Tromso World Cup 2013

[Christopher Kreuzer]

At the bottom of this report:

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211 ... 50813.aspx

An incident with some confusion from the 3-fold repetition claim procedure.

EDIT: Leko and Shirov both out.

[Angus French]

Shirov about to be KO-ed. Superb game by the teenager.

That's Wei Yi (or should it be Yi Wei?), aged 14 and from China. Wei's current rating is 2551 but Wang Hao, Wei's compatriot, reckons he is 2700-strength (this was reported by Lawrence Trent on today's live video coverage).

[IM Jack Rudd]

Oh joy, there are Elo-vampires in that rating range as well.

[Ian Kingston]

Shirov about to be KO-ed. Superb game by the teenager.

That's Wei Yi (or should it be Yi Wei?), aged 14 and from China. Wei's current rating is 2551 but Wang Hao, Wei's compatriot, reckons he is 2700-strength (this was reported by Lawrence Trent on today's live video coverage).

I followed the game on and off all afternoon. The way that Wei kept control of the position was hugely impressive.

[Event "World Cup 2013"] [Site "Tromso"] [Date "2013.08.14"] [Round "11.24"] [White "Wei, Yi"] [Black "Shirov, Alexei"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2557"] [BlackElo "2696"] [PlyCount "115"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. Be2 Qc7 8. Qd2 b5 9. f3 Nbd7 10. a3 h5 11. O-O-O Rb8 12. Bxb5 axb5 13. Ndxb5 Qb7 14. Qxd6 Bxd6 15. Nxd6+ Ke7 16. Nxb7 Bxb7 17. Rd4 Rhd8 18. Rhd1 Ne5 19. a4 Rxd4 20. Bxd4 Nfd7 21. b3 g5 22. Nb5 g4 23. Bb2 gxf3 24. Ba3+ Kf6 25. gxf3 Kg5 26. Nd4 Ba6 27. Kb1 Rb7 28. Rg1+ Kf6 29. Bb2 Ke7 30. Rg5 h4 31. f4 Ng6 32. Nxe6 fxe6 33. Rxg6 Nc5 34. f5 Kf7 35. Rf6+ Ke7 36. Rh6 Kf7 37. Rxh4 exf5 38. exf5 Rd7 39. Bd4 Rd5 40. Rf4 Bc8 41. Bxc5 Rxc5 42. Kb2 Kf6 43. b4 Rc7 44. Kb3 Bxf5 45. c3 Rh7 46. b5 Ke5 47. Rd4 Rxh2 48. a5 Bh3 49. a6 Bf1 50. a7 Rh8 51. Kb4 Bg2 52. Rd2 Bf3 53. Ka5 Rc8 54. Rd3 Bg2 55. Ka6 Rf8 56. Rd2 Ba8 57. c4 Rc8 58. c5 1-0

I've finally had a chance to check the database to see whether or not the bishop sacrifice was new in this position. It's not - Bologan played it against Shirov in 2005 (I don't know if the line has been played this year - I don't follow Sicilian theory). On that occasion Shirov played 14...Be7 and won, but not without getting into some fairly serious trouble (says an engine). So he varied, presumably to avoid a suspected improvement, and was simply outplayed.

[Roger de Coverly]

I've finally had a chance to check the database to see whether or not the bishop sacrifice was new in this position. It's not - Bologan played it against Shirov in 2005 (I don't know if the line has been played this year - I don't follow Sicilian theory).

The nearest recent example may be the one below, featuring a sacrifice on b5 and a similar ending with the a,b and c pawns. In the World Cup game, Shirov had the position at move 11 as White against Van Wely in 1995, but chose to play 0-0 and a totally different treatment. The .. h5 idea has become popular, in the Hedgehog as well, but it can be difficult to even consider it as a candidate move.

