Khanty-Mansiysk: Karjakin and Cheparinov win, Carlsen holds Adams

A total of 126 participants turned up on November 23 for the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, located about 1400 miles (2250 km) east of Moscow. The competition is taking place from November 24 to December 18. The winner of the World Cup receives the right to challenge the former world champion Veselin Topalov in a match.

Round four Game two (Tuesday, December 4th)

Cheparinov, Carlsen, Shirov, Karjakin and Ponomariov go to the next stage of the FIDE World Cup, while the following matches ended peacefully: Jakovenko-Aronian, Svidler-Kamsky and Bareev-Alekseev. These players will fight in the tiebreak tomorrow.

Round four results

No.	Name	Nat	Rtng	G1	G2	R1	R2	B1	B2	SD	Tot.
01	Karjakin, Sergey	UKR	2694	½	1						1.5
	Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	ROU	2668	½	0						0.5
02	Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL	2670	½	1						1.5
	Wang, Yue	CHN	2703	½	0						0.5
03	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	2705	1	½						1.5
	Sasikiran, Krishnan	IND	2661	0	½						0.5
04	Aronian, Levon	ARM	2741	½	½						1.0
	Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS	2710	½	½						1.0
05	Akopian, Vladimir	ARM	2713	0	½						0.5
	Shirov, Alexei	ESP	2739	1	½						1.5
06	Svidler, Peter	RUS	2732	½	½						1.0
	Kamsky, Gata	USA	2714	½	½						1.0
07	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2714	1	½						1.5
	Adams, Michael	ENG	2729	0	½						0.5
08	Alekseev, Evgeny	RUS	2716	½	½						1.0
	Bareev, Evgeny	RUS	2653	½	½						1.0

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Five players are through, six will play tiebreaks

Commentary by GM Dorian Rogozenko

Knocked out Ivanchuk, tripped over Karjakin: Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu

Nisipeanu,Liviu-Dieter (2668) - Karjakin,Sergey (2694)
World Cup 2007 0:00.20-0:37.42 (42), 04.12.2007

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.0-0-0 b5 10.f4

10...Be7. Deviating from Ivanchuk's play: 10...Qc7 11.Kb1 Rc8 12.a3 Be7 13.f5 Bc4 14.g4 Nxg4 15.Rg1 h5 16.h3 Nxe3 17.Qxe3 Rh7 18.Bxc4 bxc4 19.Nd2 Nf6 20.Nf3 Rb8 21.Ka2 Qb6 22.Qc1 Qb7 23.Ng5 Rh8 24.Rg2 h4 25.Rdg1 Rh5 26.Nxf7 Kxf7 27.Rxg7+ Kf8 28.R1g6 d5 29.exd5 Nxd5 30.Rg8+ Kf7 31.R6g7+ Kf6 32.Nxd5+ Qxd5 33.Rg6+ Kf7 34.Rxb8 c3+ 35.Kb1 Rxf5 36.Qg1 Bf8 37.Rg8 Bh6 38.Qg6+ 1-0, Nisipeanu-Ivanchuk, (rapid) Khanty-Mansiysk 2007. 11.Kb1 0-0. In the following game White implemented for the first time the sacrifice of the g-pawn in this variation. 11...Rc8 12.f5 Bc4 13.g4!? Nxg4 14.Rg1 Nxe3 15.Qxe3 g6 (Notice that here Black doesn't have time to castle, since after 15...Bxb3 16.axb3 0-0 17.Qh6 Bf6 18.Rxd6 Kh8 19.Qd2 Rc7 20.Nd5 Rb7 21.Nxf6 gxf6 22.c4 his position collapses) 16.Bxc4 bxc4 17.Nd2 Nf6 18.Qh3 Qd7 19.Nf1 gxf5 20.Ne3 Nxe4 21.Ncd5 Nf2 22.Qh5 Nxd1 23.Rxd1 Rc5 24.Nxe7 Qxe7 25.Nxf5 e4 26.Ng7+ Kf8 27.Qh6 Qe5 28.Nf5+ Ke8 29.Nxd6+ Ke7 30.Nf5+ Ke8 31.Qg5 Qc7 32.Ng7+ 1-0 Morozevich,A (2732)-Topalov,V (2735)/Monte Carlo (rapid) 2004. 12.f5 Bc4

