It was a heartbreaking loss for “Chucky” whose blunder on move 33 in their third rapid game, which he could have won, ended his hopes of winning the World Cup.
Svidler then faced his friend Grischuk in the finals while the two Ukrainians slug it out for bronze — and the third World Cup slot in the next candidates matches. The top two are already in.
Ivanchuk won with black in his four-game match against Ponomariov to seal victory while Svidler, also with black, thumped Grischuk in the first game and held onto the lead to win the World Cup.
Here’s how our annotator Mark Crowther explained Svidler’s game two win:
“Svidler worked as a second for Grischuk in the candidates and is a good friend of his and so knows his game well. He chose an unusual Sicilian Kan and soon had a significant edge on the clock. Afterward Svidler described his position as ‘seriously bad’ but less we forget, this time control of 90 mins + 30 seconds per move is at least 10 minutes less than normal classical time controls and black’s pragmatic clock handling plus some excellent practical play set up the win.
“It isn’t clear to me how white gets a big advantage against 16…0-0 sacrificing a pawn. White used about 17 minutes on 17.Rxd7 and 18.Nd6? so that Grischuk had 7 minutes and black 34 minutes + 30 seconds per move to reach move 40. White probably had to sacrifice the exchange after 17.Rxd7 anyhow but Grischuk was upset to be forced into it when he missed 18…Nb6. The position was probably dynamically equal after that but once Grischuk started living on his 30 second increment his position disintegrated in just three or four moves.”
Asked about his blunder with 18.Nd6, Grischuk replied: “I think that after the blunder of a rook this is the logical result. It is actually a classical blunder as described in many chess books. Nb6 is not a threat at the moment but there are other threats like Qc8 and Nd6 defends again Qc8 or Qe8 and other threats but in turn it lets black to play Nb6 trapping the rook. After this I didn’t get a very bad position, it was slightly better, but still I lost.”
Game of the week.
White: A. Grischuk (2746)
Black: P. Svidler (2739)
Sicilian Kan FIDE World Cup, Khanty-Mansiysk 2011 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 b5 6.Bd3 Qb6 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.0-0 Qb8 9.Re1 Bd6 10.e5N This seems to be new. Plenty of alternatives here. Grischuk had about 43 minutes left for the remaining 30 moves (+ 30 seconds per move). [10.Qe2 seems to be the main line.; 10.Bg5; 10.a4 also very common.; 10.Qd2; 10.h3] 10…Bc7 [10…Nxe5 11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.Rxe5 Qxe5 13.Qf3 d5 14.Bf4 Qf6 is just one of the very dangerous possibilities for white if he grabs on e5.] 11.Bf4 Nge7 12.Qe2 Ng6 13.Bg3 Bb7 14.Rad1 [14.h4 b4 15.Na4] 14…Nce7 15.Be4 Bxe4 16.Nxe4 White has 24 mins left, Black 45 mins. 16…0-0 Sacrificing d7 to get some activity. 17.Rxd7 White is better but black has counter-play. 17.Nc5 was an alternative but probably neither simpler nor better. 17…Nd5 18.Nd6? In trying to meet ideas like Qc8 Grischuk overlooked Nb6 and his Rook has no retreat square. Most probably white has to give up the exchange anyhow. White’s position was so good that he gets full compensation. But to go from 24 mins to 7m 21 seconds in the last two moves, one of which was a miscalculation, effectively cost Grischuk the game. 34 mins left for black. 18.Qd2 Qc8 19.Rxd5 exd5 20.Nd6 Bxd6 21.exd6 Qf5 22.Re3 Rac8 23.Rd3 18.Rd1 is probably best with 18… Qe8 19.Rxc7 Nxc7 20.Nd6 Qe7 21.h4 18.Nc3 is probably the simplest to calculate for Grischuk 18… Nxc3 (18…Qc8 19.Rxd5 exd5 20.Nxd5 Rd8; 18…Qe8 19.Rxd5 exd5 20.Nxd5 Ba5) 19.bxc3 Qb7 20.h4 with something of an edge for white. 18…Nb6 19.Rxf7 Rxf7 20.Nxf7 Kxf7 21.Ng5+ Kg8 22.Nxe6 White has a piece for three pawns but his lack of time, and the fact that his opponent had plenty decides things. If the clock situations were reversed then most likely white would win. 22…Qc8 White: 2 mins 44 secs. Black: 24 minutes. 23.Qg4 Down to 27 seconds after consuming over two minutes here. 23…Ra7 Black down to 16 minutes 17 seconds here having used 7 or 8 minutes on this move. Of course Svidler has this luxury. 24.Rd1?! Played with just 3 seconds to spare. Now the tide quickly turns in Svidler’s favor. Now he has much more time and a better position which is easier to play. Grischuk has to live off his 30 second increment and this proves impossible. [24.b3 keeping the knight out of his queenside is best.] 24…Na4! Svidler didn’t get caught up in Grischuk’s time problems and spent 2 minutes deciding on playing this excellent move. 25.h3? Protecting the white queen but simply grabbing material safely is now winning for black. [25.b3 is objectively much better. 25…Nc3 26.Rd3 Ba5 (26…Bb6) ] 25…Nxb2 26.Rd5 Probably white should remove the dark squared bishop but he is still substantially worse. [26.Nxc7 Rxc7 27.Rd6] 26…Bb6 27.Rd6 again two seconds to spare. 27…Nc4 Game over. 28.Qf5 Again played with two seconds to spare. 28…Rf7 29.Qe4 Nxd6 30.exd6 Nf8! A final accurate move extinguishing all hope. 0-1.
Puzzler.
White: Ka5, Nb5, Qc1, Bd3, pawn on d4
Black: Kd5, Ne5, pawns on a6 and f3
White to play and mate in three moves.
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