Svidler & Mamedyarov start with wins, Ivanchuk says he won’t quit
30 November 2009, 21.30 CET | Last modified: 11:10 | By Peter Doggers | Filed under: Reports | Tags: World Cup
In his tiebreak match against Arkadij Naiditsch, Peter Svidler was almost dead and burnt yesterday. But like a phoenix he immediately struck on the first day of round 4, beating Alexei Shirov with Black. Like in his first three matches (!), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov started with a win as well today. Vassily Ivanchuk, by the way, now says he won’t quit chess. Phew.
The FIDE World Chess Cup takes place November 20th-December 15th inn Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. It’s a seven-round knockout with six rounds of matches comprising two games per round. The final seventh round consists of four games.
| Round 1 (November 21-23): 128 players | Round 5 (December 3-5): 8 players |
| Round 2 (November 24-26): 64 players | Round 6 (December 6-8): 4 players |
| Round 3 (November 27-29): 32 players | Round 7 (December 10-14): 2 players |
| Round 4 (November 30-December 2): 16 players |
The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move from move one. Games start at 15:00h local time (11:00 CET).
Results round 4, day 1
Round 4, day 1
We don’t know about you, but we kind of missed that Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is having a, well, fantastic tournament so far in Khanty-Mansiysk. He started all his matches with a victory, didn’t need any tiebreak and is now on a 6.5/7 score and a 3042 performance rating! Acccording to co-editor Merijn van Delft, playing (and enjoying) board 4 at the European Team Championship must have done Shakh very well. Today he outplayed Laznicka with the black pieces.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with one of the arbiters, Faik Gasanov
Alexei Shirov is feeling less happy after today. After reaching a small plus against Svidler’s Grünfeld around move 20, he miscalculated terribly and was soon looking at a lost position. We’re not sure what he missed, but Svidler’s 23…Qa7! followed by a few more accurate moves left Black material up.
Several other games ended in quick draws today, probably because of yesterday’s tiresome tiebreaks. Especially Grischuk, Jakovenko, Bacrot and Ponomariov didn’t feel like playing, while Karjakin-Vitiugov wasn’t much of a game either.
Vachier-Lagrave and Gelfand played on a bit longer, but half of that game was theory. Perhaps Gelfand should have played on, because according to endgame expert Karsten Müller only two results were possible there: 1/2 or 0-1.
The final phase of Caruana-Gashimov was interesting, although all the exchanges led to equality. The best draw was So-Malakhov; a Slechter / Chebanenko hybrid that was slightly better for White all the time, but in the ending there was no way to make progress. Malakhov’s drawing combination was cute.
The stage has become very spacious by now
Ivanchuk
Today ChessPro published the following, comforting letter by Vassily Ivanchuk:
Please forgive me, my fans, friends and colleagues in arms and many chess fans for an emotional interview. I was very upset after the defeat, but in any case I’m not going to quit chess! And I want to refute what appeared in the media about my resignation…
Sincerely, Vassily Ivanchuk
Games round 4, day 1
Game viewer by ChessTempo
FIDE World Cup – Pairings & results rounds 2-7
| Round 2 |
Round 3
|
Round 4
|
Round 5
|
Round 6
|
