Cap D'Agde Semi-Finals today

The Semi-final games will be played as a set of mini-matches. The first two games will be played in Rapid mode. If the match is still tied, then blitz games will follow. If the tie is not decided even after that, an armageddon game will be played.

Both the semi-final matches are exciting. It's unfortunate that Carlsen and Ivanchuk are pitted against each other in the semi-finals, since they are surely the strongest of the four. But in a way, the ties promise a lot of excitement (i) because the first semi-final is between the most solid and the most cunning player.
(ii) and because of this, we must have a semi-final between Carlsen and Ivanchuk, which will have its own exciting moments.

Update: The finals of the Cap D'Agde tournament will be held today between Nakamura and Ivanchuk.

Here's the game that clinched it for Ivanchuk. He beat Carlsen in a blitz game after the rapid games were tied.



Semi-final fixtures:

Rapid Games
Anatoly Karpov (2651) - Hikaru Nakamura (2704) : ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura (2704) - Anatoly Karpov (2651) : ½-½

Blitz Games 3’+2"
Anatoly Karpov (2651) - Hikaru Nakamura (2704) : 0-1
Hikaru Nakamura (2704) - Anatoly Karpov (2651) : 1-0

Nakamura-Karpov 3-1. Nakamura advances to the finals

Magnus Carlsen (2786) - Vassily Ivanchuk (2786) : ½-½
Vassily Ivanchuk (2786) - Magnus Carlsen (2786) : ½-½

Blitz Games 3’+2"

Vassily Ivanchuk (2786) - Magnus Carlsen (2786) : 1-0
Magnus Carlsen (2786) - Vassily Ivanchuk (2786) : ½-½

Ivanchuk beats Carlsen 2.5-1.5. Ivanchuk advances to the finals

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kramnik vs Anand, Dortmund SuperGM 2000

Enjoy the Anand vs Kramnik Games. We have several in store this weekend. Remember, we will be covering the most important chess event of the year live. You can have as much of Anand vs Kramnik as you want. Kramnik is almost unbeatable at Dortmund. But please excuse him for his 2008 Dortmund performance and give some allowance for "match preparation". To be fair to him, even Anand performed poorly at Bilbao. Key Moments 24 ... f5 (probably bringing the Knight on the 'h' rank back into play with Nf6 and defending was more prudent. But Vishy is known to fight for counterplay chances. 25 ... Rc8. Loses a pawn in the next few moves. Ng5 was much better. 31 ... e4!! Anand is right back into the game. Notice how it affects Kramnik. He is clearly shaken and lets Anand rule the next stage and by move 34, Anand is slightly better and wins the pawn back in due course. 38. Qg4 Kramnik lays a trap as they approach the first time control. 38 ... Nf5? Blunder :-( Misses the bishop f...
Read more

Anish Giri - Corus Chess 2009 Participant

We start a series on the players that are participating in the 2009 edition of the Corus Chess tournament. We are focussing on players that are relatively less known on the International circuit. Please pass on any extra information that you have or if you spot any errors since we've dug up information that is available on the internet and put it together. Anish Giri Corus Chess 2009 - Group C Facts - Was born on 28th June 1994. That makes him 14, running 15. - Anish's father, Sanjay Giri, is of Nepalese origin. His mother is a Russian. Anish himself was born in St. Petersburg, the beautiful city that already boasts of famous names. - Anish's father was working in Russia. They recently moved to The Netherlands. - His hero is the legend Garry Kasparov. - Started playing chess at the age of 7, sparring with his mom and later improved by reading Chess books and playing on the internet. - Anish stresses a lot on his school studies and tries to maintain a fine balance between Ch...
Read more