Candidates 2014, Round 11: Four Draws
The peleton is not gaining on the leader, and with just three rounds to go Viswanathan Anand is looking pretty secure in his quest for a new match with Magnus Carlsen. Vladimir Kramnik had White against Anand today, but didn't achieve anything in a Catalan and the game was drawn after just 31 moves. (It could have been drawn even sooner - at move 23, easily - but from what I can tell based on the games there's a 30-move-rule in effect that can only be superseded by a repetition.)
There wasn't much danger for either player in the game between Peter Svidler and Levon Aronian either, and while Dmitry Andreikin had a little pull early on against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov it never amounted to anything too worrisome.
The game between Veselin Topalov and Sergey Karjakin was the only one with a bit of drama. Topalov enjoyed the more bishop-friendly structure, but rather than slowly milking it he went crazy before the first time control with a queenside breakthrough. Karjakin reacted extremely well, collecting the pawns and then sacrificing the exchange. After the time control it was Karjakin who had the winning chances, but it's not clear that the position was winning. That would depend on whether there was any kind of successful breakthrough operation with ...e4 followed by a king raid. In the game, Karjakin apparently didn't trust it, so Topalov held without any trouble.
Anand thus continues to lead the Candidates over Aronian by a point (with the better tiebreaks, so Aronian must outscore him by a point and a half to win - assuming no one else in the picture) and three players by a point and a half with three rounds to go. Here, with player scores in parentheses, are the pairings for tomorrow's round 12:
- Anand (7) - Andreikin (5)
- Mamedyarov (5.5) - Karjakin (5.5)
- Topalov (4.5) - Svidler (5.5)
- Aronian (6) - Kramnik (5)
Reader Comments (2)
It's looking good for Anand now. I have to say that I'm surprised by how the Candidates Tournament has gone. I picked Aronian and Kramnik as the favorites, which I think was pretty much the consensus, but I've not been impressed with their play, especially Kramnik who is now out of the running completely. Aronian is still in second place but as you pointed out, Dennis, he is really 1+ points behind because of the first tiebreak which favors Anand. Funny how that first round game really changed the course of the tournament. If Anand doesn't lose any of his last 3 games it will be virtually impossible for anyone to catch him. Aronian would have to win all three of his games as would Karjakin, Svidler, and Mamedyarov. Mamedyarov has the bad tiebreak as well so I guess that puts him 1.5+ points behind. At least Svidler and Karjakin have games against Anand in the last three rounds so they can change their destiny.
I guess no one should have counted out Anand. Maybe his loss of the title has taken the pressure off although I don't see a lot of interest in a rematch especially after Carlsen won so convincingly in the last match.
Perhaps Anand should have tried to keep the game alive with 23…Rfc8 instead of taking the pawn on a2 – when asked about it after the game, Kramnik thought that he was fine after 24.Rfc1, and Anand had to gently point out to him that it loses a piece to 24…Qxd3! With the idea of 25.exd3 Rxc1+ 26.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 27.Kg2 Rc2! 28.Qxc2 Ne3+ (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9g8khf9-H0&t=168m45s). Kramnik in response: “Ah, that is my style…”.