Round 7
|
| Shabalov (2606) | |||||
| Navara (2707) | |||||
| Navara (2707) | |||||
| Karjakin (2723) | |||||
| Karjakin (2723) | |||||
| Karjakin (2723) | |||||
| Timofeev (2651) | |||||
| Sakaev (2626) | |||||
| Sakaev (2626) | |||||
| Radjabov (2748) | |||||
| Vitiugov (2694) | |||||
| Vitiugov (2694) | |||||
| Vitiugov (2694) | |||||
| Milos (2603) | |||||
| Cheparinov (2671) | |||||
| Bologan (2692) | |||||
| Bologan (2692) | |||||
| Laznicka (2637) | |||||
| Morozevich (2750) | |||||
| Laznicka (2637) | |||||
| Laznicka (2637) | |||||
| Milov (2652) | |||||
| Mamedyarov (2719) | |||||
| Mamedyarov (2719) | |||||
| Mamedyarov (2719) | |||||
| Wang Hao (2708) | |||||
| Wang Hao (2708) | |||||
| Ganguly (2654) | |||||
| Meier (2653) | |||||
| Vachier-Lagrave (2718) | |||||
| Vachier-Lagrave (2718) | |||||
| Vachier-Lagrave (2718) | |||||
| Yu Yangyi (2527) | |||||
| Yu Yangyi (2527) | |||||
| Bartel (2618) | |||||
| Amonatov (2631) | |||||
| Gelfand (2758) | |||||
| Gelfand (2758) | |||||
| Gelfand (2758) | |||||
| Polgar (2680) | |||||
| Polgar (2680) | |||||
| Nisipeanu (2677) | |||||
| Iturrizaga (2605) | |||||
| Jobava (2696) | |||||
| Jobava (2696) | |||||
| Grischuk (2736) | |||||
| Grischuk (2736) | |||||
| Grischuk (2736) | |||||
| Tkachiev (2642) | |||||
| Sandipan (2623) | |||||
| Jakovenko (2736) | |||||
| Jakovenko (2736) | |||||
| Jakovenko (2736) | |||||
| Rublevsky (2697) | |||||
| Areshchenko (2664) | |||||
| Areshchenko (2664) | |||||
| Sasikiran (2664) | |||||
| Bacrot (2700) | |||||
| Bacrot (2700) | |||||
| Bacrot (2700) | |||||
| Wang Yue (2734) | |||||
| Wang Yue (2734) | |||||
| Savchenko (2644) | |||||
| Akobian (2624) | |||||
| Ponomariov (2739) | |||||
| Ponomariov (2739) | |||||
| Ponomariov (2739) | |||||
| Motylev (2695) | |||||
| Motylev (2695) | |||||
| Najer (2695 | |||||
| Li Chao (2596) | |||||
| Li Chao (2596) | |||||
| Pelletier (2589) | |||||
| Gashimov (2758) | |||||
| Gashimov (2758) | |||||
| Gashimov (2758) | |||||
| Zhou Jianchao (2629 | |||||
| Caruana (2652) | |||||
| Caruana (2652) | |||||
| Dominguez (2719) | |||||
| Caruana (2652) | |||||
| Alekseev (2715) | |||||
| Alekseev (2715) | |||||
| Fressinet (2653) | |||||
| Khalifman (2612) | |||||
| Tomashevsky (2708) | |||||
| Tomashevsky (2708) | |||||
| Shirov (2719) | |||||
| Shirov (2719) | |||||
| Shirov (2719) | |||||
| Fedorchuk (2619) | |||||
| Nyback (2628) | |||||
| Svidler (2754) | |||||
| Svidler (2754) | |||||
| Svidler (2754) | |||||
| Naiditsch (2689) | |||||
| Naiditsch (2689) | |||||
| Onischuk (2672) | |||||
| Zhou Weiqi (2603) | |||||
| Kamsky (2695) | |||||
| Kamsky (2695) | |||||
| So (2640) | |||||
| Ivanchuk (2739) | |||||
| So (2640) | |||||
| So (2640) | |||||
| Inarkiev (2645) | |||||
| Eljanov (2729) | |||||
| Eljanov (2729) | |||||
| Malakhov (2706) | |||||
| Malakhov (2706) | |||||
| Malakhov (2706) | |||||
| Smirin (2662) |
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Ivanchuk is back!
As I said before in the comments, Mamedyarov is indeed playing incredibly well, and he´s a clear favorite for me, he would be THE clear favorite were it not for the fact that, as I also pointed out before, he´s the kind of player with a domino effect in losing: when he starts, he can´t stop. But whatever happens in the end, the truth is he´s certainly in good shape
If it weren’t for the Kurnusov episode, many people would be rooting (and believing) for a Mamedjarov’s win, I think. He’s on fire, indeed!
