Ivanchuk Wins Kings Tournament In Rapid Tiebreak
But oddly, though. First, round 6 of the tournament: Vassily Ivanchuk had the white pieces against Veselin Topalov, and their short, sharp game finished in a perpetual check. Fabiano Caruana could have caught them in first had he managed to defeat Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, but that proved too difficult with the black pieces, and he finished half a point behind.
So then it was on to rapid tiebreaks. FIDE uses incremental time controls here too, as in both blitz and (most) classical chess games; in this case 15 minutes for the game plus three seconds added per move. And yet...despite an extra pawn in a fairly simple ending, Topalov lost on time. It was a real pity for him, as he had played well (both sides seemed to, but that's based on a quick look without using an engine) and could have made safe, do-nothing moves without any real risk. That was Topalov's white game, so Ivanchuk needed only a draw with the white pieces in the second game to win the crown, and he did it without much difficulty. Congratulations to Ivanchuk, who continues to play at a fantastic level and with enthusiasm well into his 40s!
Reader Comments (1)
This might seem to indicate that Ivanchuk was not in bad form at the Cap D'Agde tournament a few weeks ago, making Karpov's win more impressive.
Of course, Ivanchuk might have bounced back.