Nanjing R3: All three games drawn, Aronian, Bu lead

by ChessBase
12/13/2008 – All three games were drawn – more or less uneventfully – in the Pearl Spring Chess Tournament in Nanjing, China. With the dust settled we see Levon Aronian and Bu Xiangzhi in the lead with 2.0/5. Veselin Topalov has drawn all three games and together with Sergei Movsesian, who lost and won one, is in the middle. Ivanchuk and Svidler have 1.0/3 each. Full illustrated report.

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2008 Pearl Spring Chess Tournament, Nanjing, China

Round 3: Saturday, 13 December 2008
Vassily Ivanchuk 
½-½
 Veselin Topalov
Sergei Movsesian 
½-½
 Levon Aronian
Bu Xiangzhi 
½-½
 Peter Svidler

Movsesian,S (2732) - Aronian,L (2757) [C55]
Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (3), 13.12.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 h6 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 Be7 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Nh7 9.Be3 Kh8 10.d4 f5 11.exf5 e4 12.Nh2N. The only previous game we found was Malaniuk,V (2485) vs Petrosian,A (2470), Sverdlovsk 1984, which continues 12.Nfd2 Bxf5 13.f3 exf3 14.Nxf3 Na5 15.Bc2 Nc4 16.Bc1 Bxc2 17.Qxc2 Ng5 18.Bxg5 Bxg5 and which was won in 42 moves by Black – Arshak Petrosian, who today is Peter Leko's father-in-law and trainer. 12...Bxf5 13.Nd2 Qe8 14.Bc2 Nf6 15.Ng4 d5 16.f3 Qg6

We now see aome violent tactics: 17.fxe4 Bxg4 18.e5 Bxd1 19.Bxg6 Bh5 20.exf6 Bxg6 21.fxe7 Rfe8. Were you able to follow it? Unfortunately all the play has gone out of the position and the two gladiators can only steer towards a peaceful end. 22.Bf4 Rxe7 23.Rae1 Rae8 24.Nf3 Be4 25.Ne5 Nxe5 26.Bxe5 Kg8 27.Rf2 Rf8 28.Ref1 Rxf2 29.Rxf2 c6 30.h4 Rf7 31.Rxf7 Kxf7 32.Kf2

and draw in the most symmetrical position possible.

Ivanchuk,V (2786) - Topalov,V (2791) [B10]
Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (3), 13.12.2008
1.e4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nxd5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Bb5 e6 8.0-0 Be7 9.d4 0-0 10.Re1 Bd7 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.Bf4 Bf6 13.Ne5 Nxe5 14.dxe5 Bxb5 15.exf6 Qxf6 16.Qxd5 Bc6 17.Qg5 Qxg5 18.Bxg5 Rfe8 19.Bd2 a6 20.Rxe8+ Rxe8 21.Re1 Rxe1+ 22.Bxe1 draw.

Bu Xiangzhi (2714) - Svidler,P (2727) [A15]
Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (3), 13.12.2008
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Qa4+ Bd7 6.Qh4 Nxc3 7.dxc3 Nc6 8.Bf4 f6 9.Bh6 e5 10.Bxf8 Kxf8 11.Qh6+ Kg8 12.e4 Qe7 13.Bc4+ Be6 14.Bxe6+ Qxe6 15.0-0 Nd8 16.Qe3 Nf7 17.Rfd1 Kg7 18.Rd5 b6 19.b3 Rhd8 20.Rad1 Rd6 21.Rxd6 Nxd6 22.Nd2 Rd8 23.Qe2 a5 24.Nc4 Qe7 25.Nxd6 Rxd6 26.g3 draw.

Standings after three rounds

Picture gallery


Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi, in the joint lead (with Aronian) in Nanjing


Contemplative – Bu's round three opponent Peter Svidler from Russia


Vassily Ivanchuk before the start of his game against Veselin Topalov


Ivanchuk's round three opponent: Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov


This uneventful Caro-Kann ended after 22 moves in a draw


The tactically most interesting game of round three


Slovak GM Sergei Movsesian doing likewise


Vassily Ivanchuk concentrating


Former child prodigy Bu Xiangzhi, today a top GM at 23


With his game going smoothly Ivanchuk takes time to kiebitz another board


The press conference with Movsesian and Aronian (and spokespersons and interpreters)


Casto "Toti" Abundo, FIDE's rating administrator and webmaster


Flippant caption of the day: "I seem to be picking up Chinese radio on my implant"

Pictures kindly supplied by the tournament organisers


Schedule and results

First half

Round 1: Thursday, 11 December 2008
Levon Aronian 
½-½
 Veselin Topalov
Vassily Ivanchuk 
½-½
 Peter Svidler
Sergei Movsesian 
0-1
 Bu Xiangzhi
Round 2: Friday, 12 December 2008
Veselin Topalov 
½-½
 Bu Xiangzhi
Peter Svidler 
0-1
 Sergei Movsesian
Levon Aronian 
1-0
 Vassily Ivanchuk
Round 3: Saturday, 13 December 2008
Vassily Ivanchuk 
½-½
 Veselin Topalov
Sergei Movsesian 
½-½
 Levon Aronian
Bu Xiangzhi 
½-½
 Peter Svidler
Round 4: Sunday, 14 December 2008
Veselin Topalov 
-
 Peter Svidler
Levon Aronian 
-
 Bu Xiangzhi
Vassily Ivanchuk 
-
 Sergei Movsesian
Games – Report
Round 5: Monday, 15 December 2008
Sergei Movsesian 
-
 Veselin Topalov
Bu Xiangzhi 
-
 Vassily Ivanchuk
Peter Svidler 
-
 Levon Aronian
Games – Report

Second half

Round 6: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Veselin Topalov 
-
 Levon Aronian
Peter Svidler 
-
 Vassily Ivanchuk
Bu Xiangzhi 
-
 Sergei Movsesian
Games – Report
Round 7: Thursday, 18 December 2008
Bu Xiangzhi 
-
 Veselin Topalov
Sergei Movsesian 
-
 Peter Svidler
Vassily Ivanchuk 
-
 Levon Aronian
Games – Report
Round 8: Friday, 19 December 2008
Veselin Topalov 
-
 Vassily Ivanchuk
Levon Aronian 
-
 Sergei Movsesian
Peter Svidler 
-
 Bu Xiangzhi
Games – Report
Round 9: Saturday, 20 December 2008
Peter Svidler 
-
 Veselin Topalov
Bu Xiangzhi 
-
 Levon Aronian
Sergei Movsesian 
-
 Vassily Ivanchuk
Games – Report
Round 10: Sunday, 21 December 2008
Veselin Topalov 
-
 Sergei Movsesian
Vassily Ivanchuk 
-
 Bu Xiangzhi
Levon Aronian 
-
 Peter Svidler
Games – Report

Links

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.


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