For the full article on the FIDE World Chess Cup – Into the semifinals please check out William’s website.
Grsichuk vs. Navara
David Navara played fantastically this year, demonstrating to the fullest extent why he belongs with the world’s best chess players. His round 5 encounter with Alexander Grischuk was hard-fought as the first two regulation games were tensely drawn. Grischuk struck in game 1 of the rapid tiebreakers, busting out thorough preparation with the Caro-Kann against an interesting line chosen by Navara involving an early 4. Nd2!? and 5. Nb3. Grischuk emerged from the opening with a sizable initiative after 15. …d4! – temporarily sacrificing a pawn to rapidly develop a dangerous attack against white’s exposed king. Navara blundered an exchange with 23. h4? – a material advantage with Grischuk patiently nurtured to victory in 43 moves.
Ivanchuk vs. Radjabov
The heavyweight battle between Vassily Ivanchuk and Teimour Radjabov featured exceptionally creative and exciting chess, however Ivanchuk scored the last shot to win the match in the first tiebreakers. After exchanging points in regulation time, the 1st rapid tiebreaker was extremely tense as Ivanchuk attempted to flag Radjabov from a worse position. Radjabov was pressing very hard and nearly had a win, however Ivanchuk managed to narrowly draw the game via a K+B vs K+R endgame. With the white pieces in game 2 of the rapid tiebreaker, Ivanchuk opened calmly and managed to obtain the long-lasting advantage of the two bishops due to Radjabov’s lack of activity with the black pieces. Ivanchuk played the endgame well, striving to create numerous small weaknesses in black’s position that resulted in a serious advantage for white. Although the material balance was dead even, Radjabov was unable to withstand the positional pressure and dropped a piece with 53. …fxg6??
More Information on William’s site
For the full article on the FIDE World Chess Cup – Into the semifinals please check out William’s website.
Follow William for fresh daily updates: Follow @OnlineChessLessNational Chess Master William Stewart is a Chess Coach who maintains a daily updated Chess Blog with videos as well.
Is William the first name or Stewart the first name?