June 2008 Archives

well, the Chess.FM "de Firmian Curse" was quickly supplanted by the Benjamin Bump. Four draws on the first day were followed by three decisive games in the second round of Dortmund. Let it be recorded that for around 90 minutes on Sunday, Jan Gustafsson was the clear leader of Dortmund. He crushed his countryman Naiditsch in just 23 moves, only seven of which were original. They played a very dangerous Queen's Gambit line that Kramnik tried against Anand in Dortmund five years ago. Gustafsson played the novelty 16.f4, giving up the c-pawn to activate his rooks against the itinerant black king. Black just looks lost. 17..Qe3+ 18.Kh1 Qxe4 loses spectacularly to a knight-rook sacrifice. 19.Nf5+! Qxf5 20.Rxd7+! Kxd7 21.Qxf7+ with a forced mate. Giving up the queen with 19..exf5 20.Re1 just loses slowly. In the game Naiditsch cracked a move later with 18..Qe3+?? when 18..Rhd8 still requires accurate play. An instructive moment, playing a bad check and taking the queen away from control of several key squares. Gustafsson finished nicely to score the first win of the tournament. And as promised, behold the shiny new Gustafsson tag!

Kramnik ripped through van Wely as just about everyone predicted. The excellent 18.c5! forced open the long diagonal for the b2 bishop. Kramnik didn't rush things, as usual. He methodically moved in on the black king until there was no defense against massive material losses. The computer says Black can survive after 22..f5, as horrible as that looks after 23.Rad1 with total domination and continued threats. 23..f6, giving back two pawns, was probably the last desperate hope. A very smooth attacking effort by Kramnik to join Gustafsson in the lead. He was joined a bit later by Peter Leko, who beat Ivanchuk in a very messy game. Most of the mess was caused by Ivanchuk's odd knight tour of death. He moved his knight from d7 to c5 to e4 to g5, where it was duly trapped and lost. 19..Nxe5!? looks like a more successful try. Ivanchuk made a fight of it a piece down, but eventually Leko liquidated.

Nepomniachtchi-Mamedyarov was an excellent Scrabble score. It was also an entertaining battle that eventually boiled down into a draw. Nepo had a solid plus most of the way but rushed things in Mamedyarov's serious time trouble. Very nice defense by Black to reach the draw. Earlier, the cute 28.Qe4, cutting off the black knight, was strong. 28..Qxe6? 27.Nf4.

As last year, the organizers announced they would delay the broadcast of the moves by 15 minutes as an anti-cheating precaution. They did it for round one, but we got a surprise on Sunday when the broadcast started promptly at nine. Maybe they wanted to speed things up a bit so everyone could go watch the German-Spain final match of the Eurocopa? If so, it was a bad deal for the German fans, as Spain dominated and won. We'll see if they're back to 9:15 EDT in round three.

Round 3: Naiditsch-Kramnik, Mamedyarov-Gustafsson, Ivanchuk-Nepomniachtchi, van Wely-Leko.

Well, we had a few nice opening stunners in the first round of Dortmund, but all four games ceded to entropy by the end of the round. Vladimir Kramnik played the Grunfeld for the first time in his life in a serious game. (For a minute on ICC Chess.FM GM Nick de Firmian and I were wondering if they live games broadcast had accidentally swapped the names with the Ivanchuk-van Wely game.) Gustafsson didn't press the issue and they agreed a draw just a few moves beyond a game Kramnik played against Svidler with white last year. Was Kramnik hoping for a win with black against the lowest-rated player or was he just messing with Anand's head? If he trots out the Najdorf later in the event we'll know it's the latter. Nepomniachtchi played the wild Grischuk move 10..g5 against Naiditsch in the most interesting game of the round. As so often happens, however, they found a clever way to reach a forced repetition of position. Black could have avoided it with the very hairy 25..Qc1!? 26.Bb3 Qxb2 27.Qxb2 Bxb2 28.c5 risking mate to keep the piece. Even the computer doesn't come out of this with a plus for Black.

Mamedyarov-Leko barely got out of theory in a temporary pawn sac line of the Nimzo that Leko held confidently. Ivanchuk looked hard for a small plus in a heavy piece endgame against van Wely, but there wasn't anything to be found. He played a typical "why not?" Chucky move in the opening, putting the "wrong rook" on d1 and playing on the queenside. (While looking at related games in the database I found Zontakh-Savanovic, 1998. Not a great game, but the position after White's 24th move is classic stuff. Game below.)

