World Cup R2: Sasi, Adhiban Draw

Tromsø, Norway: Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran kept himself in the hunt by holding Sergey Karjakin of Russia to a draw in the first game of the second round of World Chess Cup here  on Wednesday.

After beating Romanian Constantin Lupulescu in the tiebreak games, Sasikiran took it easy in the first encounter of the two-game mini-match and gave little chance to Karjakin, ranked ninth in the world currently.

Grandmaster B Adhiban, however, could not make use of a good advantage and drew with Brazilian GM Alexander Fier after an opening tussle.

Former national champion, Sasikiran surprised Karjakin by going for the King's Indian attack as white.

Karjakin spent more time in the opening but it was clear that the Russian was well-prepared and was only trying to remember the best moves. As the middle game approached, Karjakin got his counter play rolling on the queen side and Sasikiran had to play a bit cautiously to avoid giving any leeway.

The minor pieces changed hands and when Karjakin traded the queens after which there was nothing left to fight for. The Russian proposed the draw that was accepted. The game lasted 44 moves.
 

B Adhiban

Adhiban missed out on gaining the lead. Fier came up with the Noteboom variation where the Indian opted for the razor-sharp Marshall gambit. Very early in the opening, Fier decided to part with his rook for a minor piece. In established theory that was quite unplayable and the Brazilian was soon under pressure.

The game, however, took a different route and Adhiban as a result spent a lot of time in the middle game, thereby falling a little under time pressure. Sensing trouble, the Indian proposed a draw after just 20 moves which Fier gladly accepted.

After a few surprises in the opener, most of the higher ranked players got off to a good start in the first game of second round in this USD 1.6 million knock-out event.

The day saw top players like Alexander Morozevich and Alexander Grischuk of Russia, Gata Kamsky of United States, Anish Giri of Holland and Fabiano Caruana of Italy registering victories over lower rated opponents.

Julio Granda Zuniga of Peru

Julio Granda Zuniga of Peru, however, sprang a major surprise defeating Hungarian Peter Leko. Isan Ortiz Suarez from Cuba suddenly lost to French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in a position with a huge advantage.

Alexander Morozevich blundered in a winning position but his opponent Rafael Leitao didn't see the winning shot and instead lost. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov didn’t convert a huge advantage against Maxim Matlakov, while Wang Hao got a three-time repetition in a lost position. Local hero Jon Ludvig Hammer, who defeated Sergey Movsesian in the previous round, drew with David Navara in a game where he had a better position, although it wasn't winning as he'd thought after the game.

Some players preferred not to take any risks in the first game and didn’t mind a short draw. Peace agreements were signed relatively quickly in the games Dubov-Ponomariov, Bacrot-Moiseenko, Jakovenko-Eljanov, and Lysyj-Aronian (pictured above). The others fought for many hours but the positions remained balanced in the Kobalia-Kramnik and Svidler-Bologan games.

In the 12 decisive games the victories for White outnumbered Black by 10 to 2. Only Vassily Ivanchuk and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won with the black pieces.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had a winning position but lost his advantage in one move.
"Seems I’m getting old if I cannot win such positions," Mamedyarov wrote on his Facebook page.

The World Chess Cup is a part of the next World Championship cycle. The event started with 128 players but half of them were knocked out after the first round, including Parimarjan Negi and G Akash of India.

Each round, except the final, is a mini-match of two games followed by encounters of shorter duration in case of tied result.

Important and Indian results of Round 2 game 1:Igor Lysyj (RUS) drew with Levon Aronian (ARM); Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS) beat So Wesley (PHI); Alexander Morozevich (RUS) beat Rafael Leitao (GER); Gata Kamsky (USA) beat Aleksandr Shimanov (RUS); Alexei Shirov (LAT) drew with Wei Yi (CHN); Alexander Grischuk (RUS) beat Dariusz Swiercz (POL); Krishnan Sasikiran (IND) drew with Sergey Karjakin (RUS); Fabiano Caruana (ITA) beat Yu Yangyi (CHN); Julio Granda Zuniga (PER) beat Peter Leko (HUN); Anish Giri (NED) beat Li Chao (CHN); Leinier Dominguez Perez (CUB) beat Alexander Onischuk (USA); Ray Robson (USA) lost to Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR); Hikaru Nakamura (USA) beat Eltaj Safarli (AZE); B Adhiban (IND) drew with Alexandr Fier (BRA); Anotn Korobov (UKR) beat Baadur Jobava (GEO).

