It’s only getting better with each round in Antalya! Well everything except the weather here but who cares when such great games are being played in the tournament hall? With only two rounds so far, it already deserves to be on the list of greatest tournaments of 2013, especially for chess fans who are bored of seeing highly theoretical and ultra-safe played games one after the other.
Today all the eyes were focused on one match: USA-Russia. A classic rivalry in all kinds of sports, USA-Russia battles have always drawn the attention of fans worldwide. Today’s match was again a fantastic battle, living up to the expectations. Perhaps not to the expectations of Russian team though. It was sure that Kramnik won’t have an easy time against Nakamura with black but few expected such a ruthless win by the American. Nakamura made Kramnik taste his own drop of poison, by very precise moves he exploited the bad position of black knight in an almost mathematical fashion. Certainly a very pleasant game for the American and for sure Kramnik will be thirsting for revenge in their next encounter.
In the other decisive game of the match, the young American star Ray Robson (Webster University Sophomore) overcame Vitiugov in a very complicated fight ensued after the ultra-sharp Marshall Gambit variation in Semi-Slav. The game lasted just 28 moves and this spectacular win of Robson will probably make its way into the list of exciting games of the year. A peculiar fact of the match was that both teams had players of name Alexander -ischuk, Grischuk(RUS) and Onischuk(USA). Both made a draw with their opponents respectively and thus the match has ended in a very clean score for USA: 3-1! While the Americans do have a very good reason to party tonight, Russian team will have to think about how to make a comeback after this slow start. Hear the train A (America) coming!
The other important match of the round was Ukraine vs. China. Both teams had won their first round matches with the score 2,5-1,5 and obviously they were in a very fine mood before the match. After the match however only one of them could be happy and it was Ukraine. The first game to end was Yue Wang against Kryvorouchko. The Chinese grandmaster set problems to his opponent continuously which he couldn’t solve and after Kryvorouchko realized his final blunder he resigned. Having a point in hand China could look forward to a match win one would think, but in the first two boards they were in a bad shape. Especially Ivanchuk’s game against Li Chao was a joy to watch with its non-standard opening play and position afterwards, once again Chucky showed the greatness of his talent by outplaying a world-class opponent in a non-standard position. To break the rules is a privilege of titans such as Vassily! On the second board Korobov squeezed Ding Liren positionally and when the positional bind was resolved he was left with a strong passed pawn on e6 which ultimately led to the resignation of Ding. As the fourth board game was drawn, the match score was settled: 2,5-1,5 for Ukraine! Let’s see if they can continue their winning streak tomorrow.
Teimour Radjabov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov may be resting for this tournament but the Azeri team continues to show that no one should underestimate them! Going into the third round they share the lead with Germany and Ukraine. They managed to inflict another defeat on Netherlands thanks to wins by Safarli and Nidjat Mamedov on second and third boards: 3-1. Such a luckless start is a bitter pill to swallow for the Dutch team as one can guess. However there are seven more rounds and it’s always possible to make it up for two-three losses.
Today it was a rest day for Aronian but for the super strong Armenian team it wasn’t of a big importance against Egypt at the end of day. Wins with white and draws with black, a perfect strategy for team matches, meant a 3-1 score for Armenia. However the Egyptian players fought well against their stronger opponents and should also be praised for their efforts. Keep it up!
Germany vs. Turkey saw a tough fight however on the second and third boards Meier and Naiditsch outclassed their opponents in impressive fashion to score two wins for Germany. Two draws on the first and last boards were certainly not what hosts desired but what can you do against such a solid team of Germany’s caliber? If Germans keep up their fine performance, perhaps we’ll be saying that chess is a game which lasts approx. six hours and in the end Germans win; but that still remains to be seen.
Don’t forget to watch the live broadcast tomorrow and also follow us on Twitter for updates regarding the championship!
Official website: http://wctc2013.tsf.org
Go Ray!