Baku 3.2: Plenty of results

by Alejandro Ramirez
9/18/2015 – Just a bit over half of the matches today finished in a victory for one of the players. The biggest name to go home is Grischuk, as he lost again to Eljanov. The Ukrainian now has an amazing 6-0 score in classical games in the World Cup! Ding Liren and Wei Yi are through and will guarantee a Chinese in the quarter finals... they play each other!

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World Cup

10th September – 5th October

Baku, Azerbaijan

Round Three - Game Two

Nine out of the sixteen matches today ended in one of the players passing through to round four. We start with the Chinese players. China will have two players in round four as both Wei Yi and Ding Liren won today with White, though in very different style. Thus China is guaranteed a place in the quarter finals as Ding Liren and Wei Yi will face each other in round four! Ding Liren outplayed Gadir Guseinov from the opening, won a pawn and converted it.

Ding Liren is already thinking of Wei Yi

Wei Yi was much flashier:

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku AZE"] [Date "2015.09.18"] [Round "3.9"] [White "Wei, Yi"] [Black "Areshchenko, Alexander"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B97"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2015.09.11"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. e5 h6 11. Bh4 dxe5 12. fxe5 g5 13. exf6 gxh4 14. Be2 Qa5 15. O-O Nd7 16. Rbd1 $5 (16. Kh1 {is almost universally played, Wei Yi comes in with a twist in the sharpest Najdorf!}) 16... h3 {In the only other game in the database this move was played, but Wei Yi had anticipated it.} (16... Qg5 {is the computer choice, but surely Wei Yi had something prepped here. It's amazing that even in the computer era the Poisoned Pawn Najdorf remains a mystery.}) 17. g3 Bb4 {Going for it. From a practical point of view one has to wonder whether it is a good idea to accept a piece sacrifice which your opponent had obviously prepared at home. But that being said, that is what you are supposed to do in the Poisoned Pawn, isn't it?} 18. Qe3 $1 Bxc3 $5 {Picking up the gauntlet.} (18... Qg5 $5) 19. Nxe6 {What else?} Qe5 $2 {Perhaps this move cost Areshchenko the game.} (19... fxe6 $1 {Black had to go for it.} 20. Qxe6+ Kd8 21. Qe7+ Kc7 22. Qd6+ Kd8 23. f7 Bg7 {otherwise Black gets mated really quickly. Now however things are not so clear.} 24. Rd5 (24. f8=Q+ Rxf8 25. Rxf8+ Bxf8 26. Qxf8+ Kc7 27. Qd6+ Kd8 {is just a perpetual. Did Wei Yi have something in mind or was he bluffing?}) 24... Qc3 $1) 20. Nc7+ Kf8 21. Qxe5 Bxe5 22. Nxa8 Nxf6 23. Nb6 {The problem for Black is that he doesn't have any compensation for the lost material. Wei Yi shows excellent technique and takes the game:} Kg7 24. Nxc8 Rxc8 25. Rf5 Bb8 26. Rdf1 Ba7+ 27. Kh1 Bd4 28. Bd3 Rc6 29. g4 Rc7 30. g5 hxg5 31. Rxg5+ Kf8 32. Rg3 Nd5 33. Rxh3 Ne3 34. Rf4 Ba7 35. Re4 Nd1 36. Rh8+ Kg7 37. Rh7+ Kf8 38. Rc4 Bc5 39. Bg6 1-0

Another Chinese player, Yu Yangyi, was knocked out by Sergey Karjakin. In a probably winning position the Russian player took a draw to seal his advance.

S.P. Sethuraman was knocked out by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov as the Indian was unable to win today

Very newsworthy so far is Pavel Eljanov's performance. He is currently 6-0 in the tournament, winning all of his classical games and smashing through his opponents. His latest victim was Grischuk. Needing to win with Black, Grischuk went for a weird kind of set-up which backfired horribly. White's protected passed pawn on c6 simply dominated the position.

Anton Kovalyov was also in a tough situation: he had to defeat Fabiano Caruana to stay in the tournament. But the American player defended with ease and drew without problems.

Fabiano Caruana on his way to the next round

Veselin Topalov and Julio Granda. Odds are that this conversation was in Spanish
as the Bulgarian's Spanish is certainly better than the Peruvian's English.

