Bucharest 04: No changes in Leaderboard

by ChessBase
10/10/2013 – While Wang Hao was unable to achieve anything through the entire game against Caruana and had to settle with a draw, Radjabov's game against Nisipeanu was considerably different. Black's position became uncomfortable from the beginning and White's pair of bishops eventually won a pawn. But through sheer willpower and some good decision making Nisipeanu somehow held a draw in over 115 moves. Analysis and post-mortems.
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The opening ceremony of the 7th edition of Kings Tournament Romgaz took place on the 6th of October in the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (Piata Romana Nr.6). This international tournament is organized by the Sports Club “Elisabeta Polihroniade” and is a part of the Grand Slam circuit. The Kings Tournament will be a double round robin competition with 5 world-class participants: Fabiano Caruana (Italy, GM, 2779), the former World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, GM, 2756), Wang Hao (China, GM, 2736), Radjabov Teimour (Azerbaijan, GM, 2733) and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, (Romania, GM, 2665). This year’s edition will be played in the Magna Auditorium and Conference Hall "Virgil Madgearu" of the  Bucharest University of Economic Studies – a partner of the Kings Tournament. The rounds will start every day from the 7th until the 17th October at 3:30 p.m. (last round starts at 1:30 p.m) and entrance will be free for spectators.

Round 4

Round 4 – October 10, 15:30h
Radjabov, Teimour 2723
½-½
 Nisipeanu, L.-D. 2674
Wang Hao 2733 ½-½ Caruana, Fabiano 2779
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2751
bye
    

The lighting in the room is quite dark, and the boards depend on these lamps for proper illumination. Radjabov makes sure this little lamp is doing its job properly.

Despite being a pawn down and suffering through most of the game, Nisipeanu managed to hold on

Caruana used his trusty Gruenfeld to hold Wang Hao to a draw, keeping the Italian's lead in the tournament

Wang Hao is currently the only player at -1, having lost to Nisipeanu in round 2

Despite not being 2700 Nisipeanu has held his own in this tournament so far

After four rounds Caruana has been the only player to win a game without also incurring on a loss

Radjabov faces Caruana tomorrow with black, and was unable to use his Rook and Bishop vs. Rook advantage today as Nisipeanu defended this sometimes difficult endgame quite well

Analysis of Round 4

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Today the first game to finish was Wang Hao-Caruana. In a rare variation of the Gruenfeld Defense on the Black’s side Caruana implemented a novelty already on move seven, designed to sacrifice a pawn for pieces’ activity. Wang Hao was well prepared and continued to play quickly for a while, but White didn’t get anything special and at some point the Italian GM equalized comfortably. In the resulting rook endgame the players could not avoid the inevitable draw. The second game lasted much longer: Radjabov with the white pieces against Nisipeanu achieved an advantage after the opening and at some point Black’s position looked highly unpleasant. However, with accurate defense the Romanian GM neutralized opponent’s initiative and practically equalized completely the position, only to blunder a pawn before the first time control. After that Radjabov was trying to convert an extra pawn in a rook and bishop endgame versus rook and knight, which finally resulted in a pawnless theoretically drawish endgame rook and bishop versus rook. Nisipeanu demonstrated his knowledge and finally achieved the desired draw on move 116. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2 Nb6 6.e3 Much more often White continues 6.Bg5 or 6.Nf3, but Wang Hao had already played this move before. Bg7 7.f4 c5 A very rare case in modern chess: novelty on move 7! 7...0-0 8.Nf3 a5 9.Rc1 happened just few months ago in Wang Hao (2752) -Grischuk,A (2780), Beijing 2013. 8.dxc5 N6d7 9.Na4 If Black recaptures the sacrificed pawn without making concessions he should be doing more than fine, so for the moment White is trying to keep his extra pawn. Other options were 9.b4 and 9.Ne4 9...e5 Logical: Caruana opens the center, using the fact that opponent's knight went to the edge of the board. 10.Nf3 exf4 11.exf4 0-0 12.Bc4 b6!? Played after more than half an hour of thinking. Black sacrifices a pawn in order to be able to use the weaknesses in opponent's pawn formation. 12...Re8+ was tempting, although after 13.Kf2 Black cannot make use of the temporary slightly exposed position of white king. Wang Hao mentioned that he remembers that after 12...Nxc5 13.Nxc5 Qe7+ 14.Qe2 Qxc5 15.Rc1 "Black must still make a lot of precise moves and even after that White has a slightly better endgame". 13.0-0 An almost instant answer by Wang Hao. 13.cxb6 Nxb6 14.Nxb6 Qxb6 offers Black an obvious compensation. It is important that 13.Bd5 doesn't work for White: Nxc5 14.Bxa8 Nd3+ 15.Kf1 Ba6 and Black wins. 13...Ba6 After the game Caruana said that possibly 13...Nxc5 is a better way for Black to equalize: 14.Nxc5 bxc5 15.Bc3 Bxc3 16.bxc3 Ba6 14.Bxa6 As established in the post-mortem analysis, Black's compensation is obvious in the variation 14.Bd5 Bxf1 15.Kxf1 Na6 16.Bxa8 Qxa8 17.cxb6 Nxb6 18.Nxb6 axb6 19.Bc3 Bxc3 20.bxc3 Nc5 14...Nxa6 15.c6 Only around here did Wang Hao start to consume more time. However, it seems that White cannot achieve any sensible advantage. Also now 15.cxb6 Nxb6 is good for Black. For instance: 16.Nxb6 Qxb6+ 17.Kh1 Qxb2 and White must already think about keeping the balance. 15...Ndc5 16.Nxc5 16.Rb1 is also no problem for Black: Qd5 or 16...Ne4 17.b4 Ne4 16...Nxc5 17.Bc3 Another try was 17.Qc2 with the idea Qc7 better is 17...Rc8 18.Bc3 Qd3 or 17...Qe8 and if 18.Bc3 then Qe3+ 18.Bc3 Bxc3 19.Qxc3 and Black cannot take on c6 in view of b2-b4. 17...Bxc3 18.bxc3 Rc8 19.Nd4 Ne6 White is not able to keep his extra pawn on c6 and Black equalizes completely. 20.Nxe6 fxe6 21.Qa4 Qc7 22.Rad1 a5 22...Qxc6 23.Qxa7 Ra8 24.Qd7 Qxd7 25.Rxd7 Rxa2 is also a draw. 23.g3 Qxc6 24.Qxc6 Rxc6 The endgame is of course drawish. In the following part it looked like Black got some chances for advantage, although after the game Wang Hao said he never felt any danger. 25.Rfe1 Rf7 26.Rd2 Rfc7 27.Kf2 Kf7 28.Rb1 Rb7 29.Rd3 Ke7 30.g4 Rc4 31.Kg3 b5 32.Rb2 Rc5 33.a4 Rd7 34.Rxd7+ Kxd7 35.axb5 Rxc3+ 35...Kc7 36.Re2= 36.Kh4 Rc5 37.b6 Kc8 38.Re2 a4 39.Rxe6 Ra5 39...a3 40.Re2 Ra5 41.Ra2 Kb7 42.f5 gxf5 43.gxf5 Kxb6 44.f6= 40.Re5 Rxe5 41.fxe5 a3 42.e6 a2 43.e7 Kd7 44.b7 a1Q 45.e8Q+ Kxe8 46.b8Q+ Kf7 47.Qc7+ Kg8 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Wang,H2733Caruana,F2779½–½2013D857th Kings Tournament4
Radjabov,T2723Nisipeanu,L2674½–½2013E397th Kings Tournament4

