World Cup 4.2: Giants sent home

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku AZE"] [Date "2015.09.21"] [Round "4.2"] [White "Topalov, Veselin"] [Black "Svidler, Peter"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C84"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/2b2kp1/qNn1pn1p/p1P1p3/R3P3/2B3NP/Q4PPK/3r4 w - - 0 38"] [PlyCount "9"] [EventDate "2015.09.11"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 38. Bxa5 {White has a slight edge, but this disappears quickly!} Qb5 39. Nc4 ( 39. Qc4 $1) 39... Nxa5 40. Nxa5 Qxc5 41. Nb3 $2 (41. Nc4 $11 {Black's structure is bad but he is very active. Svidler should hold.}) 41... Qc3 42. Ra7 $4 {Probably this move came with a draw offer. Svidler took it, though he is winning:} (42. Ra7 Qe1 43. Rxc7+ Kg6 {White is getting mated and his knight is trapped. For example:} 44. Nf5 Qg1+ 45. Kg3 Nh5+ 46. Kf3 Rd3+ 47. Ne3 Nf4 { and White will soon be mated on g2.}) 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku AZE"] [Date "2015.09.21"] [Round "4.2"] [White "Wei, Yi"] [Black "Ding, Liren"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C84"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/4r2k/3p1R2/1p1P2qp/1P1QP3/6P1/7K/8 w - - 0 53"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "2015.09.11"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 53. Qf2 Kg7 54. Rxd6 h4 $1 {Resilience!} 55. Kh3 (55. gxh4 Qe5+ 56. Qg3+ Qxg3+ 57. Kxg3 Rxe4 58. h5 Rxb4 {is not that clear.}) 55... hxg3 56. Qf5 Qxf5+ 57. exf5 Re4 58. Rg6+ Kf7 59. Rxg3 Rxb4 60. Rd3 Rc4 61. d6 Rc8 $2 {Perhaps the losing move.} (61... Ke8 62. f6 (62. d7+ Kd8 63. f6 (63. Kg3 Rc7 $11) 63... Rf4 $11) 62... Rf4 63. d7+ Kd8 64. Rd6 b4 65. Kg3 Rf1 66. Kg4 b3 67. Rb6 Kxd7 $11) 62. Kg4 Kf6 63. Kf4 b4 64. Ke4 Rb8 65. Kd5 $2 (65. Rb3 $1 $18 {was far easier. The point is to first play d7 and Kd5-c6, only then take on b4.}) 65... b3 66. d7 b2 67. Rb3 Rxb3 68. d8=Q+ Kxf5 {it is amazing, but White has no way of winning the rook. Wei Yi tries to create as many problems as possible.} 69. Qd7+ Kg5 70. Qe7+ Kg4 71. Qe4+ Kg3 72. Qg6+ Kh4 $2 (72... Kf4 $1 {is a draw. I cannot explain why, it all comes down to a forced series of check sequences that humans are incapable of properly calculating. The computers understand these kind of positions, we simply don't.}) 73. Qb1 {The chess board is big, but not big enough for the rook to hide.} Kg5 74. Kc4 Rb8 75. Qg1+ Kf5 76. Qc5+ Kg4 77. Qd4+ Kf3 78. Qf6+ Ke4 79. Qe6+ Kf3 80. Qf5+ {White picks up the rook very soon.} 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku AZE"] [Date "2015.09.21"] [Round "4.2"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A33"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "136"] [EventDate "2015.09.11"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Bf4 d5 7. e3 Bb4 8. Be2 O-O 9. O-O Bxc3 10. bxc3 Re8 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. cxd5 exd5 14. Qb3 Rd8 15. Bf3 Na5 16. Qb5 Qb6 17. Qxb6 axb6 18. Rfb1 Nc4 19. Rb4 Ra3 20. Nb5 Ra5 21. h3 Bd7 {So has a bit of a bind in the position. His structure is slightly better and generally he has good pieces. However, here he underestimates Black's activity.} 22. Bxd5 (22. a4 $1 $14 {Would have seen the American press for a while.}) 22... Ne5 {Perhaps So missed this, only expecting The weird thing about the position is that White couldn't save the piece...} (22... Nxe3 23. fxe3 Bxb5 24. Bxb7 $16) 23. Re4 (23. Nc7 Rc8 $19) (23. Nd4 Rxd5 $19) (23. c4 Bxb5 $19) 23... Ng6 24. Bxf7+ {This is the best try} Kxf7 25. Nd6+ Kg8 26. Nxb7 Bc6 $1 {An important resource, otherwise White is better.} 27. Rd4 Rxd4 28. Nxa5 Rd6 29. Nxc6 Rxc6 {Unforuntately for So he is down a piece here. His three pawns don't compensate and this will be quite a bit of suffering, though with perfect play I suspect this position is a draw.} 30. a4 Rxc3 31. a5 bxa5 32. Rxa5 Rc1+ 33. Kh2 Rc2 34. Kg3 Nf8 35. h4 Nd7 36. Kf3 Kh7 37. Rf5 Nc5 38. g4 Nd3 39. Kg3 g6 40. Rf7+ Kg8 41. Rf6 Kg7 42. g5 {It is hard to say where the American went wrong. I have a hunch that this move should be looked at more closely, as I believe it is a mistake to lock the structure like this. Karsten Muller will definitely take a look at this endgame for ChessBase Magazine with the truth of the position.} (42. Ra6 $1 Rc7 (42... Nxf2 $1 43. Ra7+ Kf6 44. Ra6+ Ke5 45. Rxg6 Ne4+ 46. Kh3 Re2 47. Rxh6 Rxe3+ 48. Kg2 Kf4 49. Rh7 Re2+ 50. Kh3 {And I don't yet see how Black wins, though it looks very scary.}) 43. Rd6 $15) 42... h5 43. f3 Ne1 44. e4 Rc3 45. Kf2 Nd3+ 46. Kg3 Ne5 47. Kg2 Rc6 48. Rxc6 Nxc6 49. f4 Kf7 50. Kf3 Ke6 51. Ke3 Kd6 52. Kd2 Kc5 53. Kd3 Kb4 54. Kd2 Kc4 55. Ke3 Kc5 56. Kd3 Nd8 57. Ke3 Nf7 58. Kd3 Nd6 59. Ke3 Kc4 60. f5 Ne8 61. fxg6 Ng7 62. e5 Kd5 63. Kf4 Kd4 64. e6 Kd5 65. e7 Ke6 66. Ke4 Kxe7 67. Ke5 Ke8 68. Kd5 Kd7 0-1