CBM Blog: Triumphs and tribulations of Vassily Ivanchuk

by ChessBase
10/8/2011 – He dominated the first half of the Grand Slam in São Paulo, got robbed at gun-point when he was leaving, started with a brilliant victory in the first round of the second leg, and yesterday lost a probably drawn rook ending in desperate time trouble against bottom seed Francisco Vallejo. We reported on round seven, and now bring you additional endgame analysis by GM Karsten Müller.

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Remember the sequence of events: Vassily Ivanchuk scored three wins, one loss and a draw in the first leg of the Grand Slam in São Paulo, leading the field by three "Bilbao" points. Then, on the way to the taxi that was to take him to the airport, he and his wife were robbed at gunpoint. Their suitcases were taken, and since one contained his wife's passport, she had to fly back to Ukraine and will miss the second half of the tournament.

How would the veteran GM react to all of this? Initially he threatened to abandon the tournament, then turned up to play in Bilbao. In the very first game – who would have thought it? – he completely outplayed his closest rival Hikaru Nakamura to take an even more commanding lead in the 2011 Grand Slam. In round two he faced Spanish GM Francisco Vallejo Pons, who was languishing at the bottom of the table, with a single win and draw against four losses. Ivanchuk got himself into desperate time trouble and actually lost this game.


Vassily Ivanchuk and Francisco Vallejo in the press conference after their game

Did Ivanchuk have a draw on the board? At move 34 Vallejo was a pawn up, but both our analysts think that Ivanchuk could have held the position. French GM Romain Edouard said it in our round seven report, and now our resident endgame expert Dr Karsten Müller comes to a similar conclusion. Here his analysis.

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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.h4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 h6 7.e4 Bg7 8.d4 c5 9.Bb5+ Nc6 10.d5 Qa5 11.Rb1 a6 12.Bxc6+ bxc6 13.0-0 Bg4 14.d6 Rd8 15.Bf4 exd6 16.Bxd6 Bf8 17.e5 Bxd6 18.exd6 0-0 19.Qd2 Bxf3 20.gxf3 Rd7 21.Rfd1 Rfd8 22.Qxh6 Qxc3 23.Qf4 c4 24.h5 Qg7 25.Rb6 Rc8 26.h6 Qc3 27.Rd4 Qe1+ 28.Kg2 Qe6 29.Rxa6 c3 30.Ra3 Rcd8 31.Rxc3 Rxd6 32.Rxd6 Qxd6 33.Qxd6 Rxd6 34.a4 The rook belongs behind the passed pawn In rook endings this is a very effective motif: Kh7 This ending should be drawn, but due to the short time I cannot give a proof of this claim. 34...Rd5 35.Rxc6 Ra5 36.Rc4 Kh7 37.Kf1 Kxh6 38.Ke2± is also not clear. White still has winning chances. But at least his rook is now not placed behind the a-pawn. 35.a5 Kxh6?! Allows White's a-pawn to advance too far. 35...c5 36.f4 36.Ra3? gives Black the chance to bring his own pawn into play: c4 37.f4 Ra6 38.Kf1 Re6 39.a6 c3= 36.Rxc5!? 36...Ra6 37.Rxc5± 36.a6! c5 36...Rd2 37.Ra3 Rd8 38.f4 Kg7 39.Kf3 Kf6 40.a7 Ra8 41.Ke4 Ke6 42.Kd4 Kd6 43.Kc4 White wins now by using the sharp endgame weapon zugzwang in a typical way: f6 44.Kd4 g5 44...c5+ 45.Kc4 Kc6 46.Ra6+ Kb7 47.Rxf6 Kxa7 48.Kxc5 Rg8 49.f5 gxf5 50.Rxf5+- 45.fxg5 fxg5 46.Kc4 g4 47.Ra4 Kc7 48.Kc5 Kb7 49.Rb4+ Kxa7 50.Ra4+ Kb8 51.Rxa8+ Kxa8 52.Kxc6+- 36...Rd7 37.f4 Kg7 38.Kf3 Ra7 39.Rxc6 Re7 40.Rb6 Re1 41.a7 Ra1 42.Rb7 Ra4 43.Ke3 Kf6 44.Kd3 Ke6 45.Kc3 f6 46.Kb3 Ra1 47.Kb4 Kd6 48.Rf7 Ke6 49.Rh7 Kf5 50.Kb5+- 37.Ra3 Rd8 38.f4 Kg7 39.Kf3 Kf6 39...f5 40.a7 Ra8 41.Ke3 Kh6 42.Kd3 Kh5 43.Kc4 Kg4 44.Kxc5 Kxf4 45.Kb6 g5 46.Kb7 Rh8 47.a8Q Rxa8 48.Kxa8+- 40.a7 Ra8 41.Ke4 Ke6 42.Ra6+ Kd7 43.Kd5 Kc7 44.Kxc5 Kb7 45.Kb5 Rxa7 45...f5 46.Rb6+ Kxa7 47.Ra6+ Kb7 48.Rxa8 Kxa8 49.Kc6+- 46.Rxa7+ Kxa7 47.Kc6 47.Kc6 Kb8 48.Kd7 f5 49.Ke6 Kc7 50.Kf6 Kd6 51.Kxg6 Ke6 52.Kg5 Ke7 53.Kxf5 Kf7 54.f3 Ke7 55.Kg6 Kf8 56.Kf6 Ke8 57.Kg7 Ke7 58.f5+- 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Vallejo Pons,F2716Ivanchuk,V27651–02011A164th Final Masters7


