[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: World Cup, Round 6 Tiebreaks: Shirov advances, faces Kamsky in the final

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
World Cup, Round 6 Tiebreaks: Shirov advances, faces Kamsky in the final
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1197388960.shtml


   Sergey Karjakin put up a terrific fight, but Alexei Shirov put the
   second 17-year-old semi-finalist in his place, even if it took 173
   moves (between the two games) to do it. The first game was a
   fantastically complicated Sveshnikov Sicilian (the 5...e5 kind, not
   the 2.c3 version). Both sides were attacking, but when it became clear
   that Shirov's was the more dangerous, Karjakin bailed out to an ending
   with two knights against Shirov's rook, bishop and pawn. One would
   think Black's hefty material balance should be enough to win, but it
   wasn't. Shirov tried and tried, but after 103 moves finally gave up
   the ghost.
   In game two, Shirov allowed Karjakin to play the Marshall Gambit, and
   he reprised his 16.Bxd5 cxd5 17.Qxd5 idea from [1]round 5 against
   Jakovenko. In due course Karjakin reached a pawn down opposite-colored
   bishop ending - with rooks - but that wasn't enough to guarantee a
   draw. Shirov's technique was immaculate, and he went on to win a
   beautiful endgame.
   This means that Shirov will face Kamsky in the final. Tomorrow is the
   first and only official day off for the event, and then they'll play a
   best-of-four match, with the usual tiebreak scheme in case they remain
   tied. Who's favored? Probably Shirov, who is both higher-rated player
   and has been more efficient throughout the tournament, but neither
   factor is all that convincing. As for their head-to-head record, it
   too favors Shirov, but only slightly. In 19 games, spanning from their
   junior days in the 1980s to the year of Kamsky's retirement in 1996,
   Shirov leads by a tiny +6 -5 =8. Kamsky won the last three decisive
   games, but they were from the Amber rapid and blindfold, and so not
   necessarily of any special significance (two of those three were
   blindfold games). So it's pretty close to a pick 'em.
   I'll work on annotating the games later, for now, [2]here are the bare
   scores.

References

   1. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1196982802.shtml
   2. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/worldcup2007_rd6_tb.htm