World Cup final G1: Kramnik draws first blood

by ChessBase
8/30/2013 – Dmitry Andreikin saw his classical game invincibility end as Vladimir Kramnik outclassed him in game one of the finals. It was vintage Kramnik as he first worked up an advantage, but the turning point was when he sacrificed his queen for rook, piece and a thorny passed c-pawn. Andreikin tried to hold on but was ultimately ground down. Rest day and first round report.

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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.

Rest Day

The players decided to take very different approaches on their first official rest day. Andreikin stayed at the hotel to finalize his strategies while Kramnik... went fishing! Sometimes, relaxation is the best for of preparation.

An every day view of the Tromso sea side

Truly breathtaking

Cooking the old fashioned way

An ex-World Champion doing what he does... second best

Kramnik posing with the spoils of the day

Finals game one

Vladimir Kramnik pressured Dmitri Andreikin from the very beginning. However technique was still required as it was very unclear how to proceed with the positional advantages. After 29...Re8, Kramnik sacrificed the queen for rook and bishop, and as well as a thorny passed c-pawn, a move he had already planned when he played 28.d5! Dmitry had great difficulties coming up with a defensive plan, while little by little the former World Champion improved on his position.

Kramnik worked hard to convert his advantage and was rewarded for his efforts

The turning point was right after the time control, with 41.c7! forcing Black to enter a very difficult queen against two rooks endgame. Live commentator GM Nigel Short himself was unsure whether it could be won, though he did recall a similar situation in which Kramnik beat Leko. Kramnik in the post-mortem had no such doubts and said he felt it was winning and did not see what Black could do.

Kramnik spent time at a space center and described the very uncomfortable
conditions of the astronauts in space.

With only three games to go and 1-0 already on the board, Vladimir Kramnik could hardly hope for a better start.

Replay the game one of the Finals:

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2013"] [Site "Tromso NOR"] [Date "2013.08.30"] [Round "7.1"] [White "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Black "Andreikin, Dmitry"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D58"] [WhiteElo "2784"] [BlackElo "2716"] [PlyCount "125"] [EventDate "2013.08.11"] 1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nc3 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 b6 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Bb7 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Qe2 a6 12. Rfd1 Nd5 13. Bg3 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Bd6 15. e4 Bxg3 16. hxg3 b5 17. Bd3 Nb6 18. Qe3 Na4 19. Bc2 Nb2 20. Rdb1 Nc4 21. Qc1 c5 22. a4 cxd4 23. cxd4 Rc8 24. axb5 axb5 25. Qe1 Bc6 26. Rb4 Ra8 27. Rd1 Ra3 28. d5 exd5 29. exd5 Re8 30. dxc6 Rxe1+ 31. Nxe1 Qc7 32. Rxb5 g6 33. Rc5 Ne5 34. Be4 Ng4 35. Nd3 Kg7 36. Bf3 Nf6 37. Nb4 h5 38. Rdc1 Ra7 39. Nd5 Nxd5 40. Bxd5 Qd8 41. c7 Rxc7 42. Rxc7 Qxd5 43. Re1 Kh6 44. Ree7 f6 45. Red7 Qa5 46. f4 g5 47. Kh2 Kg6 48. fxg5 Kxg5 49. Rh7 f5 50. Rcg7+ Kf6 51. Ra7 Qb4 52. Ra6+ Ke5 53. Rxh5 Qb1 54. Ra5+ Kf6 55. Raxf5+ Kg6 56. Rfg5+ Kf6 57. Rb5 Qc2 58. Rh6+ Kg7 59. Rbb6 Qc5 60. Rbg6+ Kf8 61. Rh7 Qf5 62. Rgg7 Qe6 63. Re7 1-0

All results of the final match

Player Rtg G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
Kramnik,Vl 2706
1
                1.0
Andreikin,Dm 2741
0
                0.0

Photos by Paul Trong


Links

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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.


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