Baku Finals G4: Karjakin forces TB

by Alejandro Ramirez
10/4/2015 – It won't go down in history as one of the best games of chess, but at least there weren't any major blunders in the fourth game of the finals of the World Cup. Svidler's choice of opening left him in a passive position and shortly after concluding theory his position deteriorated. Karjakin's pressure and Svidler's missed chances mean that tomorrow we go into Tie Breaks!
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World Cup

10th September – 5th October

Baku, Azerbaijan

 

Watch it live on Playchess!

Finals - Game Four

It certainly won't go down in history as one of the best games of chess, but at least there weren't any major blunders in the fourth game of the finals of the World Cup. Svidler's choice of opening left him in a passive position in which he had few weaknesses, but shortly after concluding theory his position deteriorated. He was saddled with a weak d6 pawn, and problems with one of his rooks. Karjakin's technique was not a masterpiece, and Svidler had chances to equalize later on, but he did not take advantage of them. When given the opportunity, Karjakin correctly simplified into a winning rook endgame and capitalized on his opponent's mistakes, forcing the tiebreak playoff tomorrow.

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov came for the last two days

Karjakin forces the tiebreaks after being down 2-0

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,186,70654%2421---
1.d4960,56055%2434---
1.Nf3286,91356%2440---
1.c4185,11556%2442---
1.g319,90256%2427---
1.b314,60954%2428---
1.f45,95948%2376---
1.Nc33,91950%2383---
1.b41,79148%2379---
1.a31,25254%2406---
1.e31,08149%2409---
1.d396950%2378---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446654%2382---
1.c343951%2425---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a411860%2461---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39366%2506---
1.Na34762%2476---
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 c5 3.c4 cxd4 4.cxd5 Nf6 5.Qxd4 Qxd5 6.Nc3 Qxd4 7.Nxd4 Karjakin has shown in this World Cup that he is not afraid of going into symmetrical positions in must-win situations. He holds a slight advantage in this position due to his superior development. Bd7 7...a6 is certainly considered the main line. 8.Ndb5 Kd8 The king does not feel comfortable here, but this seems to be part of Svidler's idea considering how much time he used on the clock. 9.Be3 Nc6 There's only a handful of games in this positions, surprsingly two of three o them from this year. None of them continued with f3, though. 10.f3 10.h3 a6 11.Bb6+ Kc8 12.Nc7 Heimann-Ulibin, 2015. White eventually won this game. 10...h5 I assume this move is to prevent g4, but it seems rather drastic and it weakens g5. 10...e5 11.0-0-0 Kc8 12.g4 h6 11.0-0-0 Kc8 12.Bg5 g6 13.Nd6+! exd6 14.Bxf6 Now Black is saddled with a permanent weakness on d6, and also on d5. Karjakin can be very happy with this position. After only 14 moves he has a clear positional advantage. Rg8 15.e4 Be6 16.Kb1 Kd7 17.Nd5 Bg7 18.Bxg7 Rxg7 19.Bb5 Black isn't losing anything right now, but his awkward rook on g7, problems with d6 and lack of a plan make his position very unpleasant. Kd8 20.Rd2 Meanwhile, White's play is rather obvious. Bxd5 21.Rxd5 Kc7 22.Rc1 Re8 23.Rd4 I'm not sure I understand moving the rook back. 23.Ba4 immediately with the idea of b4 looks more active. 23...Re5 24.Ba4 b5! 25.Bb3 Rc5! Getting some activity while he can, Svidler tries to push back White's pieces and force some trades. 26.Rd5 Rxc1+ 27.Kxc1 a6 28.Rd3 g5 it is intuitive to keep the pawns on black squares, but here it was more important to liberate the rook. 28...f5! I think would have solved most of Black's problems. The pawn structure after 29.exf5 29.Kd2 fxe4 30.fxe4 Re7= Black will have a superb knight on e5. 29...gxf5 looks ugly, but Black's activity is strong: 30.g3 h4! 31.gxh4 Rh7 with equality. 29.Kd2 h4 30.Rc3 Kb6 31.Rd3 Kc7 32.Ke3 f6 33.Rc3 Kb6 34.Rd3 Kc7 35.Rc3 Kb6 36.Bd5 Ne7 37.Kd4 Now White can continue pressing. Black's rook is still quite bad, and it was not too late to play f5, trying to get some activity. Rh7 38.Be6 Rh8 39.a3 Rd8 40.Rc2 Rh8 41.Rf2 Ng6 42.Kd5 Rd8 43.Bf5 Nf4+ 44.Kd4 Black is in trouble. He is quite passive and g3 is coming, but he still has resources. Re8 44...d5! 45.e5! 45.g3 dxe4+ 46.Ke3 46.Kxe4 Re8+ 47.Kd4 Ne2+ picks up g3. 46...Nd5+ 47.Kxe4 Rd6 close to equal. 45...fxe5+ 46.Kxe5 d4 47.Rd2 Kc5 White is still better, no doubt, but there isn't anything clear yet. 45.g3 Ne6+ 46.Bxe6 Rxe6 47.Kd5+- Black loses a pawn and because of the difference in activity the endgame is simply hopeless. Re5+ 48.Kxd6 hxg3 49.hxg3 g4 49...a5 50.g4 White eventually swings the rook to attack f6 and wins. 50.fxg4 Rxe4 51.Rf4! The last detail to win the game. 51.Rxf6 Rxg4 should be winning but it's not as clear. 51...Re3 52.Rxf6 Rxg3 53.Ke5+ Kb7 53...Kc5 54.b4+ Kc4 55.Rc6+ Kb3 56.Kf4 Rg2 57.Rxa6 is equally bad. 54.Kf5 The pawn supported by the rook and the king easily advances. Rb3 55.g5 Rxb2 56.g6 Black won't create any kind of activity, the passed pawn is unstoppable. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Karjakin,S2762Svidler,P27271–02015D06FIDE World Chess Cup 20157.4

Svidler really doesn't have anyone to blame but himself. Yesterday he had a chance to win the game, and today he had a couple of opportunities to come close to equalizing, if not equalizing fully in the endgame.

The action will continue tomorrow at 12:00 European Time. The tiebreak rules are the same as the previous matches, only two games per time control. No matter what, tomorrow we will finally have a World Cup winner declared.

Final results

Player Rtg
G1
G2
 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 G10 G11
Pts
Peter Svidler (RUS) 2727
1
1
0
0
              
2.0
Sergey Karjakin (RUS) 2762
0
0
1
1
              
2.0

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Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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