest GM in history, Sergey Karjakin


Former boy prodigy and third youngest GM in history, Magnus Carlsen

Teimour Radjabov against Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu implemented the bold Schliemann Gambit – a sharp opening variation, which the Azerbaijani GM plays from time to time. He had no problems to achieve equality with black and could even try to fight for advantage at some point.


US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, winner of the 2011 Tata Steel tournament


Perennial world-class GM Vassily Ivanchuk

Nakamura-Ivanchuk saw the Nimzo-Indian, where the Ukrainian chose a rare variation with Black, allowing Nakamura to achieve a promising position. However, with a timely pawn sac Ivanchuk traded queens and entered a rook endgame which he led very confidently to a draw.

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1.e41,160,14054%2421---
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1.e4 c6 Magnus Carlsen can play almost any opening. For instance in their last classical game in 2010 the Norwegian surprised the Russian GM with the French Defence (which Carlsen never played before). 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Ne7 6.0-0 c5 7.c4
In the Advanced Variation of the Caro-Kann both sides actively fight for the center right from the early moves. 7...Nbc6 8.dxc5 8.Na3 was played by Karjakin in a blitz game before. 8...d4 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Ng6 11.Qe4 Bxc5
12.a3 Possibly Karjakin mixed up something, as he admitted after the game that the immediate 12.Nbd2 is better. This is actually the move played recently by Karjakin's second in Romania Alexander Motylev: 12.Nbd2 Qc7 preferable is 12...0-0 13.Nb3 Qb6 as played by Karpov in 2002. 13.Nb3 Be7 14.Re1 Rd8 15.Bd2 0-0 16.h4 h5 17.Rad1 a6 18.Nc1 b5 19.cxb5 axb5 20.Nd3 Rd5 21.Rc1 Rc8 22.g4 hxg4 23.Qxg4 Kh8 24.Kh1 Qb7 25.Rg1 Bf8 26.Qh5+ Kg8 27.Ng5 Be7 28.Qh7+ Kf8 29.Nxe6+ Ke8 30.Nxg7+ Kd7 31.e6+ Kd6 32.exf7 Nce5 33.Rxg6+ 1-0 Motylev,A (2677) -Maletin,P (2584)/Olginka 2011 12...a5 13.Nbd2
13...Bb6! Very strong, pointing out the vulnerability of pawn e5 (the idea is to play Bc7 sometimes). Now due to the inclusion of the moves a3/a5 White does not have time for 13. Nb3, which is answered by 13...a4. 13...Qb6 is also strong, highlighting another drawback of the move 12.a3 - the weakness of square b3: White is unable to place the knight on b3 now. 14.Rb1 a4 After 14...Bc7 15.Nb3 White exchanges the pan on e5 for the pawn d4. 15.b4 axb3 16.Rxb3 16.Nxb3 Ra4! 16...0-0 17.c5 17.h4!? 17...Bxc5 18.Rxb7 Qd5! 19.Qxd5 exd5
20.Nb3! Karjakin missed at the beginning that after 20.Rb5 Ra5 21.Rxa5 Nxa5 22.Bb2 Black has a very strong move Nf4 and White's position becomes highly unpleasant. 20...Bxa3 21.Bxa3 Rxa3 22.Nbxd4 Ngxe5 22...Nxd4 23.Nxd4 Nxe5 24.Rb5 Rd8 25.f4 Ng6 26.Nc6 Rc8 27.f5 Rxc6 28.fxg6 hxg6 29.Rxd5 Ra2 30.Rg5 is also a draw. 23.Nxc6 Nxc6 24.Rc7
Black is a pawn up, but the rook on c7 is very active and Carlsen's knight doesn't have a stable square. All this means that Black cannot convert his extra pawn. 24...Rc3 25.Re1! Threatening 26.Ne5. After 25.Ne5 Black has Nd4! 26.Rxc3 Ne2+ 27.Kh1 Nxc3 and after the exchange of White's active rook Black gets real chances to win. 25...Rc4 26.Rd7 Nb4 27.g3 Black is not able to improve the position. h6 28.Ree7 Nc6 29.Re1 Rc5 30.Kg2 Nb4 31.Ree7 Nc6 32.Re1 Rb8 33.h4 Rc8 34.Rb1 d4 35.Nxd4 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Karjakin,S-Carlsen,M-½–½2011B125th Kings Tournament4