Watch all the games live at the official website of the World Chess Cup 2013. (Photos: Anastasiya Karlovich)

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Kasparov on Cori Forfeit at World Cup

Start of play and Jorge Cori is not in the playing hall as Teimour Radjabov waits at the board.

  

Jorge Cori rushing to the playing hall, but two minutes is too late. (Photos: Anastasiya Karlovich)

Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov has commented via twitter on the forfeit of 17-Year-old Peruvian Jorge Cori from 

Round 1 at the World Chess Cup 2013 due to a mistake in hearing the time of start of play. Cori mistook 15 for 50 and reached the venue two minutes late. By that time, Azerbaijani GM Teimour Radjabov had already signed the scoresheet and left. As a result Cori got a forfeit in his first tiebreak game. Kasparov tweeted the following on Tuesday:

"I have zero tolerance for FIDE's zero tolerance policy! Forfeiting a kid at the most important event of his life for being a minute late? Young Peruvian star Jorge Cori misunderstood 6:15 for 6:50 & wasn't at board at World Cup event. Forfeited, and in round 1! He's appealing.

"I have always promoted professionalism and treating chess as a serious sport, not a casual game.But rules like this destroy common sense.

"Struggling federations like Peru's cannot send a big staff of coaches & aides. Difficult just to send players! But FIDE taxes them anyway.

Kasparov retweeted World Cup Norway participant Jon Ludvig Hammer's tweet: "There really should be at least 33% players in the Appeals Committee!" [Three FIDE Officials are the members of the board]

Kasparov: "Players?! Ilyumzhinov's FIDE give players a real voice? Too dangerous!

Nothing to do with Cori's opponent. Obviously not Radjabov's fault. The foolish rule is the problem and I have said it before. "

*the chess world is abuzz with shocked opinions on the incident

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World Chess Cup: Sasi, Adhiban in R2

Former National champions B. Adhiban and Krishnan Sasikiran have made it to Round 2 of the Chess World Cup being played in Tromso, Norway.

Pitted against a much higher-rated rival, Adhiban displayed top form to beat Evgeny Alekseev of Russia 5-3, winning in the blitz tiebreaker while Sasikiran prevailed over Constantin Lupulescu of Romania 2.5-1.5 cruising past in the second rapid game to reach the round of 64.

Parimarjan Negi lost to Yuri Kryvoruchko of Ukraine in the mini-match. Parimarjan lost 2-4 but before that he won the first rapid tiebreaker as black. He blew it away with white pieces in the return game. Adhiban’s victory turned out to be the second biggest upset in the World cup so far after Wei Yi of China had beaten Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia.

Ranked way below, Adhiban showed a lot of determination and played with his heart out to beat Alekseev, a member of the top 50 club it he world rankings.

It started with the rapid tiebreaker wherein Adhiban drew the first blood but lost the return game. The stage was thus set for two 10-minutes each games that ended in draws.

Alekseev missed out on a clear advantage in the subsequent five-minutes each blitz game and ran out of time and in the second blitz game Adhiban gave no chances and picked up as many as three pawns before the Russian called it a day. Sasikiran gave a perfect display of technical chess to outplay Lupulescu.

Playing the white side of a Queen pawn game in the second rapid tiebreaker after drawing the first, Sasikiran weakened the king side with some precise moves in the middle game and launched an attack on the king side to knock down a pawn for no compensation. The rest was child’s play for the seasoned Indian.

Negi was unlucky yet again. In the normal games too he had won the first game with black pieces but could not make a draw as white and in the second too it was a similar story. Winning with black with a fine combination, Negi got a balanced position again as white but missed out in the endgame to let Kryvoruchko level the scores again.

In the next set of tiebreakers, Kryvoruchko won both games. Sasikiran has a tough challenge to tackle in Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the next round of this USD 1.6 million event.

