This is an excerpt of the full article on FIDE World Chess Cup – Round 4, which is available on William’s site.
Grischuk defeats Potkin and moves on…
After losing game 1 of round 4 of against fellow Russian and old friend Vladimir Potkin, Alexander Grischuk had to win to stay alive in the tournament and have a chance to win the $120,000 first prize. GM Potkin (Russia, ELO 2682) had a good run but is now eliminated Grischuk opened with e4 and Potkin chose the solid French Defense. Grischuk continued with an aggressive line intended to open and complicate the game as quickly as possible. It seemed that Potkin had achieved dynamic activity and equality from the opening however Grischuk uncovered the key to the position – trading off black’s queen and dark-squared bishop would reveal his long-term positional weakness of black’s pawn structure and highlight the c7 square as a point of entry into black’s defense. Potkin appeared considerably confused by the change of pace and fell upon a mistaken plan and then blundered, allowing Grischuk to win an exchange with 23. a3! and maintain strong pressure against black’s position. Grischuk tuned in at this crucial moment and played the rest of the game perfectly, claiming a decisive advantage with 30. Bg4! and forcing black’s resignation with 32. Rxb7!]
Watch Grischuk defeat Potkin in Round 4.2
Kamsky is eliminated – No more USA players …
The USA’s last hope for a USA contender was demolished yesterday by Peter Svidler’s thorough opening preparation in 28 moves. Svidler chose an extremely active variation as black against Kamsky’s Ruy Lopez, and was rewarded for his aggression as Kamsky quickly achieved a worse position out of the opening . It seemed as if Kamsky had generated good chances of a kingside attack with 17. e5 and 18. Bb1, however Svidler’s lack of time consumption at this point indicated Kamsky had walked right into his preparation. Svidler sacrificed the h6 pawn to achieve a lasting initiative due to the perfect coordination of his pieces. Kamsky’s center and the rest of his position quickly disintegrated as all of Svidler’s pieces worked together in the attack. Svidler dropped an absolute bomb with 26. …Re2!! – exposing the sheer control of his bishops over white’s kingside (if 27. Qxe2 Qg3! wins). Kamsky played on a few more moves however was forced to resign after 28. …Rxf1+!
Watch Jerry from the ChessNetwork’s fantastic analysis of this game
Judit Polgar wins again and is moving to the next round
Judit Polgar saved her tournament chances with an impressive victory over Leinier Dominguez, winning a B+R+K Vs R+K endgame due to overwhelming pressure and sheer force of will. A tired Dominguez committed an elementary mistake in this position with 111.Ka2?? (better was 111.Ka4 to maintain the king away from the corner where it would be very difficult for white to win). Polgar keenly capitalized on the error with 111. …Rb6! and forced Dominguez to resign after 112. …Rg6!
GM Nielsen earns well played strategic game, Jakovenko forces tie-breaker
GM Peter Heine Nielsen played a very nice game against Vugar Gashimov, tactically transforming a lasting structural advantage to a winning material advantage in a rook + bishop’s of opposite colors endgame that he converted with patient technique in 113 moves. Zherebukh was able to generate double-edged counterplay as black against Navara, however Navara played a pragmatic combination to achieve a more efficient material balance which he converted in 40 moves to ensure his arrival to round 5. Jakovenko required a win as white against Radjabov to even the score and force the tiebreakers and hopefully move on. Jakovenko chose the Averbakh System against Radjabov’s King’s Indian Defense. Radjabov played an somewhat unusual variation 6. …a6 and 7. …Bg4, however soon after he was able to force a simplification of the position and relatively easily achieve a draw after 26. Qd6 – guaranteeing his spot in round 5. The tiebreakers played today (Sept 8th) promise to be exciting as every half point is worth its’ weight in gold at this stage of the tournament.
This is an excerpt of the full article on FIDE World Chess Cup – Round 4, which is available on William’s site.
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This is an exciting world cup.