Peter Svidler increases lead in FIDE World Cup final
Peter Svidler scored another victory against his compatriot Sergey Karjakin to take a 2-0 lead in the 2015 FIDE World Chess Cup final that is ongoing at the Fairmont Hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Playing the black pieces Svidler opted for the Breyer Ruy Lopez, a reliable setup used by many world champions and top grandmasters. He thanked the technology of skype and his friends, whom he didn’t want to name, for the help in preparation and discovery of the critical move 17…c5.
Instead of the slow maneuvering and positional struggle, white had to calculate several forcing lines and evaluate various exchanges of the pieces.
Karjakin found the good moves and claimed a small advantage owing to the bishops pair.
At the same time, Svidler was looking for further simplifications in attempt to make a draw with black. Finally, with 30…Re8 he forced white’s hand. Karjakin sacrificed the knight on f7 to keep the rook under the pin.
Black had sufficient defending resources, and just as everyone expected a draw, Karjakin made two consecutive blunders and lost a whole rook. He resigned immediately.
Third game is starting Saturday 3pm local time.
Full set of World Cup results and pgn files can be found on http://www.bakuworldcup2015.com/content/27
Photo gallery is available at http://www.bakuworldcup2015.com/product/76
The total prize fund of the 2015 FIDE World Chess Cup is 1,6 million USD. In addition, the tournament also awards two places in the 2016 Candidates Tournament, part of the FIDE World Championship cycle.