Bucharest 06: A simul, a party, and two draws

by ChessBase
10/13/2013 – While the other players were busy battling each other in the 7th edition of the King's Cup, Wang Hao kindly gave a simultaneous exhibition to local players in a McDonald's not far from the playing site. In the tournament the games ended in two fighting draws, especially as Radjabov tried to push against Ponomariov with Black. Pono just turned 30 and the organizers threw a small party for him. Details inside.
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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.

McDonald's Simul

Wang Hao didn't fully have a "day off". While his opponent's were battling over the board he was gracious enough to give a simultaneous exhibition for young players of Bucharest! The simul was held at a McDonald's that is just a stone throws away from the playing hall.

The General Manager of McDonalds, Daniel Boaje, inaugurated the exhibition

The only draw of the event: twelve year old Andreea Nastase

A young player proving her strength in the simul

What can be happier for a kid than a simul against a grandmaster and at McDonald's?

"Excuse me, Mr. GM, that's a Sicilian you are facing"

At the end Wang Hao showed who is boss and the simul was a 17.5-0.5 score in favor of him

Round 6

Round 6 – October 12, 15:30h
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2751
½-½
 Radjabov, Teimour 2723
Caruana, Fabiano 2779
½-½
 Nisipeanu, L.-D. 2674
Wang Hao 2733
bye
    

Caruana keeps his lead, he simply couldn't break Nisipeanu's defense today though

"I played all natural moves, and suddenly I was worse!" - Ponomariov

This man turned 30 yesterday but Radjabov did not give him any gifts

Ponomariov's 30th birthday party!

The organizers hosted a little dinner in honor of Ponomariov's 30th birthday. Here are some of the pictures:

A toast

Cheers

And cake!

Player Post-Mortems:

 

Analysis of Round 6

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The sixth round of Kings Tournament had two balanced games that finished in draws. In both Caruana-Nisipeanu and Ponomariov-Radjabov Black didn’t have opening problems and at some moment even took over the initiative, but in neither of them did White have any problems to achieve the draw. Thus the standings didn’t change: Caruana is leading with a “plus two” score, followed by Ponomariov and Nisipeanu on 50 per cent. Radjabov and Wang Hao have “minus one”. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Qc2 Nbd7 9.Bf4 b6 10.Rd1 Bb7 11.Ne5 This move became popular only in the past two years and Caruana already played it few times. The main line is considered to be 11.Nc3 11...Nh5 12.Bd2 Nhf6 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.Nc6 Bxc6 15.Qxc6 A position with a long strategic battle ahead. On the long run White hopes to use his bishop's pair, which is not an easy task, since Black's position is very solid. His only weaknesses are created by the pawn on b6 instead of b7, but White has no way to use this factor directly. Rc8 15...Qb8 16.Qc2 b5 17.Qd3 was slightly better for White in Caruana,F (2757)-Gelfand,B (2740) Zuerich 2013. 16.Qb5 16.Qa4 Nb8 17.Be1 a6 18.Qb3 Nc6 19.Qd3 b5 20.a4 bxa4 21.Nc3 a5 22.e3 Bb4 23.Rxa4 Qe7 24.Raa1 h6 25.Qa6 Nb8 26.Qe2 Rc7 27.Na4 Nc6 28.Nc3 Nb8 29.Na4 Nc6 30.Nc3 ½-½ Gelfand, B (2739)-Kramnik,V (2790) Moscow 2010 16...Ne8 17.Qd3 Nd6 18.b3 Nf6 18...f5 19.f3 Nb8 20.Nc3 Nc6 21.e3 Bf6 Caruana,F (2757) -Adams,M (2725) Baden-Baden 2013. 19.Nc3 Qd7 20.f3 Nf5 21.e3 h5 Nisipeanu does not wish to wait passively and let his opponent slowly improve the position. Instead, the Romanian GM gains space on the kingside in order to secure some squares for his knights and eventually prevent White to expand there. A passive strategy was fatal for Black in the following game: 21...Rfd8 22.Ne2 Qc7 23.Rac1 Qd7 24.Rxc8 Qxc8 25.Rc1 Qd7 26.a4 Ba3 27.Rc2 a5 28.Qa6 Rb8 29.Nf4 Bd6 30.Nd3 Ne7 31.Bf1 h6 32.Ne5 Qd8 33.Nc6 Nxc6 34.Rxc6 Ne8 35.Kg2 Ba3 36.Bd3 Nc7 37.Qa7 Ne8 38.Be1 and the Italian converted his advantage into a full point in Caruana,F (2796)-Yu,Y (2662) Tromso 2013. 22.Ne2 Rfd8 23.Rac1 An inaccuracy according to the players. Better is 23.a4 after which Black continues a5 23...a5 24.Rxc8 Rxc8 25.Rc1 The second inaccuracy leads to a very comfortable position for Black. Rxc1+ 26.Bxc1 g5! Nisipeanu continues the same strategy of getting space on the kingside and fight for the important square e4. As long as the center remains closed Black can allow himself playing such advances on the kingside. 27.Bd2 27.e4 dxe4 28.fxe4 Nxd4! 29.Nxd4 Bc5 works fine for Black. 29...e5 30.Bxg5 Slightly better than the game is 27.h3 g4 Nisipeanu considered to play 27...Qc7!? 28.g4 hxg4 29.hxg4 Nh4 28.hxg4 hxg4 29.fxg4 Nxg4 30.e4 dxe4 31.Bxe4 27...g4 28.Be1 Bf8 Black has achieved a very comfortable position, which Nisipeanu evaluated in his favour. Nevertheless, White is basically almost always out of real danger and the balance in the game was never broken. 29.h3 Bh6 30.Bf2 Qc7 As indicated by Nisipeanu after the game, Black could keep the pressure with 30...Nd6 in order to prevent the advance e3-e4. 31.e4 Forces the matters and leads almost by force to a draw. gxf3 32.Bxf3 dxe4 33.Bxe4 Nxe4 34.Qxe4 Ne7 35.Qh4 Nd5 35...Qc2 36.Qxe7 Qxe2 37.Qf6= 36.Qxh5 Qc2 37.Qxh6 Qxe2 38.Qg5+ Kh7 39.a4 Qd1+ 40.Kg2 Qxb3 41.Qh5+ Kg8 42.Qg5+ Kh7 43.Qh5+ Kg8 44.Qg5+ Kh7 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2779Nisipeanu,L2674½–½2013E087th Kings Tournament6
Ponomariov,R2751Radjabov,T2723½–½2013B307th Kings Tournament6

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
½-½
 Radjabov, Teimour 2723
Caruana, Fabiano 2779
½-½
 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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