The FIDE World Cup is a knockout, starting with 128 players, with two games
(90 min for 40 moves + 30 min for the rest, with 30 seconds increment) between
pairs of players. The tiebreaks consist of two rapid games (25 min + 10
sec), then two accelerated games (10 min + 10 sec), and finally an Armageddon.
The winner and the runner-up of the World Cup 2013 will qualify for the
Candidates Tournament of the next World Championship cycle. The venue is
the city of Tromsø, which lies in the northern-most region of Norway,
almost 400 km inside the Arctic Circle. You can find all details
and links to many ChessBase
articles on Tromsø here. The World Cup starts on Sunday, August
11th and lasts until September 3rd (tiebreaks, closing ceremony). Each round
lasts three days, while the final will consist of four classical games.
Thursday August 29 is a free day. A detailed schedule can be found here.

Finals game two

A wild position occurred as Vladimir Kramnik decided not to sit passively
and wait for Dmitri Andreikin to show his cards. Immediately Black counter-attacked
in the center in a variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined that is gaining
popularity rapidly.

Andreikin was faced with a tough decision as early as move 15 when Kramnik
played 14...Bxa3!? It's possible that taking the knight on d7 was the superior
choice. In the game continuation the tactics barely worked for Black –
but that was sufficient.

Black survived and entered an endgame where he was only very slightly worse.
The bishop was superior to the knight, but White's crippled structure on
the kingside did not allow him to play for more than a draw.

A special guest appeared on the live commentary: Garry Kasparov connected
via Skype and analysed with , with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam and Nigel Short,
also sharing stories of previous world championship matches.

Photos by Paul Trong
GM analysis of game two
 |
We are pleased to welcome Indian GM Parimarjan Negi, 20, as a
guest commentator on our news page. In 2006 Parimarjan became the
second youngest grandmaster in the history of the game – at
the age of 13 years, 3 months, and 22 days.
Parimarjan won the strong Philadelphia International Open Tournament
in June 2008 with a score of 7.0/9, and was undefeated. In July
2009 he won the Politiken Cup tournament in Copenhagen with 8.5/10
and in 2010 won the 48th National Premier Chess Championship in
New Delhi. Parimarjan also won the 11th Asian continental chess
championship in 2012 in Vietnam, and also won the Politiken Cup
in Denmark in 2013.
Negi studies in the Amity International School and has won various
tournaments there. His current rating is 2662.
|