Information and photos by Dorian Rogozenco

Player Post-Mortems:

 

 

Standings

note: Nisipeanu has played one more game than the other players

Schedule

Round 1 – October 07, 15:30h
Radjabov, Teimour 2723
½-½
 Ponomariov, Ruslan 2751
Nisipeanu, L.-D. 2674
0-1
 Caruana, Fabiano 2779
Wang Hao 2733
bye
    
Round 2 – October 08, 15:30h
Wang Hao 2733
½-½
 Radjabov, Teimour 2723
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2751
½-½
 Nisipeanu, L.-D. 2674
Caruana, Fabiano 2779
bye
    
Round 3 – October 09, 15:30h
Nisipeanu, L.-D. 2674
1-0
 Wang Hao 2733
Caruana, Fabiano 2779
½-½
 Ponomariov, Ruslan 2751
Radjabov, Teimour 2723
bye
    
Round 4 – October 10, 15:30h
Radjabov, Teimour 2723
½-½
 Nisipeanu, L.-D. 2674
Wang Hao 2733 ½-½ Caruana, Fabiano 2779
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2751
bye
    
Round 5 – October 11, 15:30h
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2751
Wang Hao 2733
Caruana, Fabiano 2779
Radjabov, Teimour 2723
Nisipeanu, L.-D. 2674
bye
    
Round 6 – October 12, 15:30h
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2751
Radjabov, Teimour 2723
Caruana, Fabiano 2779
Nisipeanu, L.-D. 2674
Wang Hao 2733
bye
    
Round 7 – October 13, 15:30h
Radjabov, Teimour 2723
Wang Hao 2733
Nisipeanu, L.-D. 2674
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2751
Caruana, Fabiano 2779
bye
    
Round 8 – October 14, 15:30h
Wang Hao 2733
Nisipeanu, L.-D. 2674
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2751
Caruana, Fabiano 2779
Radjabov, Teimour 2723
bye
    
Round 9 – October 15, 15:30h
Nisipeanu, L.-D. 2674
Radjabov, Teimour 2723
Caruana, Fabiano 2779
Wang Hao 2733
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2751
bye
    
Round 10 – October 16, 13:30h
Wang Hao 2733
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2751
Radjabov, Teimour 2723
Caruana, Fabiano 2779
Nisipeanu, L.-D. 2674
bye
    

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