Fist-pumping Kramnik gives “Siberia” the lead

Vladimir Kramnik was denied his personal lamp by Veselin Topalov, but psychological warfare couldn’t stop Big Vlad claiming a third win in a row in the European Club Cup in Skopje. Alexander Grischuk also beat Fabiano Caruana to give Siberia the sole lead with two rounds to go. Elsewhere the big news was Vassily Ivanchuk losing a good position against Peter Leko in a single move. That was the first game Alkaloid lost in the event, but already enough to condemn them to a match defeat.

Kramnik makes it three in a row

Kramnik plays 3.e3!? en route to a crushing win over his arch rival | photo: Evgeny Surov, chess-news

It doesn’t get much sweeter than this for former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik. Not only did he beat his bitterest rival in a beautiful game, it also gave his team a crucial victory over the tournament’s top seeds and saw him skyrocket back up to 5th place in the world rankings, a mere ten points off second place.

Vladimir Kramnik is on the rise as others fall | source: 2700chess

That probably still won’t be enough to overhaul Anish Giri in the race for an automatic place in the 2016 Candidates Tournament (the average of all 12 monthly ratings in 2015 is used), but it certainly bolsters Kramnik’s claim to deserve a place in the tournament and might help encourage a Russian sponsor to hold the event in Russia and invite him.

Let’s get back to the game, though, where the action began even before it started. In our last report we noted that Vladimir Kramnik had a personal lamp above his board in Rounds 3 and 4. The explanation was the obvious one – the playing hall is a little dark, and the arbiters allowed Kramnik to use a lamp as long as his opponent agreed. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Peter Svidler did, but Veselin Topalov, as you might expect, did not. Evgeny Surov reports that Kramnik quipped:

No problem, I play even better blindfold!

You can watch the opening moments below (unlikely as it sounds the Russian music in the background is about a table lamp...):

The game started with Kramnik playing an apparently innocuous opening with 3.e3, of which he later commented:

I played this in the Rapid and Blitz, but maybe he didn’t notice. It’s my new way of playing with White – just trying to get a game!

Of course that’s famously the approach of Kramnik’s recent training partner, Magnus Carlsen, and both players (or their teams) analyse such sidelines in enormous depth. Kramnik felt the line seen in the game was very dangerous for Topalov to enter unprepared. Jan Gustafsson takes a look at what followed:

Afterwards we got to witness a rare Kramnik fist pump:

Or in case you missed it 

Why did the game matter so much? Well, although most will be well aware of the story it turned out from social media yesterday that not everyone is, so a very brief recap: in the 2006 World Championship match Kramnik was leading 3:1 after four games when Topalov’s manager Silvio Danailov complained about Kramnik’s frequent visits to the rest room, essentially accusing the reigning World Champion of cheating. When the Appeals Committee took the accusation seriously and made changes to the restroom arrangements Kramnik refused to play the next game and was forfeited, though he eventually chose to play on and won the match on tiebreaks. Since then the players have refused to shake each other’s hands and Topalov and Danailov still continue to accuse Kramnik of cheating, though no credible evidence was ever produced.

The bitter rivalry has actually made great viewing for chess spectators (here Karjakin, Mamedyarov and Grischuk), since Kramnik and Topalov have traded wins, almost always throwing caution to the wind | photo: Maria Emelianov, ChessPro

You can get a good idea of Kramnik’s attitude from an interview during Norway Chess in 2014: Kramnik: “I just don’t respect him as a person”. Nothing has changed since, with Kramnik yesterday responding to Evgeny Surov’s suggestion that not shaking hands sets a bad example for children:

I’m a man of principles and I don’t have the slightest respect for Topalov, to put it mildly, and everyone knows that perfectly well. The story is known by absolutely everyone, even children, so I don’t see any sense in shaking his hand for show. That’s not some kind of whim but my principled position. I shake everyone else’s hand, but it’s a question you could address to Topalov. No, I don’t think it has some kind of significance. After all, it’s a long story, and his behaviour was so outrageous and unsporting that until he publicly apologises for it I’m not planning on ironing out our differences. I have no emotions in that regard - it doesn’t matter to me - but he’s simply a person who I consider has done a lot of bad in the chess world, so I have an extremely negative attitude to him.

Elsewhere the key game was Alexander Grischuk giving Berlin Wall toppler Fabiano Caruana a taste of his own medicine. A beautiful squeeze saw Caruana forced to give up material:

36…Bxf5 37.gxf5 g6 38.fxg6 Kxg6. Fabiano placed his hopes in holding this difficult ending just as Vishy Anand managed in 122 moves during the 2014 World Championship match, but he was forced to resign on move 49.

Michael Adams at 43 has spent over twenty years in the chess elite | photo: Filip Ognyan

Michael Adams won a topsy-turvy game against Li Chao, but that was only a consolation victory as Siberia moved into clear first place in the tournament standings with only two rounds to go:

Two cruel reversals

Locally-based Alkaloid had maintained a perfect match record in Round 4 by drawing on five boards and getting a single win on the bottom board. It seemed they might do the same in Round 5, just with the single win coming on the top board, where Peter Leko’s bold attack was threatening to backfire badly against Vassily Ivanchuk. 

Perhaps Peter Leko should go for unsound attacks more often? | photo: Maria Emelianova, ChessPro

First, though, the Ukrainian missed the clearest chance for an advantage with 36…fxg6 (fearing no ghosts) and then he missed the tricky 37…c5. Still, most moves were at least drawing except for the unfortunate 37…Ke8?  

38.Qg8+! Qf8 39.Bxf7+! was picking up the rook on g2. Vassily resigned on the spot, which might have caused a little consternation within his team – although the position is objectively lost he could still have played on only a single pawn down with heavy pieces remaining on the board.

Elsewhere the favourites did their thing, with all the big teams winning. University and AVE Novy Bor managed 6:0 clean sweeps, though the latter’s was a little fortunate. 2503-rated Norwegian GM Leif Erlend Johannessen had 2737-rated Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna just where he wanted him, with 26.Rd7+!! leaving the computer counting down to mate. Then after 30…Rc5 White made a fateful decision:

31.Qxg8? restored material equality and still left White in a good position, but 31.Rd3! is actually mate in nine moves (and that’s only if Black starts giving away lots of material to delay the inevitable). From then on it was a horror show for the Norwegian, who gave up his advantage on the next move and then managed to lose an endgame he’ll want to forget in a hurry.

A tough day for Carlsen second Jon Ludvig Hammer, who lost to Anand second Radek Wojtaszek as his team plunged to a 6:0 loss | photo: Filip Ognyan

So Siberia are all set to win the 2015 European Club Cup? Not so fast! In Round 6 they face powerful opposition in the form of Alkaloid. Vassily Ivanchuk will be hoping to bounce back and spoil Kramnik’s party just as he did in the final round of the World Blitz Championship or the 2013 London Candidates.

Don’t miss all the action live here on chess24 from 15:00 CEST, while you can also follow the tournament in our free mobile apps:

         

See also:

• European Chess Club Cup official website
• All the European Chess Club  Cup games on chess24
• Star-studded European Club Cup starts Sunday
• Nakamura and Giri lose to 2500-players
• Kramnik and Topalov on collision course