Wojtaszek took care of Granda after giving his opponent more chances than his position deserved:

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku AZE"] [Date "2015.09.18"] [Round "3.13"] [White "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"] [Black "Granda Zuniga, Julio E"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D37"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2015.09.11"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Be2 dxc4 8. O-O a6 9. a4 Nh5 10. Bxc4 Nxf4 11. exf4 c6 12. Qe2 Qa5 13. Bb3 Rd8 14. Rfd1 g6 15. Ne4 Nf6 16. Neg5 Nd5 17. g3 Bd7 18. h4 h5 19. Ne5 Be8 20. Qf3 Bf8 21. g4 $1 hxg4 22. Nxg4 Bg7 23. h5 $1 gxh5 24. Ne5 Nf6 25. f5 {Opening the b3 bishop is the nail in the coffin for Black.} Rxd4 26. Rxd4 $2 {Underestimating Black's chances!} (26. fxe6 $1 Qxe5 27. exf7+ Bxf7 28. Nxf7 Qf4 29. Ne5+ $1 Kh7 30. Rxd4 Qxe5 (30... Qxd4 31. Qf5+ {gets mated}) 31. Qd3+ $18 {is much cleaner.}) 26... Qxe5 27. Rad1 Nd5 {Suddenly things are not so clear.} 28. Bc2 exf5 (28... Qf6 $1) 29. Qxh5 Nf4 $6 30. Qh7+ Kf8 31. Nf3 $1 {Black's pieces are in an uncomfortable position. Granda cracks.} Qe2 $2 (31... Qc7 32. R4d2 $16) 32. Rxf4 (32. Qxf5 $1) 32... Qxc2 33. Rd2 Qb1+ (33... Qc1+ $1 34. Kg2 Rd8 {was the only way to fight, but after} 35. Rxd8 Qxf4 36. Rxe8+ Kxe8 37. Qxg7 Qxa4 { White should comfortably convert.}) 34. Kg2 c5 35. Rxf5 {White's attack is too strong. Rxf7+ threatens to win the queen on b1, and Black can't afford to break the pin because of Rg5 - and other winnig moves.} 1-0

Two other players also safely advanced to round four. Jakovenko made short work of Ivanchuk's unsound position. When he traded his two rooks for a queen and two pawns it was clear that Black was going to suffer, but Ivanchuk collapsed surprisingly quickly.

Lastly, Anish Giri played a dream Catalan against Leko. His very slightly better position from the opening turned into a very slight pressure in the endgame that was slightly unpleasant to play against. Leko was unable to defend perfectly and Giri's advantage grew and grew until he was completely winning because his rook had invaded the seventh rank with devastating effect.

Daniel King takes a look at the games Eljanov vs Grischuk and Giri vs Leko

Dmitry Andreikin held Vladimir Kramnik to a draw with Black without too many issues.

Svidler's game against Radjabov lasted a whopping thirteen moves

Le Quang Liem and Wesley So are also going into the tie-break

MVL vs. Tomashevsky and Nakamura vs. Nepomniachtchi will also be decided in the tie-breaks. The fourth Chinese that made it to round three, Lu Shanglei, will be fighting for his tournament survival against Topalov tomorrow. Last but not least, in another duel of titans Adams will fight against Dominguez tomorrow. Thus seven matches will go into tie-break tomorrow.

All Round 3.2 Games

Round Three Pairings

Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
V. Topalov (BUL) 2816
½
½
          1.0
Shanglei Lu (CHN) 2599
½
½
          1.0
Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
Peter Svilder (RUS) 2727
½
½
          1.0
Teimour Radjabov (AZE) 2738
½
½
          1.0
Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
Ding Liren (CHN) 2782
½
1
          1.5
Gadir Guseinov (AZE) 2634
½
0
          0.5
Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
Alexander Areschenko (UKR) 2661
½
0
          0.5
Wei Yi (CHN) 2734
½
1
          1.5
Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
Anish Giri (NED) 2793
½
1
          1.5
Peter Leko (HUN) 2707
½
0
          0.5
Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
Julio Granda Zuniga (PER) 2667
½
0
          0.5
Radoslawj Wojtaszek (POL) 2741
½
1
          1.5
Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
Wesley So (USA) 2773
½
½
          1.0
Le Quang Liem (VIE) 2697
½
½
          1.0
Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS) 2758
½
½
          1.0
Maxime Vachier Lagrave (FRA) 2744
½
½
          1.0
Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2814
½
½
          1.0
Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) 2705
½
½
          1.0
Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
Michael Adams (ENG) 2742
½
½
          1.0
Leiner Dominguez Perez (CUB) 2732
½
½
          1.0
Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 2771
0
0
          0.0
Pavel Eljanov (UKR) 2717
1
1
          2.0
Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS) 2748
½
1
          1.5
Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR) 2726
½
0
          0.5
Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
Fabiano Caruana (USA) 2808
1
½
          1.5
Anton Kovalyov (CAN) 2616
0
½
          0.5
Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
S.P. Sethuraman (IND) 2640
0
½
          0.5
S. Mamedyarov (AZE) 2736
1
½
          1.5
Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) 2777
½
½
          1.0
Dmitry Andreikin (RUS) 2720
½
½
          1.0
Player Rtg
G1
G2
G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 Pts
Sergey Karjakin (RUS) 2762
1
½
          1.5
Yu Yangyi (CHN) 2721
0
½
          0.5

Photos and information from the official website and their Facebook page

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The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
 

Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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