Candidates 2014 – Round 14 and Karposh Open Rounds 2&3

It was a double-round day today at the Karposh Open, so I’m really tired after two complicated games (won one and drew the other). Hence, I’ll keep it brief again.

Anand drew easily today so as not to leave himself with a sour aftertaste. The general impression was that the tournament was won by a player who didn’t make unforced errors. That was Anand, and all the rest were making them quite a lot. The reason for every player was different, but again, generally speaking, it was the pressure they put on themselves (Aronian a typical example), the lack of nervous energy (Kramnik, in his own words) and the pressure of the occassion. Anand didn’t suffer from any of those because he had nothing to lose.

The double-round days are always hell and today at the Karposh Open was no different, especially with the morning round starting at 9.30am (and the one hour less sleep due to the daylight saving time change). I played a long game and I misplayed a winning knight endgame. In the afternoon I played a rather nice and complicated combination against a Croatian IM, which gave me some pleasure in executing.

There were also some upsets on the top boards, the most prominent being Stanojoski beating Granda Zuniga and Donchenko beating Ivanisevic.

Starting from tomorrow the games will start at the usual time of 5.30pm. The top boards can be followed live here: http://www.chessdom.com/karpos-open-2014-live/ and also on the playchess server.

Alex Colovic
A professional player, coach and blogger. Grandmaster since 2013.
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