Baku 2.2: Many tiebreaks

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku AZE"] [Date "2015.09.15"] [Round "2.15"] [White "Adams, Michael"] [Black "Laznicka, Viktor"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B46"] [WhiteElo "2742"] [BlackElo "2676"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2015.09.11"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8. O-O Nf6 9. Qf3 Be7 10. Qg3 O-O 11. Bh6 Ne8 12. Bf4 Bh4 13. Qf3 Be7 14. Na4 Nf6 15. b3 Qa5 16. e5 Nd7 17. Qg3 Re8 18. h4 c5 19. c4 d4 20. h5 {Adams' tournament life hangs on the success of this kingside attack.} Qc7 21. Rae1 Bf8 22. Bg5 g6 23. f4 Bg7 24. Qh4 Bb7 25. Kf2 $1 {Black is in some serious trouble now. The rook is swinging to the h-file reinforcing the attack. The even bigger issue, however, is that Black simply has no counterplay.} Rf8 $2 { This just accelerates defeat.} (25... Nf8 26. Bf6 $18) (25... Qc6 26. Be4 Qxe4 27. Rxe4 Bxe4 {looks desperate, but probably was already appropriate.}) 26. Rh1 f5 27. hxg6 hxg6 28. Qh7+ Kf7 29. Rh6 {Sometimes players have blindspots, and forget that one move that can cause an attack to crash through. The only reason I can imagine why Laznicka did not put up the appropriate amount of resistance is that he forgot Rh6 was playable.} 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku AZE"] [Date "2015.09.15"] [Round "2.30"] [White "Kovalyov, Anton"] [Black "Mareco, Sandro"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E17"] [WhiteElo "2616"] [BlackElo "2599"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2015.09.11"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. g3 Bb7 4. Bg2 e6 5. O-O Be7 6. d4 O-O 7. Re1 Na6 8. b3 c5 9. Bb2 d5 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. a3 Rc8 12. e4 Nf6 13. Nc3 Re8 14. Rc1 Bf8 15. Qe2 $5 {Inviting some real complications. Black has to take on d4, otherwise he is just worse after a trade on c5.} cxd4 16. Nxd4 Qxd4 {A free knight, why not take it? Actually this is a queen sacrifice, but Black gets plenty for it.} 17. Nd5 Rxc1 18. Rxc1 (18. Bxd4 $2 Rxe1+ 19. Qxe1 exd5 {is too much material.}) 18... Qxb2 19. Qxb2 exd5 {White has a queen, but Black has three pieces. This is a very unusual balance that more often than not favors the three pieces. However, White has some initiative that must be dealt with.} 20. e5 Nd7 $6 ( 20... Ng4 $1 21. Qe2 (21. f4 Bc5+ {is certainly not the same.})) 21. f4 Ndc5 { Black's pieces are rather clumsy.} 22. Qc2 Ne6 23. b4 b5 24. Bf1 Rd8 25. Qd3 { White's pawns on the kingside threaten to advance, meanwhile Black's knights fail to find support while his bishops are hemmed in.} Nec7 26. Qd4 Ra8 {a sad move to make, but Qxa7 was simply lethal.} 27. f5 g6 28. e6 $1 {Black's position collapses.} fxe6 (28... Bg7 29. exf7+ Kxf7 30. Rxc7+ Nxc7 31. Qf4 { with a decisive attack.}) 29. Qe5 Rc8 30. Bxb5 exf5 31. Bxa6 {Black is simply pinned everywhere and material losses cannot be avoided.} (31. Bxa6 Nxa6 32. Qe6+ {for example.}) 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku AZE"] [Date "2015.09.15"] [Round "2.14"] [White "Sethuraman, S.P."] [Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "2640"] [BlackElo "2737"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate "2015.09.11"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 b6 10. Rd1+ Ke8 11. Nc3 h6 12. b3 Bb7 13. Bb2 Rd8 14. Rxd8+ Kxd8 15. Rd1+ Kc8 16. g4 Ne7 17. Kh2 Ng6 18. Kg3 Be7 19. Ne4 c5 20. Re1 h5 21. Nfg5 h4+ 22. Kh2 Rf8 23. f3 Bc6 24. Kg1 Nf4 25. Bc1 Nd5 26. a3 f5 27. exf6 Nxf6 28. Ne6 Rg8 29. N4g5 Bd6 30. Bf4 a5 31. Bxd6 cxd6 32. Nf4 a4 33. Nf7 axb3 34. cxb3 Kd7 (34... g5 35. Nh5 Nxh5 36. gxh5 Bd5 $1 37. Nxd6+ Kd7 {is not at all easy to convert for White, though he does have the upper hand.}) (34... Nd5 $5) 35. Rd1 d5 36. g5 $1 Nh7 37. Nxd5 Ke6 $2 {Blundering a piece!} (37... Bxd5 38. Rxd5+ Ke7 {and Black is simply down a pawn after} 39. g6 Nf6 40. Re5+ {but there are still chances.}) 38. g6 Nf6 39. Nxf6 gxf6 40. Nd8+ {Oops! The deadly fork costs Black a bishop and the game.} Kf5 41. Nxc6 Rxg6+ 42. Kf2 Rg3 43. Ne7+ Kf4 44. Nd5+ Ke5 45. Rd3 b5 46. Nc3 {Impressive run by Sethuraman who goes on to the third round.} 1-0