ACP Golden: Clash of the titans

7/19/2014 – Though fun to watch, with top players, and unique conditions, it is not always easy to know how things stand in the ACP Golden Classic. With the rest days on the one hand, and adjourned games on the other, some players have five games played, and some only three. Nevertheless, there was no doubt that the game between So and Baadur could decide it all. Report, games, and video.

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The ACP Golden Classic International Chess Tournament is being held in Bergamo, Italy, from 12 to 20 July 2014, as the main event for 2014 in the agenda of the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP). The tournament is a seven-player round robin. The rate of play is 150 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 60 minutes for the next 16 moves, followed by 15 minutes to finish the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move in the last period. The ACP Golden Classic brings back the long forgotten tradition of adjourned games. If a game is not finished at the end of the first playing session (five hours), the arbiter will ask the player whose turn it is to move to adjourn the game and ‘seal’ his move. This does not apply to the last round.

Round six

Firday, July 18, 2014
So, Wesley
1-0
 Jobava, Baadur
Almasi, Zoltan
Adj.
 Brunello, Sabino
Vocaturo, Daniele
0-1
 Sutovsky, Emil

This sixth round was opened by the local authorities of Bergamo, including sports councils and
university rectors, who made the inaugural moves on the three boards 

After five rounds at the ACP Golden Classic, two players headed the standings of the tournament. The Phillipine Wesley So had scored 3.0/4 and was the sole leader. He was trailed by Jobava Baadur, who had 2.5/4, including a winning adjourned position against Zoltan Almasi. In the sixth round they faced each other and both were acutely aware that the result of this game will almost certainly decide the tournament.

The start of the game of the tournament

[Event "ACP Golden Classic 2014"] [Site "Bergamo ITA"] [Date "2014.07.18"] [Round "6.3"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Jobava, Baadur"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A40"] [WhiteElo "2744"] [BlackElo "2713"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2014.07.12"] 1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. e4 Bb7 4. Bd3 Bb4+ 5. Kf1 Be7 6. Nc3 d6 7. Nf3 Nf6 8. g3 O-O 9. Kg2 Nbd7 10. Qe2 c5 11. d5 Re8 12. Rd1 Bf8 13. dxe6 fxe6 14. Bc2 a6 15. Bf4 Qc7 16. Rd2 Ne5 17. Rad1 Bc6 18. Bxe5 dxe5 19. Ba4 Bxa4 20. Nxa4 {It's true that Black's position is not enviable, but nor is he in any immediate danger of being run over. Jobava cannot abide the idea of spending the rest of the game passively holding on, and decides to take 'active measures'.} b5 $2 ( 20... Be7 {was a more collected continuation.} 21. Nc3 h6 {and Black can choose between exchanging off the hevay pieces on the d-file, or playing Rb8 and preparing a b5 push if possible.}) 21. cxb5 axb5 22. Qxb5 c4 $2 {Since this was planned when 20...b5 was played, the question is: what did Black see that attracted him to this line in the first place? Jobava Baadur commented in the press conference: "c4 was a completely bad idea. I totally missed the idea of Rc2 and Rc1 winning another pawn. b5 and c4 were the main mistakes and because of them I lost the game. At least, I am happy that I went for the win and played with initiative"} 23. Rc2 Rec8 24. b3 Qb8 25. Qxb8 Raxb8 26. bxc4 Nxe4 27. Nxe5 Rb4 28. Nb2 Nc5 29. f4 Be7 30. Nbd3 Ra4 31. Nxc5 Rxc5 32. Rb1 Rc8 33. c5 g5 34. c6 Bd6 35. Nd7 gxf4 36. Nb6 f3+ 37. Kf2 1-0

Wesley So points out a move in the post-mortem with Baadur

Wesley So comments on his win against Jobava Baadur in round six 

Vocaturo has not been playing the star tournament of his career, and round six further evidenced that.

Daniele Vocaturo made a mistake at the decisive moment and lost his against Sutovsky. "The
position should be slightly better for Black but from the practical point of view I had some chances".

