Ivanchuk, Van Wely and Alekseev win, Carlsen still in comfortable lead
Annotated games:
Carlsen – Ivanchuk / Svidler – Carlsen / Nisipeanu – Ivanchuk / Carlsen – Van Wely
Eljanov – Carlsen / Carlsen – Shirov / Shirov – Karjakin / Carlsen – Alekseev
Nisipeanu – Carlsen / Carlsen – Onischuk
Vassily Ivanchuk played an unambitious variation of the Gruenfeld Indian defence against Alexei Shirov, and still succeeded to win by exploiting White’s kingside weaknesses. This puts 2008 Mtel Masters winner on the 2nd place tie with Karjakin and Eljanov. Magnus Carlsen was held to a draw by the last placed Alexander Onischuk, but he is still enjoying a huge lead with two points margin. See Hans Arild Runde’s excellent article “Measure Up” for projection of the July rating list and join us on Tuesday at 14:00 CET for the live coverage of Jakovenko-Carlsen.
Round 8 results:
Van Wely, Loek 1 – 0 Volokitin, Andrei
Eljanov, Pavel ½ – ½ Jakovenko, Dmitry
Carlsen, Magnus ½ – ½ Onischuk, Alexander
Alekseev, Evgeny 1 – 0 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter
Svidler, Peter ½ – ½ Karjakin, Sergey
Shirov, Alexei 0 – 1 Ivanchuk, Vassily
Round 8 standings:
1. Magnus Carlsen 2765 – 6.5
2-4. Vassily Ivanchuk 2740, Sergey Karjakin 2732 and Pavel Eljanov 2687 – 4.5
5-8. Andrei Volokitin 2684, Dmitry Jakovenko 2711, Evgeny Alekseev 2711 and Peter Svidler 2746 – 4.0
9. Alexei Shirov 2740 – 3.5
10-11. Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 2684 and Loek Van Wely 2676 – 3.0
11-12. Alexander Onischuk 2664 – 2.5
Round 9 pairings:
Karjakin, Sergey – Van Wely, Loek
Volokitin, Andrei – Eljanov, Pavel
Jakovenko, Dmitry – Carlsen, Magnus
Onischuk, Alexander – Alekseev, Evgeny
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter – Shirov, Alexei
Ivanchuk, Vassily – Svidler, Peter
Carlsen – Onischuk
Vassily Ivanchuk
Photos:
Round 1 / More on the tournament website
Their yesterday’s defeats didn’t cause longterm trauma
Round 8 results:
Kamsky Gata 2726 ½ – ½ Bacrot Etienne 2705
Wang Yue 2689 ½ – ½ Adams Michael 2729
Svidler Peter 2746 ½ – ½ Grischuk Alexander 2716
Inarkiev Ernesto 2684 1 – 0 Navara David 2672
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2752 1 – 0 Karjakin Sergey 2732
Carlsen Magnus 2765 ½ – ½ Cheparinov Ivan 2695
Gashimov Vugar 2679 ½ – ½ Radjabov Teimour 2751
Tomorrow LIVE on Chessdom: Sergey Karjakin vs Magnus Carlsen. See you there!
All news about Baku Grand Prix
Obviously Shakhriyar Mamedyarov enjoys playing against the Queens Indian defence. After Magnus Carlsen, he defeated another prodigy – Sergey Karjakin. Ernesto Inarkiev won against David Navara in Anti-Marshall Ruy Lopez and surrendered him the last place. Other five games finished peacefully.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Sergey Karjakin
Round 8 standings:
1-3. Grischuk Alexander 2716 RUS, Gashimov Vugar 2679 AZE and Yue Wang 2689 CHN – 5.0
4-5. Carlsen Magnus 2765 NOR and Kamsky Gata 2726 USA – 4.5
6-10. Radjabov Teimour 2751 AZE, Svidler Peter 2746 RUS, Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2752 AZE, Adams Michael 2729 ENG and Bacrot Etienne 2705 FRA – 4.0
11. Karjakin Sergey 2732 UKR – 3.5
12-13. Inarkiev Ernesto 2684 RUS and Cheparinov Ivan 2695 BUL – 3.0
14. Navara David 2672 CZE – 2.5
Round 9 on April 30 at 15:00 local time
Radjabov Teimour 2751 - Kamsky Gata 2726
Cheparinov Ivan 2695 - Gashimov Vugar 2679
Karjakin Sergey 2732 - Carlsen Magnus 2765
Navara David 2672 - Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2752
Grischuk Alexander 2716 - Inarkiev Ernesto 2684
Adams Michael 2729 - Svidler Peter 2746
Bacrot Etienne 2705 - Wang Yue 2689
Anand is now full point ahead of competition. Report and replayable games
Spanish leg of the 2008 Morelia Linares tournament continues in fighting spirit established in Mexico, with three decided games and only one draw. Vishwanatan Anand wins again against Alexei Shirov, extending the lead to full point. Topalov and Shirov, both tied on 2nd prior to this round, lost their games and were relegated to 4th place, while Aronian and Carlsen broke through to the 2nd place by scoring by winning against Topalov and Ivanchuk respectively. Radjabov sacrificed a piece against Leko, but this crazyhouse evaporated into a draw. After the scoresheet signing, the two were analysing depths of the position for at least an hour.
