Chess World Cup 2017 Round 3 Game 2 - Tblisi

What a day of carnage. We knew that World Champion Magnus Carlsen faced a mammoth task to level the match with black. However, Xiangzhi Bu held his nerve with white to send the world number one packing.

The next big name to fall with a loss in game 2 was Hikaru Nakamura, the number 7 seed. Nakamura was the player slated to face off against the check shorts wearing giant killer Kovalyov in a USA – Canada match up in round 4.

I think I could hear the entire nation of the Netherlands breathe a collective sigh of relief when Anish Giri saved the draw to go into tie breaks. Giri is known across the planet as the master of the draw. Early in the game he even had the chance to secure a perpetual, but chose to break character and push for the win. Giri over extended his chances and came very close to losing, but somehow survived.

The last game that held my close attention was between number 4 seed Vladimir Kramnik and veteran Vasily Ivanchuk. It was a match up that even had Russia / Ukraine political reverberations. It turned out to be vintage Chucky as he hacked the normally stoic Kramnik to bits using the unlikely weapon of the Caro-Kann.

The top seeds are having a tough round so far with only Wesley So (2) and Peter Svidler (16) managing to avoid the stress of round three tie breaks.

Tomorrow we see eight of the sixteen matches going to tie breaks, seven of those featuring players listed among the original sixteen top seeds for the tournament.

Let’s now analyse some of the decisive games from round 3.2:

Kramnik,Vladimir (2803) - Ivanchuk,Vassily (2727)

FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (3.2), 10.09.2017

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.Bf4 Bg4 7.Qb3 Qc8 8.Nd2 e6 9.Ngf3 Be7 10.0–0 Bh5 11.Rae1 Bg6 12.Bxg6 hxg6 13.h4N 

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B13: Caro-Kann: Exchange Variation and Panov-Botvinnik Attack [13.Ne5 Nxe5 14.Bxe5 Qc6 15.a4 a6 16.h3 b5 17.Ra1 0–0 18.Bf4 Rfc8 19.Nf3 Ne4 20.Ne5 Qb7 1/2–1/2 (39) Teichmeister,S (2567)-Zhak,B (2445) ICCF email 2008] 

13...a6 14.c4 a5 15.a3 The position is equal. 

15...a4 16.Qd3 0–0 17.c5 b6 18.cxb6 Qb7 19.Bc7 Nd7 20.Rc1 Threatens to win with Qb5. 

20...Rfc8! 21.b4 axb3 22.Qxb3 Bxa3 23.Rc3 [Better is 23.Rb1= ] 

23...Be7 [23...Bf8!³] 

24.Rfc1 [24.Rb1!= remains equal.] 

24...Nb4µ aiming for ...Na2. 

25.Ne5 

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25...Nxe5! 26.Bxe5 Rxc3 27.Qxc3 Qxb6 28.Nf3 Qd8 29.Qb3 Rc8 30.Ra1 Rc4 31.g3 Qc8 32.Kg2 Nc6 33.Qb5 Bf8 34.Ra4 Rxa4 35.Qxa4 Nb4 36.Qb5 Qc2 37.Qf1 Qe4 38.Qe1 f6 And now ... Qxe1 would win. 

39.Bc7 Nc2 40.Qxe4 dxe4–+ Endgame KBN-KBN 

41.Nd2 f5 42.Nb3 [42.Bb6µ] 

42...Ne1+ 43.Kf1 Nf3 44.Ke2 Kf7 45.Bb6 Bb4 46.Ke3 Ke8 47.Bc5 Bc3 48.Ba3 Kf7 49.Bd6 Kf6 50.Bc7 Ke7 51.Bb8 Bb2 52.Bf4 Kd8 53.Bd6 Kd7 54.Bf8 

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54...Kc6! 55.Bxg7 Hoping for d5+! 

55...Kd5 56.Bf6 Bc3 57.Ke2? [57.g4µ] 

57...Kc4 [Weaker is 57...Bxd4 58.Nxd4 Nxd4+ 59.Bxd4µ] 

58.Nc5? [58.Nc1] 

58...e5 59.Nd7 [¹59.Nxe4 Nxd4+ 60.Ke3 Nc2+ 61.Kf3 Ne1+ 62.Ke3 fxe4 63.Kxe4] 

59...exd4 60.Bd8 d3+ 61.Kd1 Bd4 62.Bb6 Bxb6 63.Nxb6+ KN-KN 

63...Kd4 64.Nc8 Ne5 65.Ne7 Ng4 66.Ke1 Kc3 67.Nd5+ Kb3 68.Kd2 Nxf2 69.h5 Black mates. 

69...gxh5 70.Ne3 

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70...h4! 71.Nxf5 [71.gxh4 f4] 

71...h3 Precision: White = 40%, Black = 85%. 0–1

Fedoseev,Vladimir (2731) - Nakamura,Hikaru (2781)

FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (3.2), 10.09.2017

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.Bc4 Bc5 6.d3 C48: Four Knights: 4 Bb5, replies other than 4...Bb4 

6...c6 7.Nxe5 [7.Nxd4 Bxd4 8.0–0 d6 9.Qf3 b5 10.Bb3 a5 11.a3 a4 12.Ba2 Be6 13.Nd1 Bg4 0–1 (53) Maze,S (2614) -Fressinet,L (2651) Porticcio 2017] 

7...0–0 8.Nxf7 White is slightly better. 

