News
Poikovsky: Morozevich & Saric Shared First After Three Rounds

Poikovsky: Morozevich & Saric Shared First After Three Rounds

PeterDoggers
| 12 | Chess Event Coverage

Alexander Morozevich got off to a flying start at the Karpov Tournament in Poikovsky, Russia. The Muscovite started with two wins, and was close to a third on Tuesday againt Alexei Shirov. He was caught by Ivan Saric of Croatia - both lead the tournament with 2.5/3.

Photos © Evgenya Vashenyaka courtesy of the Russian Chess Federation

This year the annual tournament named after 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov is celebrating its 15th anniversary edition. According to the official website, since 2000 65 grandmasters from 33 countries participated.

Poikovsky is located in the Nefteyugansk region of the Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous area. 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.

Fourteen 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 which was, like the tournament, named after Anatoly Karpov.

Karpov (middle) was present at the opening ceremony

“I wish that in ten years from now we will be able to meet these boys and girls in the main tournament. Youth is on our heels!” laughed Alexei Shirov at the opening ceremony. “But the most important opponent always remains: yourself. If you want, you can play. Your age is not so important.”

Shirov is one of the ten participants this year. Again the tournament is not just strong, but also sees a nice mixture of both solid and more aggressive.

The line-up this year: former Russian Champion Ian Nepomniachtchi, Shamkir B group winner and reigning champion in Poikovsky Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine, former world number two Alexander Morozevich of Russia, French number two and two times winner Etienne Bacrot, former top player (and now organizer) and 2006 winner Alexei Shirov of Latvia, European Champion and 2009 winner Alexander Motylev of Russia, Tata B winner Ivan Saric of Croatia, 2012 winner Dmitry Jakovenko of Russia, Emil Sutovsky of Israel, and three times winner in Poikovsky Victor Bologan of Moldavia.

Players, organizers, and Karpov besides the chief arbiter

Despite the great field of players, two third of the games in the first three rounds ended in draws. It should be noted that the Karpov Tournament is one of the few strong round robins left where no anti-draw rules are in effect. It is therefore possible to come across fascinating games like this:

But let's stop complaining about something that doesn't (yet) deserve too much criticism yet; there have been a lot of interesting fights in the tournament so far.

Alexander Morozevich is a name we don't hear or read that often anymore, but in Poikovsky he is certainly playing a key role, at least for now. The 36-year-old Russian grandmaster had an excellent start: he won two games in a row.

In the first round his victim was Victor Bologan, who is, together with Alexander Onischuk, the record holder for having played the most tournaments in Poikovsky - 14 in total. Morozevich used the double fianchetto but the game had far from a quiet start: Bologan played the same, spectacular queen sacrifice as Mohamed Ezat did last year against Vladimir Kramnik!

This time White quickly gave back his queen to end up with an extra Exchange for pawn. With lots of zugzwangs Morozevich forced his opponent to resign on move 96.

Anatoly Karpov executing the first move

In the second Morozevich defeated Motylev with the black pieces. Perhaps the European Champ resigned a bit too early, because there were chances to end up with pawns on one flank, and Black would have the wrong bishop...

In the same round Ivan Saric and Ian Nepomniachtchi played a very complicated game that was eventually won by the Croatian champion.  After the game Nepomniachtchi tweeted:


Saric then won another one to catch Morozevich in first place:


Ivan Saric, co-leader with Morozevich after three rounds

Morozevich missed a good chance to reach 3/3. In the opening he won a healthy pawn, but couldn't convert it against Shirov:

Karpov Tournament 2014 | Results & pairings

Round 1 11.05.14 11:00 CET   Round 2 11.05.14 11:00 CET
Shirov ½-½ Saric   Saric 1-0 Nepomniachtchi
Sutovsky ½-½ Motylev   Eljanov ½-½ Bacrot
Morozevich 1-0 Bologan   Bologan 0-1 Jakovenko
Jakovenko ½-½ Eljanov   Motylev 0-1 Morozevich
Bacrot ½-½ Nepomniachtchi   Shirov ½-½ Sutovsky
Round 3 13.05.14 11:00 CET   Round 4 14.05.14 11:00 CET
Sutovsky 0-1 Saric   Saric - Eljanov
Morozevich ½-½ Shirov   Bologan - Nepomniachtchi
Jakovenko ½-½ Motylev   Motylev - Bacrot
Bacrot ½-½ Bologan   Shirov - Jakovenko
Nepomniachtchi ½-½ Eljanov   Sutovsky - Morozevich
Round 5 16.05.14 11:00 CET   Round 6 17.05.14 11:00 CET
Morozevich - Saric   Saric - Bologan
Jakovenko - Sutovsky   Motylev - Eljanov
Bacrot - Shirov   Shirov - Nepomniachtchi
Nepomniachtchi - Motylev   Sutovsky - Bacrot
Eljanov - Bologan   Morozevich - Jakovenko
Round 7 18.05.14 11:00 CET   Round 8 19.05.14 11:00 CET
Jakovenko - Saric   Saric - Motylev
Bacrot - Morozevich   Shirov - Bologan
Nepomniachtchi - Sutovsky   Sutovsky - Eljanov
Eljanov - Shirov   Morozevich - Nepomniachtchi
Bologan - Motylev   Jakovenko - Bacrot
Round 9 20.05.14 11:00 CET        
Bacrot - Saric        
Nepomniachtchi - Jakovenko        
Eljanov - Morozevich        
Bologan - Sutovsky        
Motylev - Shirov        

Karpov Tournament 2014 | Round 3 Standings

# Name Rtg Perf 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Pts SB
1 Saric,I 2666 2972 phpfCo1l0.png ½ 1 1 2.5/3 2.75
2 Morozevich,A 2719 2961 phpfCo1l0.png ½ 1 1 2.5/3 2.25
3 Jakovenko,D 2730 2811 phpfCo1l0.png ½ ½ 1 2.0/3
4 Shirov,A 2703 2676 ½ ½ phpfCo1l0.png ½ 1.5/3 3.00
5 Eljanov,P 2732 2729 ½ phpfCo1l0.png ½ ½ 1.5/3 2.25
6 Bacrot,E 2721 2708 ½ phpfCo1l0.png ½ ½ 1.5/3 1.50
7 Nepomniachtchi,I 2735 2586 0 ½ ½ phpfCo1l0.png 1.0/3 1.50
8 Motylev,A 2687 2577 0 ½ phpfCo1l0.png ½ 1.0/3 1.50
9 Sutovsky,E 2642 2565 0 ½ ½ phpfCo1l0.png 1.0/3 1.25
10 Bologan,V 2655 2444 0 0 ½ phpfCo1l0.png 0.5/3
More from PeterDoggers
Nepomniachtchi Repeats Levitov Chess Week Victory

Nepomniachtchi Repeats Levitov Chess Week Victory

Nepomniachtchi, Svidler Lead As Levitov Chess Week Becomes Two-horse Race

Nepomniachtchi, Svidler Lead As Levitov Chess Week Becomes Two-horse Race