The FIDE World Cup is a knockout, starting with 128 players, with two games
(90 min for 40 moves + 30 min for the rest, with 30 seconds increment) between
pairs of players. The tiebreaks consist of two rapid games (25 min + 10
sec), then two accelerated games (10 min + 10 sec), and finally an Armageddon.
The winner and the runner-up of the World Cup 2013 will qualify for the
Candidates Tournament of the next World Championship cycle. The venue is
the city of Tromsø, which lies in the northern-most region of Norway,
almost 400 km inside the Arctic Circle. You can find all details
and links to many ChessBase
articles on Tromsø here. The World Cup starts on Sunday, August
11th and lasts until September 3rd (tiebreaks, closing ceremony). Each round
lasts three days, while the final will consist of four classical games.
Thursday August 29 is a free day. A detailed schedule can be found here.
Finals game four
Dmitri Andreikin did not go in with a big preparation, instead he chose
the somewhat quiet Symmetrical English (he's playing 1.c4 in the picture
above) as his battleground to try and outplay Vladimir Kramnik. This plan
quickly backfired as every attempt to complicate the issue made Andreikin's
position worse.
Kramnik knows that playing passively for a draw is not the best strategy
in must-draw situations. He welcomed the complications and quickly his advantage
was obvious. Despite Black's off-side knight on a5, his pawn structure was
vastly superior, which gave the rest of his pieces good play. The real mistake
came with 24.Qf3? which allowed Black to create a passed
pawn on the e3, choking the white army.
The game was far from perfect, the tension showed as every move was arguably
innacurate, but at the end the advantage proved to be too much and in the
end Andreikin offered a draw in a much worse position, giving Kramnik the
half point he needed to clinch the match.
Post mortem of the final game of the Tromsø
World Cup, with press officer Anastasiya Karlovich,
Dmitri Andreikin, New in Chess editor Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Nigel Short
and Vladimir Kramnik
Photos by Paul Trong
GM analysis of game four
[Event "FIDE World Cup 2013"] [Site "Tromso NOR"] [Date "2013.09.02"]
[Round "7.4"] [White "Andreikin, Dmitry"] [Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A36"] [Annotator "Negi,Parimarjan"] [PlyCount
"67"] [EventDate "2013.08.11"] {Andreikin decided to go for a quite opening
this time. Considering the tournament situation, it was a sensible choice,
but he failed to follow it up with energetic play when required, and Kramnik
easily dealt with White's desperado attack.} 1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2
Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. a3 b6 {Setups with d6 are more common, but the double
fianchetto is perfectly playable as well.} 6. d3 Bb7 7. Bd2 Nf6 {Surprisingly
we are already in fairly unknown territory by move seven. Of course similar
positions have been seen before, but this just on to show how much room
for creativity exists!} 8. Nh3 $5 {The knight might look misplaced on
h3, but in similar structures Black has often used the idea of bringing
Ng8 out via h6 too. The point is to keep the Bg2 open - which prevents
d5, and annoying jumps like Nd4 after Nf3.} O-O (8... h5 {would be a fun
move to play, using the fact White can't prevent h4 - but of course this
doesn't suit the situation of the match at all.}) 9. O-O e6 10. b4 d6
11. b5 Na5 12. e4 $5 {White is maintaining the tension - and now if Black
continues slowly he is ready to start pushing on the kingside with f4..g4
etc. With the Na5, and Bb7 far away from kingside, a direct pawn thrust
could be very dangerous.} d5 $1 {The computer doesn't particularly like
this move, but it is the most logical. Black's pieces are all placed logically
and it was difficult to improve the situation... while White was ready
with kingside plans.} 13. cxd5 exd5 14. e5 Ne8 $1 {The regrouping Nc7
and then f6 works perfectly.} ({If} 14... Nd7 15. f4 {then it would have
been much harder for Black to get f6, and the centre starts looking formidable.})
15. f4 Nc7 16. Rb1 {getting ready for a6, and perhaps threatening Na4
now.} (16. Na4 {seems more critical, but I believe Andreikin was worried
about:} d4 $5 17. Bxa5 (17. Nxc5 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Qd5+ 19. Ne4 Nb3 {and b5
pawn will fall.}) 17... Bxg2 18. Kxg2 bxa5 {and the iminent jump of Nc7
to e3 via d5 seems very dangerous.}) 16... f6 $1 {But White doesn't have
forever to make his plans! The centre is already being undermined, and
it's time for some tough decisions for White if he wants to continue playing
for a win.} 17. exf6 (17. Na4 {would lead to unpredictable complications,
but White's pieces seem totally uncoordinated, so I wouldn't really worry
with black.}) 17... Qxf6 18. Ne2 Rae8 19. g4 {White's play alredy reeks
of desperation. Objectively it was probably time to try and equalise somehow...
But being a point behind, Andreikin decides to try his luck with a primitive
attack.} d4 $1 {The knight is coming to e3! White's position quickly disintegrates.}
20. Ng3 Bxg2 21. Kxg2 Nd5 22. f5 Qe5 23. Nf4 c4 24. Qf3 (24. Ne6 {seems
like a better move, but Black has a wide variety of tempting options to
choose from. Even the exchange sacrifice with Re6 followed by c3 seems
to give Black a rather comfortable position.}) 24... Ne3+ 25. Bxe3 dxe3
26. d4 Qd6 {Kramnik doesn't want to try and maximise the advantage with
Qd4 - he is content to keep everything under control, and leave White
with a depressing set of options - none of which offer the slightest chance
of an advantage.} 27. Ne4 Qxd4 28. Ng5 e2 29. Nxe2 Qd2 30. Ne4 Qc2 31.
N4g3 Nb3 32. Rbd1 Kh8 33. Qf2 gxf5 34. gxf5 {Black is utterly dominating,
so Andreikin finally accepts it and offers a draw before his position
collapses.} 1/2-1/2
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Results of the final match
| Player |
Rtg |
G1 |
G2 |
G3 |
G4 |
Pts |
| Kramnik,Vladimir |
2706 |
1
|
½
|
½
|
½
|
2.5 |
| Andreikin,Dmitri |
2741 |
0
|
½
|
½
|
½
|
1.5 |