13.g4. A novelty. Nisipeanu plays in the same manner as against Ivanchuk. However, in that game Black didn't castle yet, which seems to make a big difference. Karjakin proves that with the king on g8 Black can take the pawn and then successfully defend. Before White didn't dare to sacrifice the pawn and prepared the asdvance of the g-pawn with 13.h3 after which the position rtemains double-edged: 13...a5 14.g4 Bxf1 15.Rhxf1 b4 16.Nd5 Nxd5 17.Qxd5 Qc7 18.g5 a4 Bruzon Bautista,L (2569)-Vera,R (2537)/Havana 2002. 13...Nxg4 14.Rg1 Nxe3 15.Qxe3 Bxb3! A smart exchange of pieces. Black leaves his opponent with the light-squared bishop rather than with the knight, since it won't be easy for White to find a job for his bishop. 16.Qh6. In case of 16.cxb3 Kh8 Black will protect pawn g7 with the rook from g8 and since the bishop cannot join the attack, it is unclear if White has full compensation for the sacrificed pawn. 16...Bxc2+ 17.Kxc2 Bf6 18.Rxd6 Kh8 19.Qd2 Ra7 20.Kb1 Qc7 21.Rd3 Nb6. Karjakin protected everything and now Black is simply a pawn up. At this moment the Ukrainian Grandmaster had also a considerable time advantage. 22.Nd5 Nxd5 23.Rxd5 Rd8 24.Be2 Rxd5 25.Qxd5 g6 26.Rc1 Qe7 27.Qc5 Kg7 28.Qxe7 Bxe7 29.Rc6 Kh6! 30.a4 bxa4 31.Rxa6 Rxa6 32.Bxa6 Kg5

It turns out that the opposite-coloured endgame is lost due to the weakness of pawn h2. 33.fxg6 fxg6 34.Kc2. 34.Bb5 Kh4 35.Bxa4 Kh3 is also hopeless. 34...Kh4 35.Bc8 g5 36.Kd3. Or 36.h3 h5 37.Kd3 Kg3 38.Kc4 g4 39.hxg4 h4 40.g5 Bxg5 41.Kb4 h3-+. 36...g4 37.Kc4 Kh3. Next Black plays h7-h5 and then takes on h2, so Nisipeanu resigned. The Romanian Grandmaster goes home, but he showed some great fighting spirit in Khanty-Mansiysk. 0-1. [Click to replay]

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Despair: Wang Yue facing Bulgarian GM Ivan Cheparinov (left)

Wang,Yue (2703) - Cheparinov,Ivan (2670)
World Cup 2007 0:00.20-0:37.42 (42), 04.12.2007

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 Nh5 8.Qd2 f5 9.0-0-0 a6 10.Kb1 Nd7 11.Bd3 Nc5 12.Bc2

12...b5! 13.cxb5. White cannot keep the queenside closed. After 13.b4 Nd7 14.c5 Black continues 14...a5! 13...axb5 14.Nxb5 Ba6 15.Nc3 Qb8. One should be a born optimist to choose such an opening variation, especially against such a fine attacking player like Cheparinov. 16.Nge2 Qb4 17.Bxc5 dxc5

White's extra pawn plays no role for the moment. Black has an easy and clear play on the queenside and from the practical point of view his chances are preferable. 18.a3. It is very difficult to stop Black's growing attack, but without being forced the Chinese GM shouldn't have created additional weaknesses anyway. Best chances to survive offers 18.Ng3 Nf4 19.exf5 Rfb8 20.Na4 although Black keeps an attack even in endgame after 20...Bc4 21.Qxb4 Rxb4; The immediate 18.Na4 is bad in view of 18...fxe4 19.fxe4 Qxd2 20.Rxd2 Bh6 winning a piece. 18...Qa5 19.Nc1 [19.exf5 gxf5 20.Ng3 Nxg3 21.hxg3] 19...Bc4 20.Bb3 Bxb3 21.Nxb3 Qb6 22.Qc2 Rfb8

23.Ka2? Correct was 23.Nd2 Qa6 (Not 23...Rxa3? 24.Nc4 Qa6 25.Nxa3 Qxa3 26.d6 cxd6 27.Rxd6; Nothing brings 23...Nf4 24.g3 Nh3 25.Rhf1) 24.Ka1 (24.Kc1 Nf4 25.Ndb1 Bh6-+) 24...Nf4 25.Na2 followed by Nc4 and White is still in the game. 23...Nf4 24.Nc1 c4 25.Rd2 Bf8. Now that the bishop joined the attack sooner or later Black will have the decisive blow. 26.g3

