Bucharest Kings Rd3: Ivanchuk leads midway

by ChessBase
11/9/2012 – In the third round of Kings Tournament both games ended in a draw. Ivanchuk pressured Caruana, but the Italian defended well and equalized. Nisipeanu-Topalov saw a new position after just nine moves where White was a pawn up, while Black tried to take advantage of White's very exposed king. In spite of some sharp play, they eventually drew. Round three report with GM analysis.
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The Chess Club Society "Elisabeta Polihroniade” of Bucharest is staging a double round robin tournament with four top GMs: Italian Fabiano Caruana, Italy's greatest player since the Renaissance, Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk, Veselin Topalov, former world champion and world number one, and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, the best Romanian player. The competition is taking place from November 7th to 13th 2012 in Bucharest, Romania. <img data-cke-saved-src="http://en.chessbase.com/portals/4/files/news/2009/bazna/bazna03.gif" src="http://en.chessbase.com/portals/4/files/news/2009/bazna/bazna03.gif" title="" width="134" "="" height="115" vspace="20" border="0">

Round three report

By GM Dorian Rogozenco

Round 3: Friday, November 9, 15:30h
Vassily Ivanchuk 
½-½
  Fabiano Caruana
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
½-½
  Veselin Topalov

In the third round of Kings Tournament both games ended with a draw. In Ivanchuk-Caruana, the Ukrainian Grandmaster built some pressure in Ruy Lopez, but Caruana defended well and slowly equalized. Possibly on move 29 Ivanchuk could set more problems for his opponent.


Nisipeanu casts a professional look at the game between Ivanchuk and Caruana

Game annotations by GM Dorian Rogozenco:

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,174,61854%2421---
1.d4952,91955%2434---
1.Nf3283,84956%2440---
1.c4183,33456%2442---
1.g319,80456%2427---
1.b314,46454%2427---
1.f45,92648%2377---
1.Nc33,85550%2384---
1.b41,77548%2379---
1.a31,23954%2405---
1.e31,07549%2409---
1.d396150%2378---
1.g466946%2361---
1.h446554%2381---
1.c343651%2426---
1.h328456%2419---
1.a411759%2462---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39267%2511---
1.Na34360%2477---
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Yesterday Ivanchuk had Ruy Lopez with the black pieces, today he tries it with White. Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Re8 The Zaitsev variation.
9...Nb8 leads to the Breyer variation. 10.d4 10.Ng5 Rf8 11.Nf3 Re8 12.Ng5 is a well-known way to finish the game avoiding the 30-moves no-draw-rule, which, by the way, is valid in Kings Tournament. 10...Bb7 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.Bc2 h6 13.a3
13...Nb8 A quiet strategic play is typical for Ruy Lopez. By transferring the knight to d7 Caruana soon gets a mix between the Zaitsev and Breyer variations. 14.a4!? Didn't he just play a2-a3? Obviously with the knight on b8 Ivanchuk feels that the start of direct activity on the queenside is more justified. Nbd7 15.Bd3 c6 16.b3 g6 17.Qc2 Nh5 18.Ba3 Nf4 19.Bf1 Rc8 20.Rad1
White has some pressure and Caruana tries to clarify the situation in the center. However, as admitted after the game, he didn't feel very comfortable with Black's position. 20...exd4 The Italian Grandmaster rejected a move like 20...Qc7 (or 20...Qb6) in view of 21.dxe5 dxe5 22.Bxf8 Rxf8 23.b4 with better prospects for White. 21.cxd4 Ne6 22.Qc3 Qb6
Black is ready for advance c6-c5 now. The immediate 22...c5 doesn't work: 23.axb5 cxd4 24.Qb2 axb5 25.Bxb5 and White is clearly better 23.Qa1!? Amazingly, this is the best square for the queen. It influences the center without being exposed to Black's pieces. Bg7 23...c5 24.d5 followed by Bb2 looks better for White. 24.Bb2 d5 Being under some pressure Caruana tries to blockade the center. 25.a5 Also deserving of attention was the immediate 25.b4 and Black cannot play a5 in view of 26.exd5 cxd5 27.Bxb5 25...Qc7 26.b4 dxe4 27.Nxe4 Nf4 28.Ne5 Nd5
29.Nd3 Ivanchuk's deep strategic play led to some advantage for White, but Black's position is very solid thanks to his strong knight on d5. Possibly here is the only moment where White could try to increase the pressure with 29.Nc5 Nxc5 29...Nxe5 30.dxe5 Nxb4 runs into 31.Rd7 30.dxc5 h5 31.Nd3 Bxb2 32.Qxb2 Rcd8 33.g3 Black still has problems with his weak light-squared bishop, as the immediate try to activate it doesn't work: Bc8 34.Rxe8+ Rxe8 35.Bg2 Bf5? 36.Bxd5 with big advantage for White. 29.Nxd7 Qxd7 30.Nc5 Qc7 31.Qa3 Rcd8 32.g3 Bc8 33.Bg2 Re7 is equal 29...Rcd8 30.g3 Bc8 31.Bg2 Nf8 Now Caruana rearranges his pieces and equalizes. 32.Qa3 Ne6 33.Ndc5 Re7 34.Nxe6 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ivanchuk,V2771Caruana,F2772½–½2012C936th Kings Tournament3