Adhiban will take on Alexander Fier of Brazil in what is expected to be an even contest.

According to the regulations of the World Cup tiebreaks two rapid games are played at a rate of 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds per move. If the score is still tied two accelerated rapid games are played with a time control of 10 min + 10 sec. If the score is still deadlocked two blitz games are then played at 5 min + 3 sec. Finally, if a winner has still not been determined a sudden death Armageddon game takes place with 5 minutes for White and 4 minutes for Black with a 2 sec increment after move 60. In that game Black has draw odds (i.e. he wins if the game is drawn).

A total of 15 players were eliminated after the tiebreaks. In general, the favorites won their matches: Peter Svidler, Michael Adams, Alexander Morozevich, Dmitry Andreikin, Anton Korobov, Jobava Baadur and Alexei Dreev all went through to the next round. Georgian GM Jobava Baadur won against Ukrainian GM Martyn Kravtsiv with a 2-0 score. At the same time a few of the rating favorites were unexpectedly knocked out of the World Cup at this stage.

Norwegian player GM Hammer defeated Armenian GM Sergei Movsesian in the first game of the playoff and drew the second game, thus eliminating his more experienced opponent from the FIDE World Cup. Brazilian GM Alexander Fier defeated an opponent more than one hundred points higher rated, Polish GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek.

Women’s World Champion Anna Ushenina lost the first rapid game but could have upset Peter Svidler in the second. She missed her chance and the Russian player won the match. 

A total of 13 rapid matches finished drawn so 26 players continued their battles at the 10 min + 10 sec time control. Gata Kamsky, Alexei Shirov, Teimour Radjabov, Ruben Felgaer, Rafael Leitao, Eltaj Safarli, Viktor Bologan, Yuriy Kryvoruchko and Alexandr Shimanov were successful at that stage.Not an easy match for Gata Kamsky, who only managed to win the fifth game against Chinese IM Lou Yiping.

Hou Yifan and Alexei Shirov exchanged victories in rapid and continued their match. The Latvian player proved to be stronger at the 10 min + 10 sec time control. Despite the final outcome, the former Women’s World Champion showed great play in the event.

Jorge Cori Forfeit: Sad Event

After two draws in the classical games Azeri GM Teimour Radjabov struggled against GM Jorge Cori (Peru) in rapid – each won a game. The spectators were waiting for an exciting continuation at the 10 min+10 sec time control. Surprisingly, Cori didn’t appear in time for the first game. One second after the start of the round, Teimour Radjabov stopped the clock, signed the score sheet and left the playing hall, while Jorge Cori was running to the playing hall.

Using the advantage of the white pieces the Azeri player didn’t have any problem drawing the second game. After the end of the match GM Cori from Peru made an appeal. The decision of the Appeals Committee has been published here on the official website. Cori said he had heard wrong the start time and rushed to the hall only after seeing the players walk in via the live Internet feed. A little less than 2 minutes later Cori came to the playing hall and tried to explain what had happened. 

Also, an unfortunate day for Russian GM Alexander Riazantsev, who lost against Argentinian GM Ruben Felgaer. Four matches remained to be decided in blitz. Two Russian GMs Zvjaginsev and Alekseev were defeated by Polish GM Swiercz and Indian GM Adhiban respectively, while players on the two remaining boards reached Armageddon games.

Many participants of the tournament and spectators came to watch the matches Tomashevsky versus Ramirez and Melkumyan versus Granda Zuniga in the playing hall. Playing White Evgeny Tomashevsky defeated his opponent and Granda Zuniga, who played with Black and just needed to make a draw to advance, also managed to win.

The second round of the FIDE World Cup starts at 3 p.m. local time on 14th of August. 64 participants will continue playing but as before only half of them will advance to the next stage. You can watch the live broadcast of the Chess World Cup 2013 at the official website.

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World Chess Cup R1.2: Akash Exits

Caruana and Akash - Young talents

India's Parimarjan Negi let slip a position of strength and lost to Ukraine’s Yuri Kryvoruchko in the second game of the chess World Cup in Tromso. The shocking loss with white pieces means that Negi will have to now battle it out in the tie-break games of shorter duration as the final score after the two-game mini-match stands tied at 1-1.

