Svidler in trouble after day one of the quarter finals

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FIDE World Cup 2009 (Q/F Day1)

Svidler in trouble after day one of the quarter finals

Mark Crowther - Thursday 3rd December 2009

Peter Svidler ended the first day of the quarter finals in the worst state after losing with the white pieces against Vladimir Malakhov. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov will at least have the white pieces against Sergey Karjakin in a must win game. The other two games were drawn. Boris Gelfand against Dmitry Jakovenko was a quick draw, Ruslan Ponomariov against Vugar Gashimov after a prolonged struggle.

Top seed Boris Gelfand got less than nothing against Dmitry Jakovenko and a draw was agreed after 18 moves.

Gelfand,B (2758) - Jakovenko,D (2736) [D37]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (5.1), 03.12.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 b6 7.Bd3 c5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.Ne5

[10.Qc2 g6 11.dxc5 bxc5 12.0-0 Nc6 13.Rfd1 Nb4 14.Qc3 Nxd3 15.Rxd3 g5 16.Bg3 Be6 17.Rad1 a5 18.h4 h6 19.hxg5 hxg5 20.Ne5 Rc8 21.Qe1 Kg7 22.f4 f6 23.Nf3 g4 24.f5 Bf7 25.Nh2 Qd7 26.e4 d4 27.Bf4 Rh8 28.Nxg4 Rcg8 29.e5 Qxf5 30.exf6+ Bxf6 31.Rf3 Re8 32.Bh6+ Rxh6 33.Rxf5 Rxe1+ 34.Rxe1 Rg6 35.Nxf6 Rxf6 36.Ref1 Rxf5 37.Rxf5 Kg6 38.Rxc5 a4 39.Kf2 1-0 Epishin,V (2614)-Gerber,R (2378)/Geneva SUI 2005/The Week in Chess 537]

10...Bf6 11.Qh5 g6 12.Qf3 Bxe5 13.Bxe5

[13.dxe5 Nc6 14.0-0 Re8 15.Qg3 Qe7 16.Bb5 Bd7 17.Rfd1 Qe6]

13...Nc6 14.Bf6 Qd6 15.dxc5 bxc5 16.0-0 c4 17.Bc2 Bg4 18.Qf4 Qxf4

White got nothing.

1/2-1/2

Dmitry Jakovenko

Boris Gelfand

Final Position

Ruslan Ponomariov against Vugar Gashimov was a complicated Modern Benoni, white could have grabbed the exchange at one point and that may have been the best option. As it was the players repeated moves around the first time control.

Ponomariov,R (2739) - Gashimov,V (2758) [A62]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (5.1), 03.12.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 exd5 6.cxd5 g6 7.g3 Bg7 8.Bg2 0-0 9.0-0 a6 10.a4 Re8 11.h3 Nbd7 12.Bf4 Qc7 13.Re1 Nh5 14.Bd2 Rb8

[14...Ne5 15.Nxe5 Bxe5 16.Qc1 f5 17.Nd1 Bd7 18.a5 Bb5 19.Bc3 Qg7 20.Bxe5 Rxe5 21.Nc3 Rae8 22.Bf3 Nf6 23.Nxb5 axb5 24.a6 Ra8 25.axb7 Qxb7 26.Rxa8+ Qxa8 27.Qa1 Qxa1 28.Rxa1 Ne4 29.Rd1 Ng5 30.Kg2 Kf7 31.e3 Nxf3 32.Kxf3 g5 33.g4 Kf6 34.gxf5 Rxf5+ 35.Kg3 Ke5 36.f3 h5 37.Rd2 Rf7 38.Rd1 Ra7 39.h4 Rg7 40.hxg5 Rxg5+ 41.Kf2 Rg8 42.e4 Kf4 43.Rh1 Rh8 44.Rg1 Rh6 45.Rg8 Rf6 46.Rh8 Kg5 47.Ke3 Kg6 48.f4 Rf7 49.e5 dxe5 50.fxe5 Rf1 51.Rg8+ Kf7 52.Rh8 Re1+ 53.Kf4 Rb1 54.e6+ Kf6 55.Rf8+ Ke7 56.Rf7+ Ke8 57.Ke5 c4 58.d6 Re1+ 59.Kd5 Rd1+ 60.Kc6 1-0 Venturino,M (2176)-Biedekoepper,R (2152)/Porto Mannu PAL 2007/The Week in Chess 656]

15.a5 b5 16.axb6 Qxb6 17.Na4 Qc7 18.Bc3 f5 19.e3 Nhf6 20.Rc1 Ne4 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.Nd4 Ndf6 23.Nc6 Rb7 24.b4 cxb4 25.Qd4 b3 26.g4 fxg4 27.hxg4 b2 28.Nxb2 Rb5 29.Nd3 Qf7

Vugar Gashimov

Ruslan Ponomariov

Position after 29...Qf7

30.Nf4

[30.g5 Nxg5 31.Na7 Bf5 32.Nxb5 axb5 33.Nf4 Nge4 34.Rb1 Bd7 35.Ne6+ Bxe6 36.dxe6 Qxe6 37.Rxb5]

30...Bd7 31.Ne6+ Bxe6 32.dxe6 Qxe6 33.f3 Ng5 34.f4 Qxg4 35.fxg5 Rxg5 36.Rc2 Qxd4 37.Nxd4 Nd5 38.Nf3 Rg4 39.Nh2 Rg5 40.Nf3 Rg4 41.Nh2 Rg5 42.Nf3 1/2-1/2

Peter Svidler's choice of variation in the Slav Defence never looked that impressive. He did go for a kingside attack but black had no difficulty repulsing the attack. Svidler continued to attack instead of allowing perpetual check and his position immediately collapsed. This kind of sudden collapse is oddly prevalant in Svidler's games.