[Event "66th ch-RUS HL"] [Site "Yekaterinburg RUS"] [Date "2013.06.27"] [Round "7.1"] [White "Inarkiev,E"] [Black "Shomoev,A"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2680"] [BlackElo "2565"] [Annotator ""] [Source ""] [Remark ""] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.Be2 Qc7 8.Qd2 b5 9.f3 Nbd7 10.a3 Ne5 11.O-O-O Be7 12.Ndxb5 axb5 13.Nxb5 Qc6 14.Nxd6+ Kf8 15.Qd4 Ned7 16.Qc4 Qxc4 17.Bxc4 Ba6 18.Bxa6 Rxa6 19.Nc4 Rc6 20.Na5 Ra6 21.Nc4 Rc6 22.Na5 Ra6 23.Nb3 Bd6 24.Nd4 Ke7 25.Nb5 Bc5 26.Bxc5+ Nxc5 27.b3 Rb8 28.a4 Nfd7 29.Kd2 Rc8 30.Ra1 Ne5 31.Rhd1 g5 32.h3 h5 33.Ke3 h4 34.Rd4 Ncd7 35.Ra2 Ng6 36.a5 Nf4 37.c3 Rc5 38.Rb4 Ne5 39.c4 Nfd3 40.Rba4 Rc8 41.Nd4 Rd8 42.Rc2 Nc5 43.Raa2 Nxb3 44.Nxb3 Rd3+ 45.Ke2 Rxb3 46.Ra4 Nc6 47.Rca2 Kd6 48.Rd2+ Kc7 49.Rda2 Rb4 50.Rxb4 Nxb4 51.Rb2 Nc6 52.f4 gxf4 53.Kf3 Ne5+ 0-1

[Mick Norris]

Playoffs underway

Kramnik already drawn with black in game 1

Mickey is white

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Looking drawish for Mickey (though I hope he wins!). Computer engines pointing out some subtle ways for White to have gained an advantage earlier, such as 27.Bd4 (attacking the queen) before playing the other bishop back to e4. OK, the stuff about a draw was after 40.Nb6. Not sure what Black is playing at with 40...Bd1.

[LawrenceCooper]

Looking drawish for Mickey (though I hope he wins!). Computer engines pointing out some subtle ways for White to have gained an advantage earlier, such as 27.Bd4 (attacking the queen) before playing the other bishop back to e4. OK, the stuff about a draw was after 40.Nb6. Not sure what Black is playing at with 40...Bd1.

It felt like he outplayed his opponent without being able to win. Incredible turnaround in Fressinet-Malakov after 59 Kb3? Rc3+ 60 Kb4??

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Not looking good in the rook endgame...

[Roger de Coverly]

Not looking good in the rook endgame...

You wonder who or what to trust in such positions. The on-line Houdini seemed confident in Black's drawing chances even after Lawrence Trent wasn't. Looking at the engine's lines, you get non-obvious differences that for instance .. Rb6 had to be preferred to .. Rc6. Against that, a computer engine, particularly one giving instant commentary, is vulnerable to horizon effects if it doesn't evaluate the positions at the end of its lines correctly.

[LawrenceCooper]

Not looking good in the rook endgame...

You wonder who or what to trust in such positions. The on-line Houdini seemed confident in Black's drawing chances even after Lawrence Trent wasn't. Looking at the engine's lines, you get non-obvious differences that for instance .. Rb6 had to be preferred to .. Rc6. Against that, a computer engine, particularly one giving instant commentary, is vulnerable to horizon effects if it doesn't evaluate the positions at the end of its lines correctly.

The commentator (and viewer) will probably see how passive the position is and hold out little hope, whilst the computer will be based on pure calculation.

[Greg Breed]

I've just been watching the live stream. It's awesome! So tense with the video coverage too. I love it!

[Matt Fletcher]

I've been following the video coverage too, it's excellent.

But the main site has made me realise that I don't really like the way the computer evaluation is shown in the bar charts, mainly because big +/- evaluations swamp everything and mean that you can't easily work out the flow of the game up to that point.

I've come up with a possible alternative which allows you to see everything on the same scale - I've attached an attempt at a summary of the computer evaluations for the round 2 games. On the longplay games, you can see the craziness of the Kamsky - Shimanov game 2, as well as the missed opportunity for Leitao against Morozevich in game 1 (the single red spike) and the massive Ortiz Suarez blunder in game 1 (deep green goes to deep red), alongside some very sedate draws.

Would appreciate any comments / suggestions on the summary.

[Matthew Turner]

No British players left, so who are people supporting now?
I am watching Hammer - I'd like to see the local boy do well and Kamsky seems to generate very interesting games.
I'd also like to see Svidler and Giri go well

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I'd be happy if any of the big names do well: Radjabov, Ivanchuk, Svidler, Gelfand, Nakamura, Karjakin, Grischuk, Kramnik, Caruana, or Aronian. Though I've named 10 of the 16 left in the event, so I'm sure one of them will do well! Are Ivanchuk and Radjabov the only ones left in the bottom half of the draw? I'm not sure if the list above shows that or not.