XV Karpov-Poikovsky: Moro and Saric at 3.5/4

The 15th Anniversary edition of the Karpov-Poikovsky international tournament is underway and is being played at Nefteyugansk in the district of Ugra, Russia. It is a ten-player round robin competition played at 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment as of move one.

While the playing venue is a bit odd (a gymnasium), the organizers covered the
playing area with elegant rugs, tables, tabgle lamps, and posh armchairs

After a 2.0/2 start, to report now that Alexander Morozevich is in the lead with 3.5/4 and a 3005 performance will surprise no one, but what will take many aback is that he is not alone, and the person sharing that lead is Ivan Saric. It isn’t that the reigning Croatian champion is not an excellent player, but bear in mind that at 2665 he is ranked 8th of the ten players taking part, all with significant pedigrees.

In round three, Morozevich faced a player who is his match in imagination: Alexey Shirov. The repatriated Latvian chose the Sicilian Kalashnikov with Black but a miscalculation late in the opening cost him a pawn after which he spent much of the game trying to neutralize White’s winning chances, succeeding after 68 moves. Jakovenko and Motylev drew fairly quickly, while Bologan tried his best to convert an endgame advantage against Bacrot, but gave up after 107 moves.

Viktor Bologan has been having a rough tournament with only 0.5/4

Etienne Bacrot saved a difficult position in round three and has 50%

The incredibly creative Alexei Shirov is also on 50% with four draws

Nepomniachtchi and Eljanov exchanged blows in a Four Knights with g3, but neither player was ever in real danger, and they also drew. Emil Sutovsky started very well against Saric in a Closed Ruy Lopez in which White refrained from 9.h3 and allowed …Bg4, and was rewarded with a huge advantage after 21 moves. Then White began to lose the thread of the game, and after losing the advantage, began to make mistake after mistake and a few moves later was fighting for his life, and lost. With this reversal, Saric joined Morozevich in the lead with 2.5/3.

Nepomniachtchi and Eljanov were unable to give each other any real problems

Still not recovered from his round three loss, or revealing a vulnerable lack of form, Sutovsky squandered a healthy opening advantage against Morozevich in round four, not because of the latter’s sometimes mind-boggling tactics, but simply by losing focus. From better to equal and then worse, he lost the game.

Morozevich scored his third win, this time against Emil Sutovsky

Ivan Saric, full of confidence after his unexpected windfall in the previous round, played strongly against Pavel Eljanov, whom he outplayed in a Caro-Kann Advance with a bind the Ukrainian never really resolved. The third decisive game of the round was Viktor Bologan against Ian Nepomniachtchi in a no-holds barred Dutch Defense.

Ian Nepomniachtchi is decidedly unimpressed with White's choice of 6.c3

Ivan Saric is having the tournament of his life so far. After a long diet of swiss
opens, it seems that round-robins agree with him.

Standings after four rounds

Photos by Evgeny Vashenyaka 

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN (games from TWIC) 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.