Candidates 2014, Round 12: Anand Draws Closer
There are two rounds to go in the Candidates' tournament, and while Viswanathan Anand hasn't won it yet it's pretty close. None of his closest rivals won today, so he continues to lead Levon Aronian by a point (with a better tiebreak, so Aronian needs to outscore Anand by a point and a half) and both Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Sergey Karjakin by a point and a half. Karjakin still has to play Anand, and if he wins he'll have the better tiebreak in case he can make up that extra half a point.
Tomorrow is a rest day, and we'll see what Saturday's pairings look like below. Now for a brief recap of today's round. There was one and only one decisive game, and it saw Veselin Topalov play a very good game against Peter Svidler, defeating him on the white side of a Taimanov Sicilian. Unfortunately for Topalov, all that did was bring him up from sole last place into a four way tie for that dubious distinction at -1.
The two other players (besides Svidler) who came into the round on 50% left it that way, though they went at each other hammer and tongs. Mamedyarov played very aggressively against Karjakin, sacrificing several pawns for a kingside attack. Karjakin took them, but also took an awful lot of time, and by the time he survived the harrowing time pressure his reduced material edge wasn't enough to win.
Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik faced off in an Orthodox Queen's Gambit Declined where nothing much seemed to happen - at least not until Aronian's risky (and dubious) 27.e4. Kramnik went for a repetition, but had he spotted 28... (or 30...) Nb5! 31.exd5 Na5! there might have been a four-way tie on 50%.
Finally, Anand had White against Dmitry Andreikin, and was winning in excellent style. He had some clearer wins, but even in the final position (or actually just before it) he was winning with 41.Rc4! It was a crazy position and it's near the end of a long tournament though, so his decision to bail out with a draw is hard to criticize, as he's still almost impossible to catch.
That said, a potentially huge test faces him on Saturday - probably the last chance for the field to make a race of it.
- Andreikin - Aronian (an absolute must win for Aronian)
- Karjakin - Anand (likewise for Karjakin; if Anand draws the tournament is in principle over)
- Svidler - Mamedyarov
- Kramnik - Topalov (the hate match, part two)
Reader Comments (5)
I'll start off by mentioning that I am an Anand supporter (my family is from Chennai), and it has been great to see his performance at the candidates. Yet, I do not agree with your statement, "...so his decision to bail out with a draw is hard to criticize ..." - I can find plenty to criticize. It shows a lack of confidence. It is not good short term strategy, since in round 13 Karjakin can focus on exploiting this faltering of the winning spirit. Longer term, if Anand does win the tournament (he is still the favorite) then this game with Andreikin is a regression in his psychological preparation against Carlsen. And, finally, it diminishes the excitement of a high-level chess tournament.
[DM: I disagree completely with your last remark, but have some sympathy for the rest. Playing for the world championship is huge. This isn't us fighting it out at the club or even Anand playing in Wijk aan Zee; this is the last step before playing for one of the greatest titles in all of sport. And he's supposed to care because one game in one round of all the high-level tournaments in chess has slightly diminished excitement? I can't buy that.
I do agree that he has shown a lack of confidence at some crucial points - this game, not playing ...Rxf2 vs. Svidler, and I think one other occasion as well - and he still has that awful nervous fidget with his fingers that I don't remember seeing when he was younger. He needs more confidence when he faces Carlsen again this November. That said, humans aren't omniscient, not even world champions at chess, and he has to weigh risk. So far, the risk-takers have imploded in this tournament, and steady Vishy is a draw away from qualification with a round to spare.]
I think Anand will win, since he has showed the most stable chess here.
But as a fun exercise, who will win with the following results:
Karjakin-Anand 1-0
Andreikin-Aronian 1/2-1/2
Svidler-Mamedyarov 1/2-1/2
Kramnik-Topalov 0-1
Aronian-Karjakin 1/2-1/2
Anand-Svidler 0-1
Mamedyarov-Kramnik 1-0
Topalov-Andreikin 1-0
Anand, Aronian, Karjakin, Mamedyarov, Topalov will all have 7.5 each....
