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The ACP cup runs from the 13th of September to the 15th of September in Riga, Latvia. The tournament will be a rapid event with blitz tiebreaks in a knock out format. The pairings will be somewhat unusual, as the four highest rated players will be randomly paired against the four lowest rated players, consequently the players ranked fifth to eighth will be randomly paired against the players ranked ninth to twelfth. The tournament will follow FIDE rapid play rules and FIDE blitz play rules for the normal portion and the tiebreaks.
The matches will consist of 25 minutes per player at the start of the game with 10 seconds increment from move one. In case of a tiebreak the games will move to 3 minutes with 2 seconds increment. Finally, an Armageddon will be used where White starts with 5 minutes and must win against Black's 4 minutes; at the 61st move however players will begin to receive a 2 second increment.
Semi-Finals
The Semi-Finals started with a bang: Grischuk was able to dispatch Svidler in a game that could honestly have gone either way. A victory with black proved to be very important and a subsequent draw allowed Sasha Grischuk to reach the finals.
Ponomariov came close, but wasn't able to hold the second game of the match
In the other match there was a much closer struggle. Ruslan Ponomariov quickly took the lead by winning a nice Gruenfeld against Ian Nepomniatchi. However the Russian youngster struck back with a very aggressive version of the Orthodox Queen's Gambit Declined. In the tiebreaks Ponomariov committed a mistake in game one and lost while completely collapsing in game two, which allowed Nepo to go to the finals with a score of 3-1.
Finals: Grischuk-Nepomniatchi
Nepomniatchi definitely let go of a golden opportunity as he was completely winning in game one of the final match, and with the black pieces! Some unexpected counterplay allowed Grischuk to pull of a miracle escape and survive the first game. The second game also gave Nepo some chances but he again let them slip and a draw was agreed.
In the first tiebreak Grischuk obtained a quick pair of bishops and then an exchange, more than enough to be a decisive advantage and he took game one. Nepomniatchi retaliated in a Petroff where he always held a nagging initiative that at the end proved to be too much for the Black pieces. The game was decided in the following Armageddon:
The ACP Cup was full of exciting and fun chess. The time control was simply the perfect battle ground for these players who suffered many blunders, huge evaluation swings and enjoyed a fun event. The live commentary was surprisingly able to keep up with the players even in the Armageddon final, which is amazing considering that it was just a blitz game!
The winner and his trophy, to the left Emil Sutovsky, president of the ACP. The trophy depicts one of the symbols of the host city: the Riga Roosters.
all photos by Lennart Ootes
LinksThe 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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