Chess World Cup Baku 2015

L1m1tless

With 2 spots for the candidates up for grabs, this will be an exciting tournament to watch.

First round started today which sees the top seeds paired against the underdogs. Hopefully we see some big upsets!

Live games, results etc on the official site

http://www.bakuworldcup2015.com

cdeb

This is into the third round now; didn't realise it was that far in.

Gelfand knocked out in the first round by an IM - albeit one who's 19 years old and already 2500+, so should be a GM soon. Still, the only player outside the top 100 to get through round 1.

Aronian knocked out in the second round after losing both rapid games.

Grischuk really struggled against an IM, eventually winning 5-3 (so it was 1-1 after the regular-length games, and 2-2 after the rapid games)

Caruana, So, Giri, Topalov, Wei Yi, Kramnik, Ding Liren, Nakamura, Svidler, Adams and others all still in. Adams needed an armageddon game decider to get through round 2.

Tim Harding

Today's games just finished in Baku.
Rapid/blitz playoffs at 11am tomorrow will be:

Topalov v Liu Shanghel
Svidler v Radjabov
(Winners of those matches meet in round 4, starting Sunday.)

Wesley So v Le Quang Liem
Tomashevsky v Vachier-Lagrave
(Winners to meet)

Nakamura v Nepominiachtchi
Adams v Dominguez Perez
(Winners to meet)

Kramnik v Andreikin
(Winner to play Karjakin, the scourge of the Chinese.)

Other round 4 pairings:
Ding Liren v Wei Yi
Giri v Wojtaszek
Eljanov v Jakovenko
Caruana v Mamedjarov

Tim Harding

Round 4 starts 11am tomorrow, Sunday:

Topalov v Svidler
Wei Yi v Ding Liren
Giri v Wojtaszek
So v Vachier-Lagrave
Nakamura v Adams
Eljanov v Jakovenko
Caruana v Mamedyarov
Andreikin v Karjakin

caissa007

Disappointed to see big Vlad bow out. He threw away a big +3 advantage in his White rapid game. Not sure where his career will go from here. Retirement?

Pherekydes

Topalov and Caruana dumped out in Rd 4.

Tim Harding

caissa007 wrote: »

Disappointed to see big Vlad bow out. He threw away a big +3 advantage in his White rapid game. Not sure where his career will go from here. Retirement?

Kramnik could still reach the Candidates tournament on the average ratings qualification (depending on who qualifies from the World Cup and the ratings from the last three lists of 2015).
He is cutting down on his commitments (declined a place in the Grand Tour partly for family reasons) but why should he retire?

must have a jest

I think Kramnik has said that playing into his 40s is not in his plans. Hopefully he'll change his mind.

Pete Morriss

caissa007 wrote: »

Disappointed to see big Vlad bow out. He threw away a big +3 advantage in his White rapid game. Not sure where his career will go from here. Retirement?

There was an interview with him on the World Cup commentary after he had been knocked out, and he didn't sound like somebody about to retire: he mentioned that he is keen to put into practice some of the things he worked on for the World Cup, for instance. He might change his mind if he doesn't qualify for the Candidates, but it seems that at present talk of retirement is premature.

caissa007

Glad to hear it. He's played many of my favourite games over last couple of decades and has been mentioned he said he didn't envisage playing on in his forties. Hopefully Vishy has inspired him. Love to see him in the candidates again. Probably held in San Francisco so I'd say it's unlikely the organisers would give him a wild card. I didn't realise he was in the shake up at all to get in by rating.

Tim Harding

caissa007 wrote: »

Glad to hear it. He's played many of my favourite games over last couple of decades and has been mentioned he said he didn't envisage playing on in his forties. Hopefully Vishy has inspired him. Love to see him in the candidates again. Probably held in San Francisco so I'd say it's unlikely the organisers would give him a wild card. I didn't realise he was in the shake up at all to get in by rating.

On what evidence do you suppose the Candidates will be held in San Francisco?
A poster on the English Chess Forum says that one respected columnist has said it will be in Khanty-Mansiysk.
A reasonably well informed source whom I cannot reveal told me two weeks ago (so things may have changed admittedly) that the Candidates would not be in the USA, and the only bids were from Europe.
The location is of course important as there is a place in the tournament for the organiser's nominee (on condition they are rated 2725+ on one of the recent FIDE lists). Whether that would go to Karjakin (if he doesn't reach the World Cup final) or Kramnik or another Russian doesn't necessarily depend on Russia being the venue, though.

caissa007

Tim Harding wrote: »

On what evidence do you suppose the Candidates will be held in San Francisco?
A poster on the English Chess Forum says that one respected columnist has said it will be in Khanty-Mansiysk.
A reasonably well informed source whom I cannot reveal told me two weeks ago (so things may have changed admittedly) that the Candidates would not be in the USA, and the only bids were from Europe.
The location is of course important as there is a place in the tournament for the organiser's nominee (on condition they are rated 2725+ on one of the recent FIDE lists). Whether that would go to Karjakin (if he doesn't reach the World Cup final) or Kramnik or another Russian doesn't necessarily depend on Russia being the venue, though.