:)
[DM: I don't have time to play with it now, but I bet Thomas will come riding to the rescue!]
"I'll start off by mentioning that I am an Anand supporter (my family is from Chennai), and it has been great to see his performance at the candidates. Yet, I do not agree with your statement, "...so his decision to bail out with a draw is hard to criticize ..." - I can find plenty to criticize. It shows a lack of confidence. It is not good short term strategy, since in round 13 Karjakin can focus on exploiting this faltering of the winning spirit. Longer term, if Anand does win the tournament (he is still the favorite) then this game with Andreikin is a regression in his psychological preparation against Carlsen. And, finally, it diminishes the excitement of a high-level chess tournament.
[DM: I disagree completely with your last remark, but have some sympathy for the rest. Playing for the world championship is huge. This isn't us fighting it out at the club or even Anand playing in Wijk aan Zee; this is the last step before playing for one of the greatest titles in all of sport. And he's supposed to care because one game in one round of all the high-level tournaments in chess has slightly diminished excitement? I can't buy that.
I do agree that he has shown a lack of confidence at some crucial points - this game, not playing ...Rxf2 vs. Svidler, and I think one other occasion as well - and he still has that awful nervous fidget with his fingers that I don't remember seeing when he was younger. He needs more confidence when he faces Carlsen again this November. That said, humans aren't omniscient, not even world champions at chess, and he has to weigh risk. So far, the risk-takers have imploded in this tournament, and steady Vishy is a draw away from qualification with a round to spare.]"
Both of you make insightful points.
Nevertheless, with qualification for the rematch with Carlsen (almost) in hand, this is an excellent opportunity to steel and train himself for defeating Carlsen by playing to win. The psychological issues should be worked out now because I believe Carlsen could be over confident going into the rematch.
[DM: Before steeling himself for a match with Carlsen, he has to earn the match with Carlsen. After that he'll have eight months to turn into Superman. (The "man of steel".) I don't disagree about the need for him to be tougher next time he faces Carlsen, but this isn't a training event.]
Carlsen has "outlasted" many opponents. Now Anand should "outlast" Carlsen.
Also, some have suggested that Anand hire a personal trainer to get himself in the best physical shape of his life. By being trim and fit Anand can employ Carlsen's modus operandi against Carlsen, i.e., draw and win drawn positions and even draw and win lost positions!
I am happy to accept Dennis' invitation, but can't guarantee that I got everything right. Any tie for first place (no matter how many players are involved) will first be resolved based on direct results between these players.
In Michael's scenario, the final standings in this "five-player double round robin" would be Anand 5/8, Aronian and Karjakin 4/8, Mamedyarov and Topalov 3.5/8 (Anand beat Aronian, Mamedyarov and Topalov and would then lose against Karjakin, while Aronian beat Karjakin). But with just one different result (Svidler-Mamedyarov 1-0, Svidler rather than Mamedyarov tying for first place) Anand (then 4/8) would be out, and Aronian and Karjakin (4.5/8) would have to play a tiebreak match [see below].
Another somewhat more likely scenario is (just) Anand, Aronian and Karjakin tying for first place. Then direct results would be equal, number of wins would also be equal, Sonneborn-Berger matters - in other words, the final scores of the five other players. Aronian and Karjakin would have identical Sonneborn-Berger (both beat Svidler 1.5-0.5 and played 1-1 against the rest). Anand beat Mamedyarov and Topalov 1.5-0.5 and would lose 0.5-1.5 against Svidler. Kramnik's and Andreikin's final scores are irrelevant as they drew all their matches against the top 3. If, for example, Svidler and Mamedyarov have 7/14 at the end and Topalov 6.5/14, Anand will finish in third place. If Topalov also scores 7/14, there will be a triangular tiebreak match. This actually means that if Topalov-Andreikin is still ongoing in the last round with the other games finished, it will afffect the tiebreak situation.
[DM: That was fun! Thank you for taking the time to do this, and if Anand "cooperates" by losing to Karjakin next round this might get turned into a full post.]
Bravo, Thomas!!!
And, DM, too! ;-)