Chess Giants Rapid starts in Yerevan

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6/9/2008 – The capital of Armenia is playing host to a rapid chess tournament, with eight players holding a two-game mini-match per day, starting at 18:00h local time. Average rating: 2719. To start things off, Alexander Morozevich and Peter Leko won a game each, against Boris Gelfand and Bu Xiangzhi respectively. All other games were drawn. Day one report.

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Chess Giants – Yerevan 2008

The "Chess Giants Yerevan 2008" rapid chess tournament is being held in Yerevan, Armenia, from June 9th to 15th, 2008. Eight participants pair off and play two games per day, which start at 18:00 p.m. local time (GMT+4) in Yerevan's picturesque Opera House. In addition, a rapid open will be played, parallel to the main tournament, on June 12-15, with two games per day on the 12th, 14th and 15th, and 3 games played on the 13th. Games will start at 11:00 a.m. or noon.

On the first day six games were drawn, and two were won, by Alexander Morozevich and Peter Leko. The former profited from a catastrophic blunder by Boris Gelfand.

Morozevich,A (2774) - Gelfand,B (2723) [C42]
Giants Rapid Yerevan ARM (1), 09.06.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Re1 Bg4 9.c3 f5 10.Qb3 0-0 11.Nbd2 Na5 12.Qc2 Nc6 13.b4 a6 14.a4 Bd6 15.Ba3 Kh8 16.Reb1 Nxd2 17.Nxd2 Qh4 18.Nf1 Ne7 19.f3 Bh5 20.b5 Bxa3 21.Rxa3 axb5 22.Rxb5 b6 23.Ra1 Qf6 24.Ne3 Be8 25.Rbb1 Bd7 26.Bb5 Qd6 27.Re1 c6 28.Bd3 c5 29.Bb5 Bxb5 30.axb5 cxd4 31.cxd4 Qb4 32.Qd3 Rxa1 33.Rxa1 f4 34.Nc2 Qb2 35.Re1 Ng6 36.Re6 Rc8 37.Ne1 Qa1 38.Kf1 Qa5 39.Qe2 Nf8 40.Re8 Qa8 41.Re7 Ng6 42.Re6 Qb8 43.Nd3 Kg8 44.Qe1 Qc7 45.Rc6 Qd7 46.Qc3 Ne7 47.Ne5 Qd8 48.Rxc8 Qxc8 49.Nc6 Kf7 50.Qb3

Everything is fine, the game should end in a draw. But: 50...Qe6?? 51.Nd8+ 1-0. Tragic.

Leko,P (2741) - Bu Xiangzhi (2708) [B90]
Giants Rapid Yerevan ARM (2), 09.06.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be3 a6 7.f3 e5 8.Nb3 Be7 9.Qd2 Be6 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.g4 a5 12.a4 Rc8 13.Kb1 Nb4 14.g5 Ne8 15.h4 d5 16.exd5 Bf5 17.Rc1 Nc7 18.Bb6 Qd7 19.Bc4 Na8 20.Bb5 Qd6 21.Bxa5

21...Bxc2+? (21...Nxc2 was better) 22.Rxc2 Nxc2 23.Ne4 Qg6 24.Bd3 Qh5 25.Bxc2 Qxf3 26.Rd1 b6 27.Bc3 Rfd8 28.d6 Bf8 29.Qd5 Nc7 30.Qxe5 Ne6 31.Nd4 Nxd4 32.Qxd4 Qh3 33.h5 1-0.

Current standings

Links

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.