Russian, World Junior Championships End; Svidler, Swiercz Win
1. Russian Championship. Peter Svidler had clinched clear first with a round to go, and it's a good thing (for him), too, as like Vladimir Kramnik in Dortmund he finished the event in reverse. Alexander Morozevich crushed Svidler in the last round, finishing in clear second and continuing his climb back up the rating list. (In three events this rating period he has managed to gain 43 points and is now #17 in the world.)
Sergey Karjakin and Alexander Grischuk drew their games to finish tied for third at +1, and Kramnik also finished at +1 after beating Alexander Galkin in a most uncharacteristic game. Or at least, it was uncharacteristic of the Kramnik we've seen for most of the past decade. It's quite in keeping with his recent play. I'm not sure what happened to the old Kramnik, but this new version is a lot of fun to watch, and Alexei Shirov has nothing on this guy. Anyway, against Galkin, Kramnik offered a pretty implausible-looking sacrifice with 8...b6 9.c6 Bxb4; good enough for blitz, sure, but for a real game? Well, it worked!
2. World Junior Championship. What I feared yesterday has come to pass. (Feared not because I have any brief for or against either player, but because it seems unjust to me.) Darius Swiercz of Poland won his last round game, Robert Hovhannisyan of Armenia drew his, and Swiercz won the world junior title on tiebreaks. This, even though Hovhannisyan was tied or in front of Swiercz from round 5 on - and generally ahead of him. For three rounds, he was even a full point ahead of Swiercz, but it didn't matter. At any rate, it was a great event for both players, who finished with very impressive 10.5/13 scores.
In the race for third, it was good news for the home country (India) and more bad news for Armenia: Sahaj Grover defeated Samvel Ter-Sahakyan to take clear third with 9.5 points. In fourth, with the best tiebreaks of his score group, was American Ray Robson with 9. There was no bad luck in this for him, however, as a draw in the Grover vs. Ter-Sahakyan game would have left the latter in third on tiebreak.
Full results here.
Reader Comments (4)
Svidler and Morozevich never cease to amaze. Just when you think they no longer can play at the highest level they put on a top performance like this (both had a TPC over 2800).
One question though why so short of a tournament for such a top event. I remember when the Russian (USSR) championships were around 15 to 20 rounds.
[DM: It was a fine performance by Mssrs. Svidler and Morozevich, but why would you have thought they could no longer play at the highest level? They're only in their mid-30s, and Morozevich in particular had just been #2 in the world just a couple of years ago and had two very successful performances leading up to this tournament. Don't forget that Anand and Gelfand are over 40 and still having some of their greatest successes.
As for the question, the obvious answer is $$$ (or rubles). In the USSR, the state (i.e. coerced taxpayers) footed the bill; not now.]
My answer to Larry L.'s question: First, such lengthy "Soviet" tournaments are definitely history - can you name any current top events with more than 13 rounds? It may not just be an issue of less (tax) money being available by now, but also of relatively lower financial expectations from the top players - even inflation-corrected, and back then they didn't have as many other $$$ events to choose from. Kramnik commented that the event wasn't financially attractive (by his standards), he still played because it's the national championship and, in a way, a matter of honor.
Second, they could only squeeze a short event into the busy tournament calendar. Several participants had played elsewhere (Dortmund, Biel, World Team Championship) just before the event, and the World Cup starts in about a week. The schedule is as busy for the rest of this year - there was simply no room for a double round robin.
The Soviet Chp. surely had some political undertones and was not about the rubles the Soviet State gave? If you wanted to be awarded a couple of trips abroad as the USSR GM in a Western tournament, you had to do well -- getting to and playing well in the Soviet Chp. didn't hurt your selection choice with Baturinsky.
In non-Soviet Russia, it's about money. Moro or Kramnik can come or go as they please. No Leninist State machine is looking over their shoulder.
Dennis,
I was not doubting that Svidler and Morozevich still had the talent to play at the highest level. I was reflecting on their desire to put in the work to compete at the highest level. Both had before this tournament shown signs of either losing interest or effort. Svidler seemed content on participating in open events and Morozevich just kept losing rating points with some really weak play.
They both gave great performances and deserved any accolades given.