The International Chess Tournament named after the former world champion Anatoly Karpov is taking place from 27th August to 7th September in Poikovsky, Russia.
After the rest day the event was resumed with the round 4 games.
Viktor Bologan provided us with a valuable endgame lesson in his clash with Ivan Cheparinov.
The game was actually very interesting throughout. Cheparinov started with the Gruenfeld Indian defence and Bologan replied with the popular 3.f3. This line is definitely deeply analysed in Moldovan chess circles as GM Dmitry Svetushkin has just published a book “The Ultimate Anti-Grünfeld – A Sämisch Repertoire”.
Bologan sacrificed a piece to bring the rooks to the 7th rank, but it was not obvious how could he achieve advantage. Cheparinov helped by hastily giving the extra piece for the advanced pawn.
The resulting rook endgame clearly favored white but it was not easy to convert 3 vs 2 P into a full point. Bologan had patience and skill to execute a maneuver similar to the theoretical Grigoriev’s combined method to finally win the game.
Viktor Bologan
Pavel Eljanov defeated Ernesto Inarkiev from the black side of Caro-Kann. The position was roughly equal until white over-pressed for which he was duly punished.
Viktor Laznicka experimented too much with his Queen’s Gambit Accepted. One queen’s move too many and Alexander Onischuk seized a strong initiative. The American quickly wrapped up the game.
Replay games with computer analysis
Round 4 results:
Alexander Onischuk – Viktor Laznicka 1-0
Dmitry Jakovenko – Alexander Motylev ½-½
Emil Sutovsky – Ian Nepomniachtchi ½-½
Ernesto Inarkiev – Pavel Eljanov 0-1
Viktor Bologan – Ivan Cheparinov 1-0
Round 4 standings:
1-5. Eljanov Pavel UKR 2702, Motylev Alexander RUS 2663, Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2724, Onischuk Alexander USA 2667 and Nepomniachtchi Ian RUS 2723 – 2,5
6-7. Inarkiev Ernesto RUS 2693 and Sutovsky Emil ISR 2660 – 2,0
8. Bologan Viktor MDA 2672 – 1,5
9-10. Laznicka Viktor CZE 2677 and Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2678 – 1,0
