Nanjing R2: Aronian, Movsesian win

2008 Pearl Spring Chess Tournament, Nanjing, China

Svidler,P (2727) - Movsesian,S (2732) [B83]
Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (2), 12.12.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be2 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.f4 Nc6 9.Be3 e5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Kh1 exf4 12.Bxf4 Be6 13.Bf3

13...Qb8N A new move by Movsesian. Ironically Peter Svidler had lost the black side of this line two years ago. At the time he played 13...Qb6 14.b3 Rfd8 15.Qe1 Nd7 16.Nd5 cxd5 17.exd5 Bg4 18.Qxe7 Bxf3 19.Rxf3 Nf6 20.Be3 Qa5 21.Rxf6 gxf6 22.Qxf6 Re8 23.Qg5+ Kf8 24.Bd2 1-0, Kamsky,G (2671) - Svidler,P (2743), Sofia 2006, CBM. 14.b3 Qb4 15.Qd2 Rfd8 16.Rad1 Rac8 17.Qe3 d5 18.Be5 Qa5 19.exd5 Nxd5 20.Nxd5 cxd5 21.Bh5

21...d4. Nice little combination: the white bishop cannot take on d4 because the other bishop is hanging. 22.Qe4 g6 23.Bf3 Bf5 24.Qf4 Bg5 25.Qxg5 Qxe5

26.Bg4. An exchange sacrifice: 26...h6 27.Rxf5 (forced) Qg7 28.Qe7 gxf5 29.Bxf5. White has a biship and pawn for the rook, but Black has too much initiative. 29...Re8 30.Qd6 Rcd8 31.Qa6 Qg5 32.Bd3 Re7 33.Rf1 Kg7 34.g3 Qd5+ 35.Kg1 Rd6 36.Qc8 Qe6 37.Qb8 Rb6 38.Qd8 Rd6 39.Qb8. White is of course longing to repeat moves. 39...Rd5 40.Rf4 Rg5 41.Rf3 Qe5

42.Qd8. White doesn't fancy his endgame chances after 42.Qxe5+ Rgxe5 43.Rf4, but instead goes for a tactical solution. 42...h5. Black sees his chances. 43.Rf2 Re6 44.Qd7 Rf6 45.Re2 Qf4

Black is threatening mate on f1. Deep Fritz 11 gives us the following fairly forced line: 46.Re8 Qf2+ 47.Kh1 Qf3+ 48.Kg1 Rxg3+ 49.hxg3 Qxg3+ 50.Kh1 Rf4 51.Re4 Rxe4 52.Bxe4 Qe1+ 53.Kh2 Qxe4+

Black is a pawn up and should be able to win (evaluation Fritz 11: 2.87, Rybka 3: 1.36 for Black), but it is not easy to proceed and Svidler might have been able to hold.

46.Re4? That throws the game away. 46...Qf2+ 47.Kh1 h4. There is no defence. 0-1. [Click to replay]

The winner: Slovak GM Sergei Movsesian

Peter Svidler about to suffer a bitter defeat

Aronian,L (2757) - Ivanchuk,V (2786) [B36]
Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (2), 12.12.2008
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.e4 Nf6 6.Nc3 d6 7.Nc2 Bg7 8.Be2 Nd7 9.Bd2 a5 10.0-0 Nc5 11.Qc1 h5 12.Rd1 Bd7 13.Ne1 Nd4 14.Bf1 0-0 15.Bg5 Bc6 16.Nd5 Re8 17.f3 b5 18.Be3 Nce6 19.Qd2 bxc4 20.Bxc4 Rb8 21.Kh1 Nb5 22.Rac1 Nc5 23.b4 axb4 24.Nxb4 Qb6 25.Ned3 Na3 26.Bb3 Ba8 27.Nxc5 dxc5 28.Bxc5 Qa5 29.Qf4 e6 30.Rd7 Rf8 31.Rxf7 Rxf7 32.Qxb8+ Kh7 33.Bxe6 1-0. [Click to replay]

Outplayed Vassily Ivanchuk: top Armenian GM Levon Aronian

Topalov,V (2791) - Bu Xiangzhi (2714) [D19]
Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (2), 12.12.2008
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 Nbd7 10.e4 Bg6 11.Bd3 Bh5 12.e5 Nd5 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Qe3 Be7 15.Ng5 Bxg5 16.Qxg5 Bg6 17.Be2 Nb8 18.Qe3 Nc6 19.Bd2 Rc8 20.Bc3 Qh4 21.g3 Qe4 22.Rac1 f6 23.Qxe4 Bxe4 24.exf6 gxf6 25.f3 Bg6 26.Rfd1 Rfd8 27.Bf1 Bf5 28.Kf2 e5 29.dxe5 d4 30.Be1 fxe5 31.Bd2 Rf8 32.Re1 Rce8 33.Rc5 Bg6 34.Bc4+ Kh8 35.Bh6 Rf6 36.Bg5 Rf5 37.h4 Ref8 38.f4 exf4 39.Rxf5 fxg3+ 40.Kxg3 Rxf5 41.b4 Kg7 42.Bf4 a6 43.b5 axb5 44.axb5 Na5 45.Ba2 Rxb5 46.Be5+ Kh6 47.Bf4+ Kg7 48.Be5+ Kh6 49.Bf4+ draw. [Click to replay]

The "significant others" of Aronian (Arianne), Svidler (Olga) and Ivanchuk (Oksana)

Caption time: "I'll pour some of it in the cup and see how long it takes
the lab to find out that it is tea!" (Movsesian, Svidler and Aronian)

Pictures by the tournament organisers and Leontxo Garcia

Schedule and results

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games will be 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.