Chess World Cup 2017 Round 3 Game 1 - Tblisi

Only three of the sixteen games making up the first part of round three were decisive – not counting the drama laden white piece default victory. But that does not come close to explaining the drama that erupted at the beginning of round 3. I’ll be interested to see your opinion on the drama; leave a comment below.

The first part of the round three drama erupted before any pieces had been moved. Anton Kovalyov, the Canadian player that eliminated Vishy Anand in round two arrived 10 minutes before the start of the game in his now trademark below the knee check shorts that he had worn the entire tournament. Kovalyov was informed by the chief arbiter that wearing shorts was a contravention of the tournament dress code. A simple enough situation that could be rectified in the minutes before the round was due to start.

However, that was seemingly not enough for ECU President Zurab Azmaiparashvili who took it upon himself to escalate the matter to breaking point. He stormed across the tournament hall to confront Kovalyov in a tirade of expletives that could be heard clear across the room including the term gypsey – a racial slur in Russian on a similar level to the “N” word in the USA.

Kovalyov, shaken and angered by the actions of what he perceived to be a bully, chose to leave the playing hall. He was later seen catching a taxi to the airport with his packed bags. Conversely the ECU president was strutting around as if he was the self-appointed World Cup Champion, riding high on a tsunami of ego.

Once the games actually did get started, the drama did not end – far from it…

Most noteworthy of the remaining 15 games was World Champion and number one seed Magnus Carlsen losing with the white pieces. He has a mountain to climb in game 2 with black just to stay in the hunt.

Let’s analyse the three decisive games that actually involved moving pieces on a chess board: 

Carlsen,Magnus (2827) - Bu,Xiangzhi (2714)

FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (3.1), 09.09.2017

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 Nc6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.0–0 0–0 6.Bb3 d6 7.c3 Be6 8.Re1 Qd7 9.Nbd2 Rab8N 

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 C55: Two Knights: 4 d3, 4 d4 exd4 5 e5 and Max Lange Attack [ 9...Rad8 10.Nf1 h6 11.h3 a6 12.Ng3 Rfe8 13.a4 Bf8 14.a5 Qc8 15.Ba4 Nd7 16.d4 exd4 17.cxd4 1/2–1/2 (54) Lorenzini, M (2482)-Vajda,L (2612) Istanbul 2012] 

10.Bc2 d5 11.h3 h6 White has an edge. 

12.exd5! Nxd5 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.Rxe5 Bd6 15.Re1 [White should try 15.Re4² ] 

15...Bxh3!= 16.gxh3 Qxh3 17.Nf1 Rbe8 18.d4 

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aiming for Be4. 18...f5! Hoping for ...Rxe1. 

19.Bb3! c6 20.f4! Kh7 ...Rf6! is the strong threat. 

21.Bxd5 [21.Re2!² is the one way to stay ahead.] 

21...cxd5µ 22.Re3 [¹22.Re5] 

22...Rxe3! 23.Bxe3 

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23...g5! 24.Kf2? [24.fxg5µ f4 25.Qc2+ Rf5 26.Bc1] 

24...gxf4–+ 25.Qf3 fxe3+ 26.Nxe3 Qh2+ 27.Kf1 Rg8 28.Qxf5+ Rg6! 29.Ke1 

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29...h5? [29...Kg7–+ 30.Qd7+ Kh8 31.Qd8+ Kh7 32.Qd7+ Rg7 33.Qf5+ Kh8] 

30.Kd1? [30.Rd1!= and White has nothing to worry.] 

30...Kh6‚ Black is out for blood. 

31.Nc2? [31.Rc1] 

31...h4? [31...Bf4 32.Qf8+ Kg5 33.Qe7+ Kf5 34.Qf7+ Kg5 35.Qe7+ Kf5 36.Qf7+ Rf6 37.Qh7+ Kg4] 

32.Ne1 h3 

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33.Nf3? [33.Rc1 Qg3 34.Nd3] 

33...Qg2 ( -> ...Qf1+). Black is clearly winning. 

