White to move. How should white proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
Friday, May 18, 2012
Deciding a World Championship
If the Anand - Gelfand WC match goes the distance and the score is tied at 6-6, the players have to play rapid, blitz, and then Armageddon to decide the title. Here is the rule: http://moscow2012.fide.com/files/FWCM2012.pdf
How about using Fischer Random to decide the match? This would eliminate the influence of Houdini, Rybka, Stockfish, Fritz, etc. This would also eliminate 20-30-40 move deep home preparation.
It can be in rapid format if the score is still tied after 4 playoff games, they will go to sudden death mode. This means that which ever player scores first after 4 playoff games will win.
What do you think? What other ideas do you have? Time odd Armageddon does not seem to be appropriate to me. Let's get some brilliant ideas going :)
Kamsky vs Nakamura for all the marbles
Round 10 important matchups
| White | Score | Rating | Black | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GM Seirawan, Yasser | 3.0 | 2643 | - GM Kaidanov, Gregory S | 3.5 | 2594 |
| GM Akobian, Varuzhan | 4.5 | 2625 | - GM Onischuk, Alexander | 5.5 | 2660 |
| GM Shulman, Yuri | 5.0 | 2571 | - GM Robson, Ray | 4.5 | 2614 |
| GM Stripunsky, Alexander | 3.0 | 2562 | - GM Ramirez, Alejandro | 3.0 | 2593 |
| GM Lenderman, Aleksandr | 4.5 | 2587 | - GM Hess, Robert L | 4.0 | 2635 |
| GM Kamsky, Gata | 7.0 | 2741 | - GM Nakamura, Hikaru | 6.5 | 2775 |
Nisipeanu confirmed as player for Kings Tournament 2012
Nisipeanu confirmed as player for Kings Tournament 2012
Bazna Kings 2012 will be one of the strongest round robin tournaments of the year. With Carlsen, Anand, Radjabov, Ivanchuk, and Karjakin the top players of the event will have ELO average of 2790! To them will join the local star, European Champion, and World Championship semi-finalist GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu.
Nisipeanu has participated in the last 3 editions of Bazna Kings, review his last year game with Karjakin here (video), with Carlsen (here), and with Nakamura (here).
See the full players list here
Chessdom.com will have daily coverage of the event with live GM and computer analysis, videos, and news. The best games will be published also in the CEWN chess magazine.
More about Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu had his peak FIDE rating was 2707 in October 2005, when he was ranked fifteenth in the world, and the highest ranked Romanian player ever. Noted for his risky, almost paradoxical play; he is frequently called a student of Mikhail Tal.
In 1999, Nisipeanu as a clear outsider made it to the semifinals of the FIDE World Chess Championship by beating Vasily Ivanchuk in round 4 and Alexei Shirov in the quarterfinals only to lose to the eventual champion Alexander Khalifman. Nisipeanu won the European Individual Chess Championship 2005 in Warsaw with 10 points out of 13 games, half a point ahead of runner-up Teimour Radjabov from Azerbaijan.
Nisipeanu was also participant in strong events as Mtel Masters, and he was one of the first Grandmasters to be interviewed by Chessdom.
Gelfand - Anand game 6 LIVE!
Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom
Gelfand-Anand g6 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 a6 6. Qc2
6... c5 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Be2 Be6 9. O-O Nc6 They're cranking out moves at lightning speed.
10. Rd1 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Nxd4 12. Rxd4 Bc5 13. Rd1 Qe7 They played 13 moves in 9 min! Both are well prepared. Gelfand deviated on move 6.Qc2.
Anand is sacrificing the d5 pawn with excellent compensation as the white Bishop on c1 is not develop and will have a hard time getting out.
14. Bf3 0-0 White can take the d5 pawn. But he'll have a hard time getting the Bishop on c1 in play. I don't see Anand in danger at all.
14...0-0 is a change from the usual 14...Rd8 to defend the d5 pawn. Facing a novelty, Gelfand is thinking. I think he must take with 15.Nxd5.
