The Candidates – Vassily Ivanchuk, 2757, World #13

Vassily Ivanchuk (2757 – World #13)

Consistently one of the Ukraine’s leading players since the late ‘80s, Vassily Ivanchuk stands as another contender ranked in the bottom half of this year’s field of candidates. Of course, as with all of these players, he possesses a CV to be envied. He broke out in 1987 as European Junior Champion, only missing out on the world title the following year by virtue of an inferior tiebreak to that of Joel Lautier. He ably redeemed himself, however, by quickly rising to Top-10 status later that same year.

Cast in a similar mold to that of Carlsen, he gained early notoriety as the 1991 Linares champion, at the age of 21. Eight of the world’s top ten players partook and, as an exclamation point on the feat, he vanquished Kasparov in their individual encounter. A number of additional ultra-strong tournament victories accrued in the years that followed, including that of European Champion in 2004.

Despite his successes and continual presence amongst the world’s elite, Ivanchuk has been the victim of weak nerves and rough luck when participating in world championship cycle events. Early on, he made it to the quarterfinals of the 1991-93 Candidates tournament, suffering elimination by a narrow defeat at the hands of Yusupov, 5½-4½. In the end, Short emerged as the Challenger and, as history painfully recalls, a rift in the chess world soon ensued. Ivanchuk subsequently put in a string of forgettable performances at the FIDE Knockout World Championships, with one exception. In 2002, he qualified to the final, dispatching of Anand to get there. Unfortunately, despite being the heavy favourite in that final match, he fell far too easily to his teenaged compatriot, Ruslan Ponomariov.

Since the chess world was glued back together, he has sat on the outside looking in, anything but patiently awaiting his next opportunity to fight for the ultimate crown. After a quickly recanted retirement announcement at the site of the 2009 World Cup, he has forged on ahead and, now, the fans have what they were waiting for – the return of the mercurial talent, here to cause his fellow candidates some serious headaches. One can only hope he does not melt under the microscope, as, otherwise, he is quite capable of winning this event.

Best of luck to Vassily, and, with that, let’s take a look at his historical results against the candidates in this field.

Ivanchuk's opponents at the Candidates

Boris Gelfand (2740 – World #18)

Overall: 10 Wins, 37 Draws, 8 Losses
White: 7 Wins, 16 Draws, 2 Loss
Black: 3 Wins, 21 Draws, 6 Losses

Gelfand and Ivanchuk have a relationship stretching back to their years as rising junior stars in the former Soviet Union. This provides plenty of material for each of them to draw on. Roughly half of their lifetime encounters occurred in the last decade, with Gelfand holding a 4-2 edge in the decisive games over the course of that stretch. Anticipate some fighting chess, but don’t be surprised by justifiable draws emerging, as the “old guys” slug it out for the umpteenth time. The English may be the Ukrainian’s weapon of choice, while Boris surely has some novelties to spring if facing the Grunfeld.

Peter Svidler (2747 – World #14)

Overall: 5 Wins, 22 Draws, 5 Losses
White: 3 Wins, 14 Draws, 1 Losses
Black: 2 Wins, 8 Draws, 4 Losses

From the outset, Svidler and Ivanchuk have enjoyed a lifelong seesaw battle. Vassily may employ the Grunfeld against Peter in London, having used it to secure a favourable outcome in the most recent decision in their lifetime series, but be prepared for anything from both of these players. Whatever the outcome, you can expect their games to be sharp and interesting, aided by their familiarity with one another’s play.

Alexander Grischuk (2764 – World #10)

Overall: 2 Wins, 11 Draws, 0 Losses
White: 2 Wins, 8 Draws, 0 Losses
Black: 0 Wins, 3 Draws, 0 Losses

Surprisingly, despite their long-time presence amongst the world’s elite, the two ‘chuks have rarely crossed swords in classical play. Ivanchuk has been spoiled by the number of whites he has received and has used them with effect by securing two back-to-back victories in 2009 and 2010. Grischuk, for his part, has never breached Vassily’s defences at these time controls, but that may soon change in London. They played relatively peacefully during the 2011 World Cup, adapting to the system, but the games will, necessarily, be much more bloody here. Expect anything from these two, as they further develop a feel for one another.