Not exactly written in stone but this is where I got the SF angle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_2016

Pete Morriss

caissa007 wrote: »

Not exactly written in stone but this is where I got the SF angle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_2016

That seems to be out of date. FIDE issued a "Call of Interest to host the 2016 Candidates" on 7 September, with a deadline of 10 October (see here). Given that deadline it would seem premature to speculate who will be bidding and who will not, though if Khanty-Mansiysk is a bidder it may well have an inside track.

caissa007

On wikipedia site https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_2016 it would seem if Giri makes final of the World Cup then Kramnik & Grischuk are dead level for the remaining spot by rating. It should be easier for Grischuk to rebound after losing a ton of rating points lately. Kramnik acquiesced to a draw in round 2B from a winning position which cost him about 5 points. Could be important. If Karjakin makes final it would increase KRamnik's chance of getting a "Russian" wild card invite

Tim Harding

Bids to host the Candidates have not closed yet.
Today's defeat of Mamedyarov means that Azerbaijan will be highly motivated to bid and they probably have more spare money than anyone else.

caissa007

Tim Harding wrote: »

Bids to host the Candidates have not closed yet.
Today's defeat of Mamedyarov means that Azerbaijan will be highly motivated to bid and they probably have more spare money than anyone else.

Never thought of that. Does Armenia have comparable wealth to support Aronian or are the Azeris the only ones with oil?

Tim Harding

Svidler drew with Giri today and has qualified for the final (and the Candidates next March).
Karjakin and Eljanov had a short draw and play off tomorrow.
Final (4 games) starts Thursday.

Tim Harding

Brilliant crushing win by Eljanov in the first rapid game.
Karjakin needs to hit back with White in game 2 starting approx 1210.

LATER: Karjakin ground Eljanov down. First of 10-minute (+10 sec) games starting about 1326.

Tim Harding

Terrible blunder (42 h4? and 43 h5??) by Eljanov in first 10-minute game means Karjakin now only needs a draw with White.
Probably final game starting about 1415.

PS: Eljanov played very well with Black in must-win game but seems to have misplayed the transition to B of opposite colour endgame, and Karjakin eventually claimed a draw by threefold repetition, to Eljanov's surprise. The arbiters eventually verified it.

So it's an all-Russian 4-game match Svidler v Karjakin starting on Thursday, and they are both qualified for the Candidates.

caissa007

Wild Card:
Host Azerbaijan: Mamadyarov
Host Armenia: Aronian
Host Russia: Kramnik or Grischuk
Host China: Ding Liern
Hist USA: So

brilliantboy

caissa007 wrote: »

Wild Card:
Host Azerbaijan: Mamadyarov
Host Armenia: Aronian
Host Russia: Kramnik or Grischuk
Host China: Ding Liern
Hist USA: So

Is it clear that Mamedyarov would be Azerbaijan's choice?
It's very tight between himself and Radjabov.
I also wonder if a Russian organizer would consider current Russian champion Tomashevsky.

Also interesting to note that the wild card must have had a rating of at least 2725 in the July list. Wei Yi was rated 2724. So any thoughts the Chinese had of getting him some early candidates experience will have to be put to bed unfortunately.

Tim Harding

brilliantboy wrote: »

Is it clear that Mamedyarov would be Azerbaijan's choice?
It's very tight between himself and Radjabov.
I also wonder if a Russian organizer would consider current Russian champion Tomashevsky.

Also interesting to note that the wild card must have had a rating of at least 2725 in the July list. Wei Yi was rated 2724. So any thoughts the Chinese had of getting him some early candidates experience will have to be put to bed unfortunately.

Possibly Radjabov, but he got his chance last time. Also he is playing less and with poorer results than Mamedyarov this year. In the World Cup, Radjabov had only draws in the classical games but Mamedyarov had a couple of wins (one against Caruana) so I think he will soon have the higher rating. On the other hand, whether his style would be effective in the Candidates is arguable.

Tomashevsky is second reserve (from the Grand Prix) but he had his chance in Khanty-Mansiysk and blew it. Kramnik and Grischuk have the seniority and are more likely to get the invitation (should it be a Russian city hosting).

The tournament may well include Jakovenko as there may be a good chance Anand will decline his place.

Personally I would like to see Kramnik or Aronian as I think these are the kind of classical champions who should be in a tournament of that status, but I don't think the Armenians can out-bid the Azeris (or Americans) if either of the latter decide to go for it.

caissa007

Tim Harding wrote: »

Possibly Radjabov, but he got his chance last time. Also he is playing less and with poorer results than Mamedyarov this year. In the World Cup, Radjabov had only draws in the classical games but Mamedyarov had a couple of wins (one against Caruana) so I think he will soon have the higher rating. On the other hand, whether his style would be effective in the Candidates is arable

Actually Mamedyarov got his chance last time and did ok. Radjabov had his chance in London candidates and had a disastrous tournament.

Aronians nerve seemed to fail him in the last two candidates. Kramniks opening ideas alone should warrant him his place

caissa007

I note Leonard Barden in last Friday's guardian surprisingly suggested Russia to be the favourite to host the candidates. Commentators at world cup and fide president suggested USA and Azerbaijan as the most likely.

cdeb

Just to conclude this - an amazing finale to the tournament.

Svidler wins the first two games of the final to lead 2-0.

Karjakin then wins the next two to draw level at 2-2 and force a rapid play-off. Every game was decisive - and brought the score to 4-4. Karjakin then won the two blitz games to take the title. So ten games, and not a single draw.

The games from the final can be viewed here