A total of 126 participants turned up on November 23 for the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk,
Russia, located about 1400 miles (2250 km) east of Moscow. The competition is
taking place from November 24 to December 18.
Round six Game one (Sunday, December 9th)
Frozen chess in Khanty-Mansiysk: ice sculptures outside the venue
You cannot play blitz with them, but the kids love the pieces
Inside the venue: the setup for the semifinals of the FIDE World Cup
Round six results
| No. |
Name |
Nat |
Rtng |
G1 |
G2 |
R1 |
R2 |
B1 |
B2 |
SD |
Tot. |
| 1 |
Carlsen, Magnus |
NOR |
2714 |
½ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.5 |
| Kamsky, Gata |
USA |
2714 |
½ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.5 |
| |
| 4 |
Shirov, Alexei |
ESP |
2739 |
½ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.5 |
| Karjakin, Sergey |
UKR |
2694 |
½ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.5 |
The games
Carlsen,Magnus (2714) - Kamsky,Gata (2724) [C45]
FIDE World Cup 2007 Khanty-Mansiysk (6.1), 09.12.2007
The start of the match Gata Kamsky (left) vs Magnus Carlsen
Kamsky, possibly surprised by his opponent's choice of the Scotch,
chose a fairly unusual set-up with 5...bxc6 and 6...Qh4, but equalized effortlessly,
and even had slightly the better of the position towards the end. 1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.Bd3 Qh4 7.Qe2 Nf6 8.Be3 Bxe3 9.Qxe3
0-0 10.Nd2 Re8 11.0-0 d6 12.Rae1 a5 13.Qg3 Qxg3 14.hxg3 a4 15.f3 Be6 16.b3 Nd7
17.Re3 axb3 18.axb3 Ne5 19.Be2 Ra2 20.Rc3 c5 21.b4 cxb4
22.Rxc7 b3 is adequately met by 23.f4 bxc2 24.Rc1. 1/2-1/2. [Click
to replay]
OJ and deep chess understanding – the secret of Magnus Carlsen
Comeback kid Gata Kamsky in the semifinals
Shirov,Alexei (2739) - Karjakin,Sergey (2694) [B96]
FIDE World Cup 2007 Khanty-Mansiysk (6.1), 09.12.2007
So where's that fire-on-th-board guy? Sergey Karjakin waiting for Shirov
Do you know what time it is? Alexei Shirov appears and whips out 1.e4
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Nbd7 8.Qf3
Qc7 9.0-0-0 b5 10.Bd3 Bb7 11.Rhe1 Qb6 12.Nb3. 12.Nd5 is the other critical
line, but various games of Gelfand have shown that Black is OK after 12...Qxd4!
12...b4
13.Nb1. 13.Na4 was played in a famous brilliancy. 13...Qc7 14.Nd4 Be7
15.Qh3 Nc5 16.Nxc5 dxc5 17.Nxe6 fxe6 18.Bc4 Rd8 19.Qxe6 Rxd1+ 20.Rxd1 Rf8 21.Bxf6
Rxf6 22.Qg8+ Bf8 23.g3 Bc8 24.e5 Rb6 25.Qxh7 Be6 26.Qg6+ Qf7 27.Qe4 Qc7 28.h4
Bxc4 29.Qxc4 Qc6 30.b3 g6 31.Qe2 Qe6 32.h5 Rb7 33.Qe4 Rg7 34.hxg6 Qxg6 35.f5 1-0
Spassky,B (2655)-Tukmakov,V (2545)/Moscow 1973/URS-ch.
13...Be7 14.N1d2 Qc7
15.Qh3 e5 16.Nc4 0-0 17.Nba5 Bc8 18.Qg3 Re8 19.Kb1 Rb8 20.Rf1
20...exf4. Starting a forcing liquidation.
21.Bxf4 Rb5 22.Bxd6 Bxd6
23.Nxd6 Rxa5 24.Rxf6 Nxf6 25.Nxe8 Qxg3 26.Nxf6+ gxf6 27.hxg3
27...Rg5. The result of the forcing sequence is that White has an extra
pawn, but his weaknesses on the g and e-files mean that he has no real winning
chances. 28.Be2 Kg7 29.Rd3 a5 30.Re3 Re5 31.g4 Rg5 32.a3 Bxg4 33.Bxg4 Rxg4
34.axb4 axb4 35.g3 Kg6 36.Ka2 f5 37.exf5+ Kxf5 38.Kb3 h5 39.Rf3+ Ke6 40.Ka4
f5 41.Kb5 Ke5 1/2-1/2. [Click to replay]
Gata Kamsky watches the game between Karjakin and Shirov unfold
Sergey Karjakin waits while Alexei Shirov thinks
The audience, consisting mainly of seconds and associates
All pictures by Eugene Atarov for the official
World Cup web site, notes by Steve Giddins