Ivanchuk Wins His 8th Capablanca Memorial

PeterDoggers May 14, 2019

Chess Event Coverage

54th Capablanca Memorial 2019 (Havana CUB)

Fri 3rd May 2019 - Mon 13th May 2019

54th Capablanca Mem Elite Havana (CUB), 3-13 v 2019 cat. XVI (2641)
1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2677 * * ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 7 2782
2. Sevian, Samuel g USA 2666 ½ 1 * * ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ ½ 1 6½ 2745
3. Anton Guijarro, David g ESP 2667 ½ ½ ½ ½ * * ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 6½ 2745
4. Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel g CUB 2566 0 0 0 1 ½ ½ * * 0 ½ ½ ½ 3½ 2545
5. Adhiban, Baskaran g IND 2701 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ * * ½ ½ 3½ 2518
6. Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri g CUB 2567 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * * 3 2506

Round 1 (May 3, 2019)

Ivanchuk, Vassily
Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel
Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri
Round 2 (May 4, 2019)
Ivanchuk, Vassily
Anton Guijarro, David
Adhiban, Baskaran
Round 3 (May 5, 2019)
Sevian, Samuel
Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel
Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri
Round 4 (May 6, 2019)
Ivanchuk, Vassily
Anton Guijarro, David
Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri
Round 5 (May 7, 2019)
Sevian, Samuel
Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel
Adhiban, Baskaran
- Anton Guijarro, David
- Sevian, Samuel
- Adhiban, Baskaran
- Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri
- Sevian, Samuel
- Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel
- Adhiban, Baskaran
- Ivanchuk, Vassily
- Anton Guijarro, David
- Sevian, Samuel
- Adhiban, Baskaran
- Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel
- Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri
- Anton Guijarro, David
- Ivanchuk, Vassily
½-½ 40 C47 Four Knights
0-1 45 D38 QGD Ragozin
½-½ 43 B30 Sicilian Rossolimo
1-0 42 A46 Queen's Pawn Opening
½-½ 64 A28 English Four Knights
1-0 23 A17 English Opening
1-0 40 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation
0-1 38 C42 Petroff's Defence
½-½ 29 C47 Four Knights
½-½ 24 E48 Nimzo Indian
1-0 45 E71 King's Indian 5.h3
½-½ 54 B30 Sicilian Rossolimo
½-½ 39 C92 Ruy Lopez Chigorin
½-½ 16 C74 Ruy Lopez Modern Steinitz
½-½ 55 A32 English Symmetrical
Round 6 (May 9, 2019)
Sevian, Samuel
Anton Guijarro, David
Adhiban, Baskaran
Round 7 (May 10, 2019)
Sevian, Samuel
Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel
Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri
Round 8 (May 11, 2019)
Ivanchuk, Vassily
Anton Guijarro, David
Adhiban, Baskaran
Round 9 (May 12, 2019)
Sevian, Samuel
Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel
Adhiban, Baskaran
Round 10 (May 13, 2019)
Ivanchuk, Vassily
Anton Guijarro, David
Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri
- Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel
- Ivanchuk, Vassily
- Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri
- Anton Guijarro, David
- Adhiban, Baskaran
- Ivanchuk, Vassily
- Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel
- Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri
- Sevian, Samuel
- Ivanchuk, Vassily
- Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri
- Anton Guijarro, David
- Adhiban, Baskaran
- Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel
- Sevian, Samuel
0-1 47 B30 Sicilian Rossolimo
½-½ 44 E20 Nimzo Indian
½-½ 57 D37 QGD 5.Bf4
½-½ 37 C80 Ruy Lopez Open
½-½ 26 C07 French Tarrasch
0-1 45 B31 Sicilian Rossolimo
1-0 40 B30 Sicilian Rossolimo
1-0 31 A07 Barcza System
½-½ 51 A07 Barcza System
1-0 48 B40 Sicilian Classical
½-½ 40 C92 Ruy Lopez Chigorin
0-1 58 C83 Ruy Lopez Open
1-0 37 A42 Modern Defence
½-½ 79
0-1 42 C47 Four Knights

Former top grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk showed his class in Havana this
week where he won the Capablanca Memorial for the eighth time. The
Ukrainian GM finished half a point ahead of GMs Sam Sevian (U.S.) and David
Anton (Spain).

Ivanchuk must be feeling much at home in the Cuban capital, where he is a

regular guest at the Capablanca Memorial—and a regular winner. Ivanchuk, a
former world number-two, has reached the age 50 but is still a force to be
reckoned with.

