
The Sixth Grand Prix is taking place from May 10th to 25th in the new State
Drama Theatre of the city of Astrakhan. The stakes are extremely high, not only
due to high prestige of winning the event, but also because one can win here
a ticket to the candidates matches.
Round four – May 13, 2010
Jakovenko, Dmitry |
½½ |
Alekseev, Evgeny |
Leko, Peter |
½½ |
Ponomariov, Ruslan |
Eljanov, Pavel |
½½ |
Gashimov, Vugar |
Gelfand, Boris |
½½ |
Wang Yue |
Svidler, Peter |
½½ |
Radjabov, Teimour |
Ivanchuk, Vassily |
0-1 |
Inarkiev, Ernesto |
Akopian, Vladimir |
½½ |
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar |
Russian GM Ernesto Inarkiev won a nice game with black against Vassily Ivanchuk,
when the Ukrainian lost the thread in a position where a few accurate moves
would have brought him victory. All other games of round four were drawn. With
his win Inarkiev joined the leading group of six players with 2.5 points in
the first four games. Full
report here...

Ernesto Inarkiev and Vassily Ivanchuk discuss their game in the press conference
Round five – May 14, 2010
Inarkiev, Ernesto |
½½ |
Jakovenko, Dmitry |
Gashimov, Vugar |
½½ |
Akopian, Vladimir |
Alekseev, Evgeny |
½½ |
Gelfand, Boris |
Radjabov, Teimour |
½½ |
Leko, Peter |
Wang Yue |
0-1 |
Eljanov, Pavel |
Ponomariov, Ruslan |
0-1 |
Ivanchuk, Vassily |
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar |
½½ |
Svidler, Peter |
Pavel Eljanov took the lead after defeating Wang Yue with the black pieces
in the round five. Eljanov was forced to defend a difficult position for the
most part of the game, but the Ukrainian GM managed to complicate the position
with an exchange sacrifice, and Wang Yue got nervous. First he missed the winning
continuation, and then, after the time control, blundered a rook instead of
transposing to a better ending.

Pavel Eljanov before the start of his game against Chinese GM Wang Yue

Another Ukrainian, Vassily Ivanchuk, defeated his compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov
It was Ivanchuk's first win in Astrakhan. Ponomariov, who had white, got a
slight advantage after of the opening, but made an unsuccessful pawn sacrifice
on the 22nd move and gave away the initiative. White’s problems got worse
after he missed Black’s strong bishop maneuver. After the first control
Black already had a winning position.
Apart from these two black wins all other games in the round ended in draws.
Full
report here...
Round six – May 15, 2010
Jakovenko, Dmitry |
1-0 |
Ponomariov, Ruslan |
Eljanov, Pavel |
0-1 |
Alekseev, Evgeny |
Gelfand, Boris |
0-1 |
Inarkiev, Ernesto |
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar |
½½ |
Gashimov, Vugar |
Svidler, Peter |
½½ |
Leko, Peter |
Ivanchuk, Vassily |
½½ |
Radjabov, Teimour |
Akopian, Vladimir |
0-1 |
Wang Yue |
After a rest day the players were apparently fully invigorated and produced
four decisive games – and three in which Black took the point.

Pavel Eljanov lost to Evgeny Alekseev, who was well prepared in a trendy line
of the Queen's Indian and soon had a large advantage on the clock. His advantage
continued to grow and although Eljanov fought valiantly for quite some time
Alekseev played well to clinch the win.

GM Boris Gelfand of Israel has already qualified for next year’s Candidates
after his World Cup win, but he still wishes to add a GP trophy to his cabinet
back home. Breathing down the leader’s neck, he had white against another
player on +1, GM Inarkiev from Russia and Elista. Boris elected to play his
favourite line against the Meran, and the two GMs trotted out 19 moves of theory.
It appears that Black equalized shortly after and then the game trend started
to swing in his favour. White gave up two pieces for the rook and Inarkiev milked
this advantage to clinch the full point and become the leader of the tournament!

Two Berlin experts clashed today, but not in a Spanish Opening! GM Jakovenko
(above right) was White against former FIDE World Champion and wild card for
this tournament, GM Ruslan Ponomariov. In a Grunfeld Indian Jakovenko built
up an advantage and Ponomariov, in a difficult position, eventually blundered
on move 21. He put up a lot of resistance after this, and this is an important
lesson for all of us since one should never give up when there may still be
some small chances of survival. Nevertheless, Jakovenko’s technique was
flawless and he gave black no real chance to save the game.

A match between two solid and technical players, Vladimir Akopian and Wang
Yue, was a main line Petroff, where both players have considerable experience.
Only a win today could put Wang Yue back with realistic chances of qualifying
for the coveted Candidates place. He pressed for a long time and eventually
was rewarded with a position having an outside passed pawn. Additionally, White
had a somewhat bad bishop also to resolve. Vladimir put up strong resistance
but the Chinese player’s persistence won through and he obtained the full
point.
Full
report here...
Information, images and games by courtesy of FIDE
Standings after six rounds

Statistics
Of the 42 games played so far:
- 71% (30 games) have ended in draws
- White won five games = 12%
- Black has won seven = 17%.
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Leading with 4.0/6 and a 2856 performance: Ernesto Inarkiev
Links
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