Sitges: Korobov still leads with two to go

Ivanchuk is way back in 25^th!

Anton Korobov made his first draw in the seventh round of the Sunway Sitges Open against Vassily Ivanchuk. The two Ukrainians gradually swapped off pieces and already on move 30 there was an endgame with opposite-coloured bishops on the board, which was not worth playing out. 

Navigating the Ruy Lopez Vol.1-3

The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.

Dennis Wagner also drew against Narayanan. In a Ruy Lopez, the German GM was on the defensive and was soon pushed deep into his own territory.

After 35.♘d5 ♜xb5 36.♕xb5, Black would hardly have been able to move. 36...♝xa5 fails to 37.♕b8. Narayanan played less energetic 35.♔g2 and Wagner took the check on b8 out of equation with 35.♔h7. White is still superior, but a few moves later precision was required.  

Here White should cover his e4 pawn, for example with 40.♕c4. But on the last move to make time control he played 40.♕e7 and allowed 40...♛xe4 41.♔h2 ♜xb6 42.axb6 ♛xd5. The white pawn is destined to queen: 43.b7 ♛f3 44.♔g1 ♛d1+ 45.♔g2 ♛d5 + 46.f3 ♛c4 47.b8♕, but Black has a perpetual check: 47...♛e2+ 48.♔h3 ♛f1+ 49.♔h2 ♛f2+ 50.♔h3 ♛f1+ draw.

Alexander Donchenko was even luckier. He was under a lot of pressure against Elshan Moradiabadi with white, but was able to break free from his opponent's clutches.

Here, 29.f4 was necessary, otherwise White loses a piece if Black gets to play 29...f4, thanks to the mate threat on c1. 29...♝b5 30.♖e1 ♝a4 31.♔e2 and the worst is over. Now White can only be worse. But after 31...a5 32.♔f1 fxe4 33.fxe5 dxe5 34.♘g4 ♜c2 35.♔g1 ♜xb2 36.♖f1 the tide begins to turn. The black king is lonely and abandoned.

The mating picture begins to emerge: a knight on h6, a rook on f7 and a bishop on f6. Let's see: 36...Bb5 37.d6 Giving Black a chance! Immediately winning is 37.♘h6+! ♚h8 38.♖f8+ ♚g7 39.♖f7+ ♚h8 40.h4 ♜b1+ 41.♔h2 Rf1 42.♜b7.

But Moradiabadi's 37...Nd4 doesn't prolong the game much. 38.♘h6 + 38...♚g7 39.♖f7+ ♚h8 40.♖f8 + ♚g7 41.♖f7+ 41...♚h8 42.h4 (making luft, there is not much to be done about Bg5-f6) 1-0

Alexander Donchenko

Alexander Donchenko, Dennis Wagne, Andreas Heimann and Rasmus Svane — four German players — are each on 6 points.

Vassily Ivanchuk gave a very instructive training session between the rounds.

Vassily Ivanchuk

In Friday's round eight, Korobov drew again in 30 moves against one of his pursuers — GM Vasif Durarbayli from Azerbaijan. He's joined on 6½ by GMs Igor Kovalenko, Grzegorz Nasuta and Awonder Liang, who upset Ivanchuk in just 31 moves.

Ivanchuk can fight on with 28...♝c8, but 28...♝g5 allowed the American a chance to wrap things up quickly: 29.c7 ♛c5 30.♕b8+ ♚e7 31.♗b7 1-0

Kovalenko won in crushing fashion. In the following position can you spot the final blow?

29.♘b5 1-0

Standings after Round 8 (top 25)

All available games

Translation from German and additional reporting: Macauley Peterson

Links

• Official site
• Full results (Chess-results)