Interesting Final Round Lost Games in London Candidates

7 April 2013, Kuala Lumpur – Carlsen is finally through to the World Championship to meet the defending World Champion, Vishy Anand sometime in November of this year despite losing the final round 14th in the London Candidates recently.

The Week In Chess website reported that  Magnus Carlsen has qualified at the age of 22 for a World Chess Championship match against current holder Viswanathan Anand. Going into the final round Carlsen was tied on 8.5/13 with Vladimir Kramnik but the tie-break of more wins being decisively in his favour so he only needed to match Kramnik's result. As it turned out both players lost in yet another dramatic twist in the final rounds of this event.

Carlsen played 1.e4 and this was met by the Ruy Lopez from Svidler. The position became very complicated and Carlsen gradually got into terrible time trouble seeking an advantage which if it was there (30.Bh8!!) was impossible to find for a human. Carlsen was highly critical of this impractical approach. Svidler hit Carlsen with a number of body blows which Carlsen had 10 seconds to make 5 moves after which his position was a wreck. Svidler won rather quickly after that.

Fortunately for Carlsen his rival Vladimir Kramnik was already in a lost position too. Kramnik played the Pirc defence as black against Vassily Ivanchuk and achieved a satisfactory position, he too didn't really know whether a draw or a win was enough. About move 29 the game was equal, 35...Rc8 was terrible and with 41.Qd5 Ivanchuk had an overwhelming position which he thought about for about 25 minutes and found a clean finish.

 

 

 

 

Links:

World Chess Candidates 2013 (London ENG)
Fri 15th Mar 2013 - Mon 1st Apr 2013 - Official Site -Results - Live

Candidates 2013 (8 players 14 Rds DRR Indiv TC:120m:60m:15m+30spm(61)) - Games in PGN: Games

Carlsen's Lost Game Against Ivanchuk, Round 12, Candidates

30 March 2013, Kuala Lumpur – The official website reported that after seven hours of play, the chess world was shocked as Magnus Carlsen lost his first game of the tournament, and with it his lead in the tournament. But if anyone could beat him it was the erratic Vassily Ivanchuk, who had the upper hand in their first mutual game as well. In a Taimanov Sicilian, the Ukrainian quickly got a pleasant ending. “When 10.Nb3 appeared on the board I understood that this structure resembles the French Defence and it’s interesting to play. Objectively it’s not better for him but there were many tricks and traps,” said Ivanchuk.

Quite upset about his loss, Carlsen did attend the press conference and was very critical of his play. “First of all I think I played absolutely disgracefully from move 1.” He admitted that it was Black who had an edge in the ending, but after the weakening move 18…a5 he started to play for a win again. But then his 24.Nb5 was "extremely stupid”. “I can do anything. Probably I'm actually not better but I should never lose it.” About the position after move 30, the Norwegian said: “I think there's still not too many problems for me but I just kept on missing more and more stuff.”

Ivanchuk kept pressing, but even the rook ending should have ended in a draw, e.g. with 71.c6. However, there Carlsen made the decisive mistake: “Here I was actually pretty sure that I would draw, which is why I played so carelessly. I hadn’t seen 71…Ke4 at all.” Although he wasn’t sure about his technique, Ivanchuk didn’t make a single mistake, converted the full point and made Kramnik the new sole leader.

After twelve rounds the standings are as follows: Kramnik leads with 8 points, followed by Carlsen with 7.5. Aronian is third with 6.5 points and Svidler fourth with 6. Grischuk and Gelfand are tied for fifth place with 5.5 points, Ivanchuk has 5 and Radjabov 4 points. Saturday, March 30th is a rest day. After the clock is set one hour forward, the 13th round will be played on Sunday, March 31st at 14:00 British Summer Time (BST) with the games Radjabov-Carlsen, Grischuk-Aronian, Kramnik-Gelfand and Svidler-Ivanchuk.

The FIDE Candidates' Tournament is taking place March 14th-April 1st, 2013 at IET London, Savoy Place. It is sponsored by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and organized by AGON and the World Chess Federation (FIDE). Games and information can be found at http://london2013.fide.com.

Kramnik Leads After Round 12, Candidates

30 March 2013, Kuala Lumpur – In London we have a new leader, Vladimir Kramnik with a win over Radjabov while Carlsen lost to Ivanchuk as white. Kramnik has 8 points and Carlsen 7.5 points after Round 12 of FIDE Candidates Tournament 2013.