Svidler,P (2754) - Malakhov,V (2706) [D15]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (5.1), 03.12.2009

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 a6 5.e3 b5 6.c5 g6 7.Bd3 Bg4 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3

[9.gxf3 Nbd7 10.f4 a5 11.f5 gxf5 12.Bxf5 e6 13.Bc2 e5 14.Qf3 Bh6 15.Bd2 exd4 16.exd4 Qe7+ 17.Be3 Bxe3 18.fxe3 0-0 19.0-0-0 Rae8 20.Rhg1+ Kh8 21.Rg3 b4 22.Ne2 Ne4 23.Bxe4 Qxe4 24.Qxe4 Rxe4 25.Rf1 Re7 26.Kc2 Rg8 27.Rxg8+ Kxg8 28.Rf3 a4 29.a3 bxa3 30.bxa3 Kg7 31.Ng3 Kf8 32.Nf5 Re6 33.Kc3 Nf6 34.Nd6 Ne4+ 35.Nxe4 Rxe4 36.Kb4 Ke7 37.Kxa4 f5 38.Ka5 f4 39.exf4 Rxd4 40.f5 Rc4 41.Kb6 d4 42.Rf4 Ra4 43.f6+ Kf7 44.h4 Rxa3 45.Rxd4 Kxf6 46.Kxc6 h5 47.Kd6 Ra8 48.Rf4+ 1-0 Ponomariov,R (2703)-Grischuk,A (2710)/Moscow RUS 2006/The Week in Chess 626]

9...Bg7 10.g4 e5 11.Qg3

I already don't like white's position all that much. At least for an advantage.

11...Nfd7 12.Ne2 Qe7 13.0-0 h5 14.f3 Nf8 15.a4 b4 16.Bd2 a5 17.e4 dxe4 18.Bxe4 Ne6 19.Rae1 h4 20.Qf2 0-0 21.f4 exd4 22.f5 Nxc5 23.Bb1 d3 24.Nc1 Qd6

Vladimir Malakhov

Peter Svidler

Position after 24...Qd6

White's had a go at the king, now is the time to bail out.

25.Ba2??

I'm not sure what Svidler missed but now the game is over.

[25.f6 Bxf6 (25...Bh8 26.g5 Nbd7 27.Ba2) 26.Qxf6 Qg3+ with perpetual is probably the correct finish to the game.]

25...Bd4 26.Be3 Ne4 27.Qxh4 g5! 28.Qh5 d2 29.f6 Qxf6 30.Bxd4 Qxd4+ 31.Kg2 dxe1N+ 0-1

Sergey Karjakin against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was a complex struggle in an Open Ruy Lopez. Mamedyarov was pushed back after starting with an optically attractive position. Mamedyarov was only a few moves from a draw when he blundered, Karjakin missed the best and then Mamedyarov missed another opportunity to draw after which the game was over.

Karjakin,Sergey (2723) - Mamedyarov,S (2719) [C80]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (5.1), 03.12.2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Nbd2 Nc5 10.c3 Be7 11.Bc2 d4 12.Nb3 d3 13.Bb1 Nxb3 14.axb3 Bf5 15.b4

[15.Be3 Qd5 16.Bd4 0-0 17.Re1 Rfd8 18.Re3 Bc5 19.Bxc5 Qxc5 20.b4 Qc4 21.Ba2 Qf4 22.g3 Qh6 23.e6 Bxe6 24.Bxe6 fxe6 25.Rxd3 Qg6 26.Rxa6 Qxd3 27.Qxd3 Rxd3 28.Rxa8+ Rd8 29.Ra6 Rd6 30.Ng5 h6 31.Ne4 Rd1+ 32.Kg2 Nd8 33.Nc5 c6 34.Ra7 Kh7 35.Kf3 Kg6 36.h4 h5 37.Rc7 Rd2 38.Ke3 Rd5 39.Nd3 Kf6 40.b3 g6 41.f3 Rd6 42.g4 g5 43.Nf2 1-0 Palac,M (2580)-Luciani,C (2254)/Nova Gorica SLO 2002/The Week in Chess 378]

15...0-0 16.Re1 Qd5 17.h3 Rfd8

Optically this position looks good for black, but in fact he's about to get pushed back.

18.g4 Be6

[18...Be4 19.Ba2]

19.Re3 h5 20.Qxd3 Qxd3 21.Bxd3 hxg4 22.hxg4 Bd5 23.Bc2 Bxf3 24.Rxf3 Nxe5 25.Rh3 g6 26.g5 Re8 27.Bf4 Bf8 28.Re3 Bd6 29.Bb3 Nc4 30.Bxc4 Bxf4 31.Rf3 Bh2+

[31...Re5 32.Bxf7+ Kxf7 33.Rxf4+ Ke7 34.Rg4]

32.Kxh2 bxc4 33.Rf4 Re5 34.Rxc4 Rxg5 35.Ra5 Rxa5 36.bxa5 Ra7 37.Kg3 Kf8 38.Kf4 Ke7 39.b4 Kd7 40.Ke5 Rb7 41.Rd4+ Kc8 42.Kf6 Rb5 43.Rf4 Rd5 44.Kxf7 g5 45.Rf6 Rd3 46.c4 Rd4 47.c5 Rxb4 48.c6 Kd8

[48...Kb8 49.f3 g4 50.Ke7 Rd4 51.Rf8+ Ka7 52.f4 g3 53.Rg8 Rxf4 54.Kd7 Rf7+ 55.Kc8 Rh7 56.Rxg3 Rh8+ 57.Kxc7 is equal.]

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov