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Quarterfinal matches began in Khanty-Mansiysk
The 1/8 finals of the World Chess Cup were played in Khanty-Mansiysk. In the eight matches that took place, only three grandmasters limited themselves to two games with classical control. Moreover, two of them, Peter Svidler and Shakhtiyar Mamedyarov, practically predetermined their success already in the first games, which they won with black.In the second round, their opponents Alexei Shirov and Viktor Laznicka were forced to win in turn with black - given the current state of opening theory, a task is practically impossible. They didn't solve it. “I managed to get a good game,” Shirov comments, “but with equal chances. Peter stopped all attempts to seize the initiative, and in time pressure I blundered rudely. It’s good that this didn’t lead to a second defeat; in the final position, only Svidler could play to win.” As a result, after Gata Kamsky, the second finalist of the previous 2007 World Cup, Alexey Shirov, also dropped out. As for Viktor Laznicka, he resigned himself to the inevitable, signing peace with Mamedyarov already on the 13th move. But Sergei Karjakin appeared as a real fighter, winning the second game against Nikita Vitiugov “by order” with black.
In five matches, the winner was determined by tiebreaker. At this stage of the game, almost all the bright representatives of the youth left the tournament: 18-year-old Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, winner of the prestigious tournament in Biel, 17-year-old Italian Fabiano Caruana, playing for the “64-Chess Review” team, and 16-year-old Filipino Wesley So.
Everyone was interested in who would stop So, the troublemaker who had removed such aces as Vasily Ivanchuk and Gata Kamsky from running. Warned, Vladimir Malakhov played both classical games with the Filipino extremely carefully and made two draws. It seemed that both opponents were betting on speed chess. In his interview, So mentioned that he prefers this kind of game, and he probably expected that he would be able to prove himself in the tiebreaker. But he did not take into account that it is in rapid chess that Malakhov is also strong. The Russian grandmaster was merciless, winning three games in a row and winning with a total score of 4--1.
Caruana also broke down in a quick game, who, after two ordinary defeats from Vugar Gashimov, lost the match with a score of 1.5--3.5. And only Vachier-Lagrave fought stubbornly with Boris Gelfand, playing all the quick games to a draw, and losing only in the blitz. However, we must give Gelfand his due: he played the decisive five minutes at an excellent level and won the match with a score of 4.5--3.5.
But still, the main match of the tiebreaker was the duel between members of the Russian national team Grischuk - Yakovenko. “We couldn’t get an advantage with white, and you can’t cook porridge with black alone,” Alexander Grischuk sadly commented on the events. - I had prepared several openings for the World Cup, but for the game against Dmitry the ideas were used up, and I had practically nothing to surprise him with. And so it happened: I didn’t have an advantage in a single game of our match. And I played blitz disgustingly. At first I gave everything I could in the first game, then I didn’t notice that I could checkmate in two moves in the second.” Yakovenko won with a score of 5--3. In the match Ponomarev - Bacrot it didn't come down to blitz. After three draws, Ruslan managed to win the fourth game and the match with a score of 3.5--2.5.
As a result, four Russian grandmasters reached the quarterfinals: Svidler, Yakovenko, Malakhov and Karyakin (he recently received Russian citizenship). This is gratifying, but if we talk about the likely favorites, then first of all we should note the disruptive power of the Azerbaijani grandmaster Shakhtiyar Mamedyarov, who finished in regulation time in all four stages of the World Cup. Nobody plays so confidently at this tournament. His winning streak is impressive - seven points in eight games!
In other chess news, there was an open letter from Vasily Ivanchuk - the chess player, dissatisfied with his unsuccessful performance at the World Cup, announced his retirement. Fortunately, Vasily Mikhailovich asks to refute this information that appeared in the media: “Please forgive me my fans, friends, colleagues in arms and numerous chess lovers for the emotional interview. I was very upset after the defeat, but under no circumstances am I going to quit chess!”
The following pairs play in the quarterfinals: Gelfand - Yakovenko, Gashimov - Ponomarev, Svidler - Malakhov, Mamedyarov - Karyakin.