[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: The Daily Update: Russian Championship: Shirov stumbles; Alekseev, Timofeev lead

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
The Daily Update: Russian Championship: Shirov stumbles; Alekseev, Timofeev lead
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1223940111.shtml


   The players again used their rest day to good effect, as five of the
   six games today saw a winner - in every case, the player with the
   White pieces. The draw was a dud, but the other games were very
   exciting and worth replaying. Chess is long but life is short,
   however, so we'll limit our annotated game coverage on the shocking
   game Timofeev-Svidler. Svidler started the tournament 3-0, and somehow
   maintained a half point lead with five draws in a row. Today, however,
   disaster struck - and an ironic disaster for those of you who have
   followed my [1]ChessBase shows.
   Just [2]two weeks ago we looked at Kramnik-Kasparov, the 10th game of
   their world championship match. Timofeev-Svidler followed the earlier
   game through White's 13th move, but his 13th move was normal and good,
   his became enamored with an idea (...Qa8) that could not be safely
   realized. After his 16th move he was lost, but Timofeev's 17.Nxd7 gave
   him a slight reprieve. After the obvious 17...Nxd7 White would still
   have an advantage, but nothing decisive. Incredibly, Svidler played
   17...Rxd7, allowing White to win with a very simple combination. What
   was going on here?
   If someone has access to Svidler's comments on the subject, please
   share them. Until then, here's an observation. First, Svidler almost
   never plays the Caro-Kann or the Nimzo-Indian, so the position that
   arose in the game was not one he was intimately familiar with, at
   least not on a practical level. Over the years, I've noticed in my
   games and others' that even very strong players can do some pretty
   dumb things when they're in unfamiliar positions. It generally takes a
   little experience before one can properly import ideas from other
   positions into the new ones, and have a proper sense of the relevant
   tactical dangers. So perhaps that's what happened to Svidler: he
   assumed that since there are somewhat similar positions where the
   Rc7/Qa8 idea works, it should have here, too. As they say: In theory,
   theory is just as good as practice; in practice, practice is better
   than theory. Whatever the story, you can replay the game [3]here.
   Round 9 Results:
   Alekseev - Maslak 1-0
   Timofeev - Svidler 1-0
   Jakovenko - Sakaev 1-0
   Vitiugov - Tomashevsky 1/2-1/2
   Morozevich - Riazantsev 1-0
   Inarkiev - Lastin 1-0
   Standings after Round 9:
   1-2. Alekseev, Timofeev 6
   3-5. Jakovenko, Vitiugov, Svidler 5.5
   6. Morozevich 5
   7. Tomashevsky 4.5
   8. Lastin 4
   9. Sakaev 3.5
   10-11. Inarkiev, Riazantsev 3
   12. Maslak 2.5
   (Tournament site [4]here.)

References

   1. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/chessbase_shows/
   2. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1222842824.shtml
   3. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/timofeev_svidler_rusch2008.htm
   4. http://www.russiachess.org/