Norway 05: Blunderful round

by Alejandro Ramirez
6/8/2014 – The quality of today's games was not the highest, and some results were hard to predict especially considering how things were shaping after the opening phase. One man walks away victorious from today and that is Kramnik who received a last minute gift from Caruana and the Russian moves to first place. Carlsen somehow beat Aronian, but it was not the only strange game of the round.

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The Unibet Norway Chess Tournament will take place in Stavanger, Norway from June 2nd to June 13th. The tournament features some of the best players in the world and has a massive rating average of 2774.

Round Five

Round 05 – June 08 2014, 15:30h
Alexander Grischuk 2792
½-½
 Simen Agdestein 2628
Peter Svidler 2753
½-½
 Sergey Karjakin 2771
Magnus Carlsen 2881
1-0
 Levon Aronian 2815
Anish Giri 2752
1-0
 Veselin Topalov 2772
Vladimir Kramnik 2783
1-0
 Fabiano Caruana 2791

A crowded room watching the games

Daniel King shows a summary of round 5

Grischuk, Alexander ½-½ Agdestein, Simen
A very exciting game. Agdestein tried again the risky French variation that he played against Karjakin, and again his opponent was unable to crack it. Grischuk found himself in trouble shortly after the opening as his pawn sacrifices did not produce the expected results. Luckily for him the opposite colored bishops and activity gave him good chances to hold, and he was able to scrape a draw.

Grischuk suffered, but the draw was reached

Svidler, Peter ½-½ Karjakin, Sergey
Far from the best technical effort from Svidler. After obtaining a clear advantage he was simply unable to find a good way to proceed and he allowed Karjakin to simplify the position into a dead draw.

Carlsen, Magnus 1-0 Levon, Aronian
The quality of this game makes it very hard to explain. Carlsen essayed an interesting opening but Aronian fought back and even got an advantage. From then on both players made very strange moves. Aronian maneuvered himself out of the advantage completely turning a relatively useful bishop into a completely useless one, handing the initiative to his opponent. Carlsen reached a winning position that he played rather badly, allowing his opponent some counter chances. But eventually the Norwegian pulled through and won in the end.

It certainly did not seem as if it was the number one and number two players in the World playing, but it is an important victory for Carlsen.

This won't be winning the best game prize

Kramnik, Vladimir 1-0 Caruana, Fabiano
After Caruana defended for a long time, the following happened:

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45.Rd2 Kramnik has been trying to make progress for some time without success. He moves his rook to d2 to try to penetrate down the h-file. Bxb3 Caruana calculated this line to be a draw. 46.Bxb3 Rxb3 47.Rd5 a4 48.Ra5 a3 49.Ke5 Kf7 50.Ra7+ Ke8?? A truly unexplainable blunder. After this Caruana is completely lost. 50...Kf8= 51.Ke6 Rb6+ 52.Kd7 Rb5!= 51.Kf6 Rb6+ 52.Kg7 52.Kg7 The position is objectively winning for White, but I'm sure many players might have played on a few more moves. Kramnik himself was surprised that Caruana resigned, as he still has to prove the win. Rb3 53.Kxg6 Rd3 54.Kf6 Rd6+ 55.Kf5 Rd3 56.e5 Kf8 57.Ke4 Rg3 58.Kf4 Rc3 59.e6 Rc6 60.Ke5 Rc3 61.Kf6 Rf3+ 62.Kg6 Rg3 63.Kf5 Re3 64.g6 Rf3+ 65.Ke4 Rg3 66.Ra8+ Ke7 67.Kf5 Rf3+ 68.Ke5 Re3+ 69.Kf4+- 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kramnik,V2783Caruana,F27911–02014E60Norway Chess 20145.3

Receiving a nice gift: Vladimir Kramnik

Caruana seemed very frustrated in the press
conference after such an important blunder

Giri, Anish 1-0 Topalov, Veselin

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29...Qxa4 The game so far has been a fascinating struggle in the Sicilian. White's knights are fighting the pair of bishops and both kings are rather exposed. It is ahrd to say who is better, but it does seem that playing with Black is easier. 30.f5? A very strange move. Even if it doesn't lose immediately, which it does, it is so antipositional it is hard to justify. Re5! The rooks is very powerfullly placed on e5 and e4 is hanging. Giri was trying to provoke this move, missing Black's resources. 31.Re1 Kh8?? A horrible move in every sense. 31...Qa8 32.Rde2 Kh8 31...d5!-+ 32.fxe6 dxc4! 32...dxe4 is also better for Black. 33.Qxc4 Rc8! 34.Qb3 Qxb3+ 35.axb3 Bxe4+ 36.Kb2 fxe6 and White is simply completely lost. 31...Kh7 was even preferable to Kh8. 32.Nf3 now it is White that is winning. exf5 32...Rxb5 33.cxb5 Rxg3 34.fxe6 fxe6 35.Qc4± 33.Nxe5 fxe5 33...dxe5 34.Qd7 Rd8 35.Qxe7 Rxd2 36.Qf8+ Kh7 37.Qxf7+ Kh8 38.Qxf6+ Kh7 39.Qxf5+ Kh6 40.Qg5+ costs Black the rook on d2 and the game. 34.Nxd6 b3 this is desperation, and the rest of the game is not so hard for Giri. 35.Nxb7 bxa2+ 36.Ka1 Qb4 37.Qe3 f4 38.gxf4 Bxh4 39.Rh1 Qxb7 40.fxe5 Rg4 41.Qh6+ Kg8 42.Qxh5 Qxe4 43.Rd8+ 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Giri,A2752Topalov,V27721–02014B67Norway Chess 20145.5

Giri (above) also played rather strange, but Topalov made the same mistakes he made in Khanty-Mansiysk. After obtaining beautiful positions from the opening he found strange ways of botching them up and even losing games.

