SPICE Cup round 4: So - Mamedov, who's lucky?

Both So and Mamedov can easily claims that it was not them who was lucky enough to escape with the draw. Psychologically speaking, I was thinking that Mamedov, who initiated the draw by repetition, may have simply lost his nerve in the ending. The attrition imposes to him by Wesley where he came close to losing his rook after Wesley's 37 Bb1, trapping black's rook on a1, which he luckily escapes may easily explain this. But on the one hand, following the commentators from chessdom, they waived So's 39th move, 39. exd5?And Wesley runs directly into the trap! It was necessary to take with the Knight 39. Nxd5 Nxd5 40. exd5, then 40...Qb5, attempting Qf1, breaks against simple 41. Rd3. .

For sure, it's Wesley who may feel bitter after this game. He's got enough resources to pull off a win. But Mamedov is experiencing the joy of contentment, as the result of the repetition which he initiated.

Meanwhile Hammer defeated the struggling Akobian in an excellent end game battle to get back into the leader board.

Round 4 results

Group A

So 1/2 Mamedov

Kuzubov 1/2 Andreikin

Hammer 1-0 Akobian


Group B


Finegold 1/2 Robson

Bhat 1/2 Papp

Ippolito 0-1 Antal

Perelshteyn 1-0 Diamant

Kuljasevic 1/2 Rensch



Standings after 4 rounds

A group

1-3. Hammer, Kuzubov, Andreikin 2.5
4. Mamedov 2.0
5. So 1.5
6. Akobian 1.0

B group

1-3. Antal, Finegold, Perelshteyn 3.0
4-5. Bhat, Papp 2.5
6. Robson 2.0
7-8. Rensch, Kuljasevic 1.5
9. Diamant 1.0
10. Ippolito 0.0

starting at 00:22, standing outside the playing area is Wesley's father, William.

So - Mamedov commentaries by chessdom.com

Round 4 pictures

Replay of all games from SPICE CUP