The post-mortem analysis of Ivanchuk-Caruana

Nisipeanu-Topalov saw an early exchange of queens in Sicilian Alapin. Already after nine moves the players had a position never seen in practice before. White was a pawn up, and Black compensated it with his active pieces Nisipeanu's vulnerable king position. In spite of some sharp play, the game never really crossed the equality zone and finished with a logical draw in an opposite-coloured bishop endgame.


Nisipeanu deep in thought in the novel opening against Topalov, while Ivanchuk paces

Game annotations by GM Dorian Rogozenco:

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1.e4 c5 2.c3 Sicilian Alapin has been used by Nisipeanu before as well, although much more often he goes for open Sicilian. However, the Romanian Grandmaster has rather bad memories in open Sicilian against Topalov: he drew twice and lost twice. As a rule, the move 2.c3 leads to quieter positions, but as we'll see, not between these two ambitious fighters. d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nc6
6.dxc5 6.Be2 and 6.Be3 are the main moves, but the theory developed very deep in those lines and in the past decade the capture on c5 became more and more popular. Also from the statistical point of view 6.dxc5 is a promising continuation for White. 6...Qxd1+ Actually we are witnessing a somewhat paradoxical case: the exchange of queens represents an ambitious continuation for Black, since instead of a quiet endgame it leads to very sharp positions. 6...Qxc5 keeps material equality, but handles the initiative to White after 7.Na3 7.Kxd1 e5
If Black will take the pawn back, he will have an obvious advantage thanks to his lead in development and better control in the center. 8.Be3 A surprise. Usually White plays 8. b4 almost automatically. Nd5 9.b4 Nisipeanu is not afraid to give up his bishop for opponent's centralized knight, since every exchange of pieces favours White. g6 After this natural, but new continuation we have a rare situation when after just 9 moves there is a completely new position on the board!
Topalov's intention with 9...g6 is clear: he wants to develop the bishop to the long diagonal and combine different ideas, for instance the advances of a- and e-pawns. White must stick to the extra pawn and try not to allow his opponent to activate the pieces too much. The price for every decision in such an unbalanced position is very high and no wonder that Nisipeanu thought for half an hour before answering. 9...Bf5 10.Bc4 0-0-0 11.Kc1 looks safe for White but as Topalov admitted after the game, 9...f6 might be a good alternative to 9...g6. 10.Kc2 Bf5+ Of course, in such sharp position Black has plenty of options. One of the most principled continuations seemed to be 10...a5 11.b5 11.Bb5 axb4 12.Nxe5 Nxe3+ 13.fxe3 Bf5+ 14.Kb3 Be6+ 15.Kb2 0-0-0 looks very dangerous for White 11...e4 12.Nd4 Ne5 13.Nd2 f5 After 10...Bg7 11.Nbd2 11.Bc4!? 11...0-0 12.Bc4 it is not so easy to prove full compensation. 11.Kb3 a5 12.Bc4! A precise move. Weaker is 12.Bb5 Bg7 with great compensation. or 12.b5 a4+ 13.Kb2 Nxe3 14.fxe3 Na5 15.Nxe5 Bxc5 and again Black is better 12...Be6 13.Ng5 13.b5 a4+ 14.Kb2 Na5 15.Bxd5 Bxd5 16.Nbd2 or 16.Nxe5 Bg7 16...f6 is good for Black (Topalov) 13...axb4 14.cxb4 14.Nxe6? runs into Na5+ 15.Kc2 Nxc4 16.Nxf8 Ndxe3+ 17.fxe3 Nxe3+ 18.Kb3 Nxg2 with clear advantage for Black, since the knight on f8 is trapped. 14...Ncxb4 15.Nc3 This is somewhat more precise than taking immediately on e6, since in some variations White keeps also the option to take on e6 with the bishop. The positional 15.Nxe6 fxe6 16.Re1 is not so good for White in view of Nc6 15...Nxc3
