The big news in the chess world today was that GM Hikaru Nakamura was eliminated from the 2015 FIDE World Cup with a draw against GM Pavel Eljanov from the Ukraine. The American battled the Ukrainian through the English Opening with 2…e6 for Black’s primary counter-play. The game was very well played and it was apparent that both players came to the board with the best that they had to offer. Winning and advancing to the semi-final round was a big dream of Nakamura’s as he had mentioned in some previous interviews during the tournament and immediately after his previous loss to Eljanov.
[pgn]
[Event “FIDE World Chess Cup”]
[Site “chess24.com”]
[Date “2015.09.24”]
[Round “38.2”]
[White “Nakamura, Hikaru”]
[Black “Eljanov, Pavel”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteElo “2814”]
[BlackElo “2723”]
[PlyCount “85”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[WhiteTeam “United States”]
[BlackTeam “Ukraine”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “USA”]
[BlackTeamCountry “UKR”]
[WhiteClock “0:31:23”]
[BlackClock “0:37:30”]
1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 d5 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qxc4 c5 7. Ne5 Qc8 8.
O-O Nc6 9. Nxd7 Qxd7 10. Nc3 Be7 11. Qa4 Rc8 12. d3 O-O 13. Be3 Rfd8 14. Rac1
b6 15. Rfd1 h6 16. h3 Ne8 17. Nb5 Bf6 18. b3 Nd6 19. Nxd6 Qxd6 20. Bxc6 Qxc6
21. Qg4 Kf8 22. Rc4 Qd5 23. Rdc1 h5 24. Qf4 Bb2 25. R1c2 Be5 26. Qe4 Qxe4 27.
Rxe4 Bd6 28. Rh4 g6 29. Rhc4 Rb8 30. d4 cxd4 31. Rxd4 Ke8 32. Kg2 Rb7 33. Rdc4
Ke7 34. Bg5+ f6 35. Be3 Rdd7 36. Rc8 Rd8 37. R8c4 Rdd7 38. Ra4 Rbc7 39. Rxc7
Rxc7 40. h4 e5 41. f4 Ke6 42. fxe5 Bxe5 43. Bf4 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
Now that Nakamura has been eliminated from the tournament, I am closely watching GMs Anish Giri of the Netherlands and Sergey Karjakin of Russia. I have not seen much of Karjakin this year with some of the other major players like Giri and Caruana mainly because he has been participating in some far east tournaments, but he is still a substantial chess force to be reckoned with. So far, Karjakin’s games against GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan have been an amazing display of the power struggle going on between them. Both games have ended in draws with the first game lasting an agonizing 88 moves. It was apparent in the second game that the two challengers were exhausted and the game was drawn on move 14 with a considerable amount of chess left to play.
[pgn]
[Event “FIDE World Chess Cup”]
[Site “chess24.com”]
[Date “2015.09.23”]
[Round “37.3”]
[White “Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar”]
[Black “Karjakin, Sergey”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteElo “2736”]
[BlackElo “2753”]
[PlyCount “176”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[WhiteTeam “Azerbaijan”]
[BlackTeam “Russia”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “AZE”]
[BlackTeamCountry “RUS”]
[WhiteClock “0:01:16”]
[BlackClock “0:04:51”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. e3 Bb7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O d5 8. cxd5
exd5 9. a3 Bd6 10. b4 a6 11. Qb3 Qe7 12. Ra2 Nbd7 13. Re2 b5 14. Nd2 Ne4 15.
Nxd5 Bxd5 16. Qxd5 Nc3 17. Qc6 Nxe2+ 18. Bxe2 Nb6 19. e4 a5 20. Bxb5 axb4 21.
a4 Qe6 22. Qc2 Bf4 23. d5 Qe7 24. Bc6 Ra7 25. g3 Be5 26. Nf3 Bc3 27. Bg5 Qd6
28. Be3 Ra5 29. Nd4 Nc4 30. Bf4 Qf6 31. Nb3 Ra6 32. Bb5 Na3 33. Qe2 Nxb5 34.
Qxb5 Rfa8 35. Bxc7 Rxa4 36. d6 Be5 37. Nc5 Bxd6 38. Bxd6 Ra2 39. Bf4 Qc3 40.
Be3 h6 41. Rc1 Ra1 42. Rxa1 Rxa1+ 43. Kg2 Kh7 44. Qe8 Qc4 45. Nd7 Qf1+ 46. Kf3
Qd1+ 47. Kf4 Qd6+ 48. Kf3 Qd1+ 49. Kf4 Qd6+ 50. e5 g5+ 51. Kg4 Qe6+ 52. Qxe6
fxe6 53. Nc5 Kg6 54. Kf3 Kf7 55. Ke2 Rh1 56. Bd2 Rb1 57. Kd3 b3 58. Be3 Kg6 59.
Nxe6 Kf5 60. Nd4+ Kxe5 61. Kc3 Ke4 62. Nxb3 Rh1 63. Nd2+ Kf5 64. Nf3 Ke4 65.
Nd2+ Kf5 66. Kd3 Rxh2 67. Ke2 Rh1 68. Nf1 h5 69. f3 h4 70. g4+ Kg6 71. f4 gxf4
72. Bxf4 Rg1 73. Ne3 Ra1 74. Nf5 h3 75. Nh4+ Kf6 76. Nf3 Ra2+ 77. Ke3 Rg2 78.
Nh2 Kg6 79. Kf3 Rg1 80. Be3 Rg2 81. Nf1 Kh7 82. Bf2 Kg6 83. Ne3 Rh2 84. Kg3 Rh1
85. Nf5 h2 86. Nh4+ Kh7 87. Nf3 Rg1+ 88. Kxh2 Rxg4 1/2-1/2
[Event “FIDE World Chess Cup”]
[Site “chess24.com”]
[Date “2015.09.24”]
[Round “38.3”]
[White “Karjakin, Sergey”]
[Black “Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteElo “2753”]
[BlackElo “2736”]
[PlyCount “28”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[WhiteTeam “Russia”]
[BlackTeam “Azerbaijan”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “RUS”]
[BlackTeamCountry “AZE”]
[WhiteClock “0:38:51”]
[BlackClock “0:58:55”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bf4 dxc4 6. e3 b5 7. Nxb5 Bb4+ 8.
Nc3 Nd5 9. Qc2 N7b6 10. Bg3 O-O 11. Be2 c5 12. O-O cxd4 13. Nxd4 Bb7 14. Bf3
Qd7 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
At this point, Chess World Cup victory is *anybody’s* game. Personally, I am cheering for Karjakin because I think he is an exceptional chess player and would like to see him advance someday to the World Championship stage. That is nothing against Anish Giri, who is a great player in his own right. Yet, just like playing a game of chess: there can only be one champion.