Medias Kings Rd9: Karjakin catches Carlsen – again

by ChessBase
6/20/2011 – Carlsen manuevered to a promising middlegame, but an exchange sac by Nisipeanu stopped him cold, while a disastrous opening by Ivanchuk gave Karjakin a blitzkrieg attack that ended it in just 22 moves. Nakamura pressed but was not able to take Radjabov's fortress. Tomorrow will be the big showdown to decide gold and silver. Full report with videos and GM analysis.

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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; Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk, currently the world's number five; Sergey Karjakin, former child prodigy and youngest GM of all time; top US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, clear winner of this year's Wijk aan Zee tournament; Teimour Radjabov, one of Azerbaijan's top GMs, and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, the best Romanian player. The competition is taking place from June 11th to 22nd 2011 in Medias, Romania.

GM Dorian Rogozenco comments on round nine

Round 9: Monday, June 20, 15:30h
Hikaru Nakamura 
½-½
 Teimour Radjabov
Sergey Karjakin 
1-0
 Vassily Ivanchuk
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
½-½
 Magnus Carlsen


Advice and encouragement before the game by Elisabeta the Wise...


... who then ceremonially executes the first move of the game


Serge clearly took her advice seriously


His victim in round nine: compatriot Vassily Ivanchuk

Ivanchuk’s quick loss against Karjakin was the biggest surprise of the ninth round. After just 15 moves Black’s position looked terrible, allowing Karjakin nicely to finish the game with a direct attack against the opponent’s king. Ivanchuk resigned at move 22 after spending just about 15 minutes of his time for the entire game.

Nisipeanu-Carlsen was an interesting strategic battle in the Breyer Variation of the Ruy Lopez. On move 16 the Norwegian chose a rare subvariation, forcing his opponent to think for about 20 moves. The result of this lengthy thinking was an interesting novelty from the Romanian GM, which looked promising for White indeed. However, Carlsen quickly started activity in the center and after a Nisipeanu’s positional exchange sacrifice it became clear that the chances for both sides are equal. Draw agreed on move 32.


Always in a cheerful mood, even when facing the Mag: Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu


Any idea what it feels to sit across the board from him?

Radjabov met Nakamura’s 1.e4 with the so-called Kalashnikov Variation of the Sicilian Defense. The game confirmed Radjabov’s words from the beginning of the tournament: “The opening doesn’t matter, everything should be a draw”. In spite of Nakamura’s extra pawn, the better control of the dark squares secured Radjabov the draw in the bishops endgame.


Put the kibosh on White's winning aspirations: Teimour Radjabov

All photos by Ionut Anisca


Standings after nine rounds

Thus before the last round Carlsen and Karjakin are leading the field with 6 points out of 9. They will meet tomorrow (Carlsen with the white pieces) to determine the victor of the 5th edition of the Kings’ Tournament. Notice that the last round games will start two hours earlier, at 13:30 local time.

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

Links

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