 

The position shown in the picture left is the last position before Carlsen resigned as white after black (Ivanchuk) played 90…Ke3. With the black pawn menacingly moving forwards to its queening square at e1, white has no answer to that threat. White King pinned to the h column by the castle, unable to assist it’s own rook to prevent the pawn from advancing.

 

Link: Results - http://london2013.fide.com/en/component/turnuva/?task=fileview&kid=1

Round 4, Candidates Tournament

19 March 2013, Kuala Lumpur – In London, Carlsen plays white against Grischuk in round 4 and Aronian plays white against Svidler. Meanwhile Kramnik plays black against Radjabov and Gelfand plays white against Ivanchuk during the Candidates Tournament 2013 at IET, Savoy Place, London.

Levon Aronian is sole leader with two points. Followed closely by Svidler, Carlsen and Radjabov at one point after round 3 standings.

The weekinchess website reported that during round 3, Svidler seems in good form and well prepared and looks in the mix for the whole thing. Magnus Carlsen won his first game, and as he stressed a win with black is a particular achievement in an event of this sort. He won in his normal style. A slight surprise was his use of the Cambridge Springs and then the use of a sideline caused Boris Gelfand to have to use a lot of time. This proved important and Carlsen kept the pressure up without really being much better.

Meanwhile Levon Aronian won a second game in a row to lead the FIDE World Chess Championship Candidates tournament in London after 3 of the 14 rounds. Aronian took full advantage of a combination of Ivanchuk's optimism over the board and complete mishandling of the clock.

Links:

World Chess Candidates 2013 (London ENG)
Fri 15th Mar 2013 - Mon 1st Apr 2013 - Official Site - Results - Live

Candidates 2013 (8 players 14 Rds DRR Indiv TC:120m:60m:15m+30spm(61)) - Games in PGN: Games | Live

Candidates 2013 (8 players 14 Rds DRR Indiv TC: 120m:60m:15m+30spm(61)) - Games in PGN: Games

Radjabov, Aronian win 2nd Round, Candidates Tournament 2013

17 March 2013, Kuala Lumpur – In the ongoing Candidates Tournament 2013 in London, the second round saw two definitive wins. One for GM Radjabov Teimour and the other for GM Aronian Levon.

The official website reported that Levon Aronian and Teimour Radjabov are in shared first place after two rounds at the FIDE World Chess Candidates' Tournament in London. Aronian won against Boris Gelfand, who blundered material. Radjabov outplayed Vassily Ivanchuk, who eventually lost on time in what should be a lost position. Magnus Carlsen got no opening advantage against Vladimir Kramnik and the two quickly drew. Alexander Grischuk and Peter Svidler also split the point, but not before both players had had an advantage in the game.

Standings:

Radjabov vs Ivanchuk

 

Official website: http://london2013.fide.com/en/component/turnuva/?task=fileview&kid=2

Round 2, Candidates Tournament 2013

16 March 2013, Kuala Lumpur – In London, round 2 of the Candidates Tournament 2013 is underway and the current moves between move 7 on board 4 to move 18 on board 1 as shown below.

To watch live games, please visit official website: http://candidates2013.worldchess.com/#todays-pairings-view

After round 1, it is still all even. Let’s see if anyone falters in round 2.

Standings:

First Round Games End in Draws

16.3.2013, Kuala Lumpur – All games drawn in Candidates Tournament in London. Peter Svidler vs Vladimir Kramnik was the first game to finish – draw in 23 moves. Levon Aronian vs Magnus Carlsen lasted 31 moves before a draw was agreed. Gelfand-Radjabov lasted 36 moves and Ivanchuk-Grischuk 44. This is clearly a waiting game.

Aronian vs Carlsen ended in a drawn game and symmetrical position above.

Candidates Tournament begins today in London!

15 March 2013, Kuala Lumpur – The Candidates Tournament begins today in London and the chess world is abuzz as to who will qualify to challenge the reigning World Chess Champion, Vishy Anand later this year.

It seems as if the event had already taken over the year before it began  its looming presence being felt through Wijk aan Zee, with everyone keenly eyeing the top boards for an indication of things to come. Naturally, the question everybody is asking themselves is who it will be to challenge Viswanathan Anand for the World Championship. The combined masses of the chess world will converge on London for arguably the chess spectacle of the year (second only to the World Championship Match itself of course, which is scheduled for November).

All of the players have traversed a long and arduous path just to reach this stage and the combined prize fund of Euro 510,000 (to be shared amongst the participants) reflects this monumental feat. The real prize, though, is a shot at the title  who is your money on?

The venue is at Savoy Place, London.

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

Official website: http://london2013.fide.com