Chess might have a future as a spectator sport if more matches went like this.
Russian GM Sergey Karjakin came back off the mat to win the FIDE World Cup tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan, Monday, besting compatriot GM Peter Svidler 6-4 in the sixth and final round of the 128-player knockout event. Remarkably, Karjakin took the title despite losing the first two games of the four-game classical finals match, and not one of the 10 classical, rapid and blitz games from the final was drawn. Four times in the final, Svidler needed just a draw to win the event, and four times Karjakin was able to square the match with a win.
The fighting spirit of both players will be rewarded — by virtue of their one-two finish, the two Russians earned spots in next year’s candidates’ tournament to determine a challenger to world champ Magnus Carlsen of Norway.
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The 16th Anatoly Karpov Poikovsky Tournament, held annually to honor the great former world champion, features one of the most intriguing fields of any event this year. There’s no one from the world’s top 10, but there are some proven crowd-pleasers such as Spanish GM Alexei Shirov and former European individual champ GM Emil Sutovsky of Israel.
Russian GM Alexander Morozevich, an aggressive and unorthodox player who was ranked No. 2 in the world just seven years ago, doesn’t play as much these days, but he is still a virtual lock to create something interesting when he competes. He was on the wrong end of one of the tournament’s sharpest games, falling to a stunning attack from fellow Russia GM Ernesto Inarkiev in just 25 moves in Poikovsky.
In a Queen’s Pawn game, Morozevich as Black chooses a typically offbeat line, gambiting a pawn to produce an unbalanced position. Black all but dares his opponent to risk a mating attack with 12. Nh3 Na5!? (Nce7 13. Kb1 Ng6 was the sturdier route) 13. Bd3 c5 14. dxc5 Qf6 15. Qc2 Rac8, with White’s tripled pawns proving a barrier to Black’s pieces as Inarkiev targets the Black king.
But Black holds his own before a fatal oversight ruins his day: 16. g4 Nh4 17. Bxh7+ Kh8 18. Rd7?! e5! 19. Rd6, when Morozevich would have had good survival chances with 19Qe7! 20. Bg5 Qf7 21. Rhd1 Qxf3 22. R6d3 Qxg4 23. Rg3 Qh5, with a highly fluid position where it’s hard to say who has the better practical chances.
Instead, White scores a TKO after Morozevich retreats to the wrong square: 19Qf7?? (see diagram; crucially, this leaves the Black e-pawn undefended) 20. Rh6!! (Bxe5?! Nxf3 21. Rf1 Qe7 defends) Nxf3 (Black can’t avoid the discovered check as 20gxh6 21. Bxe5+ is devastating) 21. Bg6+ gxh6 22. Bxf7 exf4 23. Qg6 Rc6 24. Be6 Rxe6 (there’s no other way to prevent 25. Qxh6+) 25. Qxe6. Black has only two minor pieces for the lost queen, and his king is fatally exposed; Morozevich resigned.
Inarkiev is in a three-way tie for first with two rounds to play this week, while Morozevich is at the bottom of the standings with a 2½-4½ score.
Inarkiev-Morozevich, 16th Karpov Poikovsky Tournament, Poikovsky, Russia, September 2015
1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e4 Bb7 5. f3 f5 6. exf5 Nh6 7. fxe6 Nf5 8. Bf4 dxe6 9. Qa4+ Nc6 10. O-O-O Bxc3 11. bxc3 O-O 12. Nh3 Na5 13. Bd3 c5 14. dxc5 Qf6 15. Qc2 Rac8 16. g4 Nh4 17. Bxh7+ Kh8 18. Rd7 e5 19. Rd6 Qf7 20. Rh6 Nxf3 21. Bg6+ gxh6 22. Bxf7 exf4 23. Qg6 Rc6 24. Be6 Rxe6 25. Qxe6 Black resigns.
• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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