8...Rxf7 9.Bxf7+ Kxf7 10.Be3N 

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[Find the theoretical novelty and annotate with similar games: 10.0–0 d6 11.Bg5 h6 12.Bxf6 Qxf6 13.Na4 Qg6 14.Kh1 1–0 (29) Koscielski,J (2318)-Friedel,M (2083) Essen 2004] 

10...Ne6 [10...d5²] 

11.Bxc5± Nxc5 12.e5! Ne8 13.d4 Ne6 [13...Na6± was worth a try.] 

14.0–0 [14.f4!+-] 

14...d6 15.f4! dxe5 16.fxe5+ Kg8 17.d5 cxd5 18.Nxd5 Hoping for Qf3. 

18...N8c7 19.c4 Bd7 20.Qg4 aiming for Rad1. 

20...Nf8 21.Qf3 Ng6! 22.Rad1 Ne6 23.h4 Nxh4 [23...Kh8± might work better.] 

24.Qf7+!+- Kh8 

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25.Nf6! White has strong compensation. 

25...Qb6+ 26.Rf2 Ba4 [26...Ng5± 27.Qxd7 (27.Nxd7 Qe3±) 27...gxf6] 

27.Rd6 Ng5 

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28.Qe7!‚ Black is in trouble. 

28...Nf5 [But not 28...Bc6? 29.Nd5+- (29.Nh5 Nhf3+ 30.Kf1 Nh2+ 31.Ke1 Qe3+ 32.Kd1 Rg8=) ; Avoid the trap 28...Nhf3+? 29.Kh1+-] 

29.Rxb6 Nxe7 30.Rxb7 Ng6 31.Nh5 Ne6 32.Rff7 Be8 [32...Bd1±] 

33.Rxa7 Rd8 34.Rf1 Kg8 35.Ng3 h5 36.Nf5 Kh7 37.b4 h4 [¹37...Rd2 38.b5 Bd7] 

38.b5 Rd2? [38...h3 39.gxh3 Nxe5] 

39.Nd6 

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White is clearly winning. 39...h3 40.gxh3 Bd7 41.Rxd7 Ng5 42.Rf5 Nh4 43.Rxg7+ Precision: White = 96%, Black = 38%. 1–0

Svidler,Peter (2756) - Onischuk,Alexander (2682)

FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (3.2), 10.09.2017

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.a4 b4 9.d3 d6 10.a5 Rb8 11.Nbd2 Be6 12.Bxe6 C88: Closed Ruy Lopez: Anti-Marshall Systems 

12...fxe6 13.c3 Nd7 [13...Qe8 14.Nc4 Qg6 15.h3 Nd7 16.Be3 d5 17.Ncd2 bxc3 18.bxc3 Nc5 19.Bxc5 Bxc5 1–0 (52) Carlsen,M (2822)-Aronian,L (2809) Saint Louis 2017] 

14.Nb3 White has an edge. 

14...d5N 

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[14...Qe8 15.Be3 h6 16.Nbd2 Nf6 17.d4 bxc3 18.bxc3 exd4 19.Nxd4 Qd7 1/2–1/2 (35) Oliveira,D (2146)-Salzmann,S (2092) LSS email 2013] 

15.Be3 bxc3 16.bxc3 dxe4 17.dxe4 Rb5 18.Qe2 Qb8 [18...Rxb3? 19.Qc4+-] 

19.Qc4 Nd8 20.Rad1 Bd6 21.Rb1 Qb7 22.Nbd2 Qc6 23.Rxb5 axb5 24.Qb3 Qa6 25.Ra1 Nc5! 26.Qb1 Nf7 [26...Ndb7²] 

27.c4± c6 28.cxb5 cxb5 29.Nb3 Nd7 [29...Na4!²] 

30.Qd3 Rc8 31.h3 h6 32.Nfd2 Nb8 33.Nf3 b4 [33...Nd7=] 

34.Qd1² Qb7 35.Nfd2 Rc3 36.Nc1 Na6 37.Ne2 Rc8 38.Qb3ƒ White fights for an advantage. 

38...Qe7 [Better is 38...Bc5² ] 

39.Rc1± Rxc1+ 40.Nxc1 Bc5 41.Nd3 Bxe3 42.fxe3 Qd8 43.Nc4 Ng5 

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[¹43...Qe8] 

44.Nb6 [Much worse is 44.Ndxe5?! Nxe4 45.Qd3 Qxd3²; 44.Ncxe5 Qxa5 45.Qc4 b3±; ¹44.Nxb4 Qb8 45.Nb6] 

44...Nc7 [¹44...Nb8] 

45.Qc4 b3 [45...Kh7± 46.Na4 (46.Nxb4 Qd1+ 47.Kh2 Qd2=; 46.Nxe5 Qd2±) 46...Na8] 

46.Qxb3+- Nxe4 47.Qc2 Qg5 

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48.Nc4! Nd5? [48...Ng3 was necessary. 49.Ndxe5 Qf6] 

49.a6 And now a7 would win. 

49...Nxe3 50.a7 Nxc2 51.a8Q+ Kh7 52.Qxe4+ Qf5 53.Nd6 Qxe4 54.Nxe4 Kg6 55.g4 Kf7 56.Nxe5+ Ke7 57.Kf2 [¹57.h4] 

57...Nb4? 

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[57...g5 keeps fighting. 58.Kf3 Nb4] 58.Kf3 [¹58.h4] 

58...Nd5 [¹58...g5 59.Nc3 Nc2] 

59.Ng6+ Kf7 60.Nf4 Nf6? [60...Nc7 61.Nd3 g5] 

61.Nxf6 

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White is clearly winning. 

61...gxf6 62.Kg3 f5 63.gxf5 exf5 64.Ng2 Precision: White = 73%, Black = 34%.[64.h4+- Kf6 65.Ne2]  1–0