Kramnik and Topalov on collision course

Perhaps the key match of the whole tournament features the bitterest grudge game in world chess | photos: Filip Ognyan

Kramnik on a roll

If Round 2 of the European Club Cup was all about shocks, Round 3 saw order restored to the chess universe. The big teams began to meet, but the biggest always had enough firepower to keep on winning. The greatest surprise along the way was a heavy loss for Alexander Grischuk, but his opponent, Evgeniy Najer, is, after all, the reigning European Champion.

Vladimir Kramnik and Levon Aronian finally joined the show for Siberia, and it was Big Vlad who continued his excellent form from the World Rapid and Blitz. 

First Kramnik arranged to have his workspace properly lit... | photo: Maria Emelianova, ChessPro

...then he got down to taking Ian Nepomniachtchi apart with surgical precision | photo: 2015 European Chess Club Cup

Against Ian Nepomniachtchi he achieved utter domination after a Catalan-style early kingside fianchetto. This was the final position where Ian threw in the towel:

Black can barely move, while White’s threats include Be8 and capturing on g6, or simply taking on c5 with the king if the rook leaves the c-file to defend the pawn.

Same illumination, same result vs. Peter Svidler | photo: Maria Emelianova, ChessPro

Kramnik showed he’s a master of both sides of such positions, surprising Peter Svidler with a rare choice on move 7. Peter spent almost an hour on his next four moves, and although he seemed to solve most of his problems the lack of time told on the time control move:

White has an extra pawn, but once again Kramnik has utterly dominated an opponent’s piece – here the knight on a5. Nevertheless, after 40.gxh5 it’s all still to play for. Instead 40.Bb8? simply lost a pawn to 40…Ne4+ 41.Kh3 (there’s nothing better) 41…Nf2+. You could argue that Peter’s resignation four moves later was a little premature, but playing such a position against Kramnik is no-one’s idea of fun.

Further wins for Li Chao against Maxim Matlakov and Wang Yue against Maxim Rodshtein meant a very comfortable 4.5:1.5 victory for Siberia over Mednyi Vsadnik.

Hikaru Nakamura signed a chessboard before his game against Mickey Adams but didn't get to sign off on a win | photo: Filip Ognyan

On paper SOCAR won almost as comfortably against the Italian team featuring Hikaru Nakamura and French birthday boy Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, but the 4:2 scoreline was deceptive. Nakamura had Mickey Adams on the ropes and was frustrated that he failed to convert the position:

Peter Leko was also better than Topalov on top board, but he suddenly lost control, jettisoned a pawn and fell to defeat. 

Veselin Topalov is once more the world no. 2 | photo: 2015 European Club Chess Championship

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, meanwhile, had earlier won perhaps the most attractive game of the day against Etienne Bacrot:

Here Mamedyarov could have repeated moves with 19.Nc4, but he came up with a plan that worked to perfection – 19.Ra3, with the rook making it to b6 in another four moves. Black only managed to eliminate the intruder at the cost of a pawn. But that wasn’t the end of the show. 42.e5! was the well-prepared break that saw White finally move in for the kill.

The other key result was Alkaloid’s narrow 3.5:2.5 victory over last year’s runners-up AVE Novy Bor. The Alkaloid team led by Ivanchuk has yet to lose a single game, but they also drew on the top five boards in their Round 4 match. Only a late win by Yu Yangyi over Zbynek Hracek in a drawish queen ending maintained the “local” team’s perfect start to the event.

Giant killers

It’s hard for underdogs to inflict more than token damage in a team event played on six boards, which is what makes the Round 4 victory for 15th seeds Vaalerenga all the more impressive. University may have rested Baadur Jobava, but six strong grandmasters should have had what it takes to beat the young Norwegians and their Russian coach - and only grandmaster – Evgeny Romanov. Vaalerenga had clearly prepared hard, though…

…and they pulled off a 3.5:2.5 victory:

The game that made it all possible was Rublevsky-Christiansen, when the Russian women’s coach had a rush of blood to his head:

21.Nxf7?! Rxf7 22.Bxf6 gxf6 23.Qxe4 Bd7! and it turned out Black was doing just fine. The extra piece eventually came in very handy for a mating attack.

The job was completed by Magne Sagafos, who punished some puzzling play by Konstantin Landa in impressively smooth style.

Boris Gelfand was unable to save his team from defeat | photo: European Club Cup

Shirov proves there’s life after death

Alexei Shirov’s Schachgesellschaft Zurich won their match against KSK 47 Eynatten 5.5:0.5, but the single draw was extraordinary. 2493-rated Dutch GM Martijn Dambacher was on the verge of a sensational win against a chess legend:

The cleanest win here is 33.Rxb2!, since 33…Qxb2 34.Qxc6+ is mate in four moves. After 33.Rh8+? White was still winning, though, until 37.Kd2? let the win slip away:

37…Bc1+!! allowed Shirov to pick up the g7-pawn with check - 38.Kxc1 Qf1+ 39.Kd2 Qg2+ 40.Kc3 Qxg7 - and the game fizzled out into a draw. It’s perhaps worth pointing out what could be surmised from the moves – both players were short on time! In fact, Alexei managed an impressive 55 minutes and 30 second think on move 12…

So near yet so far for Martijn Dambacher | photo: Maria Emelianova, ChessPro

So then, everything is set up for a mouth-watering clash between the tournament's top two teams in Round 5! Needless to say, don’t miss the action live here on chess24 from 15:00 CEST:

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See also:

• European Chess Club Cup official website
• All the European Chess Club  Cup games on chess24
• Star-studden European Club Cup starts Sunday
• Nakamura and Giri lose to 2500-players