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 Nc6
As usual Ivanchuk finds unexpected ways to surprise his opponents. Although the move 4...Nc6 has been played many time before, it is much less popular than the main continuations. Black's intention is to follow up quickly with e6-e5. 5.Bd3 e5 6.Nge2 d5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.e4 8.0-0 0-0 9.e4 Nb6 is just a transposition to the same position as in the game, but Nakamura's move order makes more sense, not allowing Black to play 8...exd4. 8...Nb6 8...Nxc3 9.bxc3 Bd6 10.0-0 is also slightly better for White. 9.d5 Ne7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Bg5
11...Kh8 A mysterious king move. As Ivanchuk explained later, he wanted to play f7-f6 and removed the king from the dangerous diagonal. The logical 11...a6 in order to keep the dark-squared bishop alive has been played before, although even here White keeps a more pleasant position. For example: 12.Ng3 h6 13.Be3 Nd7 14.Rc1 Sherbakov,R (2510)-Kogan,A (2470)/Budapest 1994 11...c6 12.dxc6 bxc6 leads to a stable plus for White thanks to his superior pawn formation. 12.a3 More convincing looks 12.Qb3 Bd6 or 12...Bc5 13.Nb5! a6 14.Rac1 Bxf2+ 15.Rxf2 axb5 16.Bxb5 13.Nb5 h6 13...c6 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.Nxd6 Qxd6 16.Rfd1 is clearly better for White. 14.Be3 and unlike in the game Black cannot continue 14...c6 in view of 15.Nxa7!. Also f5 15.f3 f4 16.Bf2 g5 17.a4!? seems to be objectively better for White or 17.Rac1 12...Bd6 13.Nb5 h6 After the immediate 13...f6 14.Be3 c6 15.dxc6 Nxc6 16.Qb3 Ivanchuk didn't like that he cannot play Be6 14.Be3 c6 15.dxc6 Nxc6
16.Nxd6 With the pawn on f7 the move 16.Qb3 obviously is met with Be6 16...Qxd6 17.Qc2 Rd8 18.Rad1 Be6 19.Bb5 Qe7 20.Qc3 f6 Ivanchuk gives up a pawn and enters a four-rooks endgame, which the Ukrainian was pretty sure it is a draw. 20...Rdc8 21.Bc5 Qg5 was a perfectly playable alternative. 22.b4 a6 23.Be3 Qf6 and Black is okay. 21.Bxc6 bxc6 22.Bxb6 axb6 23.Qxc6 Rdc8 24.Qd6 24.Qxb6 Rab8 25.Qd6 25.Qa5 Rxb2 26.Ng3 Ra2= 25...Qxd6 26.Rxd6 Rxb2 27.Rxe6 Rxe2 allows Black immediately to return the pawn. 24...Qxd6 25.Rxd6 Bc4 26.Rd2 b5 27.f3 b4 28.axb4 Bxe2 29.Rxe2 Rab8
30.b3 Rxb4 31.Rb1 h5 32.Kf2 h4 33.Rbb2 Kh7 34.Re3 Kg6 35.Rd3 Kg5 36.Ke3 g6 37.Ra2 Rcb8 38.Ra3
38...f5 39.exf5 gxf5 40.Kd2 Kf4 41.Kc3 R4b7 42.Ra4+ e4 43.fxe4 Rxb3+ 44.Kc4 Rxd3 45.Kxd3 Rd8+ 46.Ke2 fxe4 47.g3+ hxg3 48.hxg3+ Kxg3 49.Rxe4 ½–½
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Nakamura,H-Ivanchuk,V-½–½2011E405th Kings Tournament4

