3/24/2013 – One of the wonderful things about chess is its unpredictability, and after two rounds of all draws where wins had been expected, today saw three wins where at most one was expected. While Carlsen and Aronian drew, Radjabov fell prey to a battling Gelfand, Kramnik squeezed Svidler until he choked, and Grischuk beat Ivanchuk in his first Candidates win in six years. Round eight report.
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From March 14 to April 1, 2013, FIDE and AGON – the World Chess Federation’s
commercial partner – are staging the 2013 Candidates Tournament for the
World Chess Championship 2013. It will be the strongest tournament of its kind
in history. The venue is The IET,
2 Savoy Place, London. The Prize Fund to be shared by the players totals €510,000.
The winner of the Candidates will become the Challenger to Viswanathan Anand
who has reigned as World Champion since 2007. The main sponsor for the Candidates
is State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic SOCAR,
which has sponsored elite events chess in the past.
Round eight report
Round 8 March 24 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
½-½
Levon Aronian
Teimour Radjabov
0-1
Boris Gelfand
Alexander Grischuk
1-0
Vassily Ivanchuk
Vladimir Kramnik
1-0
Peter Svidler
Playchess commentary: GM Alejandro Ramirez
One of the wonderful things about chess is its unpredictability, which might
seem an ironic comment in light of its supposed scientific linearity as opposed
to other strategic games that factor in an element of chance. The previous two
rounds have been marked by four draws, four draws that were in complete contrast
to the games themselves. Great fighting had taken place, large swings with decisive
advantages had taken place, yet somehow both players had remained standing after
the smoke had cleared. Although a disappointment for the spectators, there had
never been a dull moment.
Round eight saw the beginning of the return games in this double round-robin
event, with Magnus Carlsen facing Levon Aronian with white. The Armenian quickly
equalized with a small initiative, and though hardly decisive, it had to be
annoying to the world number one who had had to rise from the ashes against
Radjabov the day before. The draw seemed a reasonable result, though Carlsen
expressed clear dissatisfaction with his play and in the press conference
stated he would be making adjustments for the next rounds.
That was the only draw, though by the way the games had proceeded, one would
have expected several others. Teimour Radjabov was met by a belligerent Boris
Gelfand, and if he had played the provocateur in their first game, here the
Israeli did not hesitate to grab the bull by the horns. Boris managed to get
every positional advantage possible, whether the good bishop versus bad, an
active knight versus a dominated one, or pawn targets galore, and he finished
the game with a forced capitulation of the opponent by move 32.
Vladimir Kramnik played a strong game against his compatriot Peter Svidler,
and though he achieved a very small advantage, none of the experts expected
Svidler to lose, as he countered his opponents winning attempts with appropriately
aggressive counter play. Still, it was Kramnik who was pressing, and a slip
by the six-time Russian champion on move 29 swung the game from slightly annoying
for Black to big trouble. It was the moment the former world champion had
been waiting for and he converted with mastery.
The game that seemed to have the greatest chances for a decisive result did
not disappoint. Alexander Grischuk and Vassily Ivanchuk played a Sicilian Dragon
and it was clear neither sought a peaceful result. Somehow the Ukrainian never
quite managed any active play for his black pieces, and his knight hopping seemed
more a necessity to avoid trouble, than a threatening maneuver in its own right.
It was not enough though, and the game was quite equal until the dreaded time
control approached and Ivanchuk’s chronic time-trouble. A series of mistakes
and a final blunder in the last moves ended the game in Grischuk’s favor.
Alexander noted that it was his first win in classical chess at world championships
or candidates in six years and seventeen games. Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
GM Daniel King analyses the game Kramnik vs Svidler
Portraits of the players
The
following close-up of the participants were all shot during round eight
by Ray Morris-Hill, in his
usual extraordinary quality. We are sure you know all the players by now, and
so will present them to you uncaptioned.
Alright, if you could not identify them, they're
Lev Aronian, Magnus Carlsen,
Boris Gelfand, Sacha Grischuk, Vassily Ivanchuk, Peter Svidler and Vladimir
Kramnik.
Current standings
Drawing statistics in the event so far: White has won six games (18.8%), Black
five games (15.6%), while 21 games were drawn (65.6%). Vladimir Kramnik is now
in third place, within striking distance of the leaders. Interestingly he plays
against both of them in the next two rounds – he has white against Carlsen
tomorrow, then comes a rest day, and then Kramnik has the black pieces against
Aronian. It is clear which games we will be following...
Pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich
Live commentary on Playchess
As usual spectators on the Playchess
chess server could watch the games live and also enjoy live commentary byGM
experts. In addition they were able to switch on chess engines, see the results
of the most powerful computers in the world (with the "Let's Check"
function) and even participate in the Guess-a-Move competition.
