Sochi R13: Aronian wins Second FIDE Grand Prix

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 thirteen

Tournament leader Levon Aronian was in great form when he outplayed Alexander Grischuk in a Semi-Slav Meran, infiltrating the Russian GM's position over the queenside and then trading down to a clearly winning queen ending where he was a pawn up. Grischuk resigned after 42 moves, and Aronian was assured an undivided place at the top of the final table.

Aronian,L (2737) - Grischuk,A (2728) [D47]
2nd FIDE GP Sochi RUS (13), 14.08.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.0-0 b4 10.Ne4 Nxe4 11.Bxe4 Bd6 12.a3 bxa3 13.b3 Nf6 14.Nd2 Qc7 15.Bf3 Bxh2+ 16.Kh1 Bd6 17.Nc4 Be7 18.Bxa3 0-0 19.Bc5 Rfd8 20.b4 Bxc5 21.bxc5 a5 22.Re1 Ba6 23.Nb6 Rab8 24.Rxa5 Bb5 25.Qa1 Nd5 26.Ra7 Rb7 27.Rxb7 Qxb7 28.Qa5 Qe7 29.Ra1 Qg5 30.Nxd5 exd5 31.Qc7 g6 32.Ra7 Qf6 33.Bg4 Re8 34.Kg1 Kg7 35.Bd7 Re7 36.Qd8 h5 37.Ra8 Kh6 38.Rc8 Kh7 39.Bxc6 Bxc6 40.Rxc6 Qxc6 41.Qxe7 Kg7 42.Kh2 1-0.

Sergey Karjakin played aggressively with a Yugoslav Attack in a Sicilian Dragon (9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8) and ended up with two exchanges for two pawns, but with the initiative transferred to Teimour Radjabov's side. The Azeri duely went on the attack, decimated his Ukrainian opponent's pawns and used his own to decide the issue. with his victory Radjabov was undivided second in the event.

Karjakin,Sergey (2727) - Radjabov,T (2744) [B78]
2nd FIDE GP Sochi RUS (13), 14.08.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8 11.Bb3 Ne5 12.Kb1 a6 13.h4 h5 14.g4 hxg4 15.h5 Nxh5 16.Rdg1 Qa5 17.Bh6 Bf6 18.fxg4 Bxg4 19.Bxf8 Kxf8 20.Qe3 Rxc3 21.Qxc3 Qxc3 22.bxc3 e6 23.Bc4 Nxc4 24.Rxg4 Be5 25.Rg2 b5 26.Rf2 Kg8 27.a4 bxa4 28.Ka2 Nf6 29.Re2 d5 30.exd5 Nxd5 31.Rh3 Bxd4 32.cxd4 Nf4 33.Reh2 Nxh3 34.Rxh3 g5 35.Rg3 f6 36.Rc3 Nd2 37.Rd3 Ne4 38.c4 Kf7 39.c5 g4 40.c6 Ke7 41.d5 exd5 42.c7 Kd7 43.Rxd5+ Kxc7 44.Rf5 g3 45.Rf4 Kd7 46.Kb2 Ke6 47.Rxe4+ Kf5 48.Re1 Kg4 49.Kc2 g2 50.Kd2 Kg3 51.Ke2 a3 52.Ra1 a2 0-1.

Czech GM David Navara was doing well enough against top US grandmaster Gata Kamsky, until at move 36 he spurned a draw and launched a tactical shot in the blue. Kamsky was never in any real danger and took the full point a few moves later. He improved his score to plus two and stands to gain a few more Elo points on the next FIDE list.

Navara,D (2646) - Kamsky,G (2723) [D87]
2nd FIDE GP Sochi RUS (13), 14.08.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 0-0 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Be3 Na5 11.Bd3 b6 12.Qd2 e5 13.dxe5 Be6 14.Rad1 Nc4 15.Bxc4 Bxc4 16.f4 Qe7 17.Qc2 Rad8 18.Rfe1 h5 19.Nc1 Qe6 20.Rd2 Bb5 21.Nb3 Qc4 22.Bf2 g5 23.Bg3 gxf4 24.Bxf4 Qe6 25.Rd6 Rxd6 26.exd6 Qf6 27.Qf2 Qxc3 28.e5 Re8 29.Nd2 Bc6 30.h3 Qd3 31.Re3 Qd4 32.Nf1 h4 33.Nh2 Bxe5 34.Rxe5 Qa1+ 35.Qf1 Qd4+ 36.Be3 Qxe5 37.Ng4 Qc3 38.Nh6+ Kh8 39.Nxf7+ Kg7 40.Bh6+ Kg6 0-1.

