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Igor
Nataf vs. Nigel Short 2.6
91... Rd7 Short uses the well-known
stalemate defence to force white back - as
he did in an analogous position over 25 moves
earlier. 92.Rf5 Rd1?? But the strain
of defending this ending at blitz tempo takes
its toll - he should play the R to g7. 93.Rb5
Re1+ 94.Be5 1-0 And so one of the biggest
favorites so far makes an early exit.
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Alexei Shirov vs. Alexander Onischuk 2.3
White uses his extra pawn as a distraction
to start kingside action. Shirov shows his
aggressive nature with the blow 34.Rxe5!
which started the eventual process of stripping
the black king bare. The rook is tabu since
34...fxg5 35.Ng5 is decisive. One of the great
favorites of the chess-playing public moves
forward to round three. |
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Zoltan
Almasi vs. Evgeny Vladimirov 2.3
Black conjured up a dangerous initiative after
a very aggressive pawn sacrifice and takes
his chance to finish off white in a mating
race. 32...Rh3! Threatening a check
on the g-file and then ...Rh1+. 33.Rc7
seems to solve these problems but ... 33...Qb1+!
A sudden change of direction - the queen goes
to h1 mating. |
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Artashes
Minasian vs. Michael Gurevich 2.3
After blundering a pawn black added a piece
in order to create threats and complications.
White is well on his way to victory after
a careful move like 40.Kh1, but instead he
found 40.Rg3?? allowing 40...Bxf2+!
and after 41.Qxf2 Rxf2 42.Kxf2 Qa2+ won material
and helped send Gurevich further. |
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Etienne
Bacrot vs. Peter Svidler 2.4
Bacrot has done his job needing to win to
even the tiebreak, and has every chance of
nursing his pawn to victory after something
like 24.Re3. Instead he played 24.f3? when
Svidler hit him with 24...Rf4! 25.Rf1 (25.gxf4?
Rg6+ wins material) Rxf3 and the shaken
French prodigy stumbled again with 26.Qe4?
(26.Qb3 keeps some advantage) Rh6! and black
was on his way to victory (27.Qh4 Rxf1+
28.Rxf1 Qe2 29.Rf2 Qe1+ 0-1)
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Evgeny
Bareev vs. Rafael Vaganian 2.6
Bareev packs a hefty rating and has a lot
of experience in KO events but it still took
six games to put his esteemed opponent away.
Here Vaganian has a pretty grim task needing
to win with black, and his misery did not
last long: 18.f5 g5 19.f6 Bxf6 20.Qf2 1-0 |
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Blunders:
(To be added to the growing collection,
our first non-lady submission?)
Vladimir Malakhov vs. Alexey Dreev 2.6
Needing to win against Dreev as white here
was doubtless depressing, but 32.Bxb7??
Bc5+ 0-1 was no way to go. |
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