Gideon Japhet: Svidler wins match 5-3

by ChessBase
7/25/2014 – The Second Gideon Japhet Memorial was an unmitigated success with three chess opens and a four-day match between world class players Peter Svidler and Boris Gelfand. Four out of eight games had decisive results, and each day was followed by video recorded player commentary and analysis, but kudos to Gilad Japhet for conducting the very entertaining interviews.

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Gideon Japhet Memorial Open Chess Tournament 2014

The Second Gideon Japhet Memorial Open Chess Tournament took place in Jerusalem, from July 16-24, 2014. It consisted of three Opens and an Amateur Group. The nine-round Open A was for player rated 2000 or above; the seven-round Opens B and C for players rated 1800 to 2200 and for players with ratings up to 1900; and the five-round Amateurs for unrated players. Rate of play was 40 moves in 90 minutes, then the rest of the game in 30 minutes, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting at the first move. The prize fund was 55,000 NIS (New Israli Sheqels = 12,000 Euros or US $16,000).

Gelfand-Svidler Rapid match

The event was also host to a series of eight Rapid Chess games between local hero Boris Gelfand and Russian GM Peter Svidler, with two games per day on Sunday, 20.7 (15:30 - 18:00), Monday, 21.7 (14:00 - 16:30), Wednesday, 23.7 (14:00 - 16:30) and Thursday, 24.7 (11:00 - 14:00).

Games five to eight

At the midpoint, Boris Gelfand was trailing Peter Svidler by a point, and then in game five he struck back with a win with the black pieces. Then in game six, it was Peter Svidler's turn to strike back on his own, and once again the Russian led by a point with 3.5-2.5

As in the previous days, the action was followed by interviews and extended game commentary by the players. Although this is not a new formula, albeit very much appreciated, we'd like to suggest our readers take the time to listen to the interviews which in some cases certainly break from the usual ABC questions one is prone to hearing.

Peter Svidler demonstrates tried-and-true techniques to act surprised at the board. Gelfand
is duly impressed.

While a question such as "Do you dream about chess?" might not sound so unusual, be sure to hear the replies when asked what their inlaws thought of their daughter marrying a chess player.

Still, the meat of it is still the game analysis, and in game five, Svidler promises to let Gelfand
do the talking. Will he succeed? Stay tuned....

Post game analysis and interview of game five

[Event "Rapid Match Gelfand vs Svidler"] [Site "Jerusalem"] [Date "2014.07.23"] [Round "5"] [White "Svidler, Peter"] [Black "Gelfand, Boris"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D81"] [WhiteElo "2751"] [BlackElo "2753"] [PlyCount "50"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [EventCountry "ISR"] 1. c4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Qb3 dxc4 5. Qxc4 Be6 6. Qb5+ Bd7 7. Qb3 c5 8. d5 b5 9. Nxb5 Qa5+ 10. Nc3 Na6 11. f3 c4 12. Qd1 e6 13. e4 exd5 14. e5 d4 15. exf6 dxc3 16. bxc3 O-O-O 17. Bd2 Ba4 18. Qc1 Qe5+ 19. Be2 Nc5 20. Kf1 Nd3 21. Bxd3 Rxd3 22. Ne2 Bc5 23. Ng3 Rhd8 24. Qe1 Be3 25. Bxe3 Rxe3 0-1

Asked about his approach when trailing in a match, Gelfand explains his strategy

 

In game six, Peter Svidler avenged his loss of the day, and the players analyse the game.
As previously, a replay board is provided below to allow you to follow their analyses.

[Event "Rapid Match Gelfand vs Svidler"] [Site "Jerusalem"] [Date "2014.07.23"] [Round "6"] [White "Gelfand, Boris"] [Black "Svidler, Peter"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E68"] [WhiteElo "2753"] [BlackElo "2751"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [EventCountry "ISR"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Nc3 e5 8. e4 exd4 9. Nxd4 Re8 10. h3 Nc5 11. Re1 Bd7 12. Rb1 Qc8 13. g4 h5 14. f3 a6 15. Bg5 b5 16. cxb5 axb5 17. Ndxb5 Bxb5 18. Nxb5 Rxa2 19. Nc3 Ra8 20. Be3 hxg4 21. hxg4 Nfd7 22. g5 Rb8 23. Qc2 Ne5 24. Nd5 Ncd3 25. Rf1 Nb4 26. Nxb4 Rxb4 27. b3 c5 28. Bd2 Rb6 29. b4 cxb4 30. Qxc8 Rxc8 31. Rxb4 Ra6 32. Rb3 Rc2 33. Bf4 Raa2 34. Bh3 Nc6 35. Rd3 Bd4+ 36. Kh1 Be5 37. Bxe5 Nxe5 0-1

In the action-packed rapid match, round seven saw the Russian decide the match in his favor with a second consecutive win, taking his score to 4.5-2.5, and no longer any chance for Gelfand to save it.

