ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024
It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.
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.
Alexey Shirov became the second finalist of the World Cup. In the tiebreak versus the Ukrainian Sergey Karjakin he drew the first game and won the second one, qualifying into the Finals, where he will meet the American Gata Kamsky.
Surprise guest: Rustam Kasimdzhanov doing audio/video commentary on Playchess.com.
The former FIDE World Champion speaks impeccable, eloquent English and is very profound in his analysis. Occasionally he allows his humour to sparkle through. We have asked Rustam, who currently has a somewhat tight playing schedule, to do multimedia commentary for the final match (Thurday to Sunday).
No. | Name | Nat | Rtng | G1 |
G2 |
R1 | R2 | B1 | B2 | SD | Tot. |
1 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2714 | ½ |
0 |
0.5 | |||||
Kamsky, Gata | USA | 2714 | ½ |
1 |
1.5 | ||||||
4 | Shirov, Alexei | ESP | 2739 | ½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
2.5 | |||
Karjakin, Sergey | UKR | 2694 | ½ |
½ |
½ |
0 |
1.5 |
Photographers at the start of the game Karjakin (left) vs Shirov
Tiebreak game one is under way...
Large projection screens for the public, that is, let us say, sparse
Karjakin,Sergey (2694) - Shirov,Alexei (2739)
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (6.3), 11.12.2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5
|
The famous Sveshnikov Sicilian – an opening variation named after the Russian grandmaster Evgeny Sveshnikov, who contributed a lot to its theory. Just few years ago Sveshnikov Sicilian used to be the most topical opening subject in tournaments of different levels, including the very top. Lately top players "/portals/all/_for_legal_reasons.jpg" the Marshall Attack and the consequence was that Sveshnikov Sicilian became a slightly less frequent guest in practice. In the introductory part of my theoretical article in ChessBase Magazine 121 I reflected about the reasons behind the decrease of its popularity. Without entering into details now, I will just bring up the following sentence from my article: "...this partial loss of its recent popularity represents first of all a complex process of evolution, which is rather typical for any fashionable opening". With other words: the Sveshnikov Sicilian still represents a dangerous weapon.
6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Just like many top grandmasters, at the beginning Karjakin used to play the lines starting with 9.Bxf6, but later switched to the "more solid" 9.Nd5, being nowadays one of the leading experts in this line. 9...Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3
|
|
|
20.Qe2. A new move. Usually White was trying to use the second rank for the transfer of his rook to the h-file. Karjakin's idea is to transfer the queen on h2. The main theoretical variation continues 20.f4 exf4 21.gxf4 Bh4+ 22.Kd2 Ne7 with wild complications, where Black seems to have enough resources to keep the balance. 20...f5 21.f4 exf4 22.gxf4 Bh4+ 23.Kd1 Rb7 24.Qh2 g5 25.Ba6.
On Playchess Rustam Kasimdzhanov annotates this position
Difficult to say what went wrong in the Karjakin's preparation, but after this move Shirov takes over the initiative with a rather obvious exchange sacrifice. 25...Rxb3! 26.Kc2 Bxa6 27.Kxb3 fxe4
