Exciting day at Gorenje 2007
Valjevo live games
Welcome to the live commentary of round 4 of Gorenje 2007 (Valjevo, Serbia). An exciting day is expecting us, the players are separated only by a point and the ELO difference is 100 points.
Commented games
Karpov – Nikolic and Georgiev – Roiz – Comments by IM Kalin Karakehayov
Iordachescu – Stojanovic – Comments by Goran Urosevic
Stojanovic – Georgiev – Comments by IM Kalin Karakehayov
Pairings round 4
GM Nikolic 2631 – GM Roiz 2616
IM Stojanovic 2588 – GM Damljanovic 2585
GM Pavasovic 2567 – GM Iordachescu 2587
GM Karpov 2668 – GM Georgiev 2653
GM Ivanisevic 2614 – GM Atalik 2584
Update 15:38
Games start in less than half an hour! The playing hall is full again and the whole town of Valjevo is talking about the tournament. All eyes today will be on the clash Karpov – Georgiev and the local hero Mihajlo Stojanovic.
Update 15:51
The current score in Karpov – Georgiev games is 4-3 wins and 5 draws.
Update 16:15
Games started! You can follow them live on the VSK website. The audience is staring at the big screens discussing the openings. The players are moving at very high speed today. As you remember in round 1 and 2 almost everybody was in time trouble.
Update 17:30
Michael Roiz is building solid and flexible pawn structure against Predrag Nikolic. Black has somewhat passive position, but his pair of Bishops might become dangerous later on. Suat Atalik declined Ivan Ivanisevic’s direct attack in the Semi-Slav opening. Atalik’s Rook will be misplaced after recapture on g7, but his other pieces are well developed and Ivanisevic will have to take care of the pin on a8-h1 diagonal. Game Pavasovic-Iordachescu will be complex positional struggle with the isolated d-pawn on the board.
Update 17:50
Team-mates from VSK Sveti Nikolaj finished their game: Mihajlo Stojanovic-Branko Damljanovic draw.
2nd defeat for GM Dusko Pavasovic
Update 19:20
Viorel Iordachescu won with Black pieces against Dusko Pavasovic. Roiz is playing better endgame with pair of Bishops against Nikolic’s Bishop and Knight (see previous comment). Ivanisevic and Atalik are in the Rook endgame, where distant h-passer and possibly weak a5 might be a small plus for White.
Update 20:05
Ivanisevic-Atalik ended in a draw after Atalik found the way to activate his Rook. Both players remain on plus one.
GM Suat Atalik
Update 21:00
Karpov won against Kiril Georgiev in deep Bishop vs Knight ending after creating 3 passed pawns. Roiz missed wonderful chances in the endgame, Nikolic built a fortress to hold a draw.
Experience helps – GM Predrag Nikolic
Notes on Karpov-Georgiev
Nimzo Indian defence in Karpov-Georgiev. This opening was seen in one of their previous games, but Karpov was Black and he continued with 4…b6.
Edit: Thanks to Malthrope for pointing that 10…Qf6 was already seen in Bareev-Ivanchuk, Havana 2006. The real novelty should be 13. Bd2.
After 12.Be2 – 10…Qf6 appears to be an early novelty by Georgiev. Most common moves were Bf5 and Qa5, while Levon Aronian experimented with 10…0-0.
After 14.Bc3 – 14. Bc3 looks ugly, allowing Black to ruin White’s pawn structure, but it was almost necessary. Strong threat of 14…d4, ripping apart White’s position, was hanging over Karpov’s head. After the exchange on c3, Black might have to lose a move or two to regain the pawn. This time Karpov can use to build some pressure against b7 or d5.
After 17…Nd8 – As expected, Karpov is eying b7 pawn. Georgiev will re-route his Knight Nc6-d8-e6 and insert Re8-e7 (protecting b7) to capture on c5, or he will take on c5 with his Rc8 and press White weak pawn on c3.
After 25.Rb6 – Karpov is on his field now – permanent small advantage thanks to limited Black Bishop. Georgiev will probably try Bf5 at some point, so maybe Karpov should prevent that with g4.
After 35.Ne6 – Georgiev refused moves repetition (we can’t be sure that Karpov would repeat, either), and sacrificed pawn for complications. Many pieces hanging, but both players are know to calculate very well. 34. Rd6 would be met by 34…Bxg4 35. fxg4 Ne4+
After 42. Kg3 – Following the short tactical skirmish, Karpov has achieved what he wanted. Extra pawn and Bishop vs Knight in the endgame. Both players are having weak pawns and it’s interesting to see how they proceed. Karpov might want to play Bc4-d5 and c4.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 Ne4 7. Qc2 c5 8. dxc5 Nc6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Nf3 Qf6 11. e3 Bg4 12. Be2 O-O 13. Bd2 Rfe8 14. Bc3 Nxc3 15. Qxc3 Qxc3+ 16. bxc3 Rac8 17. Rb1 Nd8 18. Kd2 Re7 19. Rb4 Be6 20. Nd4 Rxc5 21. a4 Bd7 22. Ra1 g6 23. a5 a6 24. Bf3 Re5 25. Rb6 Kf8 26. g4 Ke8 27. h4 Rc7 28. Be2 Re7 29. Rd6 Re5 30. Rb6 Re7 31. Rd6 Ne6 32. Rxd5 Nc5 33. f3 Be6 34. Re5 f6 35. Nxe6 Nb3+ 36. Ke1 fxe5 37. Nxc7+ Rxc7 38. Ra3 Nc5 39. g5 h6 40. gxh6 Rh7 41. Kf2 Rxh6 42. Kg3 *
Games
