[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: World Cup, Round 4 Tiebreaks: More favorites bite the dust

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
World Cup, Round 4 Tiebreaks: More favorites bite the dust
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1196883675.shtml


   There were only three tiebreaks today - Aronian-Jakovenko,
   Svidler-Kamsky, and Alekseev-Bareev - and they were disastrous for the
   favorites. (Though all three winners were over 2700, so it's not that
   bad.)
   Levon Aronian was looking like the favorite to win it all, but his
   attempt to use one of the quasi-Marshall Gambits popular these days
   (8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d5!?) didn't work out. Jakovenko was able to keep the
   pawn, gradually neutralize Black's trumps, and win the ending. In the
   second game, with White, Aronian tried forever to win a drawn ending,
   but without success. Another favorite down!
   Next up, the unusual match between Svidler and Kamsky. In the first
   game, Kamsky, with White, had an advantage almost throughout; often a
   serious advantage. Svidler held though, and enjoyed a nice advantage
   coming out of the opening of the second game. At some point early in
   the middlegame, however, he seemed to lose the thread, and Kamsky took
   over in a big way. This time Svidler didn't escape. Considering
   Kamsky's great pre-retirement results and his near-qualification for
   Mexico City, this can't be considered a big upset, but it is an upset
   nonetheless.
   Finally, Alekseev did manage to get past the lower-rated Bareev - 2-0,
   at that - but it wasn't easy. Alekseev overextended in the first game,
   and had Bareev found 28...e5! it probably would have been him in round
   5 instead of Alekseev. After losing the first game, Bareev was pretty
   much safe throughout, but the need to avoid a draw may have induced
   him to take a risk that eventually cost him that game as well.
   Round 6 Pairings:
   Alekseev - Karjakin
   Shirov - Jakovenko
   Ponomariov - Kamsky
   Carlsen - Cheparinov
   Games, with comments, [1]here.

References

   1. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/worldcup2007_rd4_tb.htm