Karjakin Shines At Kings

Pix 1. Position after white played 66.Ra2, black resigned.

18 June 2011, Kuala Lumpur - Karjakin steps up his game to gain a share of the lead at the Kings Tournament in Romania. 

TWIC reported that Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu played an interesting Schliemann Defence as black against Sergey Karjakin. In spite of being two pawns down and the queens coming off Nisipeanu had a way to equality (31...Re4) but after missing it in time pressure he got a difficult (but probably holdable) ending but he didn't manage to save it. Teimour Radjabov was slightly worse as white against Vassily Ivanchuk but he defended carefully enough and the game was drawn. Hikaru Nakamura has taken a step back since his win in Wijk aan Zee and he described his play as garbage after his game against Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen said he didn't sleep well and was glad of such an easy draw. 

Meanwhile Chessvibes.com reported that after a rest day dedicated to indoor football, on Friday the King’s Tournament in Medias, Romania resumed. The fight between Nakamura and Carlsen, an uneventful Breyer Ruy Lopez, ended in a move repetition at move 34. Radjabov-Ivanchuk was a Semi-Tarrasch that was always about equal. Nisipeanu tried the 3…f5 Ruy Lopez against Karjakin, who came up with an interesting novelty at move 15 and eventually won a rook ending after six hours of play.

Pix 2. Sergey Karjakin.

Pix 3. Karjakin faces off Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter of Romania in round 6, King’s Tournament 2011, Medias, Romania.(picture courtesy of TWIC.com and Kings Tournament organisers)

[Event "5th Kings Tournament"]
[Site "Medias ROU"]
[Date "2011.06.17"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C63"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2659"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2011.06.11"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. Nc3 fxe4 5. Nxe4 d5 6. Nxe5 dxe4 7. Nxc6 Qg5
8. Qe2 Nf6 9. f4 Qxf4 10. d4 Qd6 11. Ne5+ c6 12. Bc4 Be6 13. c3 Bxc4 14. Qxc4
Qd5 15. Qb3 Bd6 16. Qxb7 O-O 17. Qxc6 Qxc6 18. Nxc6 Ng4 19. Ne5 Bxe5 20. dxe5
e3 21. h3 Nxe5 22. Bxe3 Nc4 23. Bc5 Rae8+ 24. Kd1 Nxb2+ 25. Kd2 Rf5 26. Bxa7
Rf7 27. Bc5 Rd7+ 28. Kc2 Re2+ 29. Kb3 Rb7+ 30. Bb4 Nd3 31. a4 Nxb4 32. cxb4
Re3+ 33. Kc2 Rxb4 34. a5 Rc4+ 35. Kd2 Ree4 36. Ra3 Red4+ 37. Ke3 Re4+ 38. Kf3
Rf4+ 39. Kg3 Rf7 40. Rb1 Ra7 41. a6 Rcc7 42. Rb6 h6 43. Kf4 Re7 44. h4 Rac7 45.
Ra4 Kh7 46. g4 Ra7 47. h5 Rac7 48. Rd6 Rc8 49. Ra3 Rf8+ 50. Kg3 Rb8 51. Rc3 Rb4
52. Rd8 Rb6 53. Ra8 Rf7 54. Rcc8 Rb3+ 55. Kh4 g5+ 56. hxg6+ Kxg6 57. Rc6+ Kg7
58. Rd8 Rb1 59. Rdd6 Rh1+ 60. Kg3 Rg1+ 61. Kh3 Rf3+ 62. Kh2 Rgf1 63. Rd7+ Rf7
64. Rxf7+ Rxf7 65. Rc2 h5 66. Ra2 1-0

Table 1. Standings after round 6.

Carlsen and Karjakin jointly leads with 4 points each after round 6 of the Kings Tournament in Bazna, Romania.

Link

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

Nisipeanu Wins In Ruy Lopez

14 June 2011, Kuala Lumpur - In the third round of the Kings Tournament, Nisipeanu (pix below)created a sensation by beating highly fancied Ivanchuk in a Berlin Variation of the Ruy Lopez. Carlsen drew his game, and so did Hikaru against Karjakin.







