Ivanchuk bows to Ehlvest

By Rakesh Rao

NEW DELHI, DEC. 2. It is time for Vassily Ivanchuk and Nigel Short to pack their bags. Last year's surprise semifinalist Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, too, is returning home but not before taking a close look at the Taj Mahal and holder Alexander Khalifman is getting prepared for the first big threat to his crown. In fact, just when winter is gradually making its presence felt in the Capital, the competition in the World chess championship is showing signs of hotting up.

Considering the knockout format, surprises were bound to come. But to expect Ivanchuk and Short, seeded six and 13 to fall so early was asking for too much. After all, the accelarated tie- break format still favours stronger players since they are better at seeing more in less time.

So, when the cloud cleared on Saturday with another 17 players moving up to complete the line-up for the round of 32, lesser- known aspirants like Igor Nataf (France), Rafael Leitao (Brazil) and Evgeny Vladimirov (Kazakhstan) joined some of Saturday's qualifiers like Alex Yermolinsky and Grigory Serper (both USA). Interestingly, none of these players figure in the top-50 list for the championship.

Michael Adams, Alexei Shirov and Evgeny Bareev were among those who faced varying degrees of difficulty before advancing. Adams and Shirov cleared the way by the end of the 25- minute tie- breaker, while Bareev went into the next phase of 15- minute each.

But it was Ivanchuk's loss that became the talking point of the evening. Somehow, Ivanchuk remains the biggest under-achiever of our times. There was a time when Viswanathan Anand would wonder at the ability of this man from Ukraine to get certain positions on the board which most people could only imagine. But then, talent and temperament do not always go hand in hand. Ivanchuk's case proves it.

Ivanchuk today added another incident to his chequered career. Moments after surprisingly going down to Estonia's Jaan Ehlvest in the second round tie-breaker, Ivanchuk let out his pent up frustration lifting his chair and then bringing it down with a thud. Adding to the defeat was the provocation from the young arbiter who asked Ivanchuk to sign the score-sheet. That's what happens when an arbiter sticks to convention instead of common sense.

Ehlvest, ranked 32 places and 92 rating points behind the sixth- seeded Ivanchuk, won the positional battle with black pieces. In Carokann, Ehlvest gained an upper hand in the middle- game after gaining a pawn. Ivanchuk could do not produce anything spectacular and resigned in disgust on the 28th move.

Nataf scored a memorable victory over Short, placed 191 points higher and the one who challenged Garry Kasparov in 1993 in the PCA World Chess Championship. All the action was reserved towards the end of the second match of the second tie- breaker. With Nataf having a rook and bishop against Short's rook, it was now up to the French underdog to find the right position on the board. Usually, such a position is considered a technical draw and it takes some doing to win.

With three minutes in hand and the 50-move rule in force, Nataf played superbly and succeded in finding the mating-combination on the 79th move.

Khalifman was in command in English Opening against Christopher Lutz. Known for his solid defence, Lutz had made Khalifman struggle a bit in the two classical games over the last two days. So it was expected to be tough for Khalifman but the champion made it a little more easily. He sacrificed a pawn early and gained the initiative. Keeping the vulnerable pawn-structure of Lutz in mind, Khalifman went for liquidation and won in 78 moves. In the second match, Khalifman played for a draw after choosing to play less actively and defending accurately.

The results (Round Two: tie-breaker): Bartlomiej Macieja (Pol, 2536) vs Michael Krasenkov (Pol, 2702) (in progress); Alexander Khalifman (Rus, 2667) bt Christopher Lutz (Ger, 2595) 1.5-0.5; Igor Nataf (Fra, 2526) bt Nigel Short (Eng, 2677) 2.5-1.5; Michael Adams (Eng, 2755) bt Thein Hai Dao (Vie, 2555) 2-0; Peter Svidler (Rus, 2689) bt Etienne Barcot (Fra, 2613) 2-0; Peng Xiaomin (Chn, 2657) bt Utut Adianto (Ina, 2583) 1.5-0.5; Kiril Georgiev (Bul, 2661) bt Liviv-Dieter Nisipeanu (Rom, 2592) 2.5- 1.5; Alexei Dreev (Rus, 2676) bt Vladimir Malakhov (Rus, 2605) 2- 0; Evgeny Vladimirov (Kaz, 2598) bt Zoltan Almasi (Hun, 2668) 1.5-0.5; Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb, 2690) bt Pavel V. Tregubov (Rus, 2620) 1.5-0.5; Jaan Ehlvest (Est, 2627) bt Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 2719) 1.5-0.5; Sergei Movesesian (Cze, 2666) bt Viorel Iordachescu (Mda, 2594) 2-1; Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 2606) bt Ilya Smirin (Isr, 2677) 2-0; Alexei Shirov (Esp, 2746) bt Alexander Onischuk (Ukr, 2627) 1.5-0.5; Mikhail Gurevich (Bel, 2667) bt Artashes Minasian (Arm, 2667) 1.5-0.5; Evgeny Bareev (Rus, 2702) bt Rafael Vaganian (Arm, 2623) 3-1; Boris Gulko (US, 2643) bt Alexander Chernin (Hun, 2572) 2.5-1.5.

The game:Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, white); Jaan Ehlvest (Estonia, black): 1. c4 c6 2. e4 d5, 3. exd5 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd5 5. d4 e6 6. Nf3 Bb4 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Qc2 Qc7 9. Bd2 Nd7 10. Bd3 Bxc3 11. bxc3 N5f6 12. a4 b6 13. 0-0 Bb7 14. Nh4 0-0 15. f4 Bd5 16. Nf3 Bc4 17. Ne5 Bxd3 18. Qxd3 Rac8 19. Rf3 Nd5 20. Qb5 Rfd8 21. Raf1 f5 22. Be1 Nxe5 23. fxe5 Qc4 24. Bh4 Qxb5 25. axb5 Rd7 26. Rc1 Rc4 27. Be1 Nc7 28. h3 Rxd4 0-1.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Next     : Top women's seeds have it easy