Ivanchuk won the rapid World Championship in Doha at the end of last year.
I first played against Vassily in 1986. In 1988 he was already rated among the top ten in the World. He is still there today. At age of 47 he is still one of the most unpredicted player around, he can win as we saw in Doha, but he can lose as well. I was lucky to beat him in several occasions. Most notably in Delhi where the famous chair incident occured.
In Doha Ivanchuk controlled his nerves and adding extra credit to his title he won convincingly against Word number one Magnus Carlsen. The game was so one sided, that if you do not know who were playing you might not to pay attention to the game at all. Just one professional running over not so strong player. This is it. It matters how you win or lose. Magnus definately got very uppset and later lost to Ivanchuk in blitz as well. You may follow the live game here .
[Event "World Rapid 2016"]
[Site "Doha QAT"]
[Date "2016.12.27"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[Annotator "Jaan Ehlvest"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "rapid"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Qc2 {Ivanchuk is one of the best theoretician
in chess openings around. He has very deep knowladge and played nearly every
possible line.} e6 (4... dxc4 {is the critical line, but Magnus tries as
usuall to get off the theory as soon as possible.}) 5. Nbd2 $5 {I am not sure
if this is home preparation or decision over the board.} dxc4 (5... c5 $5 {
was the move, but without preparation it is not easy to decide, also
considering that your opponent might analyzed it.}) 6. Nxc4 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
a3 O-O 9. b4 Be7 $2 {This is too passive and after that White has long lasting
advantage.} (9... b5 $1 {was the correct move}) 10. Bb2 Qc7 11. Rc1 Nbd7 12. e4
b5 13. Na5 Qxc2 14. Rxc2 Nxe4 15. Bxb5 {Magnus is not only World Champion, he
is also one of the best endgame players. However in this game Vassily did not
give him any chance at all.} Nd6 16. Bc6 Rb8 17. O-O Nb6 18. Rd1 Rd8 19. Ne5 f6
20. Bf3 $1 fxe5 21. Nc6 Bb7 22. Nxe7+ Kf8 23. Bxe5 Nbc4 24. Bxd6 Nxd6 25. Nc6
Bxc6 26. Rxc6 Nb5 27. Rxd8+ Rxd8 28. Ra6 {White is clearly winning.} Rc8 29. h4
Rc7 30. Bg4 e5 31. Ra5 Nd6 32. Rxe5 Nc4 33. Rf5+ Ke7 34. Rf3 Ne5 35. Re3 Kd6
36. Be2 h6 37. f4 Rc1+ 38. Kf2 Nd7 39. Bf3 Rc2+ 40. Kg3 Ra2 41. Rd3+ Ke7 42.
Rc3 Kd8 43. Kg4 Rd2 44. Rc6 Rd3 45. Ra6 Nf6+ 46. Kf5 Rd7 47. g4 Ne8 48. g5 hxg5
49. hxg5 Nd6+ 50. Kg6 Nb5 51. Ra5 Nd4 52. Bg4 1-0
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The blitz game won by Ivanchuk was also very instructive.
[Event "World Blitz 2016"]
[Site "Doha QAT"]
[Date "2016.12.30"]
[Round "16.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[Annotator "Jaan Ehlvest"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "blitz"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. O-O Nge7 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 b6 {very rare
move prepared by Vassily.} 7. Nxc6 Nxc6 8. Nc3 Qc7 {This is probably too
original. Better was} (8... Bc5 {or}) (8... Bb7) 9. Qg4 $1 {When I was
following this game on livestreaming I had feeling that Magnus outplayed
Vassily to certain moment and then somehow the game did not end when Vassily
found couple of only moves.} h5 $1 {played instantly} 10. Qg5 Ne5 11. Bf4 f6
12. Qg6+ Nxg6 13. Bxc7 a6 14. Bd3 b5 15. a4 b4 16. Nb1 Bc5 17. Nd2 Ra7 18. Ba5
Ne5 19. Nb3 Be7 20. Bb6 Ra8 21. Be2 g5 22. Rfd1 Bb7 23. f3 Rc8 24. Rd2 Rc6 25.
Be3 {In this moment it seemed to me that Magnus somehow outplayd Vassily and
the position is very unpleasent. Probably Magnus had the same feeling here.}
Bc8 26. Kf1 (26. Na5 $1 Rc7 (26... Bc5 27. Kf2 Bxe3+ 28. Kxe3 Rc7 29. Rc1) 27.
Kf2 {and White has a big plus.}) 26... Bd8 27. a5 Be7 {and now suddenly the
position is around equal. Magnus lost control very quickly.} 28. Bb6 $2 Nc4 29.
Bxc4 Rxc4 30. Nd4 Bb7 {now Black has just better position and again Vassily
did not give to the World Champion any chances.} 31. b3 Rc8 32. Rad1 Kf7 33.
Ne2 d5 34. exd5 Bxd5 35. Nd4 h4 36. Nf5 h3 $1 37. Nxe7 Kxe7 38. g4 Rc3 39. Rf2
Rhc8 40. Rdd2 Rxf3 41. Ke1 Rfc3 42. Bd4 Rf3 43. Rxf3 Bxf3 44. Rf2 e5 45. Rxf3
$2 {last mistake} (45. Bxe5 fxe5 46. Rxf3 Rxc2 47. Rxh3 {White king is cut off,
but still as usuall in rook endgames there are always good drawing chances.})
45... exd4 46. Kd2 Rc3 47. Rxc3 dxc3+ 48. Ke3 Ke6 49. Kf3 Ke5 50. Ke3 f5 51.
gxf5 Kxf5 0-1
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Vassily Ivanchuk never became a World Champion and most likely he never does, but he still has his moments.
Jaan Ehlvest
