Bucharest 05: Caruana increases lead

by ChessBase
10/11/2013 – Caruana was able to defeat Radjabov with some solid defense.The Italian kept his started decimating his opponent's queenside. Radjabov, who creatively rook-lifted to the kingside, had no choice but to begin sacrificing material, but it simply was not enough. Ponomariov-Wang Hao was a draw where maybe the Ukrainian had some chances. Post-mortems and impressions.
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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 5

Round 5 – October 11, 15:30h
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2751
½-½
 Wang Hao 2733
Caruana, Fabiano 2779
1-0
 Radjabov, Teimour 2723
Nisipeanu, L.-D. 2674
bye
    

This is the halfway mark, which means that all players have played the same amount of games. Caruana leads by a point.

Ponomariov and Nisipeanu are the only ones at 50%, Pono with all draws and the Romanian with one win, one loss and two equal results

Radjabov sacrirficed all his pieces, but then he run out of them

Rogozenco and Caruana analyzed the game in detail

Neither Wang Hao nor Radjabov have been able to win a game, and they sit at -1

The Chinese player hopes to bounce back in the second half of the event

Ponomariov is doing ok, but he needs a victory to put pressure on Caruana

Player Post-Mortems:

 

 

Analysis of Round 5

By Dorian Rozenco:

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,180,95054%2421---
1.d4956,91055%2434---
1.Nf3285,50956%2441---
1.c4184,27056%2442---
1.g319,85756%2427---
1.b314,56954%2428---
1.f45,94648%2377---
1.Nc33,89750%2383---
1.b41,78848%2379---
1.a31,24754%2406---
1.e31,08049%2409---
1.d396550%2378---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446554%2381---
1.c343851%2425---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a411860%2461---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39267%2511---
1.Na34762%2476---
Today Caruana increased his lead by beating with the White pieces Radjabov. The opening looked very okay for Back, but the Azerbaijani GM overestimated his position and gave up a pawn for attacking prospects. Caruana took the pawn and prepared for defense, when suddenly Radjabov miscalculated something and wrongly sacrificed the rook, only to resign few moves later. In Ponomariov-Wang Hao the players displayed another Petrov’s Defense. After a strong novelty by Ponomariov White quickly got a slightly more pleasant rook endgame, which might have been extremely unpleasant for Wang Hao, had the Ukrainian GM started to advance his passed pawn. Having missed this opportunity White got no more chances to play for a win and the draw was agreed on move 47. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 No Open Sicilian (3.d4) today. Radjabov is a renowned specialist of a Sveshnikov Sicilian - an opening with a lot of theory, which forced even the World Champion Anand to put aside 3.d4 in favour of 3.Bb5 during the 2012 World Championship match. e6 4.0-0 Nge7 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Ng6 Less than two weeks ago Caruana won a highly important game versus Gelfand in the Paris Grand Prix tournament. Gelfand played 6...Qb6 and lost after a long and complicated middlegame fight. 7.Be3 Be7 8.Be2 This is a new move. Caruana was heading for a Maroczy pawn structure (pawns on c4 and e4). After the immediate 8.c4 the bishop on b5 looks misplaced. 8...0-0 9.c4 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 Bf6 "I underestimated the plan with Be7-f6", said Caruana after the game. "Now Black has a good game", continued the Italian GM. 11.Qd2 b6 12.Nc3 Bb7 13.f3 After the game Caruana was somewhat skeptical about this move and suggested as a possible improvement for White 13.Bd3 in order to keep the possibility to play f2-f4. Qe7 14.a4 The hidden idea of this move was to be able to protect the bishop on e3 if Black plays d5. Caruana rejected 14.Rfd1 in view of d5 15.cxd5 Bxc3 16.Qxc3 exd5 17.exd5 Rfe8 14...Rad8 The idea of White's previous move can be seen in the following variation: 14...d5 15.cxd5 Bxc3 16.Qxc3 exd5 17.exd5 Rfe8 18.Ra3 15.Ra3 Be5 16.a5 The critical moment according to Caruana. f5?! This aggressive move allows White to create a permanent weakness in Black's structure - the pawn on b6. Black should be doing fine after 16...bxa5 17.axb6 axb6 18.exf5 18.Bxb6 is too early in view of Qh4 and if 19.h3? then Qg3 18...Rxf5 19.Bd3 Rh5 20.h3 Bb8 20...Nh4 21.Be4 21.Bxg6 hxg6 22.Bxb6 Black has compensation for the sacrificed pawn thanks to his bishop pair and some attacking prospects, but objectively it is pprobably not entirely enough and White's chances are preferable. Rf8 23.Ne2 An important resource to cover the weakened squares f4 and g3. Rh4 Another option to play for compensation was indicated by Caruana after the game: 23...d5 24.c5 24.cxd5? Qd6 24...e5 24.Qd3 Kh7?! 25.Bf2 Rxh3? Something went wrong in Radjabov's calculations. Black must have retreated the rook, although there is no attack any longer and White would have had a clear advantage. However, the move in the game just loses. 26.gxh3 Qg5+ 27.Kh1 Rxf3 27...Qh5 28.Kg2!+- 28.Qxf3 Qe5 or 28...Bxf3+ 29.Rxf3 with a large advantage for White. 29.Bg3! Qxe2? After the most stubborn 29...Qxb2 30.Bxb8 Bxf3+ 31.Raxf3 Qxb8 Black could have put up a long resistance, even if his position is objectively lost. 30.Qxb7 Qxf1+ 31.Kh2 Radjabov resigned due to 31.Kh2 Qf2+ 32.Qg2 and White remains with a rook up. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2779Radjabov,T27231–02013B307th Kings Tournament5
Ponomariov,R2751Wang,H2733½–½2013C427th Kings Tournament5

Information and photos by Dorian Rogozenco

Standings

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
½-½
 Wang Hao 2733
Caruana, Fabiano 2779
1-0
 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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