Reggio Emilia: Ivanchuk only winner in round 3

Liquidating to a winning pawn ending, Vassily Ivanchuk beat Fabiano Caruana after 83 moves in round 3 of the 54th Torneo di Capodanno in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Both Vitiugov-Giri and Morozevich-Nakamura ended in draws.

Ivanchuk wins in the third round | All photos © Circolo Scacchistico Ippogrifo

Amazing persistence and a crazy timetrouble phase around the second time control were the ingredients for Vassily Ivanchuk's winning recipe in the third round. Perhaps caught by surprise, Caruana didn't play one of the most critical lines against Ivanchuk's Sveshnikov - in fact the Italian reached a known position, but being a tempo down. Caruana managed to keep the position balanced for a long time, until he allowed his opponent to liquidate to a winning pawn ending.

[Event "54th Reggio Emilia"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia ITA"]
[Date "2011.12.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2727"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "166"]
[EventDate "2011.12.27"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bf4 e5 8.
Bg5 a6 9. Na3 b5 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Nd5 f5 12. g3 {With this move White will
eventually be a tempo down compared to the normal fianchetto line:} (12. c3 Bg7
13. exf5 Bxf5 14. Nc2 Be6 15. g3 O-O 16. Bg2 a5 17. O-O Rb8 18. a3 f5 {as
happened in many games, among them Navara,D (2608)-Gagunashvili,M (2577)/
Rethymnon 2003. This exact position is reached in the main game after 19.a3
where Black gets the free move 19...Kh8.}) 12... fxe4 13. Bg2 Bg7 14. Bxe4 Be6
15. O-O O-O 16. c3 f5 $146 (16... Rb8 17. Nc2 Qd7 18. a4 Bg4 19. f3 Bh3 20. Rf2
f5 21. Bd3 bxa4 22. Nce3 {Hoogendoorn,J (2388)-Van der Wiel,J (2495)/
Leeuwarden 2002}) 17. Bg2 {This is the tempo White loses compared to
Navara-Gagunashvili.} Rb8 18. Nc2 a5 19. a3 Kh8 20. Qe2 Qd7 21. Rad1 e4 22. f3
Nd4 23. Nxd4 Bxd5 24. Qd2 b4 25. axb4 axb4 26. fxe4 bxc3 27. bxc3 fxe4 28.
Rxf8+ Rxf8 29. Qe3 Qe7 30. Bh3 Qe5 31. Re1 Rf6 32. Bg2 Rf7 33. Rb1 Bb7 34. Ne2
d5 35. Rb6 Qc7 36. Rb1 Be5 37. Nd4 Ba6 38. Bf1 Bc4 39. Bxc4 Qxc4 40. Ne6 Qa6
41. Nd4 h6 42. Ne2 Kh7 43. Rf1 Rxf1+ 44. Kxf1 Qa1+ 45. Kg2 Qe1 46. Qf2 Qxf2+
47. Kxf2 Kg6 48. Ke3 Kf5 49. h3 Bf6 50. Nd4+ Ke5 51. Kd2 Bg5+ 52. Ke2 Bc1 53.
Nb5 Ke6 54. Nd4+ Kf6 55. Nb5 Ke5 56. Nd4 Ba3 57. Nc2 Bc5 58. Ne3 Ke6 59. Ng4
Bf8 60. Ne3 Bg7 61. Kd2 Be5 62. g4 Bf4 63. Ke2 Bg5 64. Nf5 Ke5 65. Ne3 Kd6 66.
Nf5+ Kc5 67. Ne3 Bf4 68. Ng2 Bc7 69. Ne3 Ba5 70. Nd1 Kd6 71. Ke3 Ke5 72. Ke2
Ke6 73. Ke3 Bb6+ 74. Ke2 Kf6 75. Ne3 $2 (75. h4 Bc5 76. Ne3 $11) 75... Bxe3 76.
Kxe3 Kg5 77. Kf2 Kf4 78. Kg2 Ke3 79. h4 Kf4 80. g5 hxg5 81. h5 Kf5 82. Kg3 Kf6
83. Kg4 Kg7 0-1

Vassily Ivanchuk, here watching a game from the women's tournament that's held alongside the main event

Vitiugov and Giri played a topical line in the Grünfeld that was recently discussed in ChessVibes Openings. Probably both players followed their preparation until around move 20 and they soon reached an equal ending.

[Event "54th Reggio Emilia"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia ITA"]
[Date "2011.12.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D70"]
[WhiteElo "2729"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2011.12.27"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nb6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. O-O-O Qd6 10. Nb5 Qd7 11. Kb1 Rd8 12. d5 a6 (12... Ne5 13. Qc2 c6 14.
Nxa7 Rxa7 15. Bxb6 Ra8 16. Ne2 Re8 17. Nc3 Qd6 18. Be3 Bd7 {Anand,V (2817)
-Mamedyarov,S (2746)/Bastia 2011}) 13. dxc6 $146 (13. Nc3 Na5 14. Bd4 Nbc4 15.
Qf2 e5 16. Bc5 b6 17. Bb4 c5 18. Bxa5 Nxa5 19. h4 {Gustafsson,J (2647)
-Mekhitarian,K (2529)/Reykjavik 2011}) 13... Qxd2 14. Rxd2 Rxd2 15. Bxd2 axb5
16. cxb7 Bxb7 17. Bxb5 f5 18. exf5 Bd5 19. Ne2 Bxa2+ 20. Kc2 gxf5 21. Bc3 Bc4
22. Bxc4+ Nxc4 23. Nd4 Ne3+ 24. Kd3 Nxg2 25. Nxf5 Nf4+ 26. Kc4 Bxc3 27. bxc3
Kf7 28. Re1 Ng6 29. Nd4 Ra2 30. h3 Rh2 31. Ne6 Kf6 32. Nxc7 Rxh3 33. Nd5+ Kf7
34. Rf1 Nh4 35. f4 Nf5 36. Kb4 h5 37. c4 Rd3 38. Nb6 h4 39. c5 Rd2 40. Kc3 Rg2
41. Rh1 Rg4 1/2-1/2

Giri draws with the Grünfeld against Vitiugov

The encounter between Morozevich and Nakamura was slightly disappointing, well, for the chess fans at least. It's getting harder and harder to achieve anything with White against the QGD at top level!

[Event "54th Reggio Emilia"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia ITA"]
[Date "2011.12.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2762"]
[BlackElo "2758"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2011.12.27"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Qc2 c6 7. h3 O-O 8. Bf4
Bd6 $146 (8... Nbd7 9. e3 Re8 10. Bd3 Nf8 11. Bh2 Be6 12. O-O Bd6 13. Ne5 N6d7
{Chernin,A (2573)-Sinkovics,P (2322)/Hungary 2003}) 9. Bxd6 Qxd6 10. e3 b6 11.
Rc1 Bb7 12. Be2 Nbd7 13. O-O c5 14. dxc5 Nxc5 15. Rfd1 Rac8 16. Qf5 Rfd8 17.
Qe5 Qxe5 18. Nxe5 a5 19. Bg4 Nxg4 20. hxg4 Ne6 21. Ne2 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 d4 23.
Nxd4 Nxd4 24. exd4 f6 1/2-1/2

No problems for Nakamura with Black in round 3 against Morozevich