GM Alejandro Ramirez did an exceptionally entertaining
job of commenting the games.
This is what the screen looked like, with a chess engine and Let's Check switched
on.
For those who speak German GM Karsten Müller
and IM Oliver Reeh were commenting
Replay all games of the round
Select games from the dropdown menu above the board
Schedule and results
Round 1 March 15 at 14:00
Levon Aronian
½-½
Magnus Carlsen
Boris Gelfand
½-½
Teimour Radjabov
Vassily Ivanchuk
½-½
Alexander Grischuk
Peter Svidler
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik
Playchess commentary: GM Daniel
King
Round 2 March 16 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik
Alexander Grischuk
½-½
Peter Svidler
Teimour Radjabov
1-0
Vassily Ivanchuk
Levon Aronian
1-0
Boris Gelfand
Playchess commentary: GM Chris
Ward
Round 3 March 17 at 14:00
Boris Gelfand
0-1
Magnus Carlsen
Vassily Ivanchuk
0-1
Levon Aronian
Peter Svidler
1-0
Teimour Radjabov
Vladimir Kramnik
½-½
Alexander Grischuk
Playchess commentary: GM Yasser
Seirawan
Round 4 March 19 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
1-0
Alexander Grischuk
Teimour Radjabov
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik
Levon Aronian
½-½
Peter Svidler
Boris Gelfand
½-½
Vassily Ivanchuk
Playchess commentary: GM Daniel
King
Round 5 March 20 at 14:00
Vassily Ivanchuk
½-½
Magnus Carlsen
Peter Svidler
½-½
Boris Gelfand
Vladimir Kramnik
½-½
Levon Aronian
Alexander Grischuk
½-½
Teimour Radjabov
Playchess commentary: GM Yasser
Seirawan
Round 6 March 21 at 14:00
Peter Svidler
0-1
Magnus Carlsen
Vladimir Kramnik
½-½
Vassily Ivanchuk
Alexander Grischuk
½-½
Boris Gelfand
Teimour Radjabov
0-1
Levon Aronian
Playchess commentary: GM Chris
Ward
Round 7 March 23 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
½-½
Teimour Radjabov
Levon Aronian
½-½
Alexander Grischuk
Boris Gelfand
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik
Vassily Ivanchuk
½-½
Peter Svidler
Playchess commentary: GM Alejandro
Ramirez
Round 8 March 24 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
½-½
Levon Aronian
Teimour Radjabov
0-1
Boris Gelfand
Alexander Grischuk
1-0
Vassily Ivanchuk
Vladimir Kramnik
1-0
Peter Svidler
Playchess commentary: GM Alejandro
Ramirez
Round 9 March 25 at 14:00
Vladimir Kramnik
-
Magnus Carlsen
Peter Svidler
-
Alexander Grischuk
Vassily Ivanchuk
-
Teimour Radjabov
Boris Gelfand
-
Levon Aronian
Playchess commentary: GM Maurice
Ashley
Round 10 March 27 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
-
Boris Gelfand
Levon Aronian
-
Vassily Ivanchuk
Teimour Radjabov
-
Peter Svidler
Alexander Grischuk
-
Vladimir Kramnik
Playchess commentary: GM Yasser
Seirawan
Round 11 March 28 at 14:00
Alexander Grischuk
-
Magnus Carlsen
Vladimir Kramnik
-
Teimour Radjabov
Peter Svidler
-
Levon Aronian
Vassily Ivanchuk
-
Boris Gelfand
Playchess commentary: GM Chris
Ward
Round 12 March 29 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
-
Vassily Ivanchuk
Boris Gelfand
-
Peter Svidler
Levon Aronian
-
Vladimir Kramnik
Teimour Radjabov
-
Alexander Grischuk
Playchess commentary: GM Daniel
King
Round 13 March 31 at 14:00
Teimour Radjabov
-
Magnus Carlsen
Alexander Grischuk
-
Levon Aronian
Vladimir Kramnik
-
Boris Gelfand
Peter Svidler
-
Vassily Ivanchuk
Playchess commentary: GM Daniel
King
Round 14 April 1 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
-
Peter Svidler
Vassily Ivanchuk
-
Vladimir Kramnik
Boris Gelfand
-
Alexander Grischuk
Levon Aronian
-
Teimour Radjabov
Playchess commentary: GM Maurice
Ashley
The games start at 14:00h = 2 p.m. London time = 15:00h European time,
17:00h Moscow, 8 a.m. New York. You can find your regional starting time here.
Note that Britain and Europe switch
to Summer time on March 31, so that the last two rounds will start an hour
earlier for places that do not swich or have already done so (e.g. USA). The
commentary on Playchess begins one hour after the start of the games
and is free for premium members.
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