It must be noted that the field of the "elite" group wasn't terribly strong this
year, and Ivanchuk was the second seed behind Baskaran Adhiban of India.
Still, winning the tournament was definitely a good result for the Ukrainian
legend, who at times has preferred to play in draughts tournaments in recent
years.
After a draw with third seed Anton, Ivanchuk beat the two Cuban GMs Carlos
Albornoz and Yuri Gonzalez to reach 2.5/3. The latter was nicely outplayed in a
drawish-looking endgame. White played too passively, but then became active
the wrong way:

Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel (2566) vs. Ivanchuk, Vassily (2677)

54th Capablanca Mem Elite Havana CUB Round 3.2 5 May 2019 ECO: C42 0-1

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Qe2 Qe7 6. d3 Nf6 7. Bg5

Qxe2+ 8. Bxe2 Be7 9. Nc3 h6 10. Bh4 Nc6 11. O-O-O Be6 12. d4 Nd5 13.
Nxd5 Bxd5 14. Bxe7 Kxe7 N

(14... Nxe7 15. c4 Be4 16. Rde1 d5 17. Nd2 Rd8 18. Nxe4 dxe4 19. d5 c6
{Gaujens,A (2232)-Schaefer,U (2293) ICCF email 2012})

5. Nh4 Rhe8 16. Bf3 Bxf3 17. Nxf3 Kd7 18. Rhe1 Rxe1 19. Rxe1 b5 20. c3
a5 21. Kc2 a4 22. Kd3 Ne7 23. Nd2 g5 24. g3 f5 25. Nf3 Nd5 26. Nd2 f4
27. Ne4 Rf8 28. Rh1 Kc6 29. Re1 g4 30. a3 h5 31. Nd2 Kd7 32. Re4 Rf7
33. Re1 Ne7 34. Ne4 Ng6 35. Nd2 d5 36. Rf1 Re7 37. f3? (diagram)

(37. b3!?)

37... Re3+ 38. Kc2 Re2! {As at least one important pawn is dropping,
it's suddenly lost for White.} 0-1
Ivanchuk then drew with Sevian and also with top seed Baskaran Adhiban,
who had a disappointing tournament (3.5/10) and dropped out of the 2700
club. Halfway the tournament, Ivanchuk was leading with Sevian.

After another draw, a second interesting struggle with Anton, Ivanchuk was
again too strong for the two Cubans. This time we'll pick his game with
Gonzalez, for the beautiful 26th move:

Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri (2567) vs. Ivanchuk, Vassily (2677)

54th Capablanca Mem Elite Havana CUB Round 7.3 10 May 2019 ECO: B31 0-1

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 e5 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. d3 Qe7

8. Nbd2 Nf6 9. Nc4 Nd7 10. a4 O-O 11. a5 Rd8 12. Be3

(12. Bd2 Nf8 13. Rb1 Qc7 14. b4 Be6 15. Ne3 cxb4 16. Rxb4 b5 17. axb6 axb6
18. Qb1 b5 19. c4 Qd6 {Pridorozhni,A (2565)-Frolyanov,D (2563) Khanty-
Mansiysk 2017})

12... Nf8 13.Qb1 N

(13. Qc1 f6 14. b3 Ne6 15. Kh1 Qc7 16. Qa3 Bf8 17. Qc1 Bd7 18. Ng1 b5 19.
axb6 axb6 {Ivanov,A (2372)-Petrosian,D (2486) Alushta 2007})

13... f6 14. Ra4 Be6 15. Nfd2 Nd7 16. b4 Bf8 17. bxc5 Nxc5 18. Ra2 Qf7
19. Rb2 Rd7 20. f3 Na6 21. Kh1 c5 22. Qd1 Nb4 23. Qe2 Rb8 24. f4 exf4
25. Bxf4 Re8 26. Qf2 Rxd3!?

{After good play this doesn't give Black a clear advantage, but it's a cool move
anyway.}

27. Rxb4?! {White \"believes\" his opponent.}

({After} 27. cxd3! Nxd3 28. Qf1 Nxe1 {White has} 29. Bg3! {when Black should
take another pawn:} (29. Qxe1? Bxc4) 29... Nxg2 30. Kxg2 Rd8 {and the
position is highly unclear. Because of his safer king it might be more
comfortable to play for Black.})

27... Rxd2 28. Qxd2 cxb4 29. Nd6 Bxd6 30. Qxd6 Bd5!

{This might have been the real point behind the combination.}

31. Bd2?! {A strange move.}

({After} 31. Qxb4 Qe6 32. Qd4 Bxe4 33. Kg1 {Black still has work to do.})
31... Bxe4 32. Bxb4 Qc4 33. Qd2 g5 34. Bc3 Kf7 35. Kg1 Re6 36. Re3 a6
37. h3 Qc6 38. Bd4 Kg6 39. Rc3 Qd6 40. Rc8 Bc6 41. Qd3+ Kg7 42. c3
Qd7 43. Ra8 Qd5 44. Qd2 Re1+ 45. Kf2 Ra1 0-1

In the penultimate round it almost went wrong for the veteran in the field.
Ivanchuk lost to the American grandmaster Sevian, who is 32 years younger.
Sevian, the world number-five among juniors, played a game that Capablanca
himself would have been proud of.