26...Bxa3! Simple and nice. Black wins by force. 27.bxa3 Rxa3+ 28.Kxa3 Qb4+. Not 28...Ra8+?? of course, due to 29.Na4. 29.Ka2 Ra8+ 30.Na4 c3 31.Ka1 cxd2 32.Na2 Rxa4 33.gxf4 Qd4+ 34.Kb1 Rc4 35.Qb3 [35.Qd1 fxe4-+] 35...fxe4 36.d6 cxd6 37.fxe4 Qxe4+ 38.Kb2 Qxh1 39.Qxc4+ Kg7 40.Qe6 d1N+ 41.Kc2 Ne3+ 42.Kd3 Nf5 43.fxe5 Qf3+ 44.Kd2 Qf2+ 45.Kd3 Qd4+ 46.Kc2 dxe5 47.Nc3 Qf2+ 48.Kb1 Qg1+ 49.Kb2 Qxh2+ 50.Ka3 Qg3 51.Kb4 Qf4+ 52.Ka5 Qd4 53.Nd5 Qc5+ 54.Ka4 Qd6 0-1. [Click to replay]

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Adams,Michael (2729) - Carlsen,Magnus (2714)
World Cup 2007 0:00.20-0:37.42 (42), 04.12.2007

Adams pressed hard and most likely had a winning position, but in the end Carlsen found a nice resource to force a draw. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 d5 11.exd5 e4 12.Bxe4 Nxe4 13.Rxe4 Bb7 14.d4 Re8 15.Bf4 Nc4 16.Re2 Bxd5 17.Ne5 Bg5 18.Bg3 Nxe5 19.Rxe5 Rxe5 20.Bxe5 Qd7 21.Na3 f6 22.Bg3 Qc6 23.f4 Bh6 24.Qd2 g6 25.Nc2 Bf8 26.f5 Re8 27.fxg6 hxg6

28.Rc1! Re4 White's ideas was 28...Bxa2 29.Nb4 Bxb4 30.cxb4 and the c-file opens. 29.b3 Qe6 30.Re1 c6 31.Kh2 a5 32.Qd3 f5 33.Be5 a4 34.Qg3 Rxe1 35.Nxe1 Be4 36.Nf3 Bxf3 37.Qxf3 axb3 38.axb3 Be7

The English Grandmaster skillfully neutralized opponent's initiative and now has a large advantage in endgame thanks to the extra pawn. However, the huge pressure and the clock prevented him from converting the advantage into the full point. 39.Kg1 Kf7 40.Kf2 Ke8 41.Qe2 Kf7 42.c4 bxc4 43.bxc4 Bh4+ 44.Kf1 Be7 45.Ke1 Bb4+ 46.Kd1 Be7 47.Kd2 Bb4+ 48.Kd3 Be7 49.Qe3 Ke8 50.Qh6 Kd7 51.Qh8 Bd8 52.Qg7+ Be7 53.Kc3 Ke8 54.Qh8+ Kd7 55.Qb8 Bd8 56.Kb3 Be7 57.Qb6 Ke8 58.Qb8+ Kf7 59.Kc3 Qd7 60.Qh8 Qe6 61.h4 Bf8 62.g3 Be7 63.c5 Bf8 64.Kb4 Be7 65.h5 gxh5 66.Qxh5+ Kf8 67.Qh8+ Kf7 68.Qh1 Ke8 69.Qf3 Kd7 70.Qd3 Bf8 71.Kc3 Be7 72.Qb1 Ke8 73.Qb7 Bd8 74.Kb4 Be7 75.Qa8+ Kd7 76.Qa7+ Ke8 77.Qa6 Kd7 78.Qa8

78...Bxc5+! 79.dxc5. After 79.Kxc5 Qd5+ White cannot play 80.Kb4?? in view of 80...c5+ winning the queen, so instead the king must go to b6, after which Black has perpetual check. 79...Qxe5 80.Qb7+ Qc7 81.Qxc7+ Kxc7 82.Kc4 Kd7 83.Kd3. A disappointing result for Adams, who fought extremely well and was very close to level the score in the match. 1/2-1/2. [Click to replay]

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Links Official tournament site All games from round four in PGN Download free PGN reader ChessBase Light The games are being broadcast on Playchess.com