Here is one sample line: 15. Nxd5 Bxd5 16. Bxd5 Nxd5 17. Rxd5 Rac8 18. Qd1 Rfd8 = to +=
Well, they actually played it 15. Nxd5 Bxd5 16. Bxd5 Nxd5 17. Rxd5 Rac8 But now Gelfand is thinking about where to put his Queen.
Oh well, Gelfand is giving back the pawn. Now they will have symmetrical pawns structure and soon a draw :) 18. Bd2 Bxe3 19. Bc3 Bb6
We basically have a drawn game after 30 min of play. It'll be a long nearly 2 day off :) Gelfand will play on due to better piece placement.
All kidding aside, White still have a very small edge thanks to his B on c3 and R on d5. But Anand will have little problem holding.
Perhaps they can agree to a draw soon and go have an early dinner with Kasparov who is in town (probably to protest against Putin) :)
20. Qf5 Gelfand of course is playing for 2 results as he has no risk of losing. Perhaps they'll play a little longer and join Kasparov for desert :)
We can joke about these quick draws but both players are so well prepared. They equalize with Black fairly easily. Hard to make a dent.
This is a huge credit to both team of seconds, as well as Houdini, Stockfish, Rybka, etc. I vote for 12 games of Fischer Random if tied 6-6.
20...Qe6 If white trades, it is an easy draw. So 21. Qf3 keeping the game alive a little longer.
Black played the most logical 21...f6 to neutralize the Bishop on c3. Gelfand opted for 22. h4 instead of doubling his rooks.
"Vishy - He lost motivation." - Kasparov.
"Vishy - He's sliding downhill" - Kasparov
Is Kasparov right about his brutal assessment of Anand? Is it fair for him to make those comments while match is still in progress?
22...Qc6 The idea is to try to trade down. More pieces off the board = easier draw.
Gelfand is marching ahead with 23. h5. Now one of the Rooks will go to d8 to simplify the position.
Possible line 23. h5 Rcd8 24. Rad1 Rxd5 25. Rxd5 Rd8 26. Rxd8+ Bxd8 27. Qxc6 bxc6 =
23.. Rfd8 24. Rxd8+ Rxd8 25. Qxc6 bxc6 =
When Gelfand brings his rook to the e file, Anand can simply play Kf7 to stop the rook from getting to the 7th rank. Draw to come soon.
I expect the players to shake hands soon. Perhaps one of them should have hired Kasparov to be his second? :)
26. Re1 Of course Black has to play Kf7 to prevent rook to e7.
GM Stuart Conquest: "Is today's Gelfand-Anand game still in play? I stopped watching."
27. g4 Bd4 Once again, Anand is calmly trading off pieces. Gelfand is trying to make something happen but it is unlikely going to happen.
How do you evaluate the match so far? Vote here: http://poll.pollcode.com/1jol
28. Rc1 Bxc3 29. Rxc3 Rd4 and they finally agreed to a draw.
Don't forget about the Kamsky - Nakamura show down in 3.5 hours. If Kamsky wins, he wins the US Championship. LIVE game right here.
Kamsky in Clear First; Zatonskih, Krush Still Even at U.S. Champs
For more information, please contact:
Mike Wilmering
Communications Specialist
Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
For Immediate Release:
Kamsky in Clear First; Zatonskih, Krush Still Even at U.S. Champs
By Mike Klein
SAINT LOUIS, May 18, 2012 -- GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Gata Kamsky entered round nine of the 2012 U.S. Championship tied with six points apiece. They could not have had more different days.
Kamsky won largely without any over-the-board effort, defeating GM Yasser Seirawan in a little more than two hours by using a spectacular combination. He had most of the moves worked out well in advance.
Nakamura labored for nearly six hours and 121 moves but could not break through against the stubborn defense of GM Alex Lenderman. He reluctantly agreed to a draw. His matchup with Kamsky tomorrow will mean he is playing from behind for the first time in the tournament. Kamsky now has seven points, while Nakamura is at 6.5.
