Sochi R06: Radjabov and Cheparinov lead in Sochi

FIDE Grand Prix in Sochi 2008

The Second FIDE Grand Prix Tournament is taking place in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi, from July 30 to August 15, 2008, with 14 players from ten different countries. The field is dominated by Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk, who is 37 point ahead of the next highest ranked player in the field.

Report after round six

The fifth round of the Sochi Grand Prix tournament was the most drawish day so far. A decision in only one game: Radjabov defeated the leader, Cheparinov, and joined him in the standings. Grischuk's theoretical draw with Svidler got him on shared first as well, going into the first rest day.

Radjabov-Cheparinov was the key game of the round – a real thriller with unpredictable outcome. Evaluation of the position changed many times during the game; the players sometimes failed to cope with wild complications, and in the end the more composed player, who managed to avoid serious errors, prevailed. Radjabov himself felt sorry for Cheparinov but called his encounter with the Bulgarian "a game of patzers, playing on the boulevard, with a level less than 2000, completely ridiculous."

The start of a wild and chaotic game in round five

Radjabov,T (2744) - Cheparinov,I (2687) [D43]
2nd FIDE GP Sochi RUS (5), 04.08.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Ne5 Bb7 10.h4 g4 11.Nxg4 Nbd7 12.Nxf6+ Qxf6 13.Be2 0-0-0 14.e5 Qf5 15.a4

15...b4?! 16.Bxc4! "After this I'm a clear pawn up instead of sacrificing one, which is normal for this line," said Radjabov in the press conference. 16...Nc5 17.Ne2 Rg8 18.0-0 Be7 19.Qc1 Ne4 20.Ba6 Kb8 21.Bxb7 Kxb7 22.a5 Rc8 23.a6+ Kb8

White could have solidified his advantage by simple moves – 24.Qe3 Rg4 25.Rac1!, and Black cannot develop the attack due to chronic weakness of his king. Instead, he blundered his queen. 24.Qxh6? Ng5 25.d5 Rg6 26.Qxg6 [26.Qh5 Nh3+ 27.gxh3 Qxh5] 26...Qxg6 27.d6 Bd8 28.hxg5 Bb6 29.Rfd1 Qxg5 30.Rac1 Qg4 31.d7 Rd8 32.Kf1 Kc7 33.Rd6.

33...Rxd7?? [33...c5! first was necessary] 34.Rcxc6+ Kd8 35.f3! Probably overlooked by Cheparinov. 35...Qh5 36.Rxb6 Qh1+ 37.Ng1 Rxd6 38.exd6 1-0.

Radjabov: "Really, this game was at the level of some European junior championship, and I'm not talking about under 16 but under 8! It's very good that there's a rest day tomorrow because this is very strange. It's not like in Mexico where you have a jetlag, it’s not the food. It's strange, we play like amateurs!"

Al-Modiahki didn't really try to obtain an advantage against Aronian's Berlin Defence of the Ruy Lopez. The players started a lengthy positional struggle with a symmetrical pawn structure, and Aronian’s excellent technique decided the outcome of the game.

Back in the lead: Ivan Cheparinov (left) beat Alexander Grischuk in round six

The opening handicap delivered by Cheparinov was too hard to handle for Grischuk. An extra hour on the clock and a serious positional advantage for the Bulgarian grandmaster were of course a nice point to start an important game in a major tournament! Curiously, it was the Russian who had introduced a new move: he complicated the game with the sharp 11...a5 (earlier Black preferred 11...Nb6 and 11...Bd6), but the all-knowing opponent probably had studied it at home, as he was making very strong and unobvious moves very quickly.

There seems to be a drama waiting in store in every round. This time Gelfand was the victim and Radjabov, again, the one on the positive side. Boris handled the game brilliantly, got a winning position, and then blew it in a few moves.

Gelfand,B (2720) - Radjabov,T (2744) [E97]
2nd FIDE GP Sochi RUS (6), 06.08.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.Re1 f5 11.Ng5 Nf6 12.f3 Kh8 13.Be3 Bh6 14.Nf7+ Rxf7 15.Bxh6 f4 16.Bg5 Neg8 17.g4 h6N

Radjabov's novelty 17...h6 in a deeply studied variation of the King’s Indian is the start of a mating attack. However, Boris Gelfand not only quickly created the required counterplay, but skillfully evacuated the king from the danger area. 18.Bh4 g5 19.Bf2 h5 20.h3 Rh7 21.c5 Ne7 22.Kg2 Ng6 23.Rh1 Bd7 24.b5 dxc5 25.Bxc5 Kg7 26.d6 hxg4 27.hxg4 Rxh1 28.Kxh1 Qh8+ 29.Kg2 Nh4+ 30.Kg1 c6 31.bxc6 bxc6 32.Kf2 Be6 33.Rb1 Kg6 34.Ke1 Rd8 35.Kd2 Rd7 36.Qa4 Qc8 37.Kc2 Ne8 38.Rd1 Ng2 39.Ba6 Qa8 40.Bc4 Ng7

Gelfand has averted all dangers, brought his king to safety on the queenside and not delivers the coup de grâce: 41.Nd5! cxd5 42.exd5 Qe8 43.dxe6 Nxe6 44.Bxa7 Kf6

Now 45.Qc6 should secure the win for White, but Gelfand falters: 45.Bb5? Qc8+ 46.Kb2 Rb7 47.d7?? The final mistake (47.Rd5 was the move to find). 47...Qc6! 48.Ka1 Rxb5 49.Qa3 Rd5 0-1. The FIDE bulletin writes: "Radjabov once again demonstrated amazing composure and proved that he's not defeated until the scoresheets are signed!"

FIDE reports by Report by Peter Doggers & Sergey Shipov
All pictures by Mark Gluhovsky © for FIDE

Draw average: of the 42 games played so far 28 were drawn, which works out to a relatively high 67% draw quota. Eleven game (=26%) were won by White and three games (=7%) by Black. The average Elo of the tournament is 2708, which translates to category 19.

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FIDE Grand Prix Sochi 2008 – Schedule and results

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