34.Ne1 Qg4+ 35.Qxg4 Rxg4 36.Nf3 

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36...Rg1+! Precision: White = 33%, Black = 64%. 0–1

Aronian,Levon (2802) - Matlakov,Maxim (2728)

FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (3.1), 09.09.2017

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e3 Bb4 5.Qc2 Bxc3 6.bxc3 0–0 7.d3 A28: English Opening: Four Knights Variation [7.e4 d6 8.g3 Nd7 9.Bg2 Nc5 10.Nh4 a6 11.0–0 b5 12.d4 exd4 13.cxd4 Nxd4 14.Qd2 Nc6 15.e5 Bb7 16.exd6 Qxd6 17.Qxd6 cxd6 18.Nf5 1/2–1/2 (18) Khairullin,I (2662)-Svidler,P (2739) Chita 2015] 

7...d6 8.Be2 8...Re8N 

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[8...e4!? 9.dxe4 Bg4=; 8...Qe7 9.e4 Nd7 10.Bg5 f6 11.Be3 f5 12.exf5 Nf6 13.d4 Ng4 14.Bg5 Qe8 0–1 (30) Zherebukh,Y (2625)-Huschenbeth,N (2532) Greensboro 2014] 

9.e4 The position is equal. 

9...Ne7 10.Nh4 Ng6 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.0–0 c6 13.f4 b5 14.cxb5 cxb5 15.h3 Qb6+ 16.Kh2 Be6 17.a4 a6 18.Qb2 Nd7 19.Rb1 Rab8 20.axb5 axb5 21.Rf3ƒ White has good play. 

21...f6 

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 [21...Ra8= 22.c4 (22.Qxb5 Qc7=) 22...exf4] 22.f5!± gxf5 23.exf5 Bd5 

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[¹23...e4 24.dxe4 Bc4] 24.Rg3! Re7 25.Bh5 e4 26.d4 Bc4 27.Bf4 aiming for Qb4. 

27...Ra8 28.Ra1 Rd8 29.Ra3 Nf8 30.Qa1 Bf7? [30...Qb7±] 

31.Ra6+- Qc7 32.Be2 Bc4 33.Bxc4+ Qxc4 34.Rxd6 Nd7 [34...Rxd6 might work better. 35.Bxd6 Re8] 

35.Qa7 Kf7 36.Qb7 White is clearly winning. 

36...Ke8 

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[¹36...e3 37.Bxe3 Rb8 38.Qxd7 Rg8] 

37.Re6! Rxe6 38.fxe6 Qxe6 39.Rxg7 e3 40.Qf3 Precision: White = 66%, Black = 36%. 1–0

Vallejo Pons,Francisco (2717) - So,Wesley (2792)

FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (3.1), 09.09.2017

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.g4 Be4 5.f3 Bg6 6.h4 h5 7.e6 Qd6 8.exf7+ Bxf7 9.Be3 B12: Caro-Kann: Advance Variation [9.g5 Qg3+ 10.Ke2 e6 11.Nh3 Qc7 12.Qd3 Ne7 13.Kd1 Nd7 14.Nc3 Nf5 15.Ne2 g6 16.Nf2 Bg7 0–1 (41) Chandler,P (2107)-Donchenko,A (2563) Heusenstamm 2016] 

9...hxg4 10.fxg4 Nf6 11.Nc3N 

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 Black is slightly better. [11.Nd2 Qg3+ 12.Bf2 Qxg4 13.Ngf3 Ne4 14.Rg1 Nxf2 15.Kxf2 Qf4 16.Qe2 Rxh4 0–1 (55) Cenal Gutierrez,R (2267) -Vigil Alvarez,L Asturias 1999] 

11...Qe6 12.Kd2 [12.Qe2!=] 

12...Nxg4µ [#] 13.Bg5 Nf2ƒ Keeping White busy. 

14.Qf3 Nxh1 15.Qxh1 [15.Nge2 was worth a try.] 

15...Qd6–+ 16.Bh3 e6 17.Rf1 Be7 18.Bf4 Qb4 

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Strongly threatening ...c5. 19.Nge2 [¹19.Nf3] 

19...Nd7 20.a3? [20.Kc1 is a better defense.] 

20...Qxb2 Black is clearly winning. 

21.Rb1 Qxa3 22.Rxb7 Qa6 23.Qb1 Rxh4 24.Bf1 Rxf4 25.Nxf4 Qa5 

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aiming for ...Bg5. 

26.Qe1 Bg5 27.Qg3 Bh6 28.Bd3 0–0–0 29.Rb3 e5 30.dxe5 d4 Precision: White = 37%, Black = 98%. 0–1