Four draws. Not exactly a shocker when you swap players like Topalov, Carlsen, and Aronian for Kramnik, Leko, and Mamedyarov (who fluctuates between goofball openings and drawish conservatism). Playing for small advantages is a style thing and therefore a matter of preference, not quality. But there is no questioning the fact that it also produces fewer mistakes and therefore fewer decisive games. Only 10 games of 32 were decisive at Dortmund last year. And that with Alekseev, Carlsen, and Anand in the field and Kramnik scoring three wins. Maybe it's all the beer. Solely based on the large rating mismatches this year you'd expect more decisive games this time. In 2007 Naiditsch was the lowest-rated player by a wide margin at 2654. This year he's at 2624 with Nepomniachtchi ten points above him and Gustafsson 20 points below.

I got 2-to-1 odds from Nick taking Kramnik to win a share of first against the rest of the field. I probably should have pushed for 3-to-1 since Kramnik only has three whites this year. But +2 should do the trick this year for clear first.

Round 2: Kramnik-van Wely, Gustafsson-Naiditsch, Leko-Ivanchuk, Nepomniachtchi-Mamedyarov.

Get out your finest Adidas track shoes, it's time for the Dortmund Sparkassen sprint. Seven rounds from start to finish, beginning Saturday the 28th and ending Sunday July 6. Unlike most sprint events, this one has two rest days, Monday and Thursday. Starting time is 1500 local time, 9am EDT. That's when we'll be kicking off our live radio commentary as well on ICC Chess.FM. My hosting shtick of pandering, name dropping, trivia, insult, lunacy, and ribaldry will hopefully be drowned out by the superlative analysis and true tales of Grandmasters de Firmian, Benjamin, Har-Zvi, Christiansen, and Kaidanov.

The Dortmund field: Kramnik, Mamedyarov, Leko, Ivanchuk, van Wely, Nepomniachtchi, Naiditsch, Gustafsson. Kramnik destroyed a significantly stronger field last year, putting the Big Vlad Machine into cruise control for a +3 undefeated score. Anand, Carlsen, and Gelfand were there last year, though Carlsen had yet to bloom into CARLSEN! by that point and finished on -1. It was a dull event, by and large, with half the field finishing undefeated. Three players -- Anand, Leko, Alekseev -- scored identical +1 -0 =6 lines. Adding young firebrand Ian "ctrl+v" Nepomniachtchi to the field this year can't hurt. Ivanchuk is playing some of the best chess of his life. van Wely's usually good for a few pretty losses. Just kidding, Loeky, you know we love you. But the Dutchman has been sinking more than flying lately. He finished close to the cellar at the Aerosvit this month and had a horrendous -4 performance at the Russian Team Ch in April. Again I ask, will Stellwagen or any other members of the new Dutch generation step up to Corus level? Sokolov and Tiviakov are clinging on, but haven't exactly been embraced by the locals.

But this tournament is, as ever, about Vladimir Kramnik. You could surely get good money taking the rest of the field against him. He's won or shared first in the event eight times, including the last two editions. He hasn't played a classical event since his mediocre Corus showing (6.5/13) and won't have another serious warm-up before his October WCh match with Anand. [jackieo posts below that Kramnik will defend his Tal Memorial title in August, which is a recent development.] Leko hasn't played classical chess since his disastrous Linares performance. He just showed good form at the powerful rapid event in Yerevan. (Although he did choke in the final round while in the lead, something that has become an unfortunate tradition for him.) Mamedyarov is another x-factor. He had a strong result at the Baku GP, probably his best-ever super event result. Naiditsch and Gustafsson will be playing for survival, but anything can happen in such a short event. And it's worth remembering several amazing Dortmund upsets in recent years. Naiditsch took clear first with +2 in 2005, ahead of Kramnik, Topalov, Leko, et al. And of course Bologan's fantastic win in 2003 after qualifying by winning the Aeroflot. (Nepomniachtchi has that spot this year.) I don't know much about Gustafsson, other than that he seems to have some deep prep in the Marshall. He'll get a tag when he wins a game!

