Shanghai Masters, Round 5: Shirov Wins, Clinches First; Kramnik Beats Aronian (Updated Again)
Tuesday, September 7, 2010 at 12:40PM Alexei Shirov continues to live a charmed existence at the Shanghai Masters, while Wang Hao remains firmly beneath the black cloud that has followed him throughout the event. The Chinese player had a big advantage from the opening and obtained a won position, but let Shirov slip out. Wang still had a draw for the taking for about 15 moves in a row, but - perhaps lamenting the missed opportunities earlier - overpressed and got punished. With the win Shirov clinched clear first (and thus qualification to Bilbao) with a round to go with an impressive score of 11/15 (4-1 [+3 =2] in normal scoring; they're using a 3-1-0 system).
With a win Levon Aronian would have guaranteed qualification to Bilbao as well, while a draw would have made it extremely likely. He had White, but Kramnik was very well-prepared in a Catalan (this is not a surprise!) and reached a winning ending with an extra exchange. He messed it up at one moment, allowing Aronian a neat draw, but the Armenian missed his chance and then Kramnik reeled in the full point.
[UPDATE 1: The only error was with the relay: Kramnik didn't make the error in question. This has been fixed in the game file (link below).]
[UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: There was no error, only well-meaning spectators a bit too sure that Kramnik and Aronian couldn't have made the back-to-back errors they did. The earlier "correction" has been fixed.]
Kramnik's tournament had been pretty luckless so far (at least devoid of good luck), but thanks to good play in this game and the exchange of gifts in the ending he caught up with Aronian at 6 points (+1 =3 -1). In the last round Kramnik will have White against tailender Wang Hao (=2 -3), which certainly looks like the ideal pairing, while Aronian will have Black against Shirov. But I'm not really sure. For one thing, Shirov's play has been extremely volatile, so I suspect Aronian will have his chances. Give Anand White and the task to draw, and it's all over, forget about it. But Shirov? (And who says he wants to draw?) As for Kramnik, he has alternated some very good play and good prep with oversights in almost every game, so if Wang Hao stays alert Kramnik might give him a gift.
The next question is this: what happens if Kramnik and Aronian finish tomorrow tied for the second qualification spot? Does anyone know? [UPDATE 2: They'll play a pair of blitz (4' + 3") games, if necessary, and if it's still tied there will be an Armageddon game. White will have 5 minutes, Black 4 plus draw odds.]
Today's games, with my comments, are here.
Reader Comments (11)
Per my comment in the Round-4 item, do you have confirmation that Kramnik really played the 54...Rh4+? mistake? I've posted my query also at ChessNinja, while someone named Deep Mikey asked the same at ChessVibes.
The last move 60.Kd4 of Wang_Shirov is an evident DGT phantom.
It seems in case of tie breaks, they will play two blitz games. http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/shanghai-shirov-wins-again-qualifies-for-bilbao/
@Ken: Your suggestion that Kramnik really played 54...Rh3+ instead makes sense, but I have no confirmation one way or another. As for the DGT 60.Kd4 in Wang Hao - Shirov, I think already noted that in my comments to the game.
@pyada: Yes, just noticed it myself several minutes ago. But let me fill in the details: they'll play a pair of 4' + 3" games, and if it's tied 1-1 they'll have an Armageddon game with White getting 5 minutes to Black's 4 minutes + draw odds.
I think Shirov has no business playing for a draw. He's sure of qualification, so he can take a loss, and It's the last round, so it's not like he has to be well-rested and fresh tomorrow. Unless he's just really tired already (but come on, it's a 6-rounds tournament!) I hope he'll play a real game.
I'm not sure I understand your DGT beef. You don't like that the last move is often transmitted as King-to-a-central-square, but isn't it the arbiter's fault, not the board's, for not switching the transmission off before placing the King there?
(Aronian - Kramnik)
Why is white not moving B on move 40, e.g. why is bad for black to take B???
[DM: 40...cxd5(??) 41.Kf4 wins the pinned rook (and the game).]
@Kajetan on Shirov: I think Shirov is entitled to play for any result he wants to (other than a loss). This is all the more so when there's no competitive goal left to achieve in the tournament as he has clinched clear first. The only reason for him not to play for a draw is that doing so can be the quickest path to a loss.
@Kajetan on DGT boards: I agree about the arbiters: it's pretty bad that they can't master this. But intelligent engineering - i.e. engineering generally done by companies that hope to stay in business and aren't protected by a monopoly - aims to idiot-proof its technology when this can be done without great expense or inelegance. When the same mistake gets made literally dozens if not hundreds of times a year, for many years, it's very bad engineering. (And they about know this, too.)
Hello Dennis
CB just reported that in fact Krammnik played Rh3+ , not Rh4 so you should change your post (unless chessbase are wrong)
[DM: I'm sure they're right, but changing it is a real pain in the neck...but it's done.]
The ChessBase story on Round 5 gives 54...Rh3+ without any comment, and TWIC have now amended their gamescore accordingly, so I believe it. As I've commented also at ChessVibes and had circulated in private last month (to Dennis and others): Research by me and Guy Haworth is suggesting an overall error rate north of 1%, and independent of Elo in the 2000s–2400s range. That extrapolates to estimate about 50,000 mis-transcribed games in the Chessbase or Opening Master collections. DGT last-move mishaps are not counted---these are mostly manual errors like "c" for "e" or "b" for "d" or transposed or omitted moves. The game Sebag-Yang from the latest Women’s Grand Prix is another example, where 34.Rxd8+ Qxd8 was undoubtedly left out of the gamescore, which miraculously remains legal to the end of the game. This is still uncorrected at the official site, TWIC, Chessgames.com, wherever…
Had Kramnik and Aronian qualified that would be 4 of the world's top five in Bilbao. That would be some kind of tournament with rating averages close to 2800.
Volte-face again: Peter Doggers on site in Shanghai asked Levon Aronian directly, and confirms that 54...Rh4? 55.Kb4? was indeed played. (So now I wonder whom ChessBase and TWIC followed with their version, in TWIC's case a correction...moi?)
[DM: Grrrrrrrrrr.]