Round 8 results:
Vishwanatan Anand – Alexei Shirov 1-0
Vassily Ivanchuk – Magnus Carlsen 0-1
Teimour Radjabov – Peter Leko draw
Levon Aronian – Veselin Topalov 1-0
Round 8 standings:
1. Vishy Anand 5.5
2-3. Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen 4.5
4-5. Alexei Shirov and Veselin Topalov 4.0
6. Teimour Radjabov 3.5
7-8. Peter Leko and Vassily Ivanchuk 3.0
Magnus Carlsen surprised yet again by choosing rare setup in Berlin Ruy Lopez, and already on 8th move he was able to play a novelty. Most likely, this was not a good idea, because it allowed a valuable c3 to Vassily Ivanchuk, and he got upper hand after the next 10. Qc2. Magnus, however, kept his coolness and continued to press after the temporary piece sacrifice when Ivanchuk had problems with the back rank and development. White also missed stronger 15. c4 or 16. c4 Qe6 17. Nxg5 Rxe5 18. Bb2 and kept burning his clock down to 20 minutes for 20 remaining moves. Very soon, the position was reduced to an unbalanced endgame, where white is probably slightly better but the time trouble started to take its toll. Ivanchuk committed number of inaccuracies and resigned after black forced queen promotion.
Teimour Radjabov played a fashionable line that includes pawn sacrifice against Peter Leko’s Queen’s Indian defence. On 10th move he deviated from Leko’s earlier game against Aronian with the daring Qc2-e4. Knight sacrifice kept Leko’s king in the center, but he has a reputation of an ultra-solid defender. He gave some material back and then traded queen for two rooks. Remaining light pieces coordinated well, and Radjabov was unable to break through during the time scramble, so draw was agreed on move 39.
Alexei Shirov played his pet Sveshnikov Sicilian, but Anand was first to slip a very strong novelty with 18. Qe2! The main point is that white delays h2-h4 for one move, and since black hardly has anything better than 18…f5, pawn can’t be taken on the 19th move because 19. h4 Bxh4 20. exf5! Bxf5 (20…gxf5? 21. Qh5 +-) 21. Nxf5 Rxf5 22. g3 Bg5 23. Bd3 is very unpleasant. Therefore, black was forced to trade on e3, and after 21. h5 g5 white already enjoyed solid advantage. Shirov tried everything to activate his pieces, even at the cost of two pawns, but Anand held the events under control and took the game into winning rook ending. Theoretically very important game, Sveshnikov devotees will have to search for improvements.
Levon Aronian didn’t manage to get rid of his weak isolated pawn in the Four Knights Variation of the English Opening, and Veselin Topalov gradually increased advantage with black pieces. Aronian was already much weaker when he sacrificed an exchange for a pawn during the time trouble. Topalov almost instantly mistakes with the move order, and suddenly white knight wins another pawn to start ragging over the central squares. GM Vladimir Dimitrov pointed in the live commentary that 39…Bd6! would not allow white to earn full compensation. Black rooks were lacking with space and Aronian simply advanced his d-pawn to take the point home.
Goran Urosevic
Round 9 pairings:
Levon Aronian – Vishwanatan Anand
Veselin Topalov – Teimour Radjabov
Peter Leko – Vassily Ivanchuk
Magnus Carlsen – Alexei Shirov
Join us on Friday at 10:00 EST / 16:00 CET for the live commentary on the 9th round of Morelia-Linares. See you there!
