Candidates 2014

[Roger de Coverly]

The Candidates continues to provide study material for club and Congress players. Andreikin has played the Tromp, Karjakin the Colle-Zukertort and Kramnik the Queens gambit Stonewall style plan with Ne5 and presumably f4 to follow.

Aronian as the defender in the Tromp chose the provocative idea of 2. .. g6 . This prompted 3. Bxf6 exf6 and now 4. c4. Adams and Hodgson would sometimes punt the immediate 4. h4 .

There was a well known game between Vaganian and Botterill at a seventies Hastings where Black got totally blown away.

But that's not going to happen, as Aronian has ignored the enticing square of g7 for the Bishop and instead played Bb4+ and c5 in the style of the Bogo-Indian.

[Jonathan Bryant]

... Kramnik the Queens gambit Stonewall style plan with Ne5 and presumably f4 to follow.

That would be the third Stonewall structure of the tournament for Vlad wouldn’t it? Not that his results have been much of an advert for the set-up.

I had thought f2-f4 was coming as well, but presumably he’s not going to do it now though.

[Ray Sayers]

I'm not the world's strongest player, but I don't really like the plan by Aronian of having a bunch of broken pawns on white squares, then swapping off the dark squared bishop!

Am I being naïve? Is this a standard plan for Black?

It seems a fairly lifeless way to play for a win in a must win game, unless he hopes Andreikin would come charging after him in a hail of tactics (though from what I have heard of Andreikin's style, that sounds unlikely!).

[Roger de Coverly]

Am I being naïve? Is this a standard plan for Black?

Back in the days when the Trompovsky was a dangerous set of ideas known only to Julian and Mickey and those who saw their latest ideas in weekenders, it used to be a standard way for Mr Victim to lose without ever getting into the game. I don't think 2. .. g6 is bad enough to deserve a ?, but you need to know that Black is living dangerously and that normal ideas in Queen pawn positions are liable to fail.

[Ray Sayers]

Interesting.

It's the Bb4+ & Bxd2 which puzzles me.

[Graham Borrowdale]

Aronian has found a tactical way out with 13 ...d6, but if white exchanges queens on e5 that could be a very healthy q-side majority. On the other hand, the pawn on c4 could be vulnerable - white is after all a bit behind in development?

[Colin S Crouch]

I have to admit that I have looked through the last few games rather half-heartedly, assuming that in the last few rounds, Anand would have the technique, and his experience, to halve out the last few games. Now suddenly it starts to look exciting!

Anand is a pawn down against Karjakinn, but it is "only" an isolated a-pawn. Anand is so experienced in such slightly inferior endings, that in his previous world championship match against Gelfand, Gelfand often agreed draws early on, when really he could have squeezed for more. Even so, it is far from clear against Karjakin that Anand will have a straightforward draw. It is certainly not a clear win for Karjakin just yet, but he should be able to create enormous pressure. If he does win, the out of nowhere he might still have chances of a shot against Carlsen.

And, to make it even more interetsing, Andreikin's queenside pawns are starting to look uncomfortable. If (and of course it is still only "if") Aronian were able to win, and Karjakin were to beat Anand, there would still be three players in contention of winning the tournament at the start of the final round.

Late news: Karjakin now has two minor pieces against rook, in exchange for dropping the a-pawn. Anand's queen side pawns look just about solid enough to hold, but it could still be hard work - and if he can hold it comfortably, he will deserve his match against Carlsen.

Enjoy the weekend.

[Ray Sayers]

I don't think Andreikin played that well at all.

I didn't like 0-0-0

[Ray Sayers]

I do, however, like his rook sac!

[Roger de Coverly]

I do, however, like his rook sac!

The engines reckon Black should have accepted it. They've also found a line, based on attacking f7, which forces Black to sacrifice to eliminate the dangerous light square Bishop.

[Colin S Crouch]

But Aronian after some thought, declined the exchange sac. He now seems substantially worse though.

It seems that the highly industrious Mark Crowther (of TWIC) has gone off-twitter this morning, but no doubt he will still catch up on today's events!

[Roger de Coverly]

The DGT design being too clever for its own good has distorted the finish of the Svidler-Mamedyarov game. You indicate a draw by putting a Black king on e5, more often than not, that gets recorded as a legal if bad move. A set of result buttons would have been rather less confusing.

[Colin S Crouch]

Aronian has now just grabbed yet another pawn, unwisely so, with 37...Rxf2? (37...Rb8), and still has chances. This is a sad end for his world championship anbitions - too much overoptimistic chess. Next time around, he will have to deal with Caruana...

Karjakin is still making progress against Anand. Not quite sure whether he is winning. Whatever, it is still the hardest test that Anand has faced in this event. It is far from clear, from White's choice of opening play, that Karjakin was intending to play for a win early on.

[LawrenceCooper]

Andreikin wins to move into an unlikely 2nd place (equal) on 50%

[Roger de Coverly]

Andreikin wins to move into an unlikely 2nd place (equal) on 50%

If Anand holds the draw against Karyakin, he qualifies with a round to spare. The engines aren't suggesting anything for Karyakin apart from random shuffling. If all else fails it should come to an end at move 98 or 99. (48. ..h4 was the last pawn move)