G. Akash made his exit from the 128-player event with a memorable game wherein he held world No. 3 Caruana to a creditable draw with black pieces.

Having lost the first game of the match, the draw only helped Akash to gain some rating but this is one result he will cherish for a long time.

B. Adhiban played out his second draw with Evgeny Alekseev of Russia while K. Sasikiran achieved the same result against Constantin Lupulescu of Romania.

Negi was pretty unlucky not to progress to the round of 64. Kryvoruchko went for the Sicilian Dragon but his hopes of a combat in complications evaporated as Negi got slightly better position without much ado. Kryvoruchko had to part with a pawn also and it was smooth sailing for the Indian till disaster struck on move 42. Negi followed a mistake with a blunder and the fate of the game was soon sealed.

Sasikiran allowed the Nimzo Indian defence but could not force an advantage in the late middle game. Lupulescu, to his credit, handled the middle game well enough to remain in hunt for the next round.

Adhiban had slightly better prospects against former Russian champion Alekseev but to make progress was not easy for the Indian. Alekseev equalised towards the end and just repeated moves to force a draw.

In other important results, the world’s highest ranked woman Judit Polgar of Hungary was ousted by Isan Ortiz Suarez of Spain while defending champion Peter Svidler of Russia was shocked by women’s world champion Anna Ushenina.

Just as on day one there were plenty of fireworks on the second day of the FIDE World Cup in Tromsø. Thirteen players won their matches with a 2-0 score (not counting Alexander Moiseenko, whose opponent could not come to Tromsø).

While some victories with impressive results could be expected from top players such as Aronian, Kramnik, Grischuk, Nakamura and Dominguez, there were also a few 2-0 results produced by players with ratings lower than their opponents.

Russian GM Daniil Dubov managed to outplay experienced and higher rated Ukrainian GM Sergey Fedorchuk. American GM Ray Robson didn’t leave any chances for Ukrainian GM Andrei Volokitin by winning 2-0. One of the most surprising results for those who compare the ratings of opponents happened in the Nepomniachtchi-Wei match. The youngest participant of the event, Chinese GM Yi Wei (a nominee of FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov), defeated Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi 1.5-0.5.

The participants of the upcoming Women’s World Championship match Hou Yifan and Anna Ushenina are doing well so far. Anna Ushenina defeated Peter Svidler in his favorite Gruenfeld and Hou Yifan drew the second game against Alexei Shirov. The reigning and former Women’s World Champions will proceed to the playoff stage on Tuesday.

Judit Polgar, the strongest female player in the history of chess, lost out on a number of winning chances, drew against Cuban GM Isan Reynaldo Ortiz and lost the match. A total of 28 matches were undecided after two games at the classical time control and 56 players will continue to fight at 3 p.m. local time on August 13.
Russian GM Alexander Morozevich lost his first game, but managed to equalize.

Rising star from Russia GM Daniil Dubov defeated GM Sergey Fedorchuk 2-0 as well. GM Michael Adams made a second draw against Wan Yunguo of China. The strongest Chinese GM Wang Hao outplayed his compatriot Liu Qingnan. An unexpectedly quick elimination for Ukrainian GM Andrei Volokitin. Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk outplayed Polish IM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who upset him with a draw the day before.

The FIDE World Cup is a knockout which starts with 128 players and runs from August 10 to September 3rd. The top two players will qualify for the next FIDE Candidates Tournament which will take place in March 2014 and determine the challenger for the World Championship match in 2014.

The time control for each two-game match is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. If the score is equal there are two rapid chess tiebreak games, played at a rate of 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds per move. If the score is still equal then two accelerated games will be played, with a time control of 10 min + 10 sec. If the score is still equal two more games will be played at 5 min + 3 sec. If the winner is still not determined then a final Armageddon game with 5 minutes for White and 4 minutes for Black, with a 3 sec increment after move 60, will be played. In this game Black has draw odds (i.e. he wins if the game is drawn). 

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