Baku 3.TB: Nail biters!

by Alejandro Ramirez
9/19/2015 – Another exciting round of tiebreaks. Several of today's matches actually finished during the rapid portion of the tiebreak. Andreikin got his sweet revenge on Kramnik, while MVL, Svidler, and Topalov passed. Le Quang Liem was unfortunate enough to mate himself against So. Adams and Dominguez went all the way to 5+3, where the Brit prevailed. Meanwhile Naka-Nepo ended in Armageddon!
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World Cup

10th September – 5th October

Baku, Azerbaijan

Round Three - Tiebreaks

Another exciting round of tiebreaks. Several of today's matches actually finished during the rapid portion of the tiebreak.

Lu Shanglei was eliminated, and with that every 2500's vicarious hope that "one of us" would win the World Cup has been eliminated.

Andreikin got some sweet revenge in the rematch from last World Cup's final as he took out Kramnik. The decisive game saw Big Vlad basically losing before he got all of his pieces out:

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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.Qe2 the usual line is of course e5, but Andreikin wants to switch things around. Qe7 6...d6!? 7.Nc3 Qe6 8.a3 a5?! I don't quite understand this move. White really didn't want to play a5 and Ba6 is not such a desirable move. 8...Bc5= 9.Bf4 Bc5 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.Bxc7 White sees a pawn, White takes a pawn. The position retains double edged qualities but Black has to find compensation for the material. Re8 12.e5! Ng4 13.Ne4! Ba7 14.Kb1 Black's pieces have almost no movements. Taking on e5 leads to the variation considered under 14. h3 but worse as White didn't waste a tempo. Kramnik tries to lash out, but it simply does not work. 14.h3 Nxe5 15.Nd6 Re7 15...Qh6+ 16.Kb1 Re6 17.Nxc8+- 16.Kb1! And White's behind is close to decisive. 14...d5 15.exd6! Qxe4 16.Qxe4 Rxe4 17.f3! Nf2 18.fxe4 Nxd1 19.Ba6 Very nice calculation from Andreikin! Bxa6 20.Rxd1 White's down a piece, but he will get it back with his passed pawn. Bc5 21.a4! Fixing a5. Be2 22.Rd2 Bf1 23.g3 f6 24.d7 Be7 25.d8Q+ Bxd8 26.Rxd8+ Rxd8 27.Bxd8 It's possible that there is some kind of miraculous draw here with the opposite colored bishops, but from a human perspective it seems to be this is just lost, two pawns are too much. Kf7 28.Bxa5 Ke6 29.Bb6 Ke5 30.b3 Kxe4 31.c4 Kd3 32.a5 Bh3 33.a6 Bc8 34.a7 Bb7 35.Kb2 f5 36.Ka3 g5 37.Kb4 f4 38.gxf4 gxf4 39.Bg1 Ba8 40.Kc5 Kc3 41.b4 f3 42.b5 cxb5 43.cxb5 Kb3 44.b6 Ka4 45.Kd6 Kb5 46.Kc7 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Andreikin,D2720Kramnik,V27771–02015C44FIDE World Chess Cup 20153.4

Radjabov was unable to hold his own against Svidler and was sent home. Which is like a few miles away.

Svidler won out of mutual oversight:

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25.Nxc7 Rxc7 White has an excellent position. Up a pawn and trying to convert. Svidler, however, goes for the kill when it was not ready 26.Ne6+? Bxe6? 26...fxe6! 27.dxe6 it looks like Black loses the bishop, but this is not the case Rxc4! 28.Rxc4 28.Rxd7 Rxc2 29.Qxc2 is an extra piece for Black. 28...Bxe6 29.Rxd8+ Qxd8 gives Black two beautiful bishops and a winning position against the rook. 27.dxe6 Rxd1+ 28.Qxd1 fxe6?! 29.Qd8+ Now White's attack is decisive. Kg7 30.Bxe6 Rc6 31.Qg8+ Kh6 32.Qf8+ 32.h4! Rxc2 33.Qf8+ Bg7 34.Qf4+ Kh5 35.Qg5# 32...Bg7 33.Rxc6 Qxc6 34.Qxe7 g5 35.Bf5 Qc3 36.g3 b5 37.h4 Qf6 38.hxg5+ The endgame is trivially winning with three extra pawns. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Svidler,P2727Radjabov,T27381–02015D80FIDE World Chess Cup 20153.4

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Evgeny Tomashevsky split points in the rapid tiebreak portion, but the Frenchman went 2-0 in the quick 10+10 to advance to the next round.

