AeroSvit R8: Ivanchuk wins to close on Rublevsky

The Aerosvit International GM tournament is taking place in from June 16 to 29, 2006, in Foros/Yalta, the southern-most part of the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine. It is a category 18 event with 12 GMs rated 2600 or higher. Time controls are 120 minutes for the entire game, with an increment of 30 sec. per move. In case of a tie the final places are determined by the result of the direct encounter; then Sonneborn-Berger; and finally the number of won games.

Round eight report by GM Mikhail Golubev

Nisipeanu – Grischuk 1-0
The Fischer-Sozin Attack in the Sicilian Najdorf. It seems that Grischuk was not prepared to meet 9.Bxf6!?. His answer 9...Qxf6 seems to be dubious. Maybe after 11.f4 Black could try 11...gxf4. Grischuk played 11...Bg7 and after 12.e5! the White's advantage became obvious. A very good victory by Nisipeanu: his move 22.Qf2! was especially impressive.

Volokitin – Ivanchuk 0-1
The Lviv derby. In the Alekhine's Defence, Volokitin made, as it seems, unnecessary move 7.h3. Ivanchuk at least equalized; White has problems with the weakened pawn structure on the queenside. Gradually Ivanchuk outplayed his opponent and converted his advantage into a full point. One more good technical victory of Ivanchuk in Foros.

Bologan – Areshchenko ½:½
One of the known variations of the Gruenfeld Defence. (This opening appears in the Foros games for the first time, as well as Alekhine's Defence). A novelty 15...h6!? led to a complicated fight with mutual chances. After 25.Rxf4 White's advantage became undisputable: a possible improvement for Black can be found earlier. Areshchenko resisted for a long time. Finally, his efforts were paid, he saved half a point.

Rublevsky – Shirov ½:½
The Petroff Defence. Shirov's 12...Qh4 13.g3 Qg4 is new. Rublevsky refused to accept the sacrifice of pawn(s). The endgame should be acceptable for Black.

Ponomariov – Mamedyarov 0-1
The King's Indian transposed into the Modern Benoni. As it seems, White obtained some advantage after the opening. But the fight is complicated. Gradually, Ponomariov obtained a clear advantage, but in the end of the game he made couple of mistakes and, finally, blundered his queen.

Harikrishna – Karjakin ½:½
The Sicilian Najdorf with 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3. On the 21st move Karjakin introduced an important novelty 21...d5, and everything soon ended in a draw by the repetition of moves. After the end of the game Karjakin had more time in reserve than in the beginning! (He managed to accumulate some minutes). Instead of 21...d5 earlier Black tried 21...Ne5, but in the latest games he faced certain problems there after 22.h4 Ra5 23.Qb4! (23.Qc3? Qa8 24.Bg2 Nc7!! Karjakin-Anand, Wijk aan Zee 2006) 23...Qa8 24.Bb6 Ra4 25.Qxb3, and so on.

Current standings

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