The World Chess Candidates Tournament – London 2013 12th round

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Aronian-Kramnik
(Photo taken from the official site of the tournament)

GM Carlsen Magnus 2872 0-1 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2757
GM Gelfand Boris 2740 1/2 GM Svidler Peter 2747
GM Aronian Levon 2809 0-1 GM Kramnik Vladimir 2810
GM Radjabov Teimour 2793 1/2 GM Grischuk Alexander 2764

What a day! Full of incredible mistakes and very interesting sacrifices and ideas! 🙂
Gelfand-Svidler was a fairly quiet Gruenfeld game where Black equalized comfortably. Perhaps white should have fought for advantage with 13.e4 getting space in the center.
Aronian-Kramnik was an amazing game with many sacrifices and lots of mistakes :). Black got a very good position out of the opening and then even got a nice play in the center. Perhaps White should have gone for complication after 18.Bxf4 instead of sacrificing a piece. In the endgame draw for white was very near but all was spoiled with g5-g6 push…
Grischuk equalized with Black against Radjabov and went into an even two rooks + knight vs two rooks + bishop endgame. Black should have continued to wait, but an inacurate pawn move – h5 gave white a nice chance to win material had white played 43.Rxf5!.
And finally, Carlsen-Ivanchuk. White didn’t get anything out of the Taimanov and had to settle for a passive equal position and bad pawn structure. Still, there were no real problems but with the help of Rhf1, preventing g5, Black would be able to create the play he did in the game. And even later, 45.Rc8! looked like a good way to get counterplay.

So, after 12 rounds (2 more to go!), Kramnik is leading the event for the first time with 8 points, Carlsen is 2nd with 7.5 and Aronian has 6.5.

Today is a rest day!

Official Site.

The World Chess Candidates Tournament – London 2013 11th round

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Grischuk-Carlsen
(Photo taken from the official site of the event)

GM Grischuk Alexander 2764 1/2 GM Carlsen Magnus 2872
GM Kramnik Vladimir 2810 1-0 GM Radjabov Teimour 2793
GM Svidler Peter 2747 1-0 GM Aronian Levon 2809
GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2757 1/2 GM Gelfand Boris 2740

Aronian made a novelty on move 11 and got a slightly unpleasant, due to not so good development, but fairly even position. Perhaps a better choice was 15…0-0 in order to see if white Q moves or not and only then to capture on d4 winning a tempo. White later got rid of the doubled pawns by taking on d6 and got an active position. Still had Black played 22…Nd5, he would be holding on just fine.
Gelfand and Ivanchuk played a Gruenfeld game, when 13.c4 and 14…Qd8 were interesting ways to continue the game :).
Grischuk launched an h-pawn attack on Carlsen’s Gruenfeld but looks like it evaporated after Bf5-g6 as the King’s position looked quite safe. Black opened the position up just in time and got a nice piece play with 16…Qa5.
Radjabov repeated the line he already faced against Aronian and Grischuk back in 2008 but this time Kramnik played 9.Ndb5. 15…Qd7 probably wasn’t a good novelty as Black got a relatively passive position and instead 15…Qd4 that happened twice looks more active. In any case, white’s two bishops were controlling the board very well. 20…Ne5 looked active but seemed that the pawn sacrifice wasn’t good after all. 28th of Black was a blunder but instead of it 28…Rc7 could have given a nice play for the pawn.

Carlsen is leading with 7.5 points, Kramnik moved up to 2nd place and has 7, Aronian has 6.5.

Today’s pairings

GM Carlsen Magnus 2872 – GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2757
GM Gelfand Boris 2740 – GM Svidler Peter 2747
GM Aronian Levon 2809 – GM Kramnik Vladimir 2810
GM Radjabov Teimour 2793 – GM Grischuk Alexander 2764

Official Site.

The World Chess Candidates Tournament – London 2013 10th round

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Kramnik
(Photo taken from the official site of the event)

Yesterday’s results

GM Carlsen Magnus 2872 1-0 GM Gelfand Boris 2740
GM Aronian Levon 2809 1-0 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2757
GM Radjabov Teimour 2793 1/2 GM Svidler Peter 2747
GM Grischuk Alexander 2764 0-1 GM Kramnik Vladimir 2810

Carlsen got a slightly more pleasant position out of the opening, with 14.a3 being a novelty. Both players had made an incredible amount of precise moves up to about move 30 when possible suggestions can be 30.Rd8, 32.Rd7 and 33.Qe7. Black’s only real mistake was 39…Ra1 when eliminating the R gives white a winning endgame.
Kramnik equalized quite easily against Grischuk in the Berlin and even got some space advantage on the kingside in the endgame. Had white chosen 30.Ke3 instead of 30.Bxd4 he would have drawn without much difficulty.
Aronian-Ivanchuk game saw the Budapest Gambit! It seemed as white got a slightly better position and an extra pawn out of the opening but Black always had counerplay due to good N and bad pawn structure of white. Perhaps, 18…e4 looked like a good idea, blocking the B and expanding in the center as well as 28…h5 to try and stop the attack. Unfortunately, Black didn’t manage to get out of the time pressure and lost on time on move 30, already in a lost position.
Radjabov-Svidler was an early repetition of moves. Black could have tried to play on with 19…Qa3 or 19…Qc3 but white had a decent compensation anyway.

So, Carlsen is leading the event with 7 points, Aronian is 2nd with 6.5, Kramnik has 6.

Today’s pairings

Round 11 on 2013/03/28 at 14.00

GM Grischuk Alexander 2764 – GM Carlsen Magnus 2872
GM Kramnik Vladimir 2810 – GM Radjabov Teimour 2793
GM Svidler Peter 2747 – GM Aronian Levon 2809
GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2757 – GM Gelfand Boris 2740

Official Site.