Bazna, Round 7: Carlsen Again Alone in First
Just a short report tonight, without games, as I spent all day Saturday in a one-day tournament. (I won it, as I did a blitz tournament the night before. Another fun event this weekend was watching the HBO documentary film "Bobby Fischer Against the World". Informationally, there's absolutely nothing new to those who have read, say, Frank Brady's book Endgame, but there are many pictures and video clips that you won't have seen, and they make it worth seeing.)
Back to Bazna! Two games of the three games were drawn pretty quickly. Karjakin failed to get anything against Radjabov's Schliemann, showing once again that while Black has no winning chances in the line 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 Nf6 6.Nxf6+ Qxf6 7.Qe2, White's are only very slightly above zero.
Nisipeanu-Nakamura was more interesting by comparison. In a 6.Be2 Najdorf, White eventually managed to achieve the stock aim of super-knight on d5 vs. a feeble dark-squared bishop, but the price of the achievement was a pawn. Perhaps Nakamura had some slight hopes of using the extra pawn in the long run, but this was cut short by a clever Nisipeanu combination to force perpetual check.
Finally, there was Carlsen-Ivanchuk, won by the youngster in his trademark technical style. Normally GMs hold when the only flaw in their position is the isolated d-pawn, but not this time. Carlsen ground away, won a pawn, and ultimately finished Chuky off in a knight ending. Carlsen is thus back in clear first with three rounds to go, and has solidified his grip on the top spot in the live ratings.
Standings After Round 7:
- 1. Carlsen 5
- 2. Karjakin 4.5
- 3. Nakamura 3.5
- 4. Radjabov 3
- 5-6. Ivanchuk, Nisipeanu 2.5
Round 8 Pairings:
- Radjabov - Carlsen
- Ivanchuk - Nisipeanu
- Nakamura - Karjakin
Reader Comments (1)
Not a film but a radio drama-documentary on the BBC this week on the Polgars - not sure if you can replay it outside the UK (there are four days left to replay it).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011vhdc
'The Chess Girls is the story of their parents, Laszlo and Klara Polgar, and how they defied the Communist authorities to conduct a remarkable educational experiment. Laszlo Polgar, convinced that any healthy child can be trained to become a genius, set out to prove his theory with his own children.
'This is a drama-documentary with excerpts from an interview with Laszlo and Klara Polgar recorded for the play.'
[DM: Yep, it worked for me here in the U.S. Thanks for passing that along.]