Host Gilad Japhet tells the players he will start with some warm-up questions, bringing smiles
from both players

 

Round seven saw Svidler decide the match with the fourth decisive game of the encounter.
Once again, the interview questions are both interesting and the answers insightful, and well
worth listening to. If you prefer to skip to the player analysis, then go to 15:10.

[Event "Rapid Match Gelfand vs Svidler"] [Site "Jerusalem"] [Date "2014.07.24"] [Round "7"] [White "Svidler, Peter"] [Black "Gelfand, Boris"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D90"] [WhiteElo "2751"] [BlackElo "2753"] [PlyCount "104"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [EventCountry "ISR"] 1. c4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qb3 dxc4 7. Qxc4 O-O 8. Bf4 Bc6 9. e3 Bxf3 10. gxf3 c6 11. Be2 Nbd7 12. Bg3 e6 13. O-O Qe7 14. Qb3 Nb6 15. Ne4 Nxe4 16. fxe4 f5 17. a4 fxe4 18. a5 Nd5 19. a6 b6 20. Qc2 c5 21. dxc5 bxc5 22. Bc4 Nb6 23. Qxe4 Nxc4 24. Qxc4 Rf5 25. Ra5 Raf8 26. Rb5 Be5 27. Rb7 Qd6 28. Qe2 Bxg3 29. hxg3 R5f7 30. Rd1 Qc6 31. Rxf7 Rxf7 32. Qc4 Qf3 33. Rd2 Qf5 34. e4 Qg5 35. Rd6 Qf6 36. Qxc5 Qxb2 37. Rxe6 Qb1+ 38. Kg2 Qb3 39. Re8+ Kg7 40. Re7 Qf3+ 41. Kg1 Kh6 42. Rxf7 Qxf7 43. e5 Qd7 44. Qd6 Qb5 45. e6 Qb1+ 46. Kh2 Qf5 47. Qd2+ Kg7 48. Qd4+ Kf8 49. e7+ Kxe7 50. Qxa7+ Kd6 51. Qb6+ Kd7 52. Qb7+ Kd6 1-0

The last game was played out by the players, in spite of not affecting the match's
outcome, and ended in a draw

[Event "Rapid Match Gelfand vs Svidler"] [Site "Jerusalem"] [Date "2014.07.24"] [Round "8"] [White "Gelfand, Boris"] [Black "Svidler, Peter"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D03"] [WhiteElo "2753"] [BlackElo "2751"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [EventCountry "ISR"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. Nbd2 c5 5. c3 cxd4 6. cxd4 d5 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3 Nc6 9. Rc1 h6 10. Bh4 Qb6 11. Qb3 Qxb3 12. Nxb3 g5 13. Bg3 Nb4 14. Bb1 Ne4 15. a3 Nc6 16. Bd3 Bf5 17. Ke2 Rfc8 18. Nc5 b6 19. Nb3 a5 20. Bb5 Bd7 21. a4 Kf8 22. Nfd2 Nxg3+ 23. hxg3 e6 24. f4 g4 25. Rc3 Ke7 26. Rhc1 Na7 27. Bxd7 Kxd7 28. Rxc8 Rxc8 29. Rxc8 1/2-1/2

Final standings

Name Rtg
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Total
GM Boris Gelfand 2725
1/2
1/2
0
1/2
1
0
0
1/2
3
GM Peter Svidler 2793
1/2
1/2
1
1/2
0
1
1
1/2
5

Additional photographic impressions by Dorit and Gad Ritvo

Identical postures: the two players have much in common

... except that Peter can relax ...

... while Boris tends to suffer

Great atmosphere at the press conference with Gilad Japhet

And then: back to work and back to suffering...

... with Peter feeling some of it as well

The glare: like castling or en passant an essential part of the game of chess

And nobody can do it as well as Boris Gelfand

But in the end, with Gilad Japhet as host, we are all happily united in this wonderful game

Information and photos provided by Gilad Japhet

Gilad Japhet is the son of Gideon Japhet and organized this tournament to honor his memory. Gilad is the CEO of MyHeritage, a family-oriented social network service and genealogy website that allows members to create their own family websites, share pictures and videos, organize family events, create family trees, and search for ancestors. With over 75 million users, MyHeritage is one of the largest sites in the social networking and genealogy field. The company represents a community of more than 75 million users, 1.5 billion profiles and over four billion historical records. There are more than 27 million family trees and 163 million photos on the site, and the site is accessible in 40 languages.


Links

The games were broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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