Sevian, Samuel (2666) vs. Ivanchuk, Vassily (2677)

54th Capablanca Mem Elite Havana CUB Round 9.2 12 May 2019 ECO: B40 1-0

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5

Nd5 8. Ne4 Qc7 9. f4 Qa5+ 10. Bd2 Qb6 11. Bd3 Rb8

(11... Ba6 12. Bxa6 Qxa6 13. Qe2 Qxe2+ 14. Kxe2 f5 15. Nf2 a5 16. c4 Nb4 17.
Rhc1 c5 18. Be3 a4 {Giri,A (2762)-Lupulescu,C (2620) Antalya 2017})

12. Qe2 Nb4 N

(12... Be7 13. c4 f5 14. exf6 Nxf6 15. Nc3 O-O 16. Na4 Qa6 17. b3 c5 18. O-O
Bb7 19. Rae1 g6 20. f5 gxf5 21. Bxf5 Rf7 {Svidler,P (2672)-Lobron,E (2550)
Frankfurt 2000})

13. Be3 Nxd3+ 14. Qxd3 Qa5+ 15. Bd2 Qd5 16. b3 Qxd3 17. cxd3 Be7 18.
Be3 f5 19. Nd2 Ba6 20. Ke2 Rb7 21. Rac1 Kf7 22. Bc5 Rb5 23. Bxe7 Kxe7
24. h4 Rd5 25. Rc3 Rb8 26. Ke3 c5 27. Nc4 Bxc4 28. bxc4 Rd4 29. Rb3
Rxb3 30. axb3 d6 31. Ra1 dxe5 32. fxe5 Rd7 33. Ra6 Rc7 34. Kd2 g6 35.
Kc3 h6 36. b4 cxb4+ 37. Kxb4 Rd7 38. Kc3 g5 39. hxg5 hxg5 40. d4 f4 41.
c5 Rb7 42. Kc4 Rb2 43. Rxa7+ Kd8 44. c6 Rxg2 45. d5 Rd2 46. c7+ Kc8
47. d6 Rc2+ 48. Kd3 1-0

This allowed Anton to catch the leader with one round to go, but whereas the
Spanish player couldn't break the defense of Albornoz on the last day,
Ivanchuk defeated Adhiban to clinch first place in Havana for the eighth time
in his career—seven alone, and one shared with Le Quang Liem in 2011.

His last game saw a novelty on move seven, and several profound follow-up
moves from the winner:

Ivanchuk, Vassily (2677) vs. Adhiban, Baskaran (2701)

54th Capablanca Mem Elite Havana CUB Round 10.3 13 May 2019 ECO: A42 1-0

1. d4 d6 2. e4 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 c5 5. Nge2

(5. d5 a6 6. f4 e6 7. dxe6 fxe6 8. Nf3 Nc6 9. Be3 Nh6 10. Qd2 Nf7 11. O-O-O
Qa5 12. Kb1 Bxc3 13. bxc3 Bd7 {Ivanchuk,V (2726)-Malakhov,V (2686) Riadh
2017})

5... Nc6 6. d5 Na5 7. Rb1 N

{Getting the rook away from the a1-h8 diagonal at a moment when c4 doesn't
really hang.} (7. Bd2 a6 8. Ng3 Bd7 9. Qc2 h5 10. Be2 e6 11. Nf1 exd5 12. cxd5
b5 13. Ne3 Nf6 14. O-O O-O 15. f3 b4 16. Ncd1 Bb5 {1/2 Khairullin,I (2617)
-Almeida Quintana,O (2541) Havana 2010})

7... Nf6

(7... Nxc4?? 8. Qa4+ {would be an early stage Puzzle Rush move.})

8. Ng3 O-O 9. Be2 e6 10. O-O exd5 11. cxd5 a6 12. b4!? Nd7 13. Qd2 cxb4
14. Nd1! h5? 15. Bxh5! {Playing on both wings.}

15... Nc4

(15... gxh5 16. Rxb4 Ne5 17. Nxh5 Bh8 18. Ne3 Qh4 19. Ng3 {gives long-term
compensation. Just look at Black's pathetic queenside. It's understandable
that Adhivan didn't feel like playing this, but in the game he'll be a very healthy
pawn down.})

16. Qxb4 b5 17. Be2 Nc5 18. Bxc4 bxc4 19. Bb2 Nd3 20. Qa3?

{Giving Adhiban a chance to get back in the game...} (20. Qxc4 Nxb2 21. Nxb2
Bd7 22. Nd3)

20... Nxb2 21. Nxb2 c3 22. Nc4 Qc7? {...but he doesn't take it.}

({Strong was} 22... a5! {and White temporarily lacks coordination and faces the
strong threat 23...Ba6.})

23. Na5 Rb8?! 24. Rxb8 Qxb8 25. Nc6 Qb5?!

({And here}

25... Qb2!? {was a good try.})

26. Qxd6 c2 27. Qc7 Bf6 28. Na7?! Qb7? (28... Qd7)

29. Qxb7 Bxb7 30. Rc1 Bg5 31. Rxc2 f5 32. Rc7 Ba8 33. Nc6 Bf4 34. Ra7
Bxc6 35. dxc6 Re8 36. Rxa6 fxe4 37. Ra4 1-0