2014 Candidates tournament

[kujo]

Status quo for Anand, with 3 games ending in draws today. He continues to have an effective lead of 1.5 points (since Aronian has a worse head to head against Anand), with 4 games to go.

Anand's game would have been drawn in 23 moves, but Mamedyarov apparently had other thoughts. They made the required 30 moves before settling for a draw.

Kramnik slipped away from the main pack by losing to Svidler, though. We are starting after a rest day yesterday and Kramnik is already tired?! He is playing white against Anand tomorrow, we hope that he remains tired!!!

[Prashant]

Round 11 tomorrow is the biggest potential pitfall for Anand, black against Kramnik who is now all but out of contention, but will definitely want to be spoiler. I would not be surprised to see a conservative game from Anand.

In round 12, he has white against Andreikin who is pretty definitely the weakest player in the tournament, so Anand can hopefully get 1.5 of the next 2 and clinch this...

[ajay]

Prashant, I think Kramnik is totally off color in this tournament and he may happily take a draw that Anand may offer very soon (i.e. 30 moves) in tomorrow's game. Playing black, Anand will play safe as he doesn't need any adventure.

With white Anand would have good chance to get full point against Andreikin. By the way Andreikin's rating may be the worst in this field, but he is not playing like that in this tournament. He has lost only two games, which is the least for any player beside Anand. At least he is playing better than Topalov, and almost at par with Kramnik.

[suresh]

If I were Anand, I would make Kramnik play till the first time control (at least 40 moves).

@Kujo I don't think Kramnik thinks that he is tired. He answered this question in Russian and so I had to depend on the translator. But (strangely and luckily for me) most of the discussions (on the game) by Svidler and Kramnik happened in English.

[Prashant]

Anand is down a pawn vs Kramnik in middle game, but the position looks very drawish after 20 moves. However Kramnik does not have much time on the clock.


Edit: a few minutes later a draw seems to have been agreed...

Svidler - Aronian also looks drawish to me, but more complex.

Final edit: Svidler - Aronian also drawn. So, Anand keeps his commanding lead. Tomorrow he plays white vs Andreikin, followed by the final rest day.

[Sin Hombre]

Good stuff. Almost there.

[ajay]

Three rounds left. Tournament is still live with all sorts of possibility. But Anand just needs to go steady for three more round - may as well win this tournament with 8.5 point as it leaves some of them an arduous task of winning all three games

All draws for Anand (8.5), leaves Aronian to win all 3 remaining games.

A win, a loss and a draw (8.5) gives a chance to Karjakin and Svidler too if either of them wins all three games. (Karjakin and Svidler, both play Anand. So only one of them can possibly have all three wins in this scenario)

Code: Select all

																						
Rank		Player			Rating     1(VA)	2(LA)	3(SK)	4(SM)	5(PS)	6(VK)	7(DA)	8(VT)	Points	Tiebreaks																
												W	B	W	B	W	B	W	B	W	B	W	B	W	B	W	B			   H2H Wins
1	Viswanathan Anand		2770  	X	X	1	½	½	_	½	1	_	½	½	½	_	½	1	½		7   	  	3
2	Levon Aronian 			2830 	 ½	0	X	X	_	1	1	0	1	½	_	½	½	_	½	½		6   	  	3
3	Sergey Karjakin  		2766  	_	½	0	_	X	X	½	_	½	1	1	0	½	½	½	½		5½  	2 	2
4	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov  2757  	0	½	1	0	_	½	X	X	1	_	_	0	1	½	½	½		5½  	1½	3
5	Peter Svidler 			2758  	½	_	½	0	0	½	_	0	X	X	½	1	_	1	½	1		5½  	½ 	3
6	Vladimir Kramnik 		2787 	 ½	½	½	_	1	0	1	_	0	½	X	X	½	½	_	0		5   	1 	2
7	Dmitry Andreikin 		2709  	½	_	_	½	½	½	½	0	½	0	½	½	X	X	_	1		5   	1 	1
8	Veselin Topalov 		 2785  	½	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	-	0	1	_	-	0	X	X		4½  	  	1

[Sin Hombre]

Good that Karjakin could not force a win over Topalov since he is still to play Anand with white, and unlike Aronian does not suffer on the h2h.

[Prashant]

Of the chasing pack, Mamedyarov has games left against both Karjakin & Svidler, so they will take care of each other

[ajay]

Mamedyarov is already out (assuming 8.5 pts for Anand) even if he wins all three (tie breaker favors Anand). But yes, he can help Anand in shutting Karjakin and Svidler

Round 12
Anand Viswanathan - Andreikin Dmitry
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar - Karjakin Sergey
Topalov Veselin - Svidler Peter
Aronian Levon - Kramnik Vladimir

Round 13
Andreikin Dmitry - Aronian Levon
Karjakin Sergey - Anand Viswanathan
Svidler Peter - Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Kramnik Vladimir - Topalov Veselin

Round 14
Aronian Levon - Karjakin Sergey
Anand Viswanathan - Svidler Peter
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar - Kramnik Vladimir
Topalov Veselin - Andreikin Dmitry

[kujo]

Yes, good stuff for Anand today. Draws on all the boards. But draws in his remaining 3 games are not guaranteed, he has to work on those as well....

Here is a scenario and Anand's response to it:

– Vishy, it seems your convincing lead made some people to play an unusual game: what can be done to prevent Anand from winning the tournament? Here is a scenario Emil Sutovsky suggested: Peter Svidler wins one game more than Vishy in the next couple of rounds, and then defeat him as Black in the last round. What do you think about it?

Viswanathan Anand:
– For me it looks like a horror movie plot. Since I sleep well and prefer fantasizing to bad dreams, I hope I’ll be able to disappoint grandmaster Sutovsky.

[ajay]

Round 12
Vishy winning Svidler losing Aronian in worse position
Update: Aroninan draw, Svidler lost

[Prashant]

Excellent results for Anand so far - a draw for Aronian vs Kramnik and a loss for Svidler.

Hopefully he can get the full point here - its looking likely!!!

[kujo]

Anand made the time control by repeating moves. Now he has time to think the precise moves, that will force a win from such an advantageous position. Not easy, as Andreikin could still complicate things and etch out a draw.

Svidler's loss today, rules out the one crazy scenario mentioned above. Nice! Kramnik Vs Aronian was a draw, which keeps things as they were, in the chasing pack...

[Prashant]

Stockfish suggests Rc4 takes Anand to a very strong position. Hopefully he finds it.


Edit: AAAh. Anand missed the move & settled for a draw by repetition. A chance to clinch passes. Hopefully he will rest up tomorrow & clinch on the next day. If Karjakin wins today he will join Aronian on points & with a game against Anand to go.