Zurich Rd2: Discombobulated!

Round Two

Spotted in the audience: Daria Kramnik, Marie-Laure Germon (Kramnik's wife)
and FM Sunil Weeramantry (Nakamura's step-father).

Kramnik, Vladimir ½-½ Nakamura, Hikaru
Kramnik used a variation of the Catalan/Reti without d4 that he has employed in the past with great success. He played an unusual version of it by quickly taking on d5, relieving a large part of the central tension but allowing him to blast open the center and try to use his superior development.

Kramnik enjoys torturing people in slightly better positions with a little pressure

Nakamura was easily up to the task to defend his position. He cleverly sacrificed his queen for a rook and a bishop, resulting in a position where White's queen simply lacked targets. This, combined with the weak light squares around White's king, resulted in the American holding on to the draw effortlessly.

Nakamura was in no mood to have weaknesses. Being down a queen was a-ok though.

Anand, Viswanathan 1-0 Aronian, Levon
There is nothing more uncomfortable in the game of chess than to be presented with a nasty surprise. Whether it is a move that you did not expect from you opponent, or a preparation that initially looks unsound, it is always difficult to know how to maneuver yourself in the resulting maze.

An important win for Anand, starting well in Zurich

Anand came well prepared; a clever piece sacrifice improved on his game against the World Champion in their title match back in November. Aronian won a piece, or rather Anand sacrificed it, and the Indian obtained a dangerous initiative. Black's knight on a6 looked fragile and awkward, while White's passed pawn on d7 created immense pressure. Aronian had too many choices: even after thinking for 20+ minutes on each move starting with 19...Be4, he was unable to find a correct continuation.

Discombobulated! Aronian could not find his way out of the maze of variations.

When Anand recovered his piece by mounting pressure on the intrepid d7 bishop, which eliminated the passed pawn, it was clear that the game would end in a White victory. The much superior coordination and the Aronian's multiple hanging pieces gave him no chance to survive. Anand won another piece with a simple tactic and the Armenian resigned.

Karjakin, Sergey ½-½ Caruana, Fabiano
The anti-Berlin positions are certainly going to see a surge of popularity now that the Berlin Wall is an opening that White simply keeps crashing into without success. Even if the chance for an opening advantage in these anti-Berlins seems minimal, it at least keeps enough pieces on the board to try to create some interesting games. And interesting was exactly what this fight was!

Caruana decided not to castle, and instead pushed all of his pawns forward on the kingside, creating some weaknesses for his opponent but leaving his own king in a rather awkward position.

However, when everything seemed posed for a perfect fight, somehow the position tactically resolved into many, many trades. The resulting endgame probably favored Black a little since his king felt slightly safer, but it was nothing special. The players agreed to peace in what would have been a draw in the long run regardless.

Replay Round Two Games

Classical Standings

Note: Games played in the Classical will count for double

Blitz Final Standings

Note: Blitz points do not count for the final tally

Schedule

With the blitz finished the pairings are as follows in the classical portion of the tournament, which starts tomorrow:

The Rapid portion will be on February 19th.

Schedule of Commentary on www.playchess.com

Links Official tournament site Classical games in PGN All Blitz games in PGN The games will be 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 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.