Monday, 5 October 2015

Long Castling

I held of posting last night as I thought that Peter Svidler was likely to half out his final game and win the 2015 World Cup KO 2.5-1.5. This opinion was based on nothing more than a "surely he can't lose this" hunch, as he had started the 4 game match with 2 wins.
Turns out my hunches aren't always good, and Svidler did indeed lose game 4 of the match. He then compounded by this by losing the first game of today's rapid playoff making it three losses in a row, also known as 'Long Castling' (0-0-0). Currently they are playing the second rapidplay game (a must win for Svidler), and while Svidler is better at move 40, he may not be better enough.
Here is last nights games, which probably contains some important lessons. Firstly, the opening choice by Svidler was not that impressive (offering mass exchanges in the opening tend to favour the other player) while the endgame saw both a better pawn structure and RBvRN turning out better for Karjakin.
(Update: Svidler has just won the second game, tying the match up once again)

Karjakin,Sergey (2762) - Svidler,Peter (2727) [D02]
FIDE World Cup 2015 Baku AZE (7.4), 04.10.2015

Start positionPrevious MoveNext MoveEnd positionPlay movesStop playing
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 c5 3. c4 cxd4 4. cxd5 Nf6 5. Qxd4 Qxd5 6. Nc3 Qxd4 7. Nxd4 Bd7 8. Ndb5 Kd8 9. Be3 Nc6 10. f3 h5 11. O-O-O Kc8 12. Bg5 g6 13. Nd6+ exd6 14. Bxf6 Rg8 15. e4 Be6 16. Kb1 Kd7 17. Nd5 Bg7 18. Bxg7 Rxg7 19. Bb5 Kd8 20. Rd2 Bxd5 21. Rxd5 Kc7 22. Rc1 Re8 23. Rd4 Re5 24. Ba4 b5 25. Bb3 Rc5 26. Rd5 Rxc1+ 27. Kxc1 a6 28. Rd3 g5 29. Kd2 h4 30. Rc3 Kb6 31. Rd3 Kc7 32. Ke3 f6 33. Rc3 Kb6 34. Rd3 Kc7 35. Rc3 Kb6 36. Bd5 Ne7 37. Kd4 Rh7 38. Be6 Rh8 39. a3 Rd8 40. Rc2 Rh8 41. Rf2 Ng6 42. Kd5 Rd8 43. Bf5 Nf4+ 44. Kd4 Re8 45. g3 Ne6+ 46. Bxe6 Rxe6 47. Kd5 Re5+ 48. Kxd6 hxg3 49. hxg3 g4 50. fxg4 Rxe4 51. Rf4 Re3 52. Rxf6 Rxg3 53. Ke5+ Kb7 54. Kf5 Rb3 55. g5 Rxb2 56. g6 Rg2 57. Ke6 1-0


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