Nerves
of...
A running report by Jonathan Tisdall - for the
live version see our Chess Message Boards.
Round Five, Tiebreaks
Shirov and Bareev have picked up a reputation,
at least mentioned often during this event, for
being of nervous disposition. Shirov is rumored
to be feeling the pressure of proving himself as
a title candidate after Kramnik beat Kasparov (and
Shirov "eliminated" Kramnik some years ago to no
avail). And Bareev just cracks under pressure I
hear.
So far it looks like Shirov stands to shrug off
the bad rep first. Yesterday he splattered Bareev
to force overtime, and he opened the playoffs with
a typically bewilderingly aggressive performance.
I find it very hard to believe his opening was sound,
but Bareev had a harder time not believing
it, and "bailed out" from promising complications
into a decrepit endgame. Shirov took his pawns and
then the point.
Tkachiev could not do much with a token advantage
against Grischuk's Stonewall Dutch, and Khalifman
surprisingly opted not to press in what looked
like a safe and promising position.
Two decisions
Shirov didn't come too near equality as black and
looked like he was settling in for a long session
at Evgeny Bareev's House of Horrors. Whether it
was nerves, fatigue or what, the torture ended very
early after a few inaccuracies let Shirov into the
semis without suffering at all.
Shirov will face wonder boy Grischuk who gave a
vivid demonstration of the benefits of king safety.
Tkachiev had little chance to show his rumored speed
skills as his naked king watched his entire
position blown away by gale force winds.
Moments of truth
Anand once again, as in his meeting with Khalifman
in the first FIDE KO, sat staring defeat
and disappointment in the face. Khalifman quickly
gained the upper hand against Anand's Anti-Marshall
and slowly throttled the tournament favorite.
There must have been a way to clarify his positional
superiority, but the rook ending chosen by the FIDE
champion allowed Anand to tightrope his way
to safety with accurate defence.
Déjà vu?
According to historical precedent, this disappointment
should result in Anand turning the tables. Drawing
the right to play white in tiebreak game 3, the
Indian GM did just that, beautifully exploiting
the trumps of his position in a theoretical
duel in the Slav.
Khalifman was not about to abdicate, and with his
back to the wall he managed to create long-term
winning chances with a bishop pair facing
an equestrian duo. But once again, no clear way
through was found, and Anand showed his resilience
to split the point when needed.
The semifinalists are now clear, and they are an
impressive bunch. It is sad to see Khalifman
go - but he went down like a worthy champion.
China duel
The reigning women's champion Xie Jun booked a title
defence against her compatriot Qin by overcoming
dour resistance from Kovalevskaya today.
After winning material in game one, Xie converted
it very, very slowly.
In the return game Kovalevskaya seemed to surprise
the champion in the opening and Xie had to play
with extreme care to avoid being hurt early. She
then capped her careful defence with a nasty
tactic that turned the tables, and a shaken Kovalevskaya
had to be content with surviving.
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