[Event "WorldCup 2013"] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.08.31"] [Round "56.1"]
[White "Andreikin, Dmitry"] [Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2727"] [BlackElo "2784"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"]
{As in the previous rounds, Andreikin avoided mainstream theory - and
it can be said successfully, but then he failed to make a tough decision
that could have put the Kramnik under pressure.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3.
Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 { Kramnik sticks to his favourite Queen's Gambit Declined.}
5. Bf4 O-O 6. a3 $5 { Much less played than the ultra theoretical 6.e3,
this move has been gaining popularity recently as it 'avoids' the typical
solid lines with Nbd7-c5 that black employs after e3.} b6 {Andreikin spent
some time trying to choose between going into a typical structure with
cxd5-Nd5-Nd5-exd5, or continue to try and maintain the tension in the
centre.} (6... Nbd7 7. Nb5 $1 {is the point - and now the use of a3, preventing
Bb4+ is clear.}) ({In the previous game Kramnik had continued:} 6... dxc4
{which is probably what Andreikin had mainly prepared against.}) 7. e3
{Eventually Dmitry avoids the typical Queen's Gambit Declined structure,
possiby because of Kramnik's vast experience in such structures.} c5 {Instant
reply, and once again Andreikin is in a difficult situation: how to avoid
the former World Champion's impressive preparation, and yet maintain tension
in the game.} 8. Qc2 {An offbeat move. I believe Andreikin had some idea
about it, but considering the amount of time he took, he had definitely
not prepared it for this game. But he achieved his aim of avoiding any
forcing preparation - and now an interesting battle over the board begins.}
cxd4 {Black decides against maintaining the tension in the centre, and
bringing more tactical options into focus.} 9. Nxd4 (9. exd4 {will just
leave White with an eventual isolated pawn.}) 9... Bb7 10. Rd1 Nbd7 11.
cxd5 {A critical moment. Black can just make the obivious recapture with
Nxd5, and hope to equalise in the ensuing symmetrical position. Or, he
could try to win a piece with the pawn fork - e5.} e5 {Kramnik chooses
to take the challenge! Unfortunately things aren't as easy for Black -
and he possibly underestimated either White's 14th or 15th move.} (11...
Nxd5 12. Nxd5 Bxd5 13. Bb5 $1 {Despite the drawish nature of such structures,
White's considerably more active pieces, along with a glaring weakeness
on c6, and uncomfortable Qd8, don't make Black's life easy yet.}) 12.
Nc6 (12. Nf5 exf4 13. d6 Bxd6 14. Nxd6 Qc7 15. exf4 {White wins a pawn,
but the King stuck on e1 makes it look only dangerous for him.}) 12...
Bxc6 13. dxc6 exf4 14. exf4 $1 {A nice intermediate move! At first sight
the suddenly naked king on e1, along with the tantalizing possibility
of checks on the e file make it look dangerous for White. But there is
no clear way to make use of this temporary weakeness, while White wins
back his piece in the next move, followed by a quick consolidation with
Be2 and 0-0.} Bxa3 $5 {A nice tactical idea - which can explain Kramnik's
e5. Now White needs to make an important decision.} (14... Bd6 15. cxd7
Qxd7 16. Be2 Qc7 17. g3 $14) 15. bxa3 $2 {Andreikin may have missed the
nice equalising trick 18...Nce4 - or perhaps he wanted to avoid the murky
looking complications after cd7.} (15. cxd7 $1 {Having computers assisting
us, it's easy to point out cxd7 as a much stronger move - but during a
tense match, it's not that easy to understand that the dangerous looking
pawn on d7 will not actually fall!} Bb4 (15... Bd6 16. Bb5 $1 {is an important
resource!}) 16. Be2 Qc7 17. Qb3 $1 {A typical, highly effective move of
the machine that is hard to find a few moves before. With the concrete
trick of 0-0, Nd5 White manages to keep his formidable pawn, and maintain
serious winning chances.} ({An obvious} 17. O-O {simply drops the pawn.}
Rad8) 17... a5 18. O-O Rad8 19. Nd5 $1 $16) 15... Qe8+ 16. Be2 Nc5 17.
O-O Qxc6 18. Bf3 Nce4 $1 {A nice little tactic that saves black by a Whisker.
Despite an ominous pin along f3-a8 diagonal, white is unable to avoid
the threatened simplifications.} 19. Rc1 (19. Bxe4 Nxe4 20. Qxe4 Qxc3
$11 {was the key point.}) 19... Qxc3 20. Qxc3 Nxc3 21. Rxc3 Rac8 {Now
the game enters much calmer waters, and Kramnik easily steers his position
to safety.} 22. Rfc1 Rxc3 23. Rxc3 Re8 24. g4 Kf8 25. g5 Ng8 {Despite
the temporary passivity of Black's pieces, he is in no real danger. The
knight will soon regroup to f5.} 26. Kg2 g6 27. h4 Ne7 28. Rc7 Nf5 29.
h5 Re7 30. Rc8+ Re8 31. Rc7 Re7 32. Rc8+ Re8 33. Rc7 1/2-1/2

Visit Parimarjan's
web site
Replay all games of the Final
Select games from the dropdown menu above the board
Results of the final match
Player |
Rtg |
G1 |
G2 |
G3 |
G4 |
G5 |
G6 |
G7 |
G8 |
G9 |
Pts |
Kramnik,Vl |
2706 |
1
|
½
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.0 |
Andreikin,Dm |
2741 |
0
|
½
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.0 |