Khanty-Mansiysk: both semifinal games drawn

by ChessBase
12/9/2007 – Magnus Carlsen, playing the white side of a Scotch Game, conceeded a somewhat timid 21-move draw to his opponent Gata Kamsky. Alexei Shirov and Sergey Karjakin battled it out for 41 moves before coming to the same conclusion: neither of them could win. Outside the local kids enjoyed the ice sculptures – a frozen chess chess set. Illustrated report with comments.

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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

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