MVL used a nice tactical resource to knock out Tomashevsky

Le Quang Liem was eliminated by his former teammate from Webster University, Wesley So. Here the Vietnamese player is talking pre-match with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, editor of New In Chess. Le Quang Liem had to say goodbye to the tournament when he got himself in a mating net out of nowhere:

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28...Rd5 29.Nb3 Rb5 White has been pressing slightly, but the endgame is close to a draw. 30.Kf4? Step one to suicide. h5 31.Rc2? 31.gxh5 Rf5+ 32.Kg3 Nxh5+ 33.Kh4 Rxf2-+ 31.f3 exf3 32.gxf3 hxg4 33.fxg4 Rb4+ 34.Nd4 Rxb2 is unpleasant but White has chances. 31...h4 Suddenly White is getting mated. 32.Nc5 Otherwise g5 is mate. 32.g5 Rf5# 32...Rxc5 A clean extra piece is more than enough for Wesley So. 33.Rxc5 bxc5 34.g5 Nh7 35.Kg4 f5+ 36.gxf6+ Kxf6 37.Kxh4 Kf5 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Le,Q2697So,W27730–12015E53FIDE World Chess Cup 20153.4

The two craziest matches of the day were without a doubt Dominguez-Adams and Nakamura-Nepomniachtchi.

The Cuban had an extra exchange and probably decisive advantage in the first game of the 5+3 blitz tiebreak. This was after Adams and Dominguez drew every game leading to that point! The Cuban panicked in time pressure and was slowly outplayed. A couple of blunders later and it was Dominguez that had to win the second 5+3 just to stay alive. He was very far from that as Adams confidently won that game too to advance to the next round.

Nakamura is through!

Nakamura-Nepomniachtchi was simply a roller coaster of emotions. Both players had excellent chances to advance to the next round, but squandered them in pressure. After many decisive games it all came down to Armageddon. Despite the position perhaps favoring White for some time, Black's kingside pressure created too many problems for Nepo, who was unable to hold his ground. Nakamura won with Black when he only needed a draw and will face Adams tomorrow. Full round four pairings below the results of round three!

All Round 3 TB Games

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Round Three Pairings

Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
V. Topalov (BUL) 2816
½
½
1
½
           2.5
Shanglei Lu (CHN) 2599
½
½
0
½
           1.5
Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
Peter Svidler (RUS) 2727
½
½
½
1
           2.5
Teimour Radjabov (AZE) 2738
½
½
½
0
           1.5
Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 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 G8 G9 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 G8 G9 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 G8 G9 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 G8 G9 Pts
Wesley So (USA) 2773
½
½
½
1
           2.5
Le Quang Liem (VIE) 2697
½
½
½
0
           1.5
Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS) 2758
½
½
½
½
0
0
       2.0
M. Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2744
½
½
½
½
1
1
       4.0
Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2814
½
½
½
½
1
0
0
1
1
 5.0
Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) 2705
½
½
½
½
0
1
1
0
0
 4.0
Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
Michael Adams (ENG) 2742
½
½
½
½
½
½
1
1
   5.0
Leiner Dominguez Perez (CUB) 2732
½
½
½
½
½
½
0
0
   3.0
Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 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 G8 G9 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 G8 G9 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 G8 G9 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 G8 G9 Pts
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) 2777
½
½
½
0
           1.5
Dmitry Andreikin (RUS) 2720
½
½
½
1
           2.5
Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
Sergey Karjakin (RUS) 2762
1
½
               1.5
Yu Yangyi (CHN) 2721
0
½
               0.5

Round Four Pairings

Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
V. Topalov (BUL) 2816                    
Peter Svidler (RUS) 2727                    
Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
Ding Liren (CHN) 2782                    
Wei Yi (CHN) 2734                    
Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
Anish Giri (NED) 2793                    
Radoslawj Wojtaszek (POL) 2741                    
Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
Wesley So (USA) 2773                    
M. Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2744                    
Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2814                    
Michael Adams (ENG) 2742                    
Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
Pavel Eljanov (UKR) 2717                    
Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS) 2748                    
Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
Fabiano Caruana (USA) 2808                    
S. Mamedyarov (AZE) 2736                    
Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
Dmitry Andreikin (RUS) 2720                    
Sergey Karjakin (RUS) 2762                    

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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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