Three draws in 7th round Nanjing
All three games ended in a draw in round 7 of the Pearl Spring tournament today. In the crucial game between Topalov (White) against Carlsen (Black), a highly theoretical Sveshnikov, the tournament leader used an impressive amount of opening preparation to keep his 2-point lead in the standings.
The 2nd Pearl Spring tournament takes place September 27 - October 9 in Nanjing, China. It's a 6-player, double round-robin with Topalov (2813), Carlsen (2772), Leko (2762), Radjabov (2757), Jakovenko (2742) and Wang Yue (2736) playing for a € 250,000 prize fund. The rate of play is 40 moves in 90 minutes plus 1 hour.
Round 7
In a disappointing 7th round of the Pearl Spring tournament already after about two and a half hours of play all games had ended in a draw. Especially Radjabov-Leko was not much; Radjabov's unambitious opening set-up (the double fianchetto) isn't giving a player of Leko's caliber any headaches, and perhaps the Hungarian needed a few minutes to find the accurate 15...c3, but that was about it.
Wang Yue-Jakovenko was another example of what surely will be mentioned in this week's ChessVibes Openings #40: that the Grünfeld is extremely hot at top level! Everyone is playing it now, even Jakovenko (for the first time ever, if we can believe the database). In the 4.Bf4 line, the Russian didn't go for the 5...c5 complications, in which Wang Yue is the world's biggest expert by now, but for the more quiet 5...0-0. He held the ending to a draw quite easily, just like Miguel Najdorf did against Petar Trifunovic the first time this ending was ever played, in 1949.
The crucial game was of course Topalov-Carlsen where mutual preparation was brought on the board quickly, which led to a very drawish ending that was played on for a bit over an hour. Theoretically speaking it was highly important because the players went for the the 9.Bxf6 main line of the Sveshnikov, which was known to be OK for Black. Carlsen lost to Shirov in a critical last round game earlier this year in Sofia, but it was clear Carlsen could have improved his opening play there.
Topalov knew this of course, and deviated from that game with 21.Rc1, but also against this move Carlsen was fully prepared. The players followed Rybka's recommendations until an ending was reached with only pawns on the kingside, rooks, and bishop versus knight. White's extra pawn was of no significance and after about one and a half hours of play the players agreed to a draw.
For Magnus Carlsen today's results are just excellent; with two more white games and one black and a 2-point lead, he's very close to his best career performance so far: clinching his first sole Grand Slam victory, after a shared one with Aronian at Corus in 2008.
Games round 7
Game viewer by ChessTempo
2nd Pearl Spring (Nanjing) 2009 | Round 7 Standings
2nd Pearl Spring (Nanjing) 2009 | Schedule & results
Veselin Topalov tried hard but did not succeed in cracking that tough Svesh nut
After surviving his second black game in a row, Carlsen has enough reason to smile
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
teaspoon
2 years 4 months ago
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Hi,
"Simply threatening 24...Rxb2. " Should that be a2?
BTW I've been viewing Chess Vibes since its inception and as someone who used to work in the web business I reckon that you've created a wonderful chess resource, that's well organised with excellent usability, compared to the other sites around. Well done!
Peter Doggers
2 years 4 months ago
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Strange that you're still seeing that, I already corrected it to a2. Thanks for the compliment. :-)
Norwayfan
2 years 4 months ago
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Thank you for another interesting report! But I'd think that Anand, Kramnik and Topalov all would take exception to your statement about their absence from Corus 2008. After all Anand was still in contention for 1st place until the end of the last round.
Hortensius
2 years 4 months ago
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Topalov, Kramnik and Anand were not absent at Corus 2008
unknown
2 years 4 months ago
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2 points difference with 3 rounds to go and 2 Whites. Should be enough to win 80 000 euros.
Peter Doggers
2 years 4 months ago
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Confused with the years - that was 2009. Thx, corrected.
Bert de Bruut
2 years 4 months ago
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The money, sure, but will it be enough to bridge the remaining gap of 17 points....
