MTel R5: Ivanchuk aiming for infinity with 5.0/5

The tournament, which is being held in the Central Military Club in Sofia, Bulgaria, is a double round-robin (all play all, with white and black). The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves + 1 hour to the end of the game. Starting time: 15:00h local time (12:00h UTC), except the final round, which starts at 14:00h.

Round five report

After the terrible beating he took against Ivanchuk in round three Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi had another traumatic game, this time getting busted by Veselin Topalov in the Slav.

Topalov,V (2767) - Bu Xiangzhi (2708) [D19]
4th M-Tel Masters Sofia BUL (5), 12.05.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 0-0 9.Qe2 Ne4 10.Ne5 Nd7 11.Nxd7 Qxd7 12.Na2 Be7 13.f3 Nf6 14.e4 Bg6 15.Be3 Qc7 The only previous game went 15...Rfd8 16.Nc1 Qc7 17.Nd3 Nd7 18.a5 e5 19.f4 Bxe4 20.fxe5 Rf8 21.Bf4 Bxd3 22.Bxd3 Qd8 23.Rf3 Bg5 24.Bxh7+ Kxh7 25.Rh3+ Kg6 26.Rf1 Rh8 27.Bxg5 Kxg5 28.Qe3+ 1-0 Civin,T (2387)-Olsar,J (2309) Czechia 2003. 16.Nc1 a5 17.Nd3 Nd7 18.Rac1 Rfe8 19.g3 Bd6 20.Nf4 e5 21.Nxg6 hxg6 22.f4 exd4 23.Bxd4 b6?

Bu has played inaccurately and now ignores the clear and present danger to his king. Veselin Topalov is not the man to miss such a chance. 24.f5 g5 25.Qh5 Nf6 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27.Qg6+ Kf8 28.Qxf6 Be5 29.Qxg5 Qe7 30.f6 Bd4+

Now watch it, Veselin: 31.Kh1?? would be your doom: 31...Qxe4+ 32.Rf3 Qxf3 mate! Better is 31.Kg2 Qxe4+ 32.Rf3+–. 31.Rf2. Or that. 1-0. [Click to replay]

Vassily Ivanchuk played a Slav and put his opponent, second seed Levon Aronian of Armenia, under immediate pressure (we note with some consternation that Ivanchuk-on-fire is only the fourth seed in this event).

Aronian,L (2763) - Ivanchuk,V (2740) [D12]
4th M-Tel Masters Sofia BUL (5), 12.05.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Nxg6 hxg6 8.a3 Nbd7 9.g3 Be7 10.b3 e5 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Qa5+ 13.Nc3 Qxc3+ 14.Bd2 Qb2 15.d5. Wang Yue (2644) vs Bobras,P (2542), Cappelle la Grande 2007 continued 15.Bg2 exd4 16.exd4 Qxd4 17.0-0 0-0 and a fairly equal position which the Chinese player won in 75 moves. Aronian sacrifices a pawn to keep the black king in the center. 15...cxd5 16.Bb5 a6 17.Bxd7+ Kxd7 18.0-0 e4

The black queen is a thorn in White's side. Aronian decides to sacrifice a bishop for two pawns on the queenside. 19.Bc3 Qxc3 20.Qxd5+ Ke8 21.Rac1 Qd3 22.Qxb7 Rd8 23.Rfd1 Qxd1+ 24.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 25.Kg2 a5 26.g4

Black has two rooks and a bishop for White's queen and two pawns (the e4 pawn is about to go), and clearly on the offensive. Wouldn't it be sweet to now play 26...0-0? But of course the king has moved and so castling would be illegal. Never you mind, Ivanchuk knows how to do it the hard way: 26...Kf8 27.Qxe4 g5 28.Qf5 Bd8 29.Qc5+ Kg8 30.Qe5 g6 31.b4 axb4 32.axb4 Kh7 33.b5 Rf8 34.Qc5 Kg8

See, 0-0 is for sissies, Ukrainian men castle manually. A disconcerted Aronian makes his final error, giving Ivanchuk a key pawn and the game: 35.b6? Rb1 36.f4 Rb2+ 37.Kg3 gxf4+ 38.exf4 Bxb6 39.Qc3 Rb1 40.f5 Rg1+ 41.Kh3 Re8 42.Qf6

Now it is a forced mate for Black, in 17 moves, Fritz tells us, although colleague Hiarcs 12 thinks it can do it faster. 42...Bf2 43.Qg7+ Kxg7. Do you understand the queen sacrifice? Aronian is fishing around for a stalemate. 44.f6+ Kf8. The trap, as Joao Ricardo de Freitas Oliveira of Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, reminded us, was 44...Kxf6?? 45.g5+! and stalemate, whatever Black plays. Beautiful, the audience would have given Aronian a standing ovation for the miracle save. But Ivanchuk avoided the pitfall and after the text move Black will mate with 45...Re3. 0-1. [Click to replay]. Incidentally you can see the final phase unfold in the Europe Echecs video given below.

Video reports by Europe Echecs

You can watch the final sequence of Aronian-Ivanchuk in the report "Chess TV News (05)"

Caught in the act: Levon Aronian has the unusual habit of playing moves with his left hand and noting them with his right. Memo to self: must ask FIDE if that is legal.

41.Kh3, and the game is virtually over. Aronian looks for a stalemate trick

Okay, it didn't work. Both players have a little smile for the failed attempt.

Schedule and results

Links Official web site All games so far 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 ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use it to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. Download free PGN reader ChessBase Light