Emil Sutovsky moved into second place after his win, and Baadur's loss

The game between Zoltan Almasi and Sabino Brunello was adjourned. In a Berlin, Almasi sucessfully anticipated Brunello's preparation and sidestepped it with the quiet 4.d3. Almasi: "I tried to survive. I think Sabino could improve before move 40, but I am clearly worse anyway. I hope to survive."

Sabino Brunello has been the best of the Italians

Replay all games of the round

[Event "ACP Golden Classic 2014"] [Site "Bergamo ITA"] [Date "2014.07.18"] [Round "6.3"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Jobava, Baadur"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A40"] [WhiteElo "2744"] [BlackElo "2713"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2014.07.12"] 1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. e4 Bb7 4. Bd3 Bb4+ 5. Kf1 Be7 6. Nc3 d6 7. Nf3 Nf6 8. g3 O-O 9. Kg2 Nbd7 10. Qe2 c5 11. d5 Re8 12. Rd1 Bf8 13. dxe6 fxe6 14. Bc2 a6 15. Bf4 Qc7 16. Rd2 Ne5 17. Rad1 Bc6 18. Bxe5 dxe5 19. Ba4 Bxa4 20. Nxa4 b5 21. cxb5 axb5 22. Qxb5 c4 23. Rc2 Rec8 24. b3 Qb8 25. Qxb8 Raxb8 26. bxc4 Nxe4 27. Nxe5 Rb4 28. Nb2 Nc5 29. f4 Be7 30. Nbd3 Ra4 31. Nxc5 Rxc5 32. Rb1 Rc8 33. c5 g5 34. c6 Bd6 35. Nd7 gxf4 36. Nb6 f3+ 37. Kf2 1-0 [Event "ACP Golden Classic 2014"] [Site "Bergamo ITA"] [Date "2014.07.18"] [Round "6.1"] [White "Vocaturo, Daniele"] [Black "Sutovsky, Emil"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A40"] [WhiteElo "2584"] [BlackElo "2620"] [PlyCount "54"] [EventDate "2014.07.12"] 1. d4 e6 2. c4 Bb4+ 3. Bd2 Qe7 4. g3 Nf6 5. Bg2 Nc6 6. e3 e5 7. d5 Bxd2+ 8. Qxd2 Nb8 9. Nc3 d6 10. Nge2 Nbd7 11. e4 a5 12. Na4 O-O 13. Nec3 Nc5 14. O-O Bd7 15. Nxc5 dxc5 16. Nd1 a4 17. Ne3 Ne8 18. f4 Nd6 19. f5 b5 20. cxb5 Rfb8 21. f6 gxf6 22. Rf2 Rxb5 23. Raf1 Rab8 24. Rxf6 Rxb2 25. Qc1 Rb1 26. Qc2 R8b2 27. Qd3 Qxf6 0-1 [Event "ACP Golden Classic 2014"] [Site "Bergamo ITA"] [Date "2014.07.18"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Almasi, Zoltan"] [Black "Brunello, Sabino"] [Result "*"] [ECO "C65"] [WhiteElo "2693"] [BlackElo "2568"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2014.07.12"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O Be7 6. c3 O-O 7. Nbd2 Bd7 8. Re1 Re8 9. Nf1 Bf8 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 Be7 12. a4 Nh7 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 14. Bc4 Ng6 15. Qb3 Be6 16. g3 Rb8 17. h4 Nf6 18. Ne3 c6 19. Bxe6 Rxe6 20. a5 Qd7 21. Qc2 Ree8 22. Kg2 Rbd8 23. b4 d5 24. Rad1 Qe6 25. c4 Rd7 26. Nh2 Red8 27. exd5 cxd5 28. c5 d4 29. Nc4 Re7 30. Kg1 Qc6 31. Qd2 Re6 32. Rc1 Qd5 33. f3 Qd7 34. Nf1 Qe7 35. Nd6 Nd5 36. h5 Nf8 37. Nf5 Qd7 38. g4 Nh7 39. N1g3 Ng5 40. Rf1 Qa4 { Adjourned} *

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Standings after six rounds

NB: Please note that due to rest days and adjourned games, the players have not all played the same number of games.

Information provided by David Kaufmann,
photos by Lennart Ootes, Antonio Milesi, and David Kaufman for the official tournament site

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.