America's (and Ninja's) Hikaru Nakamura ran into the very tough Boris Gelfand on day one and was bounced by the Israeli veteran. Gelfand has an incredible career score bashing the Grunfeld and he backed that up in their first game to take the lead with some fine bishop pair play. In the second Nakamura worked up good chances to equalize the match but Gelfand pulled out some endgame magic, with some help. I thought 44..g5 was a brilliant save at first but it's a forced loss. 47.Rb7+ Kg6 48.a7 and Black can't stop the c-pawn. True to his style, Hikaru played to the death and resigned instead of taking one of the many draws.
Thanks to Misha Savinov and Mikhail Golubev for the photos.
So on the first day the favorites all went through: Leko, Rublevsky, Shirov, Gelfand. Day 2 is underway in Odessa. Morozevich needed blitz to eliminate Harikrishna after two good rapid games, both decisive. Radjabov knocked out Bareev. Bacrot-Bologan went to the armageddon game, where the Frenchman went through. Elo rules so far. Ivanchuk-Amonatov is the final pairing of the first round. [Ivanchuk through 2-0.] Official site here.
Savinov makes a good point in his first ChessBase report on this event. I had thought it strange that Kramnik wasn't playing since the ACP was basically founded in his support a few years ago. But if a player organization is going to have any success and leverage it needs the support of all its star members. Anand and Kramnik (and Aronian) really should have lent their participation to this inaugural event. In the eyes of this ACP member it's in their own best interest as well as that of every player to show that the ACP can bring out the big boys. I.e., that something other than cash matters when it comes to putting on a prestigious event. Of course Corus is the more important event, but a few days of rapid games isn't too much to ask for solidarity at the first major ACP event. Or it shouldn't be.
A week after his wedding, Kramnik wisely sacrifices his participation in the ACP World Cup for long-term advantage. In some future crisis Kramnik will be more likely to have a supportive spouse behind him and less likely to have a custody battle in front of him.
Now that Hikaru is out, I'm going to root for Radjabov. It's time for the youngbloods to start taking over, and ironically, this coming from an old fogy.
btw, has danailov presented the bank guarantees in the meantime?
No bank guarantee yet. And I'm not expecting one.
Now that Jerkamura has been soundly knocked out by Gelfand, I have to find someone else to root for other than his opponent.
ACP, Shmay-CP. All chess organizations other than FIDE have been lightweights. FIDE, for all its countless faults, is the only player that has ever mattered.
Does Nakamura leave Odessa now? Is there some kind of consolation tournament for the people who lose? It seems like an awful long way to go to play just two games of speed chess.
I hope Kramnik found his wife's refusal to participate in FIDE round-robin championships and statement of support for Kramnik and his idea of championship cycle most helpful in his recent battles.
I can see the point Mig makes about the non-participation of Kramnik, Anand, and Aronian. However it does at least allow some of the prize money to be spread around some of the more poverty stricken second tier of GMs.
Looks like Kirsan is stealing the thunder from ACP's first success in organizing a high profile event, see the chessbase news article. Hope that in the long run he cheapens himself that way (as a thief) too!