Jermuk R7+8: Ivanchuk and Leko lead

Fifth FIDE Grand Prix in Jermuk, Armenia

This event is taking place from August 8th-24th 2009. It is a Category 19 tournament, with eleven of the 14 players rated over 2700. The event is a memorial to former world champion Tigran Petrosian, who held the title from 1963–1969 and would have turned 80 on June 17th this year.

Round seven + eight

Round seven: Another day, and six more decisive games. Co-leaders Kasimdzhanov and Ivanchuk had the misfortune of a pairing against one another at this critical juncture in the tournament. As such, they opted for a quick, clean 20-move conclusion in the Slav Defence.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Vassily Ivanchuk in the press conference

Karjakin gained further ground on his compatriot by grinding Akopian on the white side of a 58-move Ruy Lopez Chigorin.

Sergey Karjakin, Lilit Mkrchian and Vladimir Akopian analyse with the computer

Eljanov, also White, was adverse to the thought of his fellow Ukrainians outpacing him, and KO-ed co-leader Aronian with 43 moves in the Anti-Meran Variations. Bacrot made up some much-needed ground, in his encounter with Russian number one, Dmitry Jakovenko, another 58-mover, this time in the Ragozin of the Queen's Gambit Declined.

Gelfand made up for his loss of the previous day, putting the white pieces to good use against Inarkiev, in a 54 move King's Indian Classical.

The luckless Kamsky experienced another setback, giving up the full point to Alekseev, who held the black pieces in a 56-move Sicilian Classical.

The story of the round, however, was Peter Leko, who regained the sole lead with an unexpected win with black against Ivan Cheparinov in a 58-move Queen's Indian.

Round 8: In a complete reversal from yesterday, six of seven games were drawn today. That said, Leko-Jakovenko delivered some much-appreciated excitement, as the Russian attempted to push his extra pawn home against the tournament leader. Unfortunately, his power of calculation proved insufficient, and Leko held the draw in a 121-move Ruy Lopez Berlin. Inarkiev-Eljanov was over before it started, with a 15-move draw in the same opening. Aronian-Karjakin and Akopian-Bacrot were somewhat longer, at 29 and 26 moves respectively, however, the halved-points were never really in doubt. Alekseev-Kasimdzhanov and Cheparinov-Kamsky were slightly more interesting, at 60 moves apiece, but the draws seemed the most probable outcomes for most of the round. This left Ivanchuk to provide the audience with something to write home about, which he did gradually on the white side of an English Opening, in using 98 moves to extinguish Gelfand's defenses. As a result, he has rejoined Leko as co-leader, and looks poised to strike blows against Eljanov tomorrow.

But hey, they don't need batteries or cables: demo boards outside the venue

Famous Armenian actor Sos Sargsyan, famous Yugoslav grandmaster Svetozar
Gligoric, and esteemed organiser and Armenian GM Smbat Lputian

Israeli GM Boris Gelfand working hard at his round seven game (which he won)

His opponent, GM Ernesto Inarkiev, trying to keep up (he lost)

Gelfand's second GM Alexander Huzman watches it all unfold

Peter Leko's second GM Arshak Petrosian making a point (in Armenian) to Vladimir Akopian

Current standings

All pictures by Arman Karakhanyan, courtesy of FIDE

FIDE Grand Prix Jermuk 2009 – Schedule and results

The games start at 15:00h Armenian time (12:00 noon CEST, 11:00h London, 6 a.m. New York and 3 a.m. California). Full live coverage, including discussion and analysis with thousands of other visitors, is available on Playchess.

Links Full information on the FIDE site All ChessBase reports on the Jermuk GP 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 PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!