Aerosvit 2008: Carlsen wins with a round to spare

Aerosvit-2008 Tournament in Foros, Ukraine

The "Aerosvit-2008" tournament is taking place in a sanatorium complex in the settlement Foros of AR Crimea, Ukraine, from June 7th (day of arrival), to June 20th, 2008 (day of departure). The event is a 12-player round robin with invited participants. The average rating of the players is 2711.7, time controls are 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and 30 minutes to the end of the game, with an addition of 30 sec. after every move. In case of equal points at the end of the tournament the tiebreak is based on the (1) the result of the direct encounter; (2) the Sonneborn-Berger system; (3) the number of won games. The rounds are from Sunday, June 8th until Thursday, June 19th, always starting at 15:00h local time, which is currently CEST +1 (14:00h Berlin/Paris, 13:00h London, 08:00 a.m. New York). Here is a chart for your local time.

Round ten report

Van Wely,L (2677) - Ivanchuk,V (2740) [A04]
Aerosvit Foros UKR (10), 18.06.2008
1.Nf3 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.e4 e5 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.Be3 Qf6 7.Nxc6 dxc6 8.Nc3 Qe7 9.Bd3 Nf6 10.h3 Nd7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Qc2 Ne5 13.Be2 g5 14.Rad1 Be6 15.b3 Rfe8 16.Bh5 g4 17.Bxg4 Bxg4 18.hxg4 Nxg4 19.Bf4 Be5

20.Qe2? Qh4 (threatening ...Bxf4 and mate to follow) 21.Qf3 (21.Bxe5 Rxe5 threatening mate in one) 21...Nh2 and now 22.Qg3+ Qxg3 23.Bxg3 Bxg3 leaves White a full piece down. 0-1.

Shirov,A (2740) - Svidler,P (2746) [D16]
Aerosvit Foros UKR (10), 18.06.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 e6 6.e3 c5 7.Bxc4 Nc6 8.0-0 cxd4 9.exd4 Be7 10.Bg5 0-0 11.Re1 Bd7 12.Qd2 Rc8 13.Rad1 Nb4 14.Ne5 Nbd5 15.Bxf6 Nxf6 16.d5 Bb4 17.dxe6 Bxe6 18.Qc2 Qb6 19.Bxe6 fxe6 20.Nd3 Bxc3 21.bxc3 Nd5 22.c4 Nb4 23.Nxb4 Qxb4 24.Re4 b5 25.Rh4 h6 26.axb5

Some minor tactics lead to a rook ending: 26...Qxb5 27.Rxh6 Qf5 28.Qxf5 exf5 29.Rh4. White is a pawn up. Black seeks his salvation in a kingside attack. 29...f4 30.Rd4 Rb8 31.h3 f3 32.g4 Rb1+ 33.Kh2 Rf1 34.Rd2 Re8 35.Kg3 Re2 36.Rd8+ Kf7 37.Rd7+ Kg6 38.Rh8

It's make or break for Peter Svidler, 32 years and one day old. Taking the pawn with the f1-rook offered some chances of resistance, but Peter used the other rook: 38...Rexf2 39.Rg8 Rg2+ 40.Kf4 f2 and now it is a forced mate: 41.Rgxg7+ Kf6 42.Rh7 Ke6 43.Kg5 and mate in two. 1-0.

Pavel Eljanov vs Sergey Karjakin: a draw in 32 moves ended any theoretical chances Eljanov had of catching Carlsen (who was still playing Volokitin at the time)

Standings after ten rounds

Magnus watch: Carlsen's performance is now at 2895 and his theoretical world ranking is number two, at 2792 rating points, six behind Anand and four ahead of Vladimir Kramnik. The official deadline for submitting results to FIDE for the July 1st list is June 16, while Aerosvit 2008 will end on June 19. However FIDE has in the past made exceptions to include key tournaments in the ratings lists. In April 2007 it rated Morelia/Linares although the results could only be submitted after the original deadline. The consideration is that the accuracy of the ratings and their up-to-dateness should take precedence over burocratic guidelines. Also, in 2007, 1.1 billion chess fans were ready to launch a protest if Anand were not ranked number one. This time it would only be only 4.7 million in Kongeriket Noreg, but FIDE would be well advised to heed the opinion of these and the many Carlsen fans around the world.

Happy Birthday Andrei!

What, another birthday? Yes, Magnus, Andrei Volokitin turned 22 today.

Andrei Volokitin was born on June 18, 1986 in Lvov (Lviv), Ukraine. He won the World U12 championship in 1998 and got his GM title in 2001 at the age of 15. In 2004 he won the Ukrainian Championship and has been in the top 100 of the world rankings ever since. Currently he has a 2684 rating and is number 37 in the world, number five in Ukraine.

Links Official tournament web site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games.