Grischuk Meets Gelfand – Finals of Candidates Match 2011

17 May 2011, Kuala Lumpur – Here are two games from the Candidates Match 2011 in Kazan, Russia. Grischuk beats Kramnik in a crucial playoff tiebreak after two earlier drawn games during the semi-finals of the Candidates Match 2011. This means Grischuk will progress to the finals to meet Boris Gelfand.

TWIC reported that Alexander Grischuk showed amazing calmness under pressure to progress to the final of the World Chess Championship Candidates in Kazan. He defeated former World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik in a blitz playoff. He will meet Boris Gelfand who finally defeated Gata Kamsky in the blitz after being extremely close to going out. The final starts on Thursday 19th May.

In the other semi-finals of the Candidates Match 2011, Boris Gelfand won easily two games against Gata Kamsky. One of the games is shown below.

The winning tie-break game between Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Grischuk is shown below. Kramnik played a fatal mistake by moving 47.Rb5 allowing Grischuk to capture the rook with his knight 47…Nxb5, game over and white resigned as black has a winning three pawns and a rook against white’s trapped pawn and a white colored bishop.

[Event "FIDE Candidates Matches 2011, Tiebreak"] [Site "Kazan/Tatarstan/Russia"] [Date "2011.05.16"] [Round "2.9"] [White "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Black "Grischuk, Alexander"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B38"] [Annotator "Robot 4"] [PlyCount "94"] [EventDate "2011.05.16"] [TimeControl "300+3"] 1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. e4 g6 7. Be2 Bg7 8. Be3 O-O 9. O-O Bd7 10. Qd2 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bc6 12. Bd3 a5 13. Rfe1 a4 14. Nd5 Nd7 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Re3 e5 17. Rh3 h5 18. Ne3 Rh8 19. Rg3 Nc5 20. Rd1 h4 21. Rh3 Bxe4 22. Bf1 Bc6 23. Nd5 Bxd5 24. Qxd5 Ra6 25. Re3 Qf6 26. b4 axb3 27. axb3 Rb6 28. h3 Rxb3 29. Rxb3 Nxb3 30. Qxd6 Qxd6 31. Rxd6 Rc8 32. Rd5 Kf6 33. Rd6+ Ke7 34. Rb6 Nc5 35. g3 hxg3 36. fxg3 Rc6 37. Rb5 f5 38. Kf2 b6 39. Ke3 Rd6 40. h4 Kf6 41. Be2 g5 42. hxg5+ Kxg5 43. Kf3 Rh6 44. Rb1 Ne6 45. Kg2 Nd4 46. Bd1 Rc6 47. Rb5 Nxb5 0-1

 

Here is one of two winning games by Boris Gelfand against Gata Kamsky of the USA in the semi-finals of the Candidates Match 2011 in Kazan, Russia on the 16 May 2011. Gelfand had a winning pawn position in the end game. Black had five pawns to three disconnected white pawns.

[Event "FIDE Candidates Matches 2011, Tiebreak"] [Site "Kazan/Tatarstan/Russia"] [Date "2011.05.16"] [Round "2.8"] [White "Kamsky, Gata"] [Black "Gelfand, Boris"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B33"] [Annotator "Robot 4"] [PlyCount "100"] [EventDate "2011.05.16"] [TimeControl "1500+10"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Qb6 5. Nb3 Nf6 6. Nc3 e6 7. Bd3 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. a4 d6 10. Be3 Qc7 11. f4 b6 12. Qf3 Bb7 13. Nb5 Qb8 14. c3 e5 15. f5 a6 16. Na3 d5 17. Nd2 Qd8 18. Bf2 d4 19. Qe2 Re8 20. Nb3 Nd7 21. Kh1 Bxa3 22. Rxa3 Nc5 23. Bc4 Na5 24. Nxa5 bxa5 25. Qh5 Qc7 26. Bd5 Bxd5 27. exd5 Ne4 28. Bg1 Qc4 29. Raa1 Qxd5 30. Rad1 d3 31. Qf3 Rad8 32. Rfe1 Nf6 33. Qxd5 Rxd5 34. c4 Rd7 35. Bb6 e4 36. c5 Rc8 37. h3 h5 38. Kg1 h4 39. Bxa5 Rxc5 40. Bc3 Rc4 41. Bxf6 gxf6 42. b3 Rb4 43. Kf2 Rd5 44. Ke3 Rxf5 45. Rc1 Rg5 46. Rc4 Rxc4 47. bxc4 Rxg2 48. c5 Re2+ 49. Rxe2 dxe2 50. Kxe2 Kf8 0-1

 

 

Pairing Tree of Candidates Match 2011

(games from playchess.com)

Links:

- TWIC – report

- Official – website of Candidates Matches.