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World Cup10th September – 5th OctoberBaku, Azerbaijan |
Only eight players left, but enough to create some unexpected games:
In Svidler vs. Wei Yi they traded pieces quickly. The symmetrical structure didn't help either side to create real chances, and an early repetition sealed the draw. Wei Yi will have the chance to push with white against one of Svidler's ultra-solid defenses.
Xu Jun, who helps the Chinese squad, now helps only Wei Yi
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was held to a draw rather easily by Anish Giri's Petroff. After a series of trades a very equal endgame was reached and the game was swiftly drawn.
Tukmakov (Giri's second) relaxing while watching the game
Karjakin suffered, but held
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov played with white against Sergey Karjakin and sacrificed an exchange relatively early in the game. He had very good compensation, but the resilient Karjakin defended tenaciously. He sacrificed a piece for the passed d-pawn of the Azerbaijani, playing with rook against two pieces, thus creating a situation that was certainly dangerous for Black. But it is hard to say if White was winning at any point: the computers give Mamedyarov a big advantage in the endgame, but there was never any clear win for White – at least, I saw none. Endgame experts might find a winning plan but in a practical game with the seconds ticking down it was very hard to find.
Nakamura was surprised!
The game of the day, was, without a doubt:
[Event "FIDE World Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku AZE"] [Date "2015.09.23"] [Round "5.4"] [White "Eljanov, Pavel"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E06"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "115"] [EventDate "2015.09.11"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4 Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bg5 Bd5 11. Qc2 Be4 12. Qc1 h6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Rd1 a5 15. Nbd2 Bh7 {A novelty. Before this Bxf3 was played universally.} (15... Bxf3 16. Bxf3 c6 17. Nc4 Nd7 {is a typical Catalan position for this variation. White has a bit more space and a bit more pleasant position, but Black is ultra solid. This was, among others, Sasikirian-Svetushkin from earlier this year.}) 16. Nb3 c6 17. Qc3 Be7 18. Nc5 Qc7 19. Ne5 Na6 20. Nxb7 $5 {In my opinion the only real try for an advantage, but it's hard to look at this and say White will emerge with a better position. Black's two pieces are very active.} Qxb7 21. Bxc6 Qc7 $2 (21... Qa7 $1 22. Bxa8 Bb4 23. Qc6 Qxa8 {Black's knight on a6 is awkward, but Black shouldn't have real problems.}) 22. Bxa8 Qxc3 23. bxc3 Rxa8 24. Nc6 {Now White definitely has some chances to push. He has a passed pawn, the a6 knight is bad and the h7 bishop will soon be bullied out of the game by White's pawns.} Bd8 (24... Kf8 $5 {going for active play.} 25. Nxa5 Rc8 ) 25. Nxd8 Rxd8 26. f3 Rc8 27. Ra3 Bg6 28. Kf2 Rb8 29. Rd2 f6 30. Raa2 $1 $16 { Gaining control of the open file. The a5 pawn will be hard to defend. Nakamura takes the c3 pawn in return, but Black's pieces simply don't coordinate well.} Rb3 31. Rab2 Rxc3 32. Rb5 Bc2 33. Rxa5 Nc7 34. Ra7 f5 35. a5 {Look how difficult it is to play with Black. White simply has to push his pawn, Nakamura has to try to get his pieces to play together. That is easier said than done.} Kh7 {That being said, it is strange to go to h7 instead of towards the queenside.} 36. Rb7 Rc4 37. Rb6 Ba4 38. a6 Bc6 39. a7 Bd5 40. Ra2 $1 {A timely move. The threat is Ra5-c5.} Rxd4 41. Rc2 Na8 42. Ra6 Rd1 (42... g5 43. Rb2 Kg6 44. Rb8 Kf6 45. Ra5 Kg7 $18) 43. h4 h5 44. Ke3 $18 {The king marches in since Black can't do anything.} Rg1 45. Kf4 Rg2 46. Rd6 Rg1 47. Rc8 Ra1 48. Kg5 $1 Rxa7 49. Rdd8 g6 50. Rh8+ {The only blemish in Eljanov's otherwise perfect play.} (50. Kf6 Kh6 51. Rh8+ Rh7 52. Rcg8 {would have finished the game off in fewer moves.}) 50... Kg7 51. Rcg8+ Kf7 52. Rxg6 Ra6 53. Rh7+ Kf8 54. Kxh5 Nb6 55. Kg5 {White is simply and obviously winning. Black's pieces aren't playing and the h-pawn is unstoppable.} Nc4 56. h5 Nd6 57. Rf6+ Kg8 58. Rd7 1-0
Eljanov is half a point away from knocking out Nakamura. So far, he has won 33 rating points in the World Cup and now is number 15 on Live Chess Ratings – all this while having the two chess weeks of his life. We remind our readers that Pavel has recorded a very interesting DVD on the Breyer:
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| Player | Rtg | G1 |
G2 |
G3 | G4 | G5 | G6 | G7 | G8 | G9 | Pts |
| Peter Svidler (RUS) | 2727 | ½ |
- |
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| Wei Yi (CHN) | 2734 | ½ |
- |
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| Player | Rtg | G1 |
G2 |
G3 | G4 | G5 | G6 | G7 | G8 | G9 | Pts |
| Anish Giri (NED) | 2793 | ½ |
- |
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| M. Vachier-Lagrave | 2744 | ½ |
- |
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| Player | Rtg | G1 |
G2 |
G3 | G4 | G5 | G6 | G7 | G8 | G9 | Pts |
| Hikaru Nakamura (USA) | 2814 | 0 |
- |
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| Pavel Eljanov (UKR) | 2717 | 1 |
- |
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| Player | Rtg | G1 |
G2 |
G3 | G4 | G5 | G6 | G7 | G8 | G9 | Pts |
| S. Mamedyarov (AZE) | 2736 | ½ |
- |
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| Sergey Karjakin (RUS) | 2762 | ½ |
- |
Photos and information from the official website and their Facebook page
LinksThe 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. |
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