After round 3, Carlsen leads the standings with 2.0 points as shown in the table below.






( results table courtesy of TWIC, Picture of Nisipeanu courtesy of Wikipeadia)

Nakamura Strikes Back!

Pix 1. Hikaru Nakamura

13 June 2011, Kuala Lumpur – At the Kings Tournament 2011, Hikaru Nakamura gains his first point with a win against Nisipeanu in the second round. After two rounds, Magnus Carlsen is in the lead with 1.5 points. Carlsen drew with Ivanchuk.

Chessvibes.com reported that Hikaru Nakamura bounced back with a win in the second round of the Kings Tournament in Medias, Romania. The American grandmaster defeated Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu in a game that lasted 78 moves and started as a Closed Ruy Lopez. TWIC added that Hikaru Nakamura beat Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu in a very interesting Ruy Lopez. It isn't really clear to me whether Nakamura just found the best way to create problems for Nisipeanu or if the Romanian just did it to himself but Nisipeanu was at least level on the run up to first time control although with only a few minutes left until he miscalculated the consequences of 60...f3 and was immediately in a lost position.

First-round winners Magnus Carlsen and Vassily Ivanchuk drew their game, also a Ruy Lopez, while Teimour Radjabov and Sergey Karjakin also split the point, after 90 moves of quiet manoeuvring.

 

Pix 2. Nakamura vs Nisipeanu, Round 2 (picture courtesy of Kings Tournament 2011)

Pix 3. Results of Rounds 1 – 2, King’s Tournament 2011.

Pix 4. Round 2 Standings, Kings Tournament 2011.

Official website: http://www.turneulregilor.com

TWIC : http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/chessnews/events/5th-kings-tournament

Link : 5th Kings Tournament (6 players 10 Rds DRR Indiv TC: 120m:60m:15m+30spm(61)) - Games in PGN: Games

Carlsen’s First Round Win At Kings Tournament

12 June 2011, Kuala Lumpur – At Bazna, Romania, the 5th Kings Tournament is taking place with a double round robin format played by six prominent chess players that included Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Hikaru Nakamura of the USA.

Pix 1. Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura, Round 1, Kings Tournament 2011, Romania (Picture courtesy of chessvibes.com)

Chessvibes reported that Magnus Carlsen and Vassily Ivanchuk both won their first white game at the Kings Tournament in Medias, Romania. Yesterday Carlsen defeated Hikaru Nakamura in a Queen’s Gambit Declined, while Ivanchuk beat Teimour Radjabov in a King’s Indian. Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and Sergey Karjakin drew their game quickly.

[Event "5th Kings Tournament"] [Site "Medias/Romania"] [Date "2011.06.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D31"] [Annotator "Robot 3"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "2011.06.11"] [TimeControl "40/7200:20/3600:900+30"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. Qc2 Bg4 7. e3 Bh5 8. Bd3 Bg6 9. Bxg6 hxg6 10. O-O-O Nf6 11. f3 Nbd7 12. Nge2 b5 13. e4 b4 14. Na4 dxe4 15. fxe4 Qa5 16. Kb1 O-O 17. h4 Rfe8 18. e5 Nd5 19. h5 g5 20. h6 g6 21. Bc1 N7b6 22. Nc5 Bxc5 23. dxc5 b3 24. Qxb3 Qxc5 25. Nd4 Rxe5 26. Nf3 Re2 27. Nxg5 Qe7 28. Qd3 Rf8 29. Rdf1 f5 30. g4 Na4 31. Qd4 Qe5 32. Qxe5 Rxe5 33. gxf5 gxf5 34. Nf3 Re7 35. Rfg1+ Kh7 36. Rg7+ Kh8 37. Rhg1 Rfe8 38. Nh4 Rxg7 1-0

Position after black played 38….Rxg7, black resigned.

 

(game courtesy of playchess.com)

Link:

• Official website of tournament: 5th Kings Tournament 2011 Romania
• Games in PGN via TWIC