World Cup 2015 Round 3, Day 1: Draws Aplenty; Grischuk Loses a Won Game
There weren't too many short draws on day 1 of round 3 at the World Cup, but one way or another 12 of the 16 games finished in a peaceful way. Of these, perhaps the most notable was the board 1 game between Veselin Topalov and Shanglei Lu. Topalov was winning - by a mile, and with multiple ways of cashing in. For instance, 25.Ref1 (rather than 25.Rhf1, which should also have been good enough) 25...Qg3 26.Qf6 is beyond devastating, threatening captures on f7 and f5 as well as 27.Rhg1. Later, 30.Bb3 f6 31.Rxe5 fxe5 32.Rxg6 would have been a fairly easy win as well. Finally 32.Bxh5 may still be winning, but this is a lot less certain. It seems at first as if it should be easy, as White's pieces appear to escape while Black's knight remains in the box, but Black can escape to a rook ending that at first glance may not seem completely clear after a line like 32.Bxh5 Rc5 33.Be2 Re5 34.Rxe1 Rde8 35.Rf1+ Kg7 36.Nf5+ Rxf5 37.Rxf5 Rxe2. Maybe it would be unclear if Black's king were on d6, but cut off from the queenside I suspect this is a win for White as well.
So Topalov let his young and much lower-rated (though also underrated) opponent escape, and so did Alexander Grischuk. (Both players have something else in common, too. Can anyone recall what that might be?) In Grischuk's case, he not only lost a chance to win against Pavel Eljanov with 38.a7 and then a move later (though less clearly) with 39.Qf5, he even went on to lose the game. Beating Eljanov, a solid 2700 who has been as high as 2761 is not going to be an easy task for him tomorrow, especially with the black pieces.
The other three decisive games were won by the white pieces. Sergey Karjakin his recent string of super-human results against Chinese players, smoothly outplaying Yu Yangyi in a Sicilian. Fabiano Caruana also won smoothly in a Sicilian, defeating Anton Kovalyov after the latter chose 23...dxc5 rather than 23...bxc5. I'm not sure what Kovalyov was hoping for, as d6 doesn't look like a great blockading square in this particular position while the b-file could have proved useful to him, if only to distract White's pieces from building at leisure in the center and on the kingside.
Finally, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defeated S. P. Sethuraman in a sharp line of the Panov-Botvinnik Attack against the Caro-Kann. I haven't looked at the theory of the variation they played in a while, but my understanding was that Black normally flicks in 7...h6. White doesn't have to play 8.Bh4, but if he does then Black goes for the same line as in the game, with the point being that after 14...Ne6 (actually 15...Ne6) the rook on c4 attacks the bishop on h4, gaining a crucial tempo for the defense. The way Sethuraman played it has been known for a long time and the evaluation has always been in White's favor. My inclination was to say that he must not have thought White's advantage amounted to very much, but considering that he spent 36 minutes on his 16th move in a position that is well-known in this variation and arises almost by force once Black plays 7...Qxd4, I'm at a loss to explain what Sethuraman was thinking. Maybe his 7th move was a fingerfehler and he intended to play 7...h6 first? If someone comes across an answer, please share it in the comments.