Ivan Cheparinov, who had been leading the tournament during most of the first nine rounds, came crashing down with losses to Aronian and Karjakin in rounds ten and eleven. Before the final round he was on 50%, which was slightly above his rating expectancy. But in his last game he ran into a determined Dmitry Jakovenko, who did this to his Berlin Defence:

Jakovenko,D (2709) - Cheparinov,I (2687) [C67]
2nd FIDE GP Sochi RUS (13), 14.08.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 Ne7 10.h3 Ng6 11.Ne4 h6 12.b3 c5 13.Bb2 Be6 14.Nfd2 h5 15.Ng5 Be7 16.Nxe6+ fxe6 17.g3 h4 18.Kg2 Kd7 19.Rae1 Rad8 20.Nf3 Ke8 21.Rd1 a5 22.a4 Rd5 23.c4 Rd8 24.Bc1 Rf8 25.Rfe1 Rf7 26.Rxd8+ Bxd8 27.Re4 hxg3 28.fxg3 Rd7 29.h4 Rd3 30.Re3 Rd7 31.h5 Ne7 32.g4 Nc6 33.g5 Ne7 34.Re2 Nf5 35.Rd2 Rf7 36.Rd3 Rf8 37.Kh3 c6 38.Kg4 Bc7 39.Be3 b6 40.g6 Bd8 41.Bf4 Bc7 42.Nd2 Nh6+ 43.Bxh6 gxh6

White is clearly better and seeking to win. Jakovenko goes for it in flamboyant style: 44.Rd6 Bxd6? Black mustn't take the rook, as we shall see in the game continuation. 45.exd6 e5 46.Ne4 Rf4+ 47.Kg3 Rf1. 47...Rxe4 48.d7+ Kxd7 49.g7+–. 48.Kg2 Rf4 49.Nf6+! Rxf6 50.d7+ 1-0. Quite beautiful, actually.

Peter Svidler's ears must have been ringing with the praise he had received from us and from many chess blogs for his lovely endgame performance yesterday. Against Vugar Gashimov he swapped down to an ending by move 31, with rook, knight and an extra pawn. Time to show some endgame magic again. At move 60 he had turned it into knight and two pawns vs knight – an objectively drawn position in which the Saint Petersburger played on (in the style of Magnus Carlsen).

Gashimov,V (2717) - Svidler,P (2738) [C92]
2nd FIDE GP Sochi RUS (13), 14.08.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Re8 10.d4 Bb7 11.a4 Qd7 12.Nbd2 Bf8 13.Bc2 exd4 14.cxd4 Nb4 15.Bb1 g6 16.Ra3 bxa4 17.Rxa4 a5 18.Ra3 Bg7 19.e5 dxe5 20.dxe5 Nfd5 21.Ne4 Qb5 22.Bd2 Nb6 23.Nc3 Qd7 24.Be4 Bxe4 25.Rxe4 Nc6 26.Qe2 Nxe5 27.Nxe5 Rxe5 28.Rxe5 Bxe5 29.Qxe5 Qxd2 30.Ne4 Nd7 31.Nxd2 Nxe5 32.Rc3 Ra7 33.Nb3 Nd7 34.Rd3 Nb6 35.Nd4 c5 36.Nc6 Ra8 37.Rb3 Nc4 38.Rb5 a4 39.Ne7+ Kg7 40.Nd5 Rc8 41.Nc3 a3 42.bxa3 Nxa3 43.Rb7 c4 44.Ra7 Nc2 45.Rd7 Nb4 46.Rd4 Nd3 47.g3 Kf6 48.Kf1 Ke5 49.Rd5+ Ke6 50.Rd4 f5 51.f4 Nc1 52.Rd5 Nb3 53.g4 Rf8 54.Re5+ Kd6 55.Kf2 fxg4 56.Re4 gxh3 57.Rxc4 g5 58.Kg3 h2 59.Kxh2 Rxf4 60.Rxf4 gxf4 61.Ne4+ Ke5 62.Ng5 h5 63.Kh3 Nc5 64.Kh4 Ne6 65.Nh3 Ng7 66.Kg5 f3

Now 67.Nf2 Kd4 68.Kf4 and 69.Kxf3 secures the draw. But: 67.Kg6?? h4! 68.Kg5. 68.Kxg7 Kf5 69.Nf2 Kf4 70.Kg6 Kg3 71.Ne4+ Kg2 72.Kh5 h3 73.Kg4 h2 74.Ng3 f2 is hopeless for White. 68...Ke4 69.Kxh4 Ke3 70.Kg4 Ne6 71.Kg3 Nd4 72.Kh2 Ne2 73.Kh1 Nf4 74.Nxf4 Kxf4 75.Kg1 Ke3

0-1. Another highly instructive endgame by Peter Svidler, someone who certainly rides a mean knight.

Final standings after thirteen rounds

The winners: Teimour Radjabov, Levon Aronian and Wang Yue

Draw statistics: Of the 91 games played in this event 57 or 63% were drawn. White won a total of 23 games, which works out to 25%, and Black was victorious in eleven game, which is 12%. A total of 14 games lasted less than 30 moves (but none less than 20), and two of these short games were decisive (Svidler-Ivanchuk 0-1, Radjabov-Navara 1-0, both in 25 moves). Seven games were 70 moves or longer, with Jakovenko participating in three of these marathons, Svidler, Gashimov and Al-Modiahki in two each.

   X axis = length of games; Y axis = number of games; pie graphic = draw statistics

All the actors: Navara, Kamsky, Radjabov, Gashimov, Gelfand, Karjakin, Svidler, Aronian, Geurt Gijssen (arbiter), Cheparinov, Ivanchuk, Geoffrey Borg (Global Chess), Wang Yue and Alexander Bakh (organiser)

Closing dinner with Boris Gelfand, Levon Aronian, Evgeny Bareev and Peter Svidler

Videos by Europe Echecs

FIDE Grand Prix Sochi 2008 – Schedule and results

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