Dortmund, aka Big Vlad's plaything, is a supertournament, it is generally agreed. Along with Corus Wijk aan Zee and Linares it is one of the majors, as a golf fan might have it. The M-Tel Masters in Bulgaria is a relatively new and welcome addition that has joined the ranks of annual super events along with the Aerosvit tournament and the Tal Memorial. Biel has long been considered second-tier, but that line of thought is looking increasingly obsolete. Last year it was a category 18 event, which is about where I'd put the cutoff for earning the "super" sobriquet these days. Actually, instead of rating numbers, which are rising like the price of gold, I'd rather go with something like "only one player outside of the top 40 and at least three members of the top ten". That prevents disqualification due to the presence of a local invitee (hello Yannick! hello Arkadij!) There should also be a minimum number of participants and/or rounds and an all-play-all format. Dortmund's seven round sprint is barely less unimpressive than Essent's minimalist four players and six rounds. Of course supertournament is an unofficial term anyway, much like "super-GM."

From the start of 2007 until today, we've seen around a dozen supertournaments. Plus the Melody Amber events, the world blitz ch, and a few other strong rapids. With the new FIDE GP coming online, we are enjoying a bumper crop of strong all-play-all tournaments. Taking only cat. 18 and higher, 2007-present, Anand has won three out of the five he played in (Mexico WCh, Linares 07 & 08). Kramnik is 2/5 (Dortmund and the Tal Memorial). So that takes care of almost half the events we're counting. Ivanchuk has two clear firsts as well (Aerosvit 07 & MTel 08). Carlsen just earned a big win at Aerosvit 08. He also took first at Biel 07, though that was on blitz tiebreaks after sharing first with Onischuk, so that's a split for our purposes. Topalov has MTel 07. The others are a little messier. Topalov, Aronian, and Radjabov shared first at Corus 07. (I'll bend the rules and give them all a half-point.) Aronian and Carlsen split Corus 08 honors. Gashimov, Wang Yue, and Carlsen divided the Baku GP.

To recap the scoring, that's Anand 3; Kramnik, Carlsen, and Ivanchuk 2; Topalov 1.5; Aronian 1; Radjabov, Wang Yue, Gashimov, and Onischuk 0.5. Honorable mention to Morozevich for his impressive score at the cat. 18 Sarajevo 08, but he was the only player in the top 30 in the field of six. Gata Kamsky has to get full props for winning the 07 World Cup, taking out big guns Shirov, Svidler, Carlsen, and Ponomariov in the process. There were also many impressive performances on teams and in rapids. Let me know if I missed anything.

Kramnik, Carlsen, and Ivanchuk will have a chance to add to their totals in the coming months, although we'll have to stretch the rules a bit for both. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting Dortmund begins on Saturday, June 28. The field: Kramnik, Leko, Mamedyarov, Ivanchuk, van Wely, Nepomniachtchi, Naiditsch, and Gustafsson. I'm all for new blood and new faces, so I don't want my invented elitist criteria to be taken too seriously. Dortmund taking in the winner of the Aeroflot Open each year is a brilliancy that other supertournaments should imitate. (Corus already does this with its internal group promotion policy.) The young Nepomniachtchi won't have it easy, but his talent is the real deal. It's interesting that Jan Gustafsson is playing instead of top-rated German and national champion Daniel Fridman. But it's Kramnik's tournament to lose as always, something he rarely does. Big Vlad hasn't played a classical event since coming in =7-8 at Corus in January. I don't think Kramnik has played anyone as low-rated as Naiditsch (2623) and Gustafsson (2603) in years, other than simuls and blitz. Oh, he did draw with Smeets (2538) in a Dutch league game last year.

The top event at the 41st Biel International Chess Festival is further along, starting July 19. Carlsen plays, which is all most people need to hear to tune in, with good reason. But by necessity there are other players as well: Bacrot, Alekseev, Dominguez, Onischuk, and Pelletier.

Tap tap tap... Is this thing on? I guess the pixels can still be pushed around here. The combination of five Kasparov speeches in two weeks and the impending arrival of La Miglette (t-minus three weeks, give or take) have made it difficult to keep up with other endeavors.

