TIME PLAYS IN KRAMNIK'S FAVOUR

The FIDE Candidates Tournament in Kazan ended for Azerbaijani chess players earlier than expected. As the top eight players battled it out, Sahriyar Mammadyarov lost to Boris Gelfand of Israel and Teymur Racabov to the 14th world champion, Vladimir Kramnik.

Mammadyarov is firmly ensconced in the world top ten rankings, so his defeat to Gelfand in the first round came as something of a surprise. Although results in matches between the two grandmasters were not in the Azerbaijani's favour, many doubted that 42-year-old Gelfand would make it to the semifinals. Sahriyar had had six months of high-level training - he had prepared a lot of openings and conducted an in-depth analysis of Gelfand's play - but he was not himself during the game.

The main reason for Mammadyarov's defeat is the six-month break. While preparing for the Candidates Tournament, he opted out of all competitions and trained only with his assistants. This kept him out of the tournament atmosphere, which made itself felt in the first game.

Sahriyar largely dominated the first game with Gelfand and looked on course to win, but the game ended in a draw. In the next game, Mammadyarov got his fans seriously worried, making a blunder in spite of his coaches' admonitions. Fortunately, the game ended in a draw. In the third game, Gelfand took advantage of Mammadyarov's inattention to gain an important victory.

The Azerbaijani grandmaster needed to win the fourth game in order to equalize, but Sahriyar couldn't do it. As a result, he lost to the Israeli grandmaster with a score of 1.5-2.5 and was forced to bow out of the Candidates Tournament, in which he had competed for the first time.

The duel between Teymur Racabov and Vladimir Kramnik turned out to be much tenser. Unlike Sahriyar, Teymur does not like to take risks and his defence became a real headache for the Russian grandmaster. Over four classic games, Kramnik was unable to force Racabov into an error. It was striking that the Azerbaijani grandmaster, who repelled all attacks by the 14th world champion, did not use his favourite tactics - the King's Indian Defence. It was felt that Kramnik was well prepared for this traditional tactic from the Azerbaijani chess player.

But Racabov gave a completely different performance and, after four classic draws, he also distinguished himself in the blitz games. According to the regulations, after four draws, the winner is determined by a blitz round. All the bets were on Racabov, who has repeatedly been outstanding in prestigious blitz competitions. As in penalty shootouts in football, luck also plays a part in blitz chess. But what happened in Kazan was a rarity in world chess.

After four classic games and the same number of "fast" games, the winner had to be determined in a super blitz - the so-called "five-minute game". The first game ended in Racabov's victory over Kramnik, and a draw in the next game would be enough for Teymur to get through to the next stage. But at the climax, the electronic clock timing the game broke.

When the referees noticed the fault and stopped the game, Kramnik had 21 seconds and Racabov 13 seconds in store. After about a five-minute pause, Kramnik managed to level the score. Then, in two additional blitz games, fortune was on the side of the Russian grandmaster, and Racabov was knocked out of the tournament. 

Of course, this does no credit to the organizers of the tournament, but it would be wrong to blame the defeat entirely on a faulty clock. However, the five-minute break at a crucial moment may well have changed the course of the game, which had been heading for the draw that Racabov needed. Kramnik used the break to refocus, while Teymur seemed unable to make the most of it. The 24-year-old chess player was affected psychologically and was left unable to concentrate.

We must also give credit to Racabov himself who did not blame the clock, while admitting that the problem definitely influenced him. "I did everything to get into the semifinals. And the failure of the clock is just bad luck. I think this problem was more beneficial for Kramnik. Only four or five moves were left to the draw, and this meant that victory was mine. But the problem changed all that. It's too bad, I was unlucky. I was already sensing victory," Teymur said.

Kramnik himself indirectly admitted that the break caused by the faulty timer helped him: "A draw with Racabov was already inevitable. After losing the first blitz game, I thought I was on my way out of the tournament. Defeat was inevitable. But after the clock problem, I showed a completely different performance. As for the clock, I had nothing do with it. I didn't break it. It broke itself. But in any case, I regard the game with Racabov as one of the most difficult games of my career. Teymur is a very strong opponent."

Despite the setback to the Azerbaijani grandmasters at the Candidates Tournament, the outlook for both Sahriyar Mammadyarov and Teymur Racabov is good. Both chess players were competing for the right to face the world champion for the first time, and certainly, the lack of experience influenced the result. This was the first time that Azerbaijan had two players in the Candidates Tournament. We can only hope that our chess players will continue the struggle and be more successful in the next Candidates Tournament.