British Championship Update: Howell Leads; Adams, Short and Jones On His Heels

In the battle of the last two perfect scores, David Howell beat Stephen Gordon to reach 4-0. In 2.5/3 territory, Michael Adams, Nigel Short and Gawain Jones all won their games to reach 3.5/4, probably setting up these pairings for round 5 of the British Championship: Adams-Howell and Jones-Short. The Adams-Short showdown will have to wait at least one more round.

Carlsen Clinches Biel With a Round to Spare

Magnus Carlsen struggled against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave once again (despite having White), but managed to obtain enough counterplay to hold the balance. And that was good enough to clinch clear first in the 2011 edition of Biel, as Alexander Morozevich lost his first game in the tournament. Morozevich played the ultra-sharp Anti-Moscow Gambit in the Semi-Slav against Fabiano Caruana, and it looked like the Italian (send him back!) was better prepared. He kept the pawn, traded queens, neutralized White's bishop pair and won the ending. Finally, Shirov-Pelletier was a fairly short, safe draw in a sideline of the Rubinstein French.

Standings After Round 9:

1. Carlsen 18 (of 27 on the official 3-1-0 scoring used here; 6.5/9 on normal scoring)

2. Morozevich 14 (5.5)

3-4. Vachier-Lagrave, Shirov 11 (4.5)

5. Caruana 9 (3.5)

6. Pelletier 5 (2.5)

(A programming note: the final round starts earlier than usual - play begins at 11 a.m. CET/5 a.m. ET.)

Dortmund 2011, Round 6: Three Draws

After the rest day, the players came out ready for battle - maybe a bit too equally ready for battle. The first game to finish was Le Quang Liem vs. Georg Meier, a Vienna QGD-turned-Navara Slav. The players quickly broke new ground, though the storyline in the middlegame was a famous one. Black took on an isolated d-pawn, an in return enjoyed lively piece play. Black never did manage to swap off the isolani, but White couldn't do anything to it in the middlegame or the ending, and Meier drew comfortably.

The next game to finish was the Ruslan Ponomariov - Vladimir Kramnik rematch. Despite his large lead in the event and having Black, Kramnik continued to play very sharp, enterprising, maximalist chess. Ponomariov kept his cool, neutralized his opponent's initiative, and his calm defense allowed him to draw without any scary moments.

Finally, Hikaru Nakamura once again had the longest game of the round, though today's 72-mover was a brevity compared to the 150-move monster in round 5. Anish Giri equalized with Black in a Karpov Variation Nimzo-Indian, but made his life a little more difficult than necessary when he blundered a pawn on move 29. Fortunately for him, his position was still so good that Nakamura's winning chances only increased from minuscule to tiny, and the draw could easily have been agreed to around move 47.

Standings After Round 6:

1. Kramnik 5 (3008 TPR!)
2. Le 3.5
3. Ponomariov 3
4. Giri 2.5
5-6. Meier, Nakamura 2

Round 7 Pairings:

• Nakamura - Le
• Giri - Ponomariov
• Kramnik - Meier

Tournament site here, games (with my comments) here.

The British Championship is Underway

They're up to round 3 today in the 2011 British Championship, an 11-round Swiss in Sheffield, England. For the first time in years both Michael Adams and Nigel Short are playing, so it should be an especially noteworthy event for British chess fans in particular. Both were nicked for draws in round 2, but with 2.5/3 and opposite colors a clash is (hopefully) inevitable. For now, the leaders, with the only remaining 3-0 scores in the event, are David Howell and Stephen Gordon.

Biel, Round 8: Carlsen-Morozevich Drawn

And so the two-horse race remains a race, with the thoroughbreds in the same order as when they started, with Carlsen ahead. Ironically, while both players tend to avoid absolute main lines they both jumped in today, playing the sometimes trendy Vienna Variation. Both played rapidly, and while the other games were just getting through the opening they reached a drawish rook ending. Drawish soon turned to drawn, and both benefited from the result. Carlsen managed to keep his only rival in the tournament at bay; Morozevich was able to hold with Black, maintain his tournament standing and gain some more rating points. (Considering that the financial importance of getting back to the Grand Slam-level tournaments, this should not be underestimated!)

Vachier-Lagrave and Shirov have had their scores in sync for most of the event, and their games today continued the pattern. Both won to return to 50%: Shirov by wringing out a bishop vs. almost perfectly blockading knight ending against Caruana, and Vachier-Lagrave by winning with a fascinating rook sac against Pelletier. Both games merit a closer look: Shirov's technical prowess was impressive, and so was Vachier-Lagrave's sacrificing a rook on move 23 - never to win it back!

Two rounds remain in this year's Biel; for now, here are the standings (they're using 3-1-0 scoring; normal scoring given afterwards in parentheses):

1. Carlsen 17/24 (6/8)

2. Morozevich 14 (5.5)

3-4. Vachier-Lagrave, Shirov 10 (4)

5. Caruana 6 (2.5)

6. Pelletier 4 (2)

Biel, Round 7: Carlsen Keeps Winning

But not only Carlsen. All three of today's games had a winner, but Carlsen's ensured that he remained in clear first. His game with Shirov was a good battle, with both sides trying hard to win. Shirov in particular was pressing hard, but erred with 46.e5. It's a logical move, of course, with ideas of e6 and/or Bxg6 someday, but unfortunately for him it was a blunder. After 46...Qa2 47.Qe4, Black could (and did) simply snap it off: 47...Bxe5. Shirov played the rest of the game as if punchdrunk, and resigned after his 60th move three pawns down.