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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5
The Schliemann Gambit is a rare guest on the top level, but in the last year's Kings' Tournament it already happened in one of Nisipeanu's games. However, that time the Romanian was on the Black side of the board, achieving a rather convincing draw against Carlsen. On the other hand Radjabov has implemented the Schliemann before, so it is very interesting to watch the game of the specialists in this rare, but sharp opening. 4.d3 The game Carlsen,M (2813)-Nisipeanu,L (2672) from the Kings' Tournament 2010 went 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Nxe5 dxe4 7.Nxc6 Qg5 8.Qe2 Nf6 9.f4 Qxf4 10.Ne5+ c6 11.d4 Qh4+ 12.g3 Qh3 13.Bc4 Be6 14.Bg5 0-0-0 15.0-0-0 Bd6 16.Rhf1 Rhe8 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Rxf6 Bxe5 19.Rxe6 Rxe6 20.Bxe6+ Qxe6 21.dxe5 Qh6+ 22.Rd2 Rxd2 23.Qxd2 e3 24.Qe2 Qg5 25.Kd1 Kc7 26.Qd3 Qh5+ 27.Kc1 Qh6 28.Kd1 Qh5+ 29.Ke1 Qxh2 30.Qd6+ Kc8 31.Qf8+ Kc7 32.Qe7+ Kc8 with a draw. 4...fxe4 5.dxe4 Nf6 6.0-0 Bc5 6...Nxe4 would be too much. Then 7.Re1 d5 8.Nxe5 and Black is in troubles. 7.Qd3
7...Nd4 Even this rare continuation has been played by Radjabov before, so it shouldn't have caught Nisipeanu unprepared. Much more often Black plays 7...d6 though. Here are few examples from Radjabov's practice: 8.Qc4 Qe7 9.Nc3 Bd7 10.Nd5 Nxd5 11.exd5 Nd4 12.Bxd7+ Or 12.Nxd4 Bxd4 13.Bxd7+ Qxd7 14.a4 a6 15.Be3 Bxe3 16.fxe3 0-0-0 17.Rf2 Rdf8 in 2008 Radjabov achieved two draws with this position, against Topalov and Carlsen. 12...Qxd7 13.Nxe5 Qf5 14.Nd3 0-0-0 15.a4 Rhe8 16.Kh1 g5 17.Be3 Nf3 18.Nxc5 dxc5 19.Rfd1 Re4 20.Qf1 Nd4 21.Qd3 Qe5 22.Bxg5 Re8 23.Bd2 Rh4 24.h3 Qxd5 25.c4 Qc6 26.Qg3 Nf5 27.Qd3 Nd4 28.Qg3 Nf5 29.Qd3 Nd4 30.Qg3 Nf5 1/2-1/2 Mamedyarov,S (2752)-Radjabov,T (2751)/Baku 2008 8.Nxd4 Bxd4 9.Nd2 a6
10.Ba4 On c4 the bishop looks more active, but on the other hand it allows Black the plan with castle long. From a4 the bishop prevents d7-d6. 10.Bc4 Qe7 11.Nf3 Ba7 12.Nh4 d6 13.Bg5 Be6 14.Nf5 Bxf5 15.exf5 0-0-0 16.Be6+ Kb8 17.c4 h6 18.Be3 Bxe3 19.fxe3 Nh7 20.Rad1 Ng5 21.Bd5 c6 22.Be4 Rd7 was perfectly playable for Black in Svidler,P (2746)-Radjabov,T (2751)/Baku 2008. The game also ended in a draw on move 41. 10...Qe7 11.Nf3 Bb6 12.Bg5 0-0 13.Bxf6 After 13.Bb3+ Kh8 14.Nh4 Black prevents 15.Nf5 with d6 13...gxf6 Only this is a new move. 13...Qxf6 14.Qd5+ Kh8 15.Qxe5 Qxe5 16.Nxe5 Bd4 17.Nxd7 Bxd7 18.Bxd7 left Black with a difficult fight for a draw in Collins,S (2436)-Jones,G (2575)/Kilkenny 2010 14.Nh4 d6 15.Kh1 Kh8
16.f4 Bg4 Black would be happy to provoke the advance h2-h3, so that later White won't have this square for his queen or rook. 17.c3 17.h3 Be6 18.Bb3 Rad8 or even 18...Bd7 19.Rad1 c6 leads to a position with chances for both sides. 17...Rad8 18.Bb3 c6 19.Qg3 Qg7 19...Bc8 20.f5 Qg7 21.Qh3 leaves White with attacking prospects. 20.fxe5
An important moment. 20...fxe5 Black could fight for advantage with 20...dxe5 21.h3 Be2 22.Qxg7+ Kxg7 23.Rfe1 Rd2 24.Nf5+ Kg6 25.Ng3 Bd3 26.Rad1 Rxd1 27.Rxd1 Rd8 28.Be6 and here the strong Kg5 For instance after 29.Bc8 Rxc8 30.Rxd3 Rd8 31.Rxd8 Bxd8 32.Ne2 f5 33.exf5 Kxf5 34.Kg1 Ke4 the black king decisively penetrates into White's camp. 21.h3 Bc8 22.Qxg7+ Kxg7 23.g4 White prepares the check on f5 and after the exchange of the minor pieces on that square, the opposite-coloured bishops will lead to a drawish endgame. Be3 24.Nf5+ Bxf5 25.Rxf5 Rxf5 26.gxf5 d5 27.Rd1 d4 28.cxd4 Bxd4 29.Be6 Kf6 30.Kg2 Re8 Or 30...b5 31.b3 c5 32.Kf3= 31.b3 Re7 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nisipeanu,L-Radjabov,T-½–½2011C635th Kings Tournament4

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

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