Teimour Radjabov (2793 – World #4)

Overall: 5 Wins, 23 Draws, 4 Losses
White: 4 Wins, 9 Draws, 3 Losses
Black: 1 Win, 14 Draws, 1 Loss

There is no shortage of encounters between Radjabov and Ivanchuk. By and large, they have been trying, hard-fought affairs. They even split their games at the World Cup, with Vassily going through in the tiebreak matches. With stinging memories of poor outings in the Sicilian when facing the Ukrainian, Radjabov may test the French against him, which is on standby as a reserve weapon in his repertoire. Ivanchuk can expect to face the English again as black. When the lights come up on these games, the word “dull” will not be on the commentators’ lips.

Vladimir Kramnik (2810 – World #2)

Overall: 4 Wins, 26 Draws, 8 Losses
White: 4 Wins, 10 Draws, 4 Losses
Black: 0 Wins, 16 Draws, 4 Losses

When the stakes have been highest, with teammates depending on the outcome, Kramnik and Ivanchuk have tended to sign peace accords: some hard-fought; some not so much. They have never tangoed with world championship contention on the line, however, so it will be interesting to see what happens when the gloves come off. Kramnik’s Petrov phase yielded no fruit against Vassily in 2008, while costing him a full point in Dortmund, so don’t count on it making a return between these two. Kramnik may take the Richter-Rauzer out of the closet and dust it off, but one of these two will certainly opt for 1.d4.

Levon Aronian (2809 – World #3)

Overall: 12 Wins, 14 Draws, 9 Losses
White: 7 Wins, 8 Draws, 3 Losses
Black: 5 Wins, 6 Draws, 6 Losses

When Aronian and Ivanchuk sit across from one another, they invariably go for the jugular. In fact, their games have delivered more decisive results than they have draws. They both perform well as white, but each also has a plurality of victories as black. Although Ivanchuk holds a reasonably wide margin in their lifetime score, he has served as a bit of a punching bag to Levon as of late, not to say that he is incapable of reversing his fortunes. Expect fireworks from these two and, quite possibly, two decisive outcomes. The Queen’s Gambit and Ruy Lopez may make a reappearance.

Magnus Carlsen (2872 – World #1)

Overall: 2 Wins, 13 Draws, 8 Losses
White: 1 Win, 10 Draws, 3 Losses
Black: 1 Win, 3 Draws, 5 Losses

Ivanchuk has been burned one too many times by Carlsen, with his lone wins against the Norwegian both coming in 2008. Considering his abysmal fortunes to date, caution will be the order of the day against Magnus. Two nail-biting draws would be more than Vassily could ask for and would maintain his chances of taking overall tournament victory. As white, the Ruy Lopez has to be Ivanchuk’s preference here, but, after raiding Anand’s cupboard, expect Carlsen to arrive in London with some new sheet music.

Overall Stats Against Field

Repertoire white

Ivanchuk is simply a sublime player, so it comes as no surprise that he has an array of weapons to choose from as White. His weakness appears to be the English, so he may opt to leave it at home, but he can smote any one of these players in virtually any system.

Repertoire black

With reasonably good success as black, Ivanchuk tends to score particularly well against the Ruy Lopez and Queen's Gambit. In the past, he has taken down giants with these choices and, given the chance, has no reason not to employ them here.

The Candidates Tournament in London

The London Candidates 2013 will be the strongest tournament of its kind in history. The Prize Fund to be shared by the players totals €510,000. The winner of the Candidates will become the Challenger to Viswanathan Anand who has reigned as World Champion since 2007. Schedule:

• Detailed schedule here

Players

• Full information on the players here

Links

• World Chess Web Site
• FIDE Web Site