There's something about chess excellence and names starting with a "k" sound: Karpov, Korchnoi, Kasparov, Carlsen, and the first and third players listed in the title have enjoyed remarkable careers as well. Caruana is an up-and-comer who is just about "there", and Korobov is no slouch either. The only player missing from the list is Karjakin, but no doubt he'll do his duty in tomorrow's tiebreaks. Just a coincidence, you say? Of course, and I agree almost completely. The small bit where I think there may be something to it is a player's self-confidence. Knowing that one is a part of a tradition, even an artificial one like this, can make a psychological difference. (To offer a similar example, studies have found that students' math scores improved when they were told they shared a birthday with a famous mathematician. The mind is an amazing thing!)
Let's turn to today's games from the World Cup. Vladimir Kramnik had a tougher time with White against Ivanchuk than with Black, perhaps in part from a bit of indecision about going for a win or a draw. Still, he never got into too much trouble, and managed to draw and qualify for the next round.
Fabiano Caruana needed to hold with the black pieces against Julio Granda Zuniga, and the latter's overly unprepossessing opening made Caruana's life a little too easy. With some hard work Granda found a way to create some problems, but no sooner had he done so than he slipped up and went under. Caruana won the match 2-0.
Third, Gata Kamsky needed to hold with Black against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and he did so - but only after some harrowing adventures. Mamedyarov had attacking chances, a big center and an even larger time advantage, but somehow Kamsky escaped with a lightning counterattack. It was a second straight impressive performance by the American GM.
The other American GM, Hikaru Nakamura, is going home. Anton Korobov did a great job of outplaying Nakamura on the white side of a Dutch, and stood up as the first big upset of the round.
The other four pairings are off to tiebreaks. Evgeny Tomashevsky seemed to have good chances against Alexander Morozevich, but the latter slipped away and achieved a draw. Peter Svidler didn't get much on the white side of an Exchange Slav, and so he and Le Quang Liem split the point relatively quickly. Sergey Karjakin also enjoyed a pull against Dmitry Andreikin, but like Morozevich Andreikin managed to hold. Finally, Boris Gelfand and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had a hard-fought draw that saw one player and then the other obtain a very small edge, but never anything serious.
To wrap up: the only quarter-final match that's set is Kramnik-Korobov. There will be four tiebreaks tomorrow, and as for my predictions so far I've got three right and one wrong (Nakamura's loss). Finally, the games are here, with my brief comments.