FIDE World Chess Candidates 2014 Ends: Karjakin Second (You know who's First!)
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2014
Hello everyone,
Viswanathan Anand concluded the FIDE Candidates Tournament with a draw against Peter Svidler for a total of 8,5/14 points. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov made the honorary move for the World Championship qualifier.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Vladimir Kramnik also had a relatively quick draw, while Veselin Topalov and Dmitry Andreikin split the point only after 69 moves of play.
Replay all the games of Round 14 with Chess King.
In the longest game of the day Sergey Karjakin defeated Levon Aronian with black after seven hours of play.
With this victory Karjakin emerged clear second with 7,5 points. On shared third place are Kramnik, Mamedyarov and Andreikin with 7 points each. Svidler and Aronian and on 6,5 points each, while Topalov is last with 6 points.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was involved in some of the sharpest games of the previous rounds, but today he decided to go for the positional Qc2 line in the Nimzo-Indian Defence. As he admitted at the post-game press conference, he was already feeling tired.
Vladimir Kramnik happily entered his pet line 7…dxc4. Instead of the common retreat 11.Qc2, white accepted to trade the queens on move 11. The players commented afterwards that this exchange meant that the game will be drawn.
The play continued until most of the pieces were removed from the board and draw was signed on move 30.
Having already qualified for the World Championship Match, Viswanathan Anand felt no pressure ahead of the game with Peter Svidler, but he still “didn’t want to finish a good tournament with a defeat”.
Anand allowed the Ruy Lopez Marshall Gambit, stating that he wanted to test the new ideas by Fabiano Caruana. Svidler in his turn followed the plan of Rustam Kasimdzhanov – 14…Qf6.
Many pieces were exchanged and white was hoping to further trade the rooks and play a B vs N endgame with pawns on both sides of the board. However, before he could do that, black succeeded in clearing all pawns from the queenside.
Draw agreed on move 34.
Final Standings
Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts Res. vict SB
1 GM Anand Viswanathan 2770 IND 8 0 3 50,25
2 GM Kramnik Vladimir 2787 RUS 6½ 4 3 42,50
3 GM Andreikin Dmitry 2709 RUS 6½ 4 2 42,50
4 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2757 AZE 6½ 3½ 3 41,2
5 GM Aronian Levon 2830 ARM 6½ 3½ 3 41,25
6 GM Karjakin Sergey 2766 RUS 6½ 3 2 42,00
7 GM Svidler Peter 2758 RUS 6 0 3 38,75
8 GM Topalov Veselin 2785 BUL 5½ 0 2 36,00
Dmitry Andreikin’s treatment of the Berlin Ruy Lopez was rather original as he quickly expanded with the pawns on kingside and in the center.
It was a strategy with considerable risk and Veselin Topalov rushed to open up the play to exploit black’s weaknesses.
White managed to snatch a pawn but his own structure was slightly compromised. He proceeded to force the exchange of the rooks hoping that he could get something in the endgame with minor pieces.
Topalov pressed for a long time but couldn’t do harm to Andreikin’s fortress.
It is rare occurrence that Levon Aronian opens the game with 1.e4. Another surprise was his relatively modest approach against Serey Karjakin’s Sicilian defence.
Black played all the logical moves, even succeeded in locking the white bishop on b1, but then a small inaccuracy handed a pawn to white.
In order to shift the trend, black gave up the exchange to destroy white’s structure and win the pawn back.
White’s reaction was not the best, he handed the material back and even fell under attack.
The material was already reduced and it was not easy to exploit the weaknesses around the white king.
Only in the 7th hour of play white cracked under pressure and dropped a piece for pawn. He tried to compensate with the advanced passer, but black was quick to force the exchange of the queens and finally clinch a victory. (Official website)
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Labels: candidates 2014, Viswanathan Anand
Khanty-Mansiysk Chess Candidates 2014: Aronian, Kramnik Favourites to Win, says World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013 Hello everyone,
The World Chess Championship Candidates to be held in March, in Khanty Mansiysk, will decide the Challenger for reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen.
In an exclusive interview to ArmenPress, Magnus Carlsen has said the favourites to win the Chess Candidates 2014 are the Armenian GM Levon Aronian and the Russian GM Vladimir Kramnik.
"The favorites of the Candidates Tournament are probably Aronian and Kramnik, but It's difficult to predict. For me the most important thing is to try to improve as a player. It's for the others to fight to become the most serious competitor," Carlsen said.
To the question how the new world chess champion feels to be the youngest title holder, Carlsen answered frankly and directly: It felt good, and I'm of course very happy to have become World Chess Champion."
We saw several times chess players, after becoming the World Champions, reduce participation in international tournaments. Notwithstanding, Magnus Carlsen does not share their standpoint. In particular, Magnus Carlsen underscored: "I plan to continue to play tournaments as I think that's both fun and important to maintain my strength."
Candidates Tournament will be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from 11 March (arrivals) to 1 April 2014. The participants are: Vishy Anand (IND, former world chess champion), Vladimir Kramnik (RUS, world cup 2013 winner), Dmitry Andreikin (RUS, world cup 2013 finalist), Veselin Topalov (BUL, grand-prix 2012-13 winner), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE, grand-prix 2012-13 runner-up), Levon Aronian (ARM, rating list 2012-13), Sergey Karjakin (RUS, rating list 2012-13), Peter Svidler (RUS, host nominee).
In case Viswanathan Anand does not play, the slot would go to Fabiano Caruana.
Labels: candidates 2014, khanty mansiysk chess, levon aronian, Magnus Carlsen, vladimir kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik wins Chess World Cup 2013 in Tromso, Norway
Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013
Hi everyone,
Former World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia has won the Fide Chess World Cup in Tromso after beating Russian Dmitry Andreikin 2,5-1,5 in the final match today in Tromso, Norway. Kramnik earns $120 000 USD for the hard work. Both Andreikin and Kramnik have already qualified for the Candidates Matches 2014.
Kramnik entered the World Cup by rating, having average of 2798 ELO. In round 1 he had scored a perfect 2-0 against Gillan Bwalya (ZAM). In rounds 2 he defeated his compatriot Mikhail Kobalia after rapid tiebreaks.
In Round 3 Kramnik went through tiebreaks again, and defeated Alexander Areshchenko 3-1 after the rapid games. Another set of Ukranians expected Kramnik in round 4 and round 5. The legendary Vassily Ivanchuk lost the classical match 1,5-0,5, same was the fate of Anton Korobov in the quarter finals.
In the semi final Kramnik met fierce resistance from Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and prevailed only after rapid tiebreaks.
The final against Andreikin started the best possible way for Kramnik – with a victory in game 1. From that point on Kramnik started playing stable chess without risks. Drawing games 2 and 3 put Andreikin in a difficult situation. Andreikin was obliged to look for a win in the final game, but he blundered and after a friendly shake of hands for draw, Kramnik won the Chess World Cup 2013. (with inputs from www.chessdom.com)
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Labels: candidates 2014, chess world cup 2013, dmitry andreikin, vladimir kramnik
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