|
|
|
Only precise analysis can tell whether the endgame is winning for Black or not. 37.Ng4 Rc8+ 38.Kb4 e4 39.Ngf6 Bf5. 39...Kg7? 40.Nxh7 Kxh7 41.Nf6+ Kg7 42.Nxe4=. 40.Nh5 Bg4 41.Ng3 Bf3 42.Nf5 Rc1 43.Nc3 Kh7 44.Kc4 Rc2. 44...Kg6 45.Ng3 e3 46.Kd3=. 45.Kd4 Kg6 46.Ne3 Rd2+ 47.Ke5 Rd3 48.Ned5 Rd2 49.Nxe4. This is a draw, but Shirov checks the resistance of his young opponent until the end. 49...Ra2 50.Nf4+ Kh6 51.Ne6 Ra5+ 52.Kf4 Bd1 53.Nd4 Kg6 54.Nc3 Bh5 55.Ne4 Rd5 56.Ke3 Rd8 57.Nc6 Re8 58.Kd4 Ra8 59.Ne5+ Kg7 60.Nd6 Kf6 61.Ne4+ Ke6 62.Nc5+ Kf5 63.Nc6 Re8 64.Nb4 Rd8+ 65.Ke3 Be8 66.Nbd3 Bb5 67.Nb4 Rh8 68.Nbd3 Rh3+ 69.Kd4 Rh4+ 70.Ke3 Rc4 71.Nb3 Re4+ 72.Kd2 Rh4 73.Kc3 Ke4 74.Nd2+ Kd5 75.Nb4+ Kd6 76.Nc2 Rh3+ 77.Kb2 Kd5 78.Na3 Ba4 79.Nc2 Kc5 80.Kc1 Rd3 81.Ne1 Rc3+ 82.Kb2 Kb4 83.Nb1 Rb3+ 84.Kc1 Rh3 85.Nc2+ Kc4 86.Ne1 Rh1 87.Kd2 Rh2+ 88.Ke3 Bd1 89.Nd2+ Kd5 90.Nef3 Re2+ 91.Kf4 Re8 92.Kg3 Rf8 93.Kg2 Bxf3+ 94.Nxf3 Ke4 95.Nd2+ Kd3 96.Nf1 Rf6 97.Ng3 Rf4 98.Nh5 Rf8 99.Ng3 Ke3 100.Nf1+ Ke2 101.Ng3+ Ke1 102.Ne4 Rf7 103.Ng3 1/2-1/2. [Click to replay]
Alexei Shirov at work in game one of the tiebreak...
... and Karjakin struggling
Frustration: Shirov cannot believe that this game is a draw
But draw it is – the second game must bring the decision
Some pictures need no caption – well shot, Atarov!
Shirov,Alexei (2739) - Karjakin,Sergey (2694)
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (6.4), 11.12.2007
In the second game it was again Karjakin who produced a novelty. The Ukrainian grandmaster repeated the game Shirov-Jakovenko from the previous round in Khanty-Mansiysk and tried to improve on move 18. Black got an endgame where his bishop pair seemed to offer compensation for the pawn. Nevertheless only White could play for a win and Shirov fully used his chances, showing great technique and squeezing a full point. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d3 Bd6 13.Re1 Bf5 14.Qf3 Qh4 15.g3 Qh3 16.Bxd5 cxd5 17.Qxd5 Rad8 18.Qg2
|
|
|
|
|
Mission completed. Black has three week pawns. Besides, the difference between the activity of the kings is obvious. Now White is winning. 46...Bc6 47.f4 Be4+ 48.Kxh5 Rd5+ 49.Kh6 Rf5 50.Be3 Bf3 51.Kg6 Be4 52.Kg7 Rh5 53.Kxf6 Bd3 54.Ra8+ Kd7 55.Ra7+ Kc6 56.Rxa6+ Kd5 57.Ra8 Rxh4 58.Rd8+ Ke4 59.Kg5 Rh2 60.Bc5 Rg2+ 61.Kf6 Bc4 62.Rd4+ Kf3 63.a4 Rxb2 64.a5 Ra2 65.Bb4 Re2 66.f5 Re8 67.Rxc4 bxc4 68.Kg7 Re4 69.f6 Rg4+ 70.Kf8 1-0. [Click to replay]
Shirov vs Karjakin: the game after White's 50th move
...and after 70.Kf8 and Black, Karjakin, resigns
The general impression of the tiebreak is that Karjakin came quite superficially prepared in the opening. In spite of the fact that it was the Ukrainian who both times made new moves, it turned out that in the end it was Shirov who got the better positions. The Final between Kamsky and Shirov will consist of four games and will certainly feature a high class and tense match. So far both players showed best chess in Khanty-Mansiysk.
FIDE has announced that the semifinal players, i.e. both Carlsen and Karjakin, plus the loser of the final, are automatically qualified for the next World Cup cycle.
Note that tomorrow, Wednesday, is a free day. The Final begins on Thursday, December 13.
All pictures by from Khanty by Eugene Atarov for the official World Cup web site
Links
|