15...Nxe3 16.Nxe6 fxe6 17.fxe3 Bxc5 18.Ne4 b6= 16.Nxe6 Interesting was also 16.Bxe6 fxe6 17.Kxb4 Nd5+ 18.Kb5 though it is also about equal after Be7 19.Ne4 19.Nxe6? Ra6 loses the knight 19...Nxe3 20.fxe3 Ra3 16...fxe6 17.Kxb4 The march with the king to b5 is a brave and objectively good decision by the Romanian Grandmaster. 17.Kxc3 Nd5+ 18.Kd2 Nxe3 19.fxe3 Bxc5 20.Bxe6= 17...Nd5+ 18.Kb5 Be7! 18...Nxe3 19.fxe3 Rc8 20.Rac1! Rxc5+ 21.Kb6 threatening a check from b5 suddenly leads to problems for Black. 19.Rac1 White had at his disposal an interesting idea to sacrifice the exchange with 19.Rhd1 Nc3+ 19...Nxe3 20.fxe3 Rc8 21.Rac1 Rxc5+ 22.Kb6 Kf7 20.Kb6 Nxd1 21.Rxd1 with great compensation, but instead of taking on d1 Back can give a check on a4 and the best for White is to repeat the position. 19...Bd8
Threatening mate in one! 20.Bb3 An interesting idea to play for advantage was 20.Bd2! If 0-0 then 21.f3 20...Rf8 21.Rhd1 Ra5+ 22.Kc4 Be7! 23.Kd3 Nxe3 24.fxe3 Bxc5
25.Rf1! Stronger than 25.Bxe6 Rf2 with initiative for Black, since 26.Rd2 is bad in view of e4+ 27.Kc2 Rf6! 25...Rxf1 26.Rxf1 Ke7 With the next rook maneuver Nisipeanu accurately neutralizes any possible danger. 27.Rc1! b6 28.Rc4 Ra8 29.Ra4 Black's extra pawn plays no role and Topalov decided to call it a day right away. Rxa4 29...Rd8+ 30.Ke2 30.Bxa4 g5 31.Ke4 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nisipeanu,L2661Topalov,V2751½–½2012B226th Kings Tournament3

Thus, after the first half of the tournament Ivanchuk leads with 2.0/3, followed by Caruana and Topalov with 1.5/3 each and Nisipeanu with 1.0/3. Tomorrow is a free day.


The lowdown on the original opening play between Nisipeanu and Topalov (videos courtesy of
Macauley Peterson)

All photos by Ionut Anisca

Schedule and results

Round 1: Wednesday, November 7, 15:30h
Veselin Topalov 
½-½
  Fabiano Caruana
Vassily Ivanchuk 
1-0
  Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Round 2: Thursday, November 8, 15:30h
Fabiano Caruana 
½-½
  Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Veselin Topalov 
½-½
  Vassily Ivanchuk
Round 3: Friday, November 9, 15:30h
Vassily Ivanchuk 
½-½
  Fabiano Caruana
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
½-½
  Veselin Topalov
Round 4: Sunday, November 10, 15:30h
Fabiano Caruana 
    Veselin Topalov
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
    Vassily Ivanchuk
Round 5: Monday, November 11, 15:30h
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 
    Fabiano Caruana
Vassily Ivanchuk 
    Veselin Topalov
Round 6: Tuesday, November 12, 15:30h
Fabiano Caruana 
    Vassily Ivanchuk
Veselin Topalov 
    Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu

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