Zurich R5: two spectacular draws
3/1/2013 – Who's complaining? Today's round continued to provide some spectacular chess. Kramnik and Caruana decided that the Benoni was a super battleground, and that is always good for the spectators. Anand may have been a tad lucky since his opening was far from perfect, but both games ended in exciting draws. We have videos, postgame analysis and guest commentator.
In one of the strongest tournaments of the year the World Champion Viswanathan Anand (India) is facing the former title-holder Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), last year’s World Championship challenger Boris Gelfand (Israel) and the rising star Fabiano Caruana (Italy). At the Savoy Hotel, Paradeplatz, Zurich, the four masters are playing a double round-robin tournament from 23 February to 1 March 2013.
Round five report
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5th round: 28 February 2013 at 15:00
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| Boris Gelfand | 2740 |
½-½
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Viswanathan Anand | 2780 |
| Vladimir Kramnik | 2810 |
½-½
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Fabiano Caruana | 2757 |
Gelfand, Boris – Anand, Vishy ½-½
Gelfand's Catalan was rather more successful this time around, as he had some strong pressure on the queenside, especially against Anand's over-extended c4 pawn. It's a little bit of a mystery why he so gladly gave up an exchange for two pawns, when the direct attack on the pawns with a potential Nd2 might have netted him that c4 pawn without problems. The simplifications following the exchange sacrifice allowed Anand enough counterplay to comfortably draw.
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Our guest commentator today is Georgian International Master Zura Javakhadze, who is 19 years old and studies International Relations at Caucasus University in Tbilisi. Zura enjoys travelling and following many sport varieties, especially basketball, tennis and football. His spheres of interest outside of sport are cinematography, art and graphic design. January 2013 chess rating: 2448 |
Kramnik, Vladimir – Caruana, Fabiano ½-½
Having had some winning chances after a bad Benoni against Caruana earlier in the tournament, Kramnik figured he would have even more winning chances if he was a tempo up in this opening! The reversed Benoni setup worked quite well for him as he was able to create a nice bind on the queenside and even start pushing some kingside pawns in the attempt for an attack. However, Caruana sacrificed an exchange for two pawns to push it back, and slowly starting outplaying the Russian! When it all started to look bleak for Kramnik, he found the amazing 45. Re4!! simply leaving his rook en prise. Unfortunately for Caruana, taking it meant allowing an unusual perpetual, and although arguably he could have retreated his queen instead, he felt it was too risky and took the draw. A wild and exciting game!
Watch the postmortem of the two players:
Current standings
Live streams of the game
In the following videos commentators GM Yannick Pelletier and IM Werner Hug analyse the games as they progress, and also interview the players after they are over.
More video commentary from the round is available here on the official site.
Impressions on round five by Vijay Kumar
Schedule and results
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1st round: 23 February 2013 at 15:00
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| Fabiano Caruana | 2757 |
½-½
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Viswanathan Anand | 2780 |
| Vladimir Kramnik | 2810 |
½-½
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Boris Gelfand | 2740 |
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2nd round: 24 February 2013 at 15:00
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| Vladimir Kramnik | 2810 |
½-½
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Viswanathan Anand | 2780 |
| Boris Gelfand | 2740 |
½-½
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Fabiano Caruana | 2757 |
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3rd round: 25 February 2013 at 15:00
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| Viswanathan Anand | 2780 |
½-½
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Boris Gelfand | 2740 |
| Fabiano Caruana | 2757 |
½-½
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Vladimir Kramnik | 2810 |
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4th round: 27 February 2013 at 15:00
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| Viswanathan Anand | 2780 |
0-1
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Fabiano Caruana | 2757 |
| Boris Gelfand | 2740 |
½-½
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Vladimir Kramnik | 2810 |
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5th round: 28 February 2013 at 15:00
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| Boris Gelfand | 2740 |
½-½
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Viswanathan Anand | 2780 |
| Vladimir Kramnik | 2810 |
½-½
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Fabiano Caruana | 2757 |
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6th round: 1 March 2013 at 13:00
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| Viswanathan Anand | 2780 | Vladimir Kramnik | 2810 | |
| Fabiano Caruana | 2757 | Boris Gelfand | 2740 | |
LinksThe 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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