6/22/2015 – It is said that in order to win a tournament, one needs both good play and a bit of luck. Topalov, who has certainly been playing well, has been under the umbrella of a guardian angel so far, and after his miracle turnaround against Carlsen, was ready to shake hands today against Jon Hammer, when his opponent blundered the game away. He is now at 2816 in the Live Ratings. Round Five report.
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The third edition of the Norway Chess tournament runs from June 15th to June 26th, and will mostly be played in Stavanger, Norway. As in previous years, the drawing of lots was determined by the blitz tournament taking place the day before the official start. Not only one of the strongest tournaments in the World, Norway 2015 is also part of the 2015 Grand Chess Tour, which includes the Sinquefield Cup and the London Chess Classic later this year.
Round 5 - 21.06.2015
Name
Rtg
Res.
Name
Rtg
Carlsen Magnus
2876
1-0
Grischuk Alexander
2781
Nakamura Hikaru
2802
½-½
Anand Viswanathan
2804
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
2723
½-½
Giri Anish
2773
Aronian Levon
2780
1-0
Caruana Fabiano
2805
Hammer Jon Ludvig
2677
0-1
Topalov Veselin
2798
Daniel King shows the highlights of round 5
Carlsen, Magnus 1-0 Grischuk, Alexander
What a respite for the World Champion! A much needed win after the rest day, and the atrocious start that Carlsen had. He played a decent game, that as he mentioned got interest only after a certain point. Grischuk seemed to have a decent position, but his time pressure trouble, which was completely unnecessary, basically cost him the game:
This guy won a game!
[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.21"] [Round "5.2"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Grischuk, Alexander"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B91"] [WhiteElo "2876"] [BlackElo "2781"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2015.06.16"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 e5 7. Nde2 Be7 8. Bg2 b5 9. Nd5 Nbd7 10. Nec3 Bb7 11. a4 Nxd5 12. Nxd5 Nf6 13. axb5 Nxd5 14. exd5 axb5 15. Rxa8 Qxa8 16. Qd3 O-O 17. O-O Bc8 18. Be3 Bd7 19. Rc1 h6 20. Qd1 Qb7 21. Ra1 Ra8 22. h4 Ra6 23. b3 Bd8 24. c4 bxc4 25. bxc4 Bb6 26. c5 $1 {The only practical chance. Before this Grischuk's position was very acceptable, and he had relatively good chances to equalize simply. With this move Carlsen creates complications - extremely important since Grischuk was, as usual, in severe time pressure!} Bxc5 27. Bxc5 dxc5 28. d6 Qb6 29. Rxa6 Qxa6 30. Bd5 $1 { Binding Black's position. The pawn on d6 and the weakness on f7 create a slightly uncomfortable position. With a couple of accurate moves Grischuk should be out of trouble, but when you have only a few minutes to make 10 moves things tend to go wrong quickly.} Qc8 $2 (30... Qb6 $1 31. Kg2 (31. Qh5 Qb1+ $1 {an important resource.} 32. Kg2 Qf5 {with equality.}) 31... Be8 $11) 31. Qb3 {Now the pressure is real, it is difficult for Black to find moves.} Be8 32. Qc3 {It's not easy to defend all the pawns, but Grischuk still has a way to equality.} c4 (32... Qf5 $1 33. Qxc5 g5 $1 {and the passed d-pawn gives White a slight edge, but Black should hold with perfect play.}) 33. Bxc4 Bd7 34. Qb3 Qe8 35. Qf3 Kf8 36. h5 $1 Kg8 (36... e4 $1) 37. Qe4 Bc6 38. Bd5 Bd7 39. Kg2 Kh8 {Girschuk's passive defense was prompted by his lack of time. Carlsen plays a tricky move on the decisive 40th move.} 40. f4 exf4 $6 {losing instantly. You can't blame him for playing this move since he only had 18 seconds, but you can blame him for getting to a situation where he only had 18 seconds.} (40... f5 $1 41. Qxe5 Qxh5 42. Qe7 Kh7 {is holding according to some engines, but this looks nearly losing for Black.}) 41. Qxe8+ Bxe8 42. Bxf7 $1 Bc6+ 43. Kf2 fxg3+ {Grischuk spent a fair amount of time on this move, understanding he is completely lost.} 44. Kxg3 Bd7 45. Bg6 (45. Bg6 Kg8 46. Kf4 Kf8 47. Ke5 Kg8 48. Kd5 Kf8 49. Kc5 {Black can't do anything.} Kg8 50. Kb6 Kh8 51. Kc7 Bb5 52. d7 Bxd7 53. Kxd7 {and due to the existence of the g7 pawn, here Black gets zugzwanged and loses.} Kg8 54. Ke8 Kh8 55. Ke7 Kg8 56. Bf7+ Kh7 57. Kf8 g5 58. hxg6+ {and a quick mate.}) 1-0
And Norway breathes a sigh of relief! And yet, the two bottom spots are still Norwegian players...
