Svidler wins World Cup Ivanchuk grabs final Candidates place

Peter Svidler won the FIDE World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk and a cheque for $96,000 with a final game draw securing a 2.5-1.5 win against Alexander Grischuk. After a cautious opening Svidler suddenly seemed resolved to actively take the title and his energetic play which has typified his performance easily got him the draw required. Grischuk said that his opponent clearly played the best of anyone in the event. Svidler earned more rest days with some fine wins with black against a very tough sequence of opponents and this energy clearly helped in the final. Svidler's opponents were: Lima, Nguyen, Caruana, Kamsky, Polgar and Ponomariov leading to the final. Vassily Ivanchuk finally didn't disappoint his supporters when he held on to draw and win a match he dominated at the start against Ruslan Ponomariov who looked totally out of gas.

Peter Svidler won the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk after a nervy final draw against Alexander Grischuk for what he agreed this was his greatest sporting achievement.

He felt that he had "crawled over the finish line" and that was certainly nervous today where he chose a very quiet opening against Grischuk where black at least managed to keep the games complicated.

"I was very happy after the opening. All the pieces are still alive, fighting position, and there was a very key moment when I played 15...h6. It was very tempting to play 15...Nc5 now Nd2 isn't really a move..."

Alexander Grischuk: after which he gave a long line which was impressive but losing for black.

"Peter played very energetically, maybe he could try for more but a draw was enough for him and he easily achieved it."

Later in another interview with Konstantin Landa Grischuk added:

It was difficult, it started terribly with loss with white, I never recovered. I didn't manage to win back a game. Of all the participants here Peter definitely played the best and definitely deserved the victory so in this matter there are no real complaints.

Landa tried to raise the issue of time trouble with Grischuk but he remained very silent on this subject.

At some point Svidler's resolution to finish this event increased and he relaxed and started to play aggressively taking over the initiative with a draw in hand. He used this to simpify into a completely drawn ending which gave him first place 2.5-1.5

Svidler: Everybody is a bit tired, you have to realise that people have been playing for a month.

Landa: We have decided you are not so tired because of your easy progress to the final.

Svidler: Easier. Than the others but there is no easy way to the final in this tournament. I think it is just a complete oxymoron around here. It is not an easy tournament however you get to the final.

Landa: What is your next plan?

Svidler: We're all going to Slovenia. The circus must continue. The whole big top packs up and goes to Slovenia to play the European Clubs European Club Cup in Rogaska Slatina. There is absolutely no rest for the wicked.

Svidler's path to the final was actually about as tough as possible, he beat the experienced Darcy Lima, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son took him to a second set of playoff games. After which his opponents were all very difficult, he just made light work of them! Fabiano Caruana took him to a rapid playoff, he then defeated something of a difficult opponent for him (or indeed anyone maybe!) in Gata Kamsky, Judit Polgar was also dispatched in two games, Ruslan Ponomariov whose record in these events matches anyone's and then finally Alexander Grischuk.

Svidler,Peter (2739) - Grischuk,Alexander (2746) [B51]
FIDE World Cup 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (7.4), 19.09.2011

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 a6 6.Be2 Ngf6 7.0-0 Qc7

[7...e6 8.Nc3 Be7 9.Be3 Qc7 10.a4 b6 11.Rfd1 Bb7 12.a5 bxa5 13.Nd2 0-0 14.Nb3 Nc5 15.Nxc5 dxc5 16.Qc4 Rfd8 17.f3 Bd6 18.g3 h5 19.Na4 Nd7 20.f4 h4 21.Rd2 Bc6 22.Rad1 Bb5 23.Qa2 Be7 24.Nc3 c4 25.Kg2 hxg3 26.hxg3 Nf6 27.Rxd8+ Rxd8 28.Rxd8+ Bxd8 29.Bf3 Be7 30.Qa1 Bb4 31.Bd4 Bc6 32.Qf1 Bxc3 33.Bxc3 Bxe4 34.Bxf6 Bxf3+ 35.Qxf3 gxf6 36.Qa8+ Kg7 37.Qxa6 Qc5 38.g4 Qb4 39.Kf3 c3 40.b3 Qd4 41.Qxa5 Qd1+ 42.Kg3 Qxc2 43.g5 Qd3+ 44.Kh4 Qd4 45.Qc7 e5 46.gxf6+ Kxf6 47.Kh3 exf4 48.b4 Qe3+ 49.Kh2 Qd2+ 50.Kh3 c2 51.Qb6+ Kg7 52.Qg1+ Kh7 53.Qa7 Qe3+ 0-1 Lukinov,D-Strelnikov,S (2319)/Alushta UKR 2006/The Week in Chess 602]

8.c4 e6 9.b3 b6 10.Nc3 Bb7 11.Rd1 Be7 12.h3 Rd8 13.Qe3 0-0 14.Ba3 Rfe8 15.Rac1
15...h6

[15...Nc5 Very tempting according to Grischuk. 16.e5 dxe5 17.Nxe5 Nxb3 looks like just winning but after: 18.Rxd8 Rxd8 19.Bxe7 Nxc1 20.Bxf6 Nxe2+ 21.Nxe2 gxf6 22.Qg3+! only move! 22...Kh8 23.Ng6+ only move but picking up the Queen! 23...Kg7 24.Qxc7]

16.b4 Rc8 17.Bb2 Qb8 18.Bd3
18...Nh7?!

