Candidates Semi-Finals, Day 4
Sunday, May 15, 2011 at 9:49AM
Dennis Monokroussos in Candidates 2011

Gelfand-Kamsky finished quickly, and without anyone missing any wins. They repeated the Gruenfeld line from their second game, and of course Kamsky varied first rather than walking into the same terrible bind. Mass exchanges soon followed, and by move 23 it was already time to call it a day.

Kramnik-Grischuk was a far more complicated affair almost from move 1. Even labeling the opening is complicated: it started as an English, but then transposed into a known anti-Sicilian line. Both men played very risky chess, and both players missed winning possibilities. Kramnik did most of the pushing and was generally the one playing for a win, but in the end Black's dangerous passed c-pawn saved the day.

As a result of today's draws, and the fact that all eight semi-final games have been draw, it's on to tiebreaks tomorrow. Someone has to win a game sometime, right?

Meanwhile, today's games, with my comments, are here.

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