WGM Jennifer Shahade was sick, and today WGM Tatev Abrahamyan brought insightful commentary to the coverage at grandchesstour.com. Meanwhile the dude on the right turned 27 today. Wish him happy birthday below!
Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ Anand, Viswanathan
Following a game between two non-elite grandmasters, Nakamura obtained a little bit of pressure in a symemtrical pawn structure out of this Nimzo-Indian. Anand's position was slightly unpleasant, but a mistake allowed his pieces, specifically his knights, to jump with incredibly momentum. Nakamura tanked, thinking about 30 minutes when he saw what he had done to his position. Wisely, he simplified into an easily drawn rook endgame.
A very mature decision from Nakamura after messing up his position
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime ½-½ Giri, Anish
Black equalized easily by out-preparing MVL. This was barely a game.
Aronian, Levon 1-0 Caruana, Fabiano
Another suicidal mission from Caruana. He had been holding solidly in an unpleasant endgame with an isolated pawn, but in another fateful 40th move today, he lost the thread of the game...
[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.21"] [Round "5.5"] [White "Aronian, Levon"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A30"] [WhiteElo "2780"] [BlackElo "2805"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/5p1k/1p3n2/p1np4/P5q1/1PQ1PNP1/6K1/8 w - - 0 39"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "2015.06.16"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 39. Qxf6 Qxg3+ $2 {Falling for a clever trap. Caruana saw a mirage - thinking that he was up a pwn in the endgame he had no chances of losing, but actually he is already much worse!} (39... Qg6 $11) 40. Kxg3 Ne4+ 41. Kf4 Nxf6 42. Ke5 { Suddenly it is clear that White's initiative on the queenside is enough to win the b6 and a5 pawns. Black must be extremely careful.} Kg6 43. Nd4 Kg5 44. Kd6 Ng4 45. Nc2 Kf5 46. Kxd5 Nf6+ 47. Kc6 Ke4 48. Kxb6 Kd3 {Here Aronian missed an unbelievable win} 49. Ne1+ (49. Nb4+ $3 axb4 (49... Kc3 50. Kxa5 Kxb3 51. Kb5 $18) 50. Kc6 {and the king dominates the knight, the a-pawn promotes by force.} ) 49... Kxe3 50. Kxa5 Kd2 $2 {missing a draw, but it's hard to blame Caruana.} (50... Nd5 $3 {is a draw. Why? ask your engine, the lines are too long!}) 51. Nf3+ Kc3 52. b4 Nd5 53. b5 Kb3 {Now every move wins.} 54. Ne5 f5 55. Nd7 { White wants to play b6 and take with the knight. The rest is trivial for Aronian.} Ne3 56. b6 Nc4+ 57. Kb5 Nd6+ 58. Kc6 Nc4 59. Kc5 Na5 60. Kb5 1-0
Hammer, Jon Ludvig 0-1 Topalov, Veselin
The game that everyone is talking about. Topalov takes a commanding lead in the tournament by beating Jon Ludvig Hammer.. but the way that he got there is simply unbelievable.
Maurice Ashley loved White's position from the opening
Topalov's opening was more than dubious, allowing the Norwegian an impressive initiative. With excellent understanding, White sacrificed a piece to obtain a bind that disallowed Black's pieces from moving. However, he started messing up after that. His unnecessarily passive play gave Topalov all the room he needed to develop his pieces. Hammer obtained three pawns for the piece, but was holding the balance and nothing more.
Just when it seemed everything was over and Hammer earned his hard-fought draw, the following happened:
[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.21"] [Round "5.4"] [White "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"] [Black "Topalov, Veselin"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D12"] [WhiteElo "2677"] [BlackElo "2798"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "1r6/5k2/P1R3p1/6P1/3b1P2/K7/8/8 w - - 0 68"] [PlyCount "14"] [EventDate "2015.06.16"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 68. Ka4 Rf8 69. Kb5 Kg7 70. Rc7+ Rf7 71. Rxf7+ $1 {Good calculation into a drawn endgame, with a little trick.} Kxf7 72. Kc4 $1 {The point, gaining a tempo} Ba7 73. Kd5 Ke7 (73... Bb8 74. Kc6 $1 {Threatening Kb7, winning! Black must return to a7.} Ba7 75. Kd5 $1 {and Black can only repeat positions.}) 74. Kc6 $4 {Absolutely horrible.} (74. f5 {was as obvious as it was effective.} gxf5 75. Ke5 $11) 74... Ke6 {The pawn endgame is very obviously losing. Hammer suffered in his chair for a few minutes before stretching his hand out and resigning in shame.} 0-1
Hammer was simply disgusted with himself after blundering in such a basic position
With this Topalov has been gifted at least two games with Black (Carlsen forfeiting on time against him from a won position, and Hammer giving up a completely drawn position in one move), while his other Black win was against a very poor showing against MVL. The Bulgarian leads by a full point over Nakamura now, who has a very tough pairings tomorrow as the American is Black against Carlsen!
The games are being 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 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Alejandro RamirezGrandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.
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