"Quite ridiculous move. " according to Grischuk after which "I didn't have any real chances."

[18...d5 Shipov's suggestion went down like a lead balloon with Svidler and puzzlement from Grischuk. 19.e5 d4 does lead to sharp play. I'm not sure what conclusion they came to in the press conference.]

19.Ne2 Ba8 20.e5 Ng5 21.Nxg5 Bxg5 22.f4 Be7 23.Be4 Bxe4 24.Qxe4 Red8 25.Nd4 Bf8 26.Nxe6!
Looks the best in this position but quite brave when you only need a draw. I think Svidler was getting annoyed with how he played the early part of the game and at some point you could see him really start to think now I must start to play proper chess. This keeps him concentrated.

26...fxe6 27.exd6 Re8 28.Rc3 Qa8 29.Qxa8

[29.Qg6 was definitely an alternative but the text is safe enough.]

29...Rxa8 30.c5 bxc5 31.bxc5 Reb8 32.Ba3 Rd8 33.c6 Rac8 34.Bb2
Very safe and leading straight to the draw.

[34.Rb1]

34...Nb8

[34...Nb6 35.d7 Rc7 36.Rcc1 Nxd7 37.Kf2 Be7 38.Rxd7 Rcxd7 39.cxd7 Rxd7 40.Ke3 is also a draw.]

35.c7 Rxd6 36.Rxd6 Bxd6 37.cxb8Q Rxb8 38.Bc1 Rb4

White will very easily get the draw.

1/2-1/2

Ivanchuk qualifies for the Candidates
20 years after one of the most painful moments in a long career Vassily Ivanchuk once again qualified for the Candidates. In 1991 he was eliminated by Artur Jussupow (when he was still Athur Yusupov!) in a rapid playoff in what was a real shock at that time. Little could he imagine that upheavals in the chess world and bad luck would mean that he wouldn't play in the Candidates again so long. Ivanchuk seemed fine out of the opening but an error put him on the defensive for a long time. I have started to learn recently that it is never a good sign when Ivanchuk starts to play quickly as he did here, it is like he wants the problems to go away quickly. But here it did put some pressure on Ponomariov who looked dog tired (Ivanchuk really had the better of the match) and eventually the game was drawn and with that result Ivanchuk took 3rd winning 2.5-1.5

Ponomariov,Ruslan (2764) - Ivanchuk,Vassily (2768) [E15]
FIDE World Cup 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (7.4), 19.09.2011
Very light notes by Mark Crowther

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qb3 d5 6.cxd5 Qxd5 7.Nc3 Qxb3 8.axb3 Bb7 9.Bg2 a6

[9...a5 10.0-0 Na6 11.Bf4 Bd6 12.Rfc1 0-0-0 13.Bxd6 Rxd6 14.e3 Bxf3 15.Bxf3 Nd5 1/2-1/2 Huzman,A (2591)-Kishnev,S (2497)/Halkidiki GRE 2002/The Week in Chess 412]

10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Bg5 Bd6 12.Rfc1 0-0 13.Nd2 Bxg2 14.Kxg2 Rfc8 15.Nce4 Bf8 16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.g4 c5 18.dxc5 Bxc5 19.Nf3
19...Kf8?

[19...Rd8]

20.b4 Bxb4 21.Rxa6

and suddenly white starts to get some pressure.

21...Bc5 22.Rca1 Rxa6 23.Rxa6 b5 24.Ra5 b4 25.Rb5 Be7 26.b3 Rc7 27.Nd4 Kg7 28.f4 Bf8 29.e3 Kg6 30.h4
"I'm not a Catalan expert but in my understanding this is the maximum you can dream of." - Svidler. He wasn't sure about h4 but if it is good then h5 must follow in his opinion.

30...Kg7 31.Kf3 Be7 32.Ke2 Nc5 33.Nd2 Nb7 34.Nc4 Nc5 35.Nd2 Nb7 36.Ne4 Nd6 37.Rc5 Rxc5 38.Nxc5 h5 39.gxh5 Kh6 40.Nc6 Bf8 41.Nxb4 Kxh5 42.Nc6 Kxh4 43.Kf3 Kh5 44.b4 Kg6 45.Nd7 Bh6 46.Ke2?!

This move puzzled Grischuk and Svidler. Most probably the position is drawn with best play anyhow.

46...e5 47.Ne7+ Kg7 48.Kf3 exf4 49.e4 Nb5 50.Kg4 f3!
51.Nf5+ Kh8!

This whole idea is just a very nice touch which secures the draw.

52.Kxf3 Bd2

Now the white b-pawn drops and the game will be drawn.

53.Nxf6 Bxb4 54.e5 Bc3 55.Ke4 Nc7 56.Nd7 Kh7 57.Kf4 Nd5+ 58.Ke4 Nc7 59.Ne7 Kg7 60.Kf5 Bb4 61.Nc6 Ba3 62.Nd4 Ne6 63.Nxe6+ fxe6+ 64.Kxe6 Bb2 65.Ke7 Bxe5 66.Nxe5 1/2-1/2

http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/chessnews/events/fide-world-cup-khanty-mansiysk-2011/svidler-wins-world-cup-ivanchuk-grabs-final-candidates-place

games in pgn: http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/assets/files/pgn/wcup11_7_4.pgn