Vitiugov is showing he isn’t playing games either.
(Well, all of them are at least in a good shape, otherwise they wouldn’t come so far now)
Wesley, Fabiano… very impressive all.
Hang on Alexei!! You can do it!
Mr. Ivanchuk,
It is great news that you will not retire.
You’re a great player and the chess world is pleased to have you on stage.
Kind regards,
Giovani di Gesu
Is it wrong that I keep praying for Mamodjarov to lose many embarrassing miniatures to get shut out just because of what he did to Kurnusov?
Any chess player worth his salt wants Iwantmymammy to lose quickly and horribly every time he plays chess. Then we can see him accuse people of using computers again….I hate him, the sore loser that he is. He is dirt to me.
Welcome back chuky, we love you!!!
He did wrong, of course.
)
And he should apologise Kurnusov in public (maybe he did in private, but his act was offending more than Kurnusov himself).
Maybe he will.
But “worse than suffering an injustice is comiting it”!
And there surely are lots of much stupid and/or harmful behaviours. THAT is obvious too!
Human weaknesses, who doesn’t have them, now and then? And who knows everything?
(Who do I think I am? A priest??
This is “Planet Ivan” like I love him … emotional and authentic
So far Mamedyarov played with relatively weaker opponents (Kosteniuk, Milov, Wang Hao, Laznicka – still at least one game to play). Next round he will probably face Karjakin and that should be real test of his form.
‘So far Mamedyarov played with relatively weaker opponents (Kosteniuk, Milov, Wang Hao, Laznicka – still at least one game to play). Next round he will probably face Karjakin and that should be real test of his form.’
How did he play with them? Nice and quick, or slow but sure destruction?
I want all the bad boys to win. As much entertainment as possible please.
I also noticed and mentioned Mamedyarov’s performance before (if not here, then elsewhere). Milov and Wang Hao aren’t that weak opponents – other 2700+ players needed tiebreaks or (Ivanchuk, Morozevich, Radjabov) even lost against players of comparable ELO. For the rest of the tournament, it may be an advantage that he is the only one of the last 16 who saved energy and nerves in the first three rounds …. . In the KO format the “domino effect” ChessGirl mentions is rather irrelevant: you are already out if you lose two consecutive games, or even just one!?
I am also not a fan of Mamedyarov, indeed because of the Kurnosov incident. His initial behavior then could still be attributed to heat and emotions of the moment, but later he repeated his accusations with another open letter. In between, he had time to calm down and to consult friends, colleagues, and/or (if applicable) his coach or manager – to no avail.
Well Thomas, my point is: look at Karjakin´s last round. He started losing, then won, then crushed Navara in the tiebreaks. However, according to the domino effect theory, had it been Mamedyarov losing that game he would have had many chances of being knocked out. So my point was more about chances of recovery
Remember Topalov in 2004? He scored 9.5/10 and was then eliminated by Kasimdzhanov in the semi-final. Kasimdzhanov always needed tie-breaks to progress (and to eventually win).
Only Anand in 2000 managed to cruise through the rounds and winning convincingly in the end.
Regarding Mamedyarov’s prior behavior, you have to view in the right context. Ask any chess fan in Azerbaijan what they think about it, and you’ll see it’s diametrically opposed to the “western” view. Or ask any Bulgarian who they think cheated in the Topalov-Kramnik match…
Anyway, there are no chess player villains, IMO, and we should just be happy with the beautiful chess games they give us.
If I have to ask a certain country’s citizen in order to find an answer just biased enough to pass, then I am indeed correct to hate Mamedjarov.
Ponomariov must be kicking himself now. He found 81.Ng1! but then missed the simple 82.Kg7-g8…
Yes, must have been a lapse of concentration. Ponomariov must have seen the winning variation otherwise he wouldn’t play Ng1 (which is in my opinion very hard to find for a human). But then for some reason he blundered with Kf7.