Kamsky played the first 25 moves effectively in negative time, as the 30-second increment for every move offered him five more minutes than he began. His sacrifice 22. Bxh6 was played automatically, and a stunned Seirawan ran low on time contemplating the combination. The superior preparation netted the defending champion Kamsky a pain-free win.
“I knew yesterday he would play the Caro-Kann,” Kamsky said. He reviewed the opening again this morning, and Seirawan walked right into some preparation that Kamsky had saved from several years ago. “There are so many lines to prepare for, the chance that you will go into this one is terribly small,” Kamsky said.
Seirawan guessed that he may have actually seen the trap before, but failed to remember the intricacies. Unbeknownst to him, all moves up until 24...Nxd7 had occurred over Kamsky's practice board before. If Seirawan had not sacrifice his queen, then after 23...Nxd7 24. Qd2 Kh7 25. Ng4 is incontrovertible proof of the soundness of the attack.
Meanwhile, Kamsky's rival Nakamura had his hands full trying to inject life into his game with the much lower-rated Lenderman. The night before, Lenderman lost his first game of the tournament to Kamsky, and remarked that he needed more practice playing against 2700s. He got copious amounts of board time with another 2700 today.
After Nakamura reverted back to his usual 1. d4, a Nimzo-Indian led to both kings castling on the queenside. The board soon locked up, and Nakamura spent 40 moves shuffling his pieces around the back ranks searching for the right time to break through. His king traveled east as far as it could, and finally a c-file breakthrough was attempted. Just when it seemed the newfound pressure would be too much to bear, Lenderman deftly sacrificed a few pawns to engineer an endgame blockade. Two pawns to the good, Nakamura admitted he was out of ideas and whispered, “Draw?” to his opponent. After playing the sixth-longest game in U.S. Championship history, mostly idling or on defense, Lenderman agreed without hesitation.
Fellow competitors GM Robert Hess and GM Alejandro Ramirez came up to ask Lenderman why he did not play on, as they deemed his position better. “I didn't expect I could possibly have winning chances,” Lenderman said.
Kamsky will take white versus Nakamura tomorrow. If Kamsky is able to win, he will clinch his third consecutive national championship.
GM Alex Onischuk, the third seed, maintained exactly that place by sacrificing the exchange against GM Gregory Kaidanov. His multiple passed pawns were too much to handle in the endgame. Onischuk, whose performance rating is more than 2700, is the only other player who is mathematically alive for the title, though his chances are extremely slim.
In the 2012 U.S. Women's Championship, both leaders won to keep pace with each other, though IMs Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih were both worse in their respective games today.
“I did get what I wanted from the opening, but I played a really bad move – Rb1,” Krush said. “I played this game like a patzer.”
Hess said that if Krush's opponent, the lowest-ranked player in the field WFM Alena Kats, played 19...Ba4 instead of 19...Bc4, then Krush's rook would either be lost, or would move away and allow the advance of Kats's dangerous d-pawn. “My openings are terrible,” Kats said. “I'm going to study more. My junior year in high school was so busy.”
Zatonskih also had a worse position according to pundits. Her opponent, IM Rusudan Goletiani, had a healthy space advantage and the only bishop on the board. Zatonskih cleared out the long diagonal, then began focusing on Goletiani's errant knight on h4. Goletiani had to retreat to rescue her steed, and Zatonskih's pieces overwhelmed the position. Goletiani tried the same desperate strategy as yesterday, pushing all of her pawns at her opponent's king, but without queens on the board, there was not enough counterplay.
Goletiani dropped into a three-way tie for third with WGM Sabina Foisor and WGM Tatev Abrahamyan. Foisor drew miraculously today when her opponent, WIM Viktorija Ni, played beautifully but inexplicably botched a king-and-pawn ending. Instead of 67. f3, which resulted in a draw, the direct 67. Kxh6 wins, as Foisor would then have to chase down Ni's pawns even farther.
The title will go to either Krush or Zatonskih. If one woman manages to win in round nine and the other does not, a clear winner will emerge. If not, a playoff Sunday will ensue. The women get an off day tomorrow while the U.S. Championship resumes Friday for round 10.
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