Standings

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Schedule of Events

Date
Time
Event
Venue
Playchess commentary
02.06.2014 17.00 Blitz Flor & Fjære  
03.06.2014 15.30 Round 1 Scandic Stavanger Forus Daniel King
04.06.2014 15.30 Round 2 Scandic Stavanger Forus Simon Williams
05.06.2014 15.30 Round 3 Scandic Stavanger Forus Yasser Seirawan
07.06.2014 15.30 Round 4 Vågen VGS, Sandnes Yasser Seirawan
08.06.2014 15.30 Round 5 Scandic Stavanger Forus Yasser Seirawan
09.06.2014 15.30 Round 6 Aarbakke fabrikkhall, Bryne Chris Ward
10.06.2014 15.30 Round 7 Scandic Stavanger Forus Daniel King
12.06.2014 15.30 Round 8 Scandic Stavanger Forus Simon Williams
13.06.2014 14.30 Round 9 Scandic Stavanger Forus Daniel King

Pairings

Round 01 – June 03 2014, 15:30h
Levon Aronian 2815
½-½
 Simen Agdestein 2628
Sergey Karjakin 2771
½-½
 Veselin Topalov 2772
Alexander Grischuk 2792
0-1
 Fabiano Caruana 2791
Peter Svidler 2753
½-½
 Vladimir Kramnik 2783
Magnus Carlsen 2881
½-½
 Anish Giri 2752
Round 02 – June 04 2014, 15:30h
Simen Agdestein 2628
½-½
 Anish Giri 2752
Vladimir Kramnik 2783
½-½
 Magnus Carlsen 2881
Fabiano Caruana 2791
1-0
 Peter Svidler 2753
Veselin Topalov 2772
0-1
 Alexander Grischuk 2792
Levon Aronian 2815
1-0
 Sergey Karjakin 2771
Round 03 – June 05 2014, 15:30h
Sergey Karjakin 2771
½-½
 Simen Agdestein 2628
Alexander Grischuk 2792
1-0
 Levon Aronian 2815
Peter Svidler 2753
½-½
 Veselin Topalov 2772
Magnus Carlsen 2881
½-½
 Fabiano Caruana 2791
Anish Giri 2752
0-1
 Vladimir Kramnik 2783
Round 04 – June 07 2014, 15:30h
Simen Agdestein 2628
½-½
 Vladimir Kramnik 2783
Fabiano Caruana 2791
½-½
 Anish Giri 2752
Veselin Topalov 2772
½-½
 Magnus Carlsen 2881
Levon Aronian 2815
½-½
 Peter Svidler 2753
Sergey Karjakin 2771
1-0
 Alexander Grischuk 2792
Round 05 – June 08 2014, 15:30h
Alexander Grischuk 2792
½-½
 Simen Agdestein 2628
Peter Svidler 2753
½-½
 Sergey Karjakin 2771
Magnus Carlsen 2881
1-0
 Levon Aronian 2815
Anish Giri 2752
1-0
 Veselin Topalov 2772
Vladimir Kramnik 2783
1-0
 Fabiano Caruana 2791
Round 06 – June 09 2014, 15:30h
Simen Agdestein 2628   Fabiano Caruana 2791
Veselin Topalov 2772   Vladimir Kramnik 2783
Levon Aronian 2815   Anish Giri 2752
Sergey Karjakin 2771   Magnus Carlsen 2881
Alexander Grischuk 2792
 
 Peter Svidler 2753
Round 07 – June 10 2014, 15:30h
Peter Svidler 2753   Simen Agdestein 2628
Magnus Carlsen 2881   Alexander Grischuk 2792
Anish Giri 2752   Sergey Karjakin 2771
Vladimir Kramnik 2783   Levon Aronian 2815
Fabiano Caruana 2791   Veselin Topalov 2772
Round 08 – June 12 2014, 15:30h
Simen Agdestein 2628   Veselin Topalov 2772
Levon Aronian 2815   Fabiano Caruana 2791
Sergey Karjakin 2771   Vladimir Kramnik 2783
Alexander Grischuk 2792   Anish Giri 2752
Peter Svidler 2753   Magnus Carlsen 2881
Round 09 – June 13 2014, 14:30h
Magnus Carlsen 2881   Simen Agdestein 2628
Anish Giri 2752   Peter Svidler 2753
Vladimir Kramnik 2783   Alexander Grischuk 2792
Fabiano Caruana 2791   Sergey Karjakin 2771
Veselin Topalov 2772   Levon Aronian 2815

Links

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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