Dispair and dejection: Vassily Ivanchuk after round seven

Reactions to Ivanchuk's robbery

Mike Jaqua, Denver, CO
Please pass along my support, thoughts, prayers to Big Chucky and his wife. I am sure the whole chess-loving world is behind Vassily at this time. What a horrid, stupid thing to happen. With all his many fans, I send a big Internet hug to Mr Ivanchuk. Clear you mind and blow the competition away big guy!!

Jamie Morgan, Exeter, UK
Please can you pass on my sympathy and best wishes to Vassily and his wife after the shocking events. I hope they recover quickly from what must have been such a very frightening experience.

Tiago Sizenando, Brazil
I am from Brazil and even though I was not completely surprised by the news, it saddened me to read about Ivanchuk's robbery after his masterful performance in São Paulo's leg of the Grand Slam Masters. Let us not forget that in less than three years Brazil is going to host the Football World Cup and in less than five years it is going to host the biggest sporting event of the world: the Olympic Games. I wish this sad incident could be the beginning of a real change for us. I hope Ivanchuk can recover from this robbery and play strongly in Bilbao (I would bet in a 2.5/5 performance from him and an overall tie for first with Carlsen with 6/10).

Alexander Jablanczy, Sault Ste Marie Canada
The world sport community must boycott permanently Brazil and I am sorry to include that country among the travel destinations I shall never visit, just like Mexico or Columbia or Venezuela. Simply put, a mere sport event musn't be a life threatening adventure, so all countries without the rule of law and peace and security must be boycotted until they clean up their act. Which pretty much means all of Latin America, Africa, Asia, leaving only Australia, Canada and north western Europe as acceptable destinations and venues for travel tourism or sporting events. Even southern Italy and most of the US are no go areas. Even peaceful Canada is unsafe in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, where there are shootouts in public weekly. The US is of course totally impossible, as there are daily if not hourly shootouts in Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and of course New York. – Well I hope nobody gets blown up in Bilbao.

Alex, Brazil
This robbery episode is disgusting. This news totally upset me. As a huge chess fan I was just commenting with some friends on how well the Grand Slam had succeeded, and all of a sudden this sad news. I hope Ivanchuck and his wife is well by now and that he can recover his nerves to continue to crush his opponents in the second half of the tournament.

Luis Baquero, Medellin, Colombia
Whose fault was it? Perhaps the organizers; they can´t assume that everyone knows how dangerous Sao Paulo is. Perhaps Ivanchuk's, if he knew it, but took a risk!

Jorge Shinozaki, Tokyo, Japan
It's great to hear that Ivanchuk is in Bilbao, and especially that he played his first game there superbly, because as a Brazilian, I would feel very uncomfortable if he had abandoned the tournament.

G. di Gesu, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Let's say it like it is. Sao Paulo is no kindergarten. No metropolis is. Nowhere in the planet. Nor is Paris, Rome, London, Beijing, New York, Miami, Liverpool, Marseille, Milan, Tokyo, Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, San Francisco, Bilbao, Oslo (!), Barcelona, Saint Louis, New Delhi, Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, etc, etc, ad nauseum. It is the job of the organizers to provide security for the players. 24/7, everywhere, anywhere in the world, anytime. These gentlemen are geniuses, and they deserve better. Organizers, do your job. Organize. Stop discussing the gender of the angels. Stop making grandstanding statements on Twitter. Respect the players. Protect them.


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