Iraqi Master
2 years 4 months ago
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This round was a little boring, some players is just playing for a draw.
Michael X Tractor
2 years 4 months ago
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I see the Vulgar Bulgar doesn't even have the basic good manners to stand up to shake his opponent's hand. Good job he wasn't playing Victor Lvovich!
Max
2 years 4 months ago
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Trying to overcome Topalov's elo in this tournament before actually winning it would be counterproductive and arrogant. Carlsen's exclusive focus should be on being the sole winner of this major tournament, a large enough feat, and something which he has never done before, NOT on bridging the ELO gap. That will come automatically over the next few tournaments if he keeps up his great performances.
I would think Kasparov has told him this (that any good coach would). His game today also suggests this.
Farshad
2 years 4 months ago
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Topalov is not in good mood .but Maybe He is and only he dont want to show his noveltys before his match against ANAND
Mauricio Valdes
2 years 4 months ago
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Carlsen is looking to qualify to the next WCH Cycle as the top rated player.
Can anybody tell me:
-When is the next Candidates Tournament is gonig to be held?
-The top rated player is going to qualify to this Tournament, when exactly is this top player going to be selected?
Thomas
2 years 4 months ago
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For what it's worth (I agree with Max that this shouldn't be Carlsen's main goal for the time being): He could gain roughly 15 points from winning the three final rounds, not quite enough to "catch" Topalov unless the latter loses a few more points in the same period. Can Carlsen cross 2800? "Yes he can" - I think 2.5/3 in the final rounds would do the job, but again it shouldn't be his main _short-term_ goal to cross this symbolic boundary.
@Mauricio Valdes: If I remember correctly, rating qualifiers will be determined from the average of the July 2009 and January 2010 rating lists. There are actually two, and Carlsen + Kramnik (currently the favorites) "need not fear" Anand, Topalov and Aronian who are already qualified [either Topalov or Anand won't play because one of them will be world champion by then].
But I cannot answer your first question, noone can at the moment: First the Anand-Topalov match has to take place, and FIDE needs to find a sponsor+venue for the candidates tournament ... .
villagefool
2 years 4 months ago
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The prize money should be good enough to pay Kasparov (and keep a little aside). And what a unique, excellent and careful investment this is - I couldn't think of a more fruitful partnership in chess and even sports altogether! Have you ever heard of two top players of this caliber (and from different nations) working together this closely before?
Magnus' development will be solid and exciting to follow for many years. He should be the future No. 1 for a long time (maybe similarly dominating as Kasparov was?), so why should he even bother and hurry with bridging the rating gap to Topalov now? Time is on HIS side.
Interestingly and unlike Topalov, Anand chose not to play in Nanjing - probably a wise decision. My bet on this WC match is a clear win for the reigning world champion - should this really be the outcome, the remaining rating gap between T. and C. after Nanjing (if any worth mentioning) will have equalized effortlessly anyway. I look forward to a much more exciting future in chess.
Thomas
2 years 4 months ago
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Interesting stuff about openings in the round7 games: Carlsen and Topalov played "a topical line" leading to a home-cooked draw; Peter Doggers calls the game "theoretically speaking ... highly importany" (I won't disagree).
Radjabov played a quiet, non-theoretical setup, "unambitious" sensu Doggers - and here I am not sure if I can agree. Nakamura played similar stuff twice at the Olympiad, beating "decent" opponents as Harikrishna and Khenkin. No match for Leko, I agree ... then what about the last game of the Kasparov-Karpov match (Sevilla 1987)? In a must-win situation, Kasparov successfully played the Reti. So, paraphrasing a comment by acirce on Dailydirt: It's not the opening, it's what you get out of it in the end ... .
vooruitgang
2 years 4 months ago
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@Michael X Tractor: haha lol...At least he didn't have his hands in his pockets! Long live Victor the terrible! An inspiration to us all.
unknown
2 years 4 months ago
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Carlsen - Wang Yue 1-0
Leko - Topalov 0-1
Jakovenko - Radjabov 1-0.
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