But if anything can renew one's interest in top-level chess, it's another sighting of Comet Carlsen streaking through the sky en route to #1. Did anyone pick "yesterday" in our informal poll about when the Norwegian 17-year-old would reach the top spot on the rating list? We saw Ivanchuk rip up the M-Tel and then Morozevich went for the record books in Sarajevo. Now Magnus Carlsen is giving them both a big "oh yeah?" with his stunning performance at the Aerosvit tournament in Ukraine. After eight of eleven rounds he has 6.5 (five wins, three draws) for a full two-point lead over the otherwise well-balanced category 19 (2711) field. That's a 2960 performance rating, down from over 3000 earlier in the event. The local trio of Ivanchuk, Karjakin, and Eljanov share 2-4 with 4.5/8. Sure Carlsen is the top seed in the event, but still. Starting the event at 2765, he'll be tantalizingly close to Anand's top spot (2803) even if he only pars out in the last three rounds. He set the tone early with a smooth win over Ivanchuk's attempt at the King's Indian in the first round.Carlsen has his amazing score despite giving up two quick draws with his last two whites.

Getting back to the event, as opposed to the exhibition, there has been some good, bad, and ugly chess. In round 7 Nisipeanu gave an excellent demonstration of how not to play against the Dragon, Carlsen's Dragon in this case. Garry Kasparov is in NY this week to give two of his Foundation master classes to some of the top juniors in the US. He joked with KCF prez Michael Khodarkovsky that he would be afraid to show such a horrible game to the youngsters. Ouch. Anyway, playing on the queenside against the Dragon looked about as bad as it sounds. In the sixth round Alekseev was up a pawn against Carlsen with black after 14 moves. Of course he agreed to a draw four moves later. Eh? Even if he gives back the pawn after 19.Rc1 Qd7 20.Nb3 Ne6 21.Nxa5 Nxf4 he has the bishop pair and real chances.

Pansies taking quick draws a pawn up with black are nothing new of course. But Shirov blundering into mate in a drawn endgame doesn't happen every day. Carlsen's relentless pressure and stamina paid off in the 5th round when the Spatvian found just about the only losing move on the board with 61..Bg7??, wrapping his king up like a dolphin in a tuna net. Opening-wise, from now on only Radjabov should be allowed to play the King's Indian. And only Svidler can play the Grunfeld. And nobody can play the Petroff. Speaking of, Karjakin played an improvement against Jakovenko on move 23 after a few Kramnik games and won, so nothing is impossible. Karjakin seems to play more games with deep move-count novelties than anyone. On the other hand he seemed baffled by Ivanchuk's offbeat Petroff in the 5.Nc3 line. 7..Qf6 is almost comically direct. It was another one of these Petroffs in which White seems to get everything he could want and then nothing more than a quick draw five moves later. Hate the Petroff.

Dirt favorite and lowest seed Alexander Onischuk is having a rough time. He's at -3 and the only player without a win.

FIDE has finally broken its silence on the Lvov, Ukraine, bid for the Kamsky-Topalov candidates match, and it's good news.

President guarantees Topalov – Kamsky match

President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has announced that the World Championship Challenger Match between Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) and Gata Kamsky (USA) will take place in Lvov, Ukraine in November 2008.

The organiser offered a prize fund of 750,000 USD and to hold the match on the “neutral” territory of Ukraine, as the players wanted to avoid Bulgaria or the USA. President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov guarantees the organiser’s offer by backing the event from his personal finances.

FIDE Presidential Board acknowledged the offer as well as the guarantee and assigned Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos to conclude the final contracts and to check the availability of the finances. The Match will be held in dates between November 26th and December 14th 2008.

This is great news, and not only because it will keep my Brooklyn neighbor Kamky and his family off ramen noodles for a while regardless of the result. Holding the match in Sofia would have been better than nothing, but there is no doubt it would have been a very uncomfortable atmosphere for Kamsky to play on Topalov's home turf.

The wording of this release and previous comments by Ilyumzhinov to the Russian press make it sound very much to me like the money from the Ukrainian sponsors has yet to materialize. But Ilyumzhinov has been willing to spend his money (Kalmykia's money, whatever) on orphaned FIDE events in the past. The 2007 candidates matches, for example. At least this time it won't be in Elista, where Topalov's manager Danailov said his man would refuse to play (actually all of Russia). And at least it won't be held in Nalchik, the site of the belatedly announced women's world championship. More than just bathroom ceilings have been attacked in Nalchik lately. It starts August 28. (This FIDE press release on the Presidential Board Meeting mentions that and more upcoming events.)

The Kamsky-Topalov match format is eight games plus rapid tiebreaks if needed, at least that is what was announced long ago. So I'm not sure why they need 18 days to hold it. Lots of rest days?