Bazna R7: Ivanchuk beats Shirov, leads by a point
Don't write him off yet! In a marathon game of 84 moves, Vassily Ivanchuk defeated Alexei Shirov today and increased his lead to a full point in Bazna, as Boris Gelfand drew with Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. After six draws Teimour Radjabov won his first game, against Gata Kamsky, who is now on a terrible 1.5/7.
The 3rd Kings Tournament, a six-player round-robin with Radjabov, Ivanchuk, Shirov, Gelfand, Kamsky and Nisipeaniu, takes place June 14-25 in Bazna, Romania.
Round 7
So far it hasn't been going too well with Gata Kamsky. The American is in poor form and after seven rounds he's all the way down the standings with 1.5/7. It's not that he's playing that terrible, but it seems that he still has problems in the opening phase, so that it just takes too much time on the clock to reach a satisfactory position. In many games he does manage, only to follow-up with a big mistake, which is exactly how he lost to Radjabov.
Nisipeanu's opening was fine this time: in a Petroff he improved upon an old Kholmov game and got a small but lasting advantage in the ending. However, Gelfand is Gelfand, and the Israeli defended the position to a draw on on move 74.
The game of the round was of course Ivanchuk-Shirov. Repeating the 4.Bg5 line Radjabov had tried before against Shirov in Bazna, Ivanchuk came up with a strong novelty. White seemed to be getting very strong pressure when Black suddenly found a great way to change the type of position.
The ending with three pawns against a piece should have been a draw, but first Shirov missed a threefold repetition, and then after some inaccurate moves he allowed Ivanchuk to push his h-pawn, and then after seven hours of play Shirov committed a big mistake, where he could still hold it. A fantastic performance by Ivanchuk, whose persistence was rewarded in the end.
Games round 7
Click on the pairings at the top of the board to reveal a drop down list of all the games. Click on the arrow under the board just once, then the arrow keys of your keyboard also work. Silverlight works on all browsers and platforms except for Linux, but this should be fixed soon. Contact us for questions, not in the comments section, please.
[TABLE=746]
[TABLE=754]
Photo courtesty of the official website, used with permission
Links
Founder and editor-in-chief of ChessVibes.com, Peter is responsible for most of the chess news and tournament reports. Often visiting top events, he also provides photos and videos for the site. He's a 1.e4 player himself, likes Thai food and the Stones.
Comments
VB
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
Incredible game for Ivanchuk and incredible result so far 5.5/7 !!!
Jonas
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
That game is a bomb!
Thomas
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
I must be missing something .... . Why did Shirov resign? What happens after 84.-Kg7 (85.Bh6+ Kh8)?
gg
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
"What happens after 84.-Kg7"
h8Q Kxh8 Bh6 and in a few moves white will play Bg7#
Thomas
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
Thanks, that's convincing ... interesting example how opposite-colored bishops favor the attacking player !!? :)
Any predecessors for this mating pattern (from practical games or endgame studies) ?
Rudy
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
This might be a reason: 84...Kg7 85. Bh6+ Kh8 86. Kg5 Bxh7 87. Bf8 and Kh6 with Bg7 will round it up.
gg
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
"Any predecessors for this mating pattern (from practical games or endgame studies) ?"
I've never seen anything like it in a game, it probably exists in a study somewhere.
Castro
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
What a game! Maybe there was a draw somewhere, but it was a great fight and a great winning idea, which I never saw before.
Two (+2) questions for the experts:
1. Is this endgame (K+B+N+P vs. K+B) already published before? Where?
2. Is it always winning? What are the exact conditions?
Well, sorry, someone is asking almost the same...
Castro
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
Go Gata!!
(but not that way!! :-( )
Castro
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
When I first saw it, I though of the white king coming to f8, by the black squares, which made me full of joy, but indeed Kg7 Bh6+ Kh8 Bf8 is faster and as enjoyable :-)
josh daniel
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
Sorry but Kamsky is a never was and a never will be but he got paid so so away pretender....
Castro
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
?? :-)
That is one of the most hilarious comments ever!
ceann
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
SEE MY POST FROM Ivanchuk grabs sole lead....
p_voll
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
Ivanchuk: battery is recharged.
jussu
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
ChessVibes, I see that you have obtained a resident village idiot. Good for you, it was becoming boring reading all those more or less sane comments.
Castro
2 years 7 months ago
Permalink
I had my previous questions half answered (elsewhere). In fact, for various moves the game was a draw, but Shirov finaly cracked with Bh7??
It remained to know if there is a general known rule for the ending KBNP vs. KB. Exactly when is it not winning?
(answers like "when it is a draw or a loss" will not get a reward!)
But I have another hot question for the same experts:
Could it be that, after the piece sacrifice, Shirov even had A WIN, somewhere?
I ask this because --- unless any convincing variations --- one never knows about those pawn advantages and phalanxes.
Ivanchuck had always the upper-hand or does anyone spot a win for black?
Your comment
Speak your mind
By posting a comment you are agreeing to abide our Terms & Conditions