Carlsen is having a very good tournament, and it's overshadowing an almost equally impressive performance by Morozevich. Morozevich is only half a point behind Carlsen on traditional scoring (but 3 points behind here, on the 3-1-0 system they're using), and undefeated too. Today he defeated Vachier-Lagrave with White in a Gruenfeld sideline that's unlikely to show up again at the top level, if today's game is any indication.

Finally, Caruana ground out a win with Black against Pelletier in another Gruenfeld, this time the 8.Rb1 + 9...Nc6 + 13...Bc7 line. The win was Caruana's first of the tournament, and may leave Pelletier's supporters wondering if the field is starting to figure him out.

Standings After Round 7 (3-1-0 scoring first, normal scoring in parentheses):

1. Carlsen 16/21 (5.5/7)
2. Morozevich 13 (5)
3-4. Vachier-Lagrave, Shirov 7 (3)
5. Caruana 6 (2.5)
6. Pelletier 4 (2)

Tournament site here.

World Team Championship, Final Round

As mentioned in the previous post, Armenia won the World Team Championship after drawing all four games (and thus the match) with Ukraine. That guaranteed that even if the Chinese team won - and they did - they would still finish in front of them by half a point (or a point, given the event's preference for 2-1-0 scoring, which I will now promptly ignore the rest of the way).

China's win came by the narrowest of margins over Hungary. Leko's game was drawn, but the other three finished with a winner. Balogh won a fascinating game over Yu Yangyi to put the Hungarians in front, but then Wang Yue beat Almasi and, in a real surprise, Polgar got ground down on the White side of a Petroff by Li Chao.

So Armenia was first, China was second, and Ukraine's fate came down to the Russia-India match, which was the last to finish. With a win Russia would probably steal the bronze medals on tiebreak, and considering that India was tied for next to last with Israel, only ahead of Egypt, that seemed a pretty sure bet. A sure bet...but a losing one. Grischuk won on board one with Black, but that was it by way of wins. Vitiugov drew on board, but these results only served to keep the match equal, as the first game to finish was Ganguly's 24-move massacre of Peter Svidler on board 3. That left only Nepomniachtchi-Sasikiran. Sasikiran missed a really easy win (50...Re2+, and a few more after that too), but that only delayed the inevitable. (Moreover, "Nepo" had no winning chances whatsoever at that point anyway, and from the medals perspective a draw was no better than a loss for the Russians.) Eventually Sasikiran won the game and India the match, leaving Ukraine in clear third.

The U.S. improved its lot in the last round with a 2.5-1.5 victory over Israel. Robert Hess got his moment to shine, defeating Evgeny Postny on board 4 in the only decisive game of the match.

Finally, Azerbaijan beat Egypt 2.5-1.5, but super-IM Samy Shoker pulled another big upset out of his hat, beating Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with the black pieces. In fairness, Shoker wasn't successful in all his games in the event. He lost a "normal" game in round 7 and was crushed by Polgar in round 8, and he lost in an earlier round as well. Still, it was an outstanding performance overall and I'm sure he achieved a GM norm here.

Final Standings:

1. Armenia 7 (of 9)

2. China 6.5

3. Ukraine 6

4-6. Russia, Hungary, USA 5

7. Azerbaijan 4.5

8. India 3.5

9. Israel 2.5

10. Egypt 0

Armenia Wins The World Team Championship

The last round is still very much in progress, but after Armenia made an obvious package deal with Ukraine their match is over. With four draws, agreed to simultaneously, the match was drawn as well, and no matter how China does against Hungary the championship belongs to Armenia. Congrats!

The Final Round of the World Team Championship is Underway

A public service announcement of sorts. For most of us in the U.S. (and the Americas in general), the World Team Championship has been a non-spectator event, as it has generally been played in what is for us the middle of the night. The last round has started far earlier than usual, however; in fact, it's already over an hour in. So, fellow western hemisphereans, here's your chance to take a live look in at this extremely high-level team competition.

Dortmund 2011, Round 5: Kramnik Wins Again

The tournament is only half over, but Vladimir Kramnik has to be a happy man at the moment. Going into the rest day, he leads with a spectacular 4.5/5, can boast of a spectacular 3087 TPR, and is near 2800 on the Live Rating list. Today's victory came over Anish Giri, who was comprehensively outplayed. (Kramnik should enjoy it while he can - I'm sure Giri will be a member of the 2800 club in the not-too-distant future.)

In second, deservedly, is the one player who managed half a point against Kramnik, Le Quang Liem. Ruslan Ponomariov was the victim, who may have started on the path to defeat with 31...Qb6, entering an ending where White's active knights and powerful passed b-pawn eventually led to a White win.

Finally, Hikaru Nakamura could have (at least) drawn at will a couple of times against Georg Meier, but as he did yesterday he got the bright (or not) idea to play for a win. His reward was to suffer until move 150 before finally scraping out a draw. Not smart, but you never know: maybe this successful defense will psychologically energize him.

Standings After Round 5:

1. Kramnik 4.5
2. Le 3
3. Ponomariov 2.5
4. Giri 2
5-6. Meier, Nakamura 1.5

Pairings for Round 6 (on Wednesday):

• Le - Meier
• Ponomariov - Kramnik
• Nakamura - Giri

Tournament site here; games (with my comments) here.