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Dominguez-Eljanov: 'The Berlin Wall' of the Ruy Lopez, queens exchanged early and a long positional fight can be expected. However the game developed in a forced way and many other pieces were exchanged quickly. After a long fight Black was lucky to save half a point. Well, no one can say that Eljanov had too much luck in the previous rounds. 0.5-0.5.
Shirov - Ivanchuk: Through a bit unusual move order in the classical Ruy Lopez (e.g. instead of Shirov's 9.Re1, more popular is 9.h3) a system with an early d4 for White appeared. Shirov spent quite a long tome for making the theoretical moves. On the 16th move Shirov opted for the ambitious 16.g4 (this is still a known move). Ivanchuk's 17...a5 was a novelty. A complicated position arose; it seems that Black is doing well. Instead of 23.Bf2 Shirov could have tried 23.Ne5. Ivanchuk made an interesting move 23...h5!?. Shirov spent a lot of time for his next move, probably calculating the ultra-acute continuation 24.f5 hxg4 25.hxg4 g6. One more option was 24.Nh2. Shirov played 24.Qg6 and after 24...Re4 25.Rxe4 dxe4 26. Nh2? (better was 26.Ng5) Ivanchuk delivered the nice blow 26...Nxd4!!. After 27.cxd4 Bxd4 28.Rb1 e3! Black's position is winning. Ivanchuk made one more excellent move, 29...h4!. An impressive win by Ivanchuk and one of the best games of the whole tournament. It seems that Shirov made only one serious mistake. 0-1
Shirov,A (2699) - Ivanchuk,V (2729) [C91]
Aerosvit Foros UKR (10), 28.06.2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Be7 7.d4 d6
8.c3 0-0 9.Re1 Bg4 10.Be3 exd4 11.cxd4 d5 12.e5 Ne4 13.Nc3 Nxc3 14.bxc3
Qd7 15.h3 Bh5 16.g4 Bg6 17.Nd2 a5 18.f4 a4 19.Bc2 Bxc2 20.Qxc2 f5 21.exf6
Bxf6 22.Nf3 Rae8 23.Bf2 h5 24.Qg6 Re4 25.Rxe4 dxe4 26.Nh2? It seems
that Shirov made only one serious mistake in this game.
26...Nxd4 27.cxd4 Bxd4 28.Rb1 e3 29.Bg3 h4 30.Bxh4 Rxf4 31.Qd3 Qd5 32.Nf1 Rf2 33.Nxe3 Rg2+ 34.Kh1 Qf3 0-1.
Flowers for his 24th birthday: Dmitry Jakovenko (Flowers? For a dude?)
Karjakin-Onischuk: The Anti-Marshall system of the Roy Lopez has a reputation of the quite boring opening. Taking in account importance of the game Karjakin hardly should try to risk much. After the opening White was a bit better; at least it is easier to play such positions with White. At some point Onischuk sacrificed a pawn and later reached the draw in the position with the opposite coloured bishops. 0.5-0.5.
Nisipeanu-Sasikiran: An interesting and topical line of the 4...Nd7 Caro Kann. On the 13th move Sasikiran deviated from his third round game versus Jakovenko: this time he played 13...Bb7 instead of 13...c5. Black equalised without many problems. It is hard to judge who tried to play for a win in the absolutely equal middlegame, but this fight did not last for long. The draw was agreed after White's 33rd move. 0.5-0.5.
Van Wely-Rublevsky: An acute line of the Chabanenko Slav. After the exchange of queens Black was at least not worse and in fact obtained chances for a win. Still, after some suffering White managed to hold the endgame. 0.5-0.5.
Rublevsky-Dominguez: For the second time in the tournament Rublevsky played the Fischer Attack against the Najdorf. 8.Qf3 is a relatively rare line, Dominguez responded with a solid 8...Bb7 9.0-0 Nc6!. Black equalised and the draw was agreed quickly. 0.5-0.5.
Eljanov-Shirov: For the second time in the tournament Eljanov found himself fighting as White against his favourite black opening, the Grunfeld Defence. Black quickly equalised and on the 25th move two experts of the Gruenfeld agreed on a draw. 0.5-0.5.
Onischuk-Nisipeanu: Queen's Indian Accepted. On the 20th move, trying to make his defence easier, Nisipeanu sacrificed a pawn. Onischuk, as he had no choice, took that pawn, getting reasonable winning chances. Step by step, Alexander converted his advantage into a full point. 1-0.
Sasikiran-Van Wely: The ultra-acute Botvinnik System of the Slav Defence is considered nowadays to be too risky for Black and is seldom seen in the top tournaments. After the novelty 18...b2! a very complicated fight followed. After 30...Qf6! White started to face problems. Black consolidated, and, having an extra pawn, won the game. 0-1.
Notes based on GM Mikhail Golubev
The winner Vassily Ivanchuk receives his trophy
A group photo at the end of the event
Pictures by courtesy of the official web site
