2nd ACP World Rapid Cup Odessa

The Second ACP World Rapid Cup sponsored by the Pivdenny Bank, is taking place in Odessa, Ukraine, from January 4th to 7th, 2008. Top GM's such Dmitry Jakovenko, Vassily Ivanchuk, Teimour Radjabov, Evgeny Najer, Sergey Karjakin, Peter Svidler, Alexander Shabalov, Pavel Eljanov, Ernesto Inarkiev, Boris Savchenko, Alexei Shirov, Boris Gelfand and Yuri Drozdovsky as participate in this event.

Below is an encounter between two former chess prodigies.


Karjakin,Sergey (2732) - Polgar,Ju (2707) [B28]

2nd ACP World Rapid Cup Odessa UKR (1.2), 05.01.2008

1.e4 c5 Judith Polgar (photo left) is well known as an regular Sicilian player. 2.Nf3 a6 The O' Kelly Variation. This variation is played regularly by Belgian Grandmaster O'Kelly.A rather off beat variation. May be Judith didn't want to reveal too much his main weapon in rapid event. 3.c3 A clever choice by Sergey Karjakin (photo right). 3.c4 is known as the strongest reply oing into a Maroczy Bind setup but as a regular e4 player, Karjakin doesn't mind going into French Defense where Polgar as black have "no" experienced on it! 3...e6 [3...Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.d4 cxd4 Probably the only chance for Judith to reach the normal Sicilian path. This position usually arise from the Sicilian Alapin variation with black have committed a6 early.] 4.d4 d5 5.e5 Now white have transpose into the French Defense with black having committed the rather unnecessary ...a6. 5...Nc6 6.Be2 Bd7 7.0–0 Rc8 8.a3 c4 9.Ng5 Na5 10.Be3 Nb3 11.Ra2 Ne7 12.f4 Nf5 13.Bf2 Be7 14.Nf3 h5 15.Nbd2 Ba4 16.Qe1 Kd7 17.Nxb3 Bxb3 18.Ra1 Qb6 19.g3 Nh6 20.Qd2 h4 21.Ne1 hxg3 22.hxg3 Rcg8 23.g4 g5 24.f5 Nxf5 25.gxf5 exf5 26.Bg3 Qe6 27.Rf2 f4 28.Bh2 Rh4 29.Rg2 Rgh8 30.Nf3 Judit until this stage have played well but she overlooked an easy win with 30...Rg4! She blundered with 30...Rh3?? 31.Nxg5! f3 [31...Bxg5 is the last straw 32.Bg4 Qxg4 33.Rxg4 Rxh2 34.Qxh2 Rxh2 35.Kxh2 Be7+-] 31.Nxg5 f3 32.Nxe6 fxg2 33.Nc5+ Kc6 34.Qf4 Bc2 35.Qxf7 Bxc5 36.Qe6+ Kc7 37.dxc5 R3h6 1–0 Because after 38.Qxd5 Rxh2? the bishop can't be captured 39.Qd6+ Kc8 40.Bg4+ Bf5 41.Bxf5 mate!