Karjakin, Caruana, Efimenko lead in quiet Poikovsky

Sergei Karjakin, Fabiano Caruana and Zahar Efimenko are sharing the lead after four rounds at the Karpov tournament in Poikovsky. The 12th edition is a quiet one so far, with a drawing percentage of no less than 80%. The event is a 10-player round-robin with Dmitry Jakovenko, Etienne Bacrot, Viktor Laznicka, Alexander Motylev, Lazara Bruzon, Sergei Rublevsky and Alexander Onischuk also playing.

The tournament in Poikovsky, named after 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov, usually takes place in June, but this year it was postponed to October 4-13. The 12th edition went back to 10 participants (last year there were 12). This year the rest day is on Sunday the 9th, just like in Bilbao.

Poikovsky is located in the Nefteyugansk region of the Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous area. It's about 150km eastern of Khanty-Mansiysk. Its name comes from the nearby river Poyka. The population is close to 30,000 people and the main economic drive is the extraction of oil and gas.

Twelve years ago local authorities decided that a big chess tournament would do the region well. A year later a chess school for children was opened, like the tournament named after Anatoly Karpov. Last year the chess school celebrated its 10th anniversary on June 1st, International Children's Day.

After four rounds, sixteen of the twenty games have ended in a draw and you don't need to be Einstein to see that this comes down to a drawing percentage of 80%. It's probably a good reflection of the situation: ten strong grandmasters with little difference in strength, all well prepared and all having quite a solid playing style. We've heard it from many pros already: chess simply has a high drawing tendency at the highest level.

The first round actually saw two decisive games. Fabiano Caruana beat Dmitry Jakovenko from a Closed Ruy Lopez.

[Event "12th Karpov Int"]
[Site "Poikovsky RUS"]
[Date "2011.10.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Caruana, F."]
[Black "Jakovenko, D."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2712"]
[BlackElo "2716"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6k1/1q4p1/3p1p1p/p1p2Pr1/P1P2QP1/2r1R1PK/5P1R/8 b - - 0 44"]
[PlyCount "4"]
[EventDate "2011.10.04"]

{One of Black's rooks is temporarily buried and he should do something about
it immediately.} 44... Rb3 $2 (44... h5 $1 45. f3 (45. Rxc3 hxg4+ 46. Kh4 g6)
45... Rxe3 46. Qxe3 hxg4+ 47. fxg4 g6 48. Qe6+ Kg7 {would have led to a draw.})
45. Rxb3 Qxb3 46. Qe4 1-0

Viktor Laznicka overstretched a bit in an Open Catalan, but it was Lazaro Bruzon who went down in the fight.

[Event "12th Karpov Int"]
[Site "Poikovsky RUS"]
[Date "2011.10.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Laznicka, V."]
[Black "Bruzon Batista, L."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E06"]
[WhiteElo "2701"]
[BlackElo "2682"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5bk1/2p2pp1/2N5/1p2P2p/1P1P2n1/r5PP/3q2B1/4RQK1 b - - 0 31"]
[PlyCount "24"]
[EventDate "2011.10.04"]

31... Rxg3 $6 (31... Ne3 $1 32. Qf2 Qc3 {was still better for Black but from
this moment the Cuban completely collapses.}) 32. Re2 Rxg2+ 33. Qxg2 Qc1+ 34.
Qf1 Qxc6 35. hxg4 hxg4 36. Qf5 g3 $6 (36... Bxb4) 37. Qe4 Qc4 $6 (37... Qxe4
38. Rxe4 Bxb4) 38. d5 Bxb4 $6 (38... Qxb4) 39. Qxc4 bxc4 40. Re4 Bc3 41. d6 c5
42. Rxc4 Ba5 43. Ra4 1-0

The other two decisive games were played in the third round. Top seed Sergei Karjakin, who apparently preferred this event over the Grand Slam Masters Final, scored a win with the white pieces. In a well-known, sharp line of the Caro-Kann Advance the Moscovite played a novelty on move 13, and five moves Laznicka erred.

[Event "12th Karpov Int"]
[Site "Poikovsky RUS"]
[Date "2011.10.06"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Laznicka, V."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2701"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2011.10.04"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 c5 6. Be3 Qb6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. O-O
Qxb2 9. Qe1 c4 10. Rb1 Qxc2 11. Rxb7 Bb4 12. Rxb4 Nxb4 13. Bd1 $146 (13. Qa1
Nxa2 14. Nxa2 Qa4 15. Nc3 Qxa1 16. Rxa1 Ne7 17. Bc1 Rb8 18. Bd1 O-O 19. Ba3 Rb7
20. Ba4 a6 21. h3 {1/2-1/2 Motylev,A (2687)-Alsina Leal,D (2531)/Moscow 2011})
13... Qd3 14. Ba4+ Kf8 15. Qa1 Bg4 16. Qb2 Rb8 17. Rb1 Bxf3 18. Bc2 Be2 $6 (
18... Qxc2 19. Qxc2 Nxc2 20. Rxb8+ Ke7 21. gxf3 {also looks bad for Black but
maybe he can survive it somehow.}) 19. Bxd3 Bxd3 20. a3 $1 Bxb1 21. axb4 Bg6
22. Qa3 Rb7 23. b5+ Re7 (23... Ne7 24. Qa6 Rc7 25. Bg5) ({and} 23... Ke8 24.
Qd6 Ne7 25. Bg5 {both lose.}) 24. Bf4 $1 {This paralyzes Black completely.} h6
25. h4 Rh7 26. Qa6 Bf5 27. Bc1 f6 28. Ba3 fxe5 29. Qc8+ Kf7 30. Nxd5 1-0

Zahar Efimenko won against Alexander Motylev, using a nice little trick.

[Event "12th Karpov Int"]
[Site "Poikovsky RUS"]
[Date "2011.10.06"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Efimenko, Z."]
[Black "Motylev, A."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B70"]
[WhiteElo "2703"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5r1k/1p5p/4p3/2Q1pb2/2P3q1/1PNr1pP1/P4P1P/2R1R1K1 b - - 0 29"]
[PlyCount "29"]
[EventDate "2011.10.04"]

29... Rf6 $2 {Who wouldn't have played this? The rook was attacked, and now
joins the attack itself.} ({However, in this position the threat was stronger
than the execution:} 29... Kg8 $1 30. Kh1 {(only move)} Rf6 31. Qc8+ (31. Re3
Qh3 32. Rxf3 Rxf3 33. Qc8+ Rf8 $19 {is the difference with the game}) 31... Rf8
32. Qc5 Rf6 {and White has to take the draw.}) 30. Re3 $1 {With the king on h8
this is possible.} Rxe3 (30... Qh3 31. Rxf3 Rxf3 32. Qc8+ Kg7 33. Qxb7+ Rf7 34.
Qxf3 {was White's nasty point!}) 31. Qxe3 Be4 $6 (31... e4) 32. Kf1 $1 {Now
White just defends, and e5 will drop.} Bc6 33. Qxe5 Kg7 34. h4 Kf7 35. Nd1 Qh3+
36. Ke1 Qh1+ 37. Kd2 Qf1 38. Rc3 Rf5 39. Qc7+ Kg8 40. Qc8+ Rf8 41. Qxe6+ Kh8
42. Qe5+ Kg8 43. Qg5+ Kh8 1-0

Games rounds 1-4

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