R3: Seven Draws (update 4)

We're looking at round 3 and Loek apparently has no fear, since he's following Radjabov-Anand and we know how that ended. Perhaps some Mexico material was lying on a shelf? Aronian has already sacrificed a pawn and Mamedyarov is trying it with 1.e4 against Kramnik. Videos + Dvoretsky analysis added


Update 16.01h

Two early draws: Eljanov-Anand and Mamedyarov-Kramnik. Eljanov's 11.g4 looked a bit dangerous according Anand but he couldn't prove it in the game. During the post-mortem he said he refrained from 11...Qd5 because of 12.dxc5 Qxc5 13.Qxc5 Nxc5 14.g5. Vishy's real fighting spirit isn't there yet. Mamedyarov's sideline against Kramnik's Petroff quickly led to the same type of ending as the just described game: opposite-coloured bishops and rooks, without much music left. This was reached for a third time today, in Polgar-Topalov, but the latter has more reason to play on because of the weak pawn on a5.

During the first hour Ivanchuk surprised everyone by thinking for 50 (!) minutes after Black's third move. In the meantime the clocks are almost even in an ending with two rooks and a bishop (White) against a knight. White has a plus it seems. Carlsen opted for an Open Ruy against Adams, and here too we see opposite-coloured bishops, but with queens still on. Because of the passed pawn we prefer White.

Leko has given back his extra pawn at the right moment to be able to safely liquidate. This will soon end in a draw. Loek is doing fine against Radjabov; indeed his preparation looked more than OK (for the first 21 moves he only needed 19 minutes). The ending is just great for Black; the question is whether he can win it.

No results yet in the other groups but surely some interesting fights. More about that later.

Update 18:24u

Leko explains his game of today:

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Polgar & Topalov about their game:

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"324","attributes":{"class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image","height":"355","width":"425","style":""}}]]

Update 19:01h:

Loek is trying to win an ending that's very difficult to win. Here's an analysis by Dvoretsky in his great book Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual:



Full analysis -->

And do check Nalimov Tablebase website in which you check on this position exactly.

Update 20:15h

Radjabov defended very well and so the last game ended in a draw as well. A major upset in group B was Hou Yifan crushing Nigel Short and another slight surprise was Smeets beating top seed Cheparinov. The Dutchman now leads together with Bacrot. In group C, only Caruana and Braun are left on 100%.

Unfortunately today there was no press conference.

Grandmastergroup A Radjabov - L. van Wely ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? Mamedyarov - V. Kramnik ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? Eljanov - V. Anand ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? Adams - M. Carlsen Aronian - P. Leko ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? Ivanchuk - B. Gelfand ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? Polgar - V. Topalov ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?

Grandmastergroup B Hou - N. Short 1-0 Stellwagen - Harikrishna ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? Spoelman - Bacrot 0-1 Movsesian - Krasenkow 1-0 Smeets - Cheparinov 1-0 Nepomniachtchi - Sargissian 1-0 L'Ami - Koneru 1-0

Grandmastergroup C Ushenina - Krush?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? Nijboer - Li 1-0 Negi - J. van der Wiel 1-0 Peng - Braun 0-1 Van der Werf - Carlsson ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? Ruijgrok - Caruana 0-1 Reinderman - Grivas ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?

Photos by forest:



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External links:

• Tournament website
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