Chess World Cup 2017 Round 5 Tie Breaks - Tblisi

There was only the Svidler – MVL match going to tie breaks to decide who would be facing Aronian in the semi finals. On the one side you have MVL who is stronger on paper, while Svidler was the last remaining Russian player in the tournament. Rumour has it that having all Russian players knocked out already in the fifth round would send reverberations via the Kremlin through to the desk of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. How this will impact on the FIDE funding model going forward remains to be seen.

MVL drew white for the first 25 minute rapid game of the tie break. The game was a Giuoco Piano that followed the game where Anand beat So at Leuven this year  for the first 8 moves. Svidler was the first to veer away from that game with 9… a5. But the actual novelty came two moves later when Vachier Lagrave played 11. Bb5. The position wound down to a R/B vs R/N endgame with both players having a single pawn on the h file. White’s bishop could not cover the queening square so the split point was a forgone conclusion.

The second 25 minute rapid game had Svidler on the white side of a Symmetrical English opening. The game followed that of the draw between Diermair and Paravyan in Miscow 2016 until MVL played 11… a6. The game was fairly level till Svidler played 23. Qxd6+ trading off his most active piece while neither Rook had yet joined the game. Rc1+ may have been the better option, at least getting a rook on the open file before trading Queens. The result was Svidler needing to give up the exchange on move 30, and by the time he played 32. Ke1, it was already effectively all over. Vachier Lagrave won and progresses to face Aronian in the semi final.

Vachier-Lagrave,Maxime (2804) - Svidler,Peter (2756)

FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (5.3), 17.09.2017

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.0–0 a6 7.a4 h6 8.Re1 C54: Giuoco Piano: 4 c3 Nf6, main lines with 5 d4 and 5 d3 

8...0–0 9.h3 [9.b4!? Ba7 10.Nbd2=] 

9...a5 [9...Re8 10.Nbd2 Be6 11.Bxe6 Rxe6 12.b4 Ba7 13.Qc2 Qd7 14.Nf1 d5 15.Be3 Bxe3 16.Nxe3 1–0 (41) Anand,V (2786)-So,W (2812) Leuven 2017] 

10.Nbd2 Be6 11.Bb5N 

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11...Na7 12.d4 exd4 13.cxd4 Bb4 14.Bd3 d5 15.e5 Nd7 16.Re2 c5 17.Nf1 cxd4 18.Bc2 Nc5 19.Nxd4 Nc6 20.Ng3 Nxd4 21.Qxd4 f5 22.exf6 Qxf6 23.Be3 Qxd4 24.Bxd4 Bd7 25.Rd1 

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Strongly threatening Bxc5. 

25...Rae8 26.Rxe8 Bxe8 27.b3 b5 28.axb5 Bxb5 29.Be3 Bc6 30.Nf5 [30.Ne2!?] 

30...Ne4 31.Nd4 Bd7 32.Bd3 Rb8 33.f3 Nc3 34.Rc1 a4 35.bxa4 Bxa4 36.Kh2 Bd6+ 37.f4 Nd1 38.Bd2 Nf2 39.Bf5 Ne4 40.Be6+ Kh7 41.Be3ƒ 

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White is more active. 

41...Nf6 42.Nf5 Re8 43.Bf7 Rxe3! 44.Nxd6 next f5 is good for White. 

44...Re7 45.f5 Be8! 46.Be6 g6 [46...Ba4²] 47.Nxe8± Nxe8 48.fxg6+ Kxg6 49.Bxd5 Endgame KRB-KRN 

49...Nf6 50.Bf3 Re5 51.Kg3 Rg5+ 52.Kf2 Ra5 53.Rc4 Kg5 54.h4+ Kg6 55.g4 Ra7 56.Kg3 Kg7 57.Rc6 Re7 58.Bd1 Rd7 59.Bc2 Re7 60.Bf5 Re3+ 61.Kf2 Re7 62.Kf3 Ra7 63.Be6 Ra3+ 64.Kf4 Ra4+ 65.Bc4 Ra7 66.h5 Ra5 67.Rc7+ Kh8 

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68.Kf3 [White should play 68.Rc8+± Kg7 69.Be2] 

68...Re5 [68...Ra3+!= 69.Kf4 Rc3] 

69.Rf7 [69.Bf7±] 

69...Nxg4!= The position is equal. 

70.Rf8+ Kh7! 71.Rf7+ Kh8 72.Kxg4 

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Threatens to win with Bd3. 

72...Re4+ 73.Rf4 Rxf4+ 74.Kxf4 Kg7 75.Kf5 Kh8 76.Kg6? Precision: White = 40%, Black = 56%.[76.Kf6]  ½–½

Svidler,Peter (2756) - Vachier-Lagrave,Maxime (2804)

FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (5.4), 17.09.2017

1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nb4 6.Bc4 Nd3+ 7.Ke2 Nf4+ A34: Symmetrical English: 2 Nc3, lines with ...d5 [7...Nxc1+ 8.Rxc1 a6 9.d4 b5 10.Bd5 Ra7 11.dxc5 e6 12.c6 b4 13.Qd4 Rc7 14.Na4 exd5 15.exd5 1/2–1/2 (36) Giri,A (2773)-Harikrishna,P (2766) Wijk aan Zee 2017] 

8.Kf1 Ne6 9.h4 [9.b4!?] 

9...Nd4 The position is equal. 

10.d3 e6 11.Bf4 Nxd4 is the strong threat. 

11...a6N 

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[11...Bd6 12.e5 Be7 13.Nxd4 Qxd4 14.Qf3 0–0 15.Re1 1/2–1/2 (59) Diermair,A (2450)-Paravyan,D (2506) Moscow 2016] 

12.Nxd4 cxd4 13.Ne2 Nc6 14.a3 Bd6 15.Bxd6 [15.Bd2 keeps more tension. 15...0–0 16.f4 Be7 17.g3 b5 18.Ba2] 

15...Qxd6 16.Qd2 Bd7 17.f4 e5 18.f5 g6 19.Ng3 Ne7 20.Qh6 0–0–0 21.h5 Kc7 22.Bxf7 gxf5 

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23.Qxd6+ [23.Rc1+³ Bc6 24.Qxd6+ Rxd6 25.Ke1 (25.Nxf5 Nxf5 26.exf5 Rf8µ; 25.exf5 Rf8µ) ] 

23...Kxd6µ 24.exf5 [24.Ke2µ] 

24...Nxf5–+ [24...Bxf5 25.Ke2µ] 

25.Ne4+ Ke7 26.Bb3 Ne3+ 27.Ke2 Bc6 [But not 27...Nxg2?! 28.Rag1=] 

28.Rac1 Rhf8 

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[Don't do 28...Nxg2 29.Rc5³] 

29.Rh3 [29.Rc5µ keeps fighting. 29...Rf5 30.g4 Nxg4 31.Rg1 Bxe4 32.dxe4 Rf2+ 33.Ke1] 

29...Nxg2 30.Rxc6 [¹30.Rg3 Bxe4 31.dxe4 Nf4+ 32.Kd2] 

30...bxc6 31.Rg3 Nf4+ 32.Ke1? 

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[32.Kd2] 32...Rb8 Black is clearly winning. 

33.Rg7+ Kd8 34.Bf7 Rb7 Precision: White = 30%, Black = 91%. 0–1