Round 5 at M-Tel Masters

Submitted by SonofPearl on Mon, 05/12/2008 at 1:22pm.

Mighty Chucky axes all his rivals

Besides the anti-draw rules in force in Sofia, there is also apparently another rule that everyone must lose to Vassily Ivanchuk (pictured!).

Quite unbelieveably, Ivanchuk has now won ALL five of his games in the first half of the tournament. That's 3 wins with Black and 2 with White against some of the best Grandmasters in the world - including Topalov, a former World Champion.

Where on earth will it end? Next to try to stop the Chucky horror show is Radjabov, who started the run off with his loss in the first round.

In any other tournament Topalov, who also won today impressively against Bu Xiangzhi, would probably be leading on 3.5/5 and surely is the only player with any hope whatsoever of denying Ivanchuk a memorable tournament win.

Tomorrow (Tuesday 13th) is a rest day. Ivanchuk's opponents probably need it!

The results in round 5:

Veselin Topalov	1-0	Bu Xiangzhi
Levon Aronian	0-1	Vassily Ivanchuk
Ivan Cheparinov	½-½	Teimour Radjabov

The standings after round 5:

				1		2		3		4		5		6
1	Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	2740	*	*	1	.	1	.	1	.	1	.	1	.	5
2	Topalov, Veselin	BUL	2767	0	.	*	*	½	.	1	.	1	.	1	.	3½
3	Radjabov, Teimour	AZE	2751	0	.	½	.	*	*	½	.	½	.	½	.	2
4	Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL	2696	0	.	0	.	½	.	*	*	½	.	1	.	2
5	Aronian, Levon	ARM	2763	0	.	0	.	½	.	½	.	*	*	½	.	1½
6	Bu Xiangzhi	CHN	2708	0	.	0	.	½	.	0	.	½	.	*	*	1

» posted in Chess event coverage

1058 reads | 10 comments |

1 vote:

Comments:

by Gokukid - 53 days ago
Dasmarinas Philippines

Member Since: May 2008
Member Points: 156

Can someone explain to me why this doesn't work in the third game?

31. Bxd7..Qxd7, then 32.Nf6+..Rxf6 (forced) and white trades a knight for a rook. If instead 31 ..Rxe4 you get the same trade in the other order, and I don't see any better options. So what's wrong with my plan?

---------------

Okay let's analyse:

31.Bxd7 Qxd7 32.Nf6+ Rxf6 33.Qxf6 then 33...Nf5 then suddenly Black is able to remove the threats along the g7 and h8 squares. Although he gained plus 2 in the exchange, White's checkmate possibility along the a1-h8 diagonal is refuted.

31.Bxd7 Rxe4 32.Qxe4 Qxd7 again White's mate threat has diminished. He might continue with... 33.Qxb7 winning a pawn. This is answered with 33...Qe6 and Black is gaining the initiative for the lost pawn. White might try to win additional pawns two ways (both are equally self-destructive for White):

a) 34.Qxc7 Qe4+ 35.Kg1 Qe3+ and it's time to say bye bye for the c3 Bishop.

b) 34.Qxa7 is met by a deadly fork 34...Qh3.

Cheparinov's 30.Bg4 and 31.Bh3 (due to 30...h5) is to put pressure along the c8-h3 diagonal and preserve that Nf6 fork if Black blunders defensively. Besides it may not be a good idea to trade pieces when you're trying to weave a mating net. Keep the pressure, wait for your chance, give your opponent options - he might choose a weaker continuation.

by tribbz - 53 days ago
Harare Zimbabwe

Member Since: May 2008
Member Points: 5

Ivanchuk is proving to be a tough guy!!! Let's see how the tournment ends!!

by rakesh_dagar79 - 54 days ago
India

Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 31

great games.

by mytself - 54 days ago
youngstown,ohio United States

Member Since: Jan 2008
Member Points: 200

The Chaparinov game started with the King's Indian classical variation.

by SirHanse - 54 days ago
Minneapolis United States

Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 19

target: Good question -- I'd also like to know that.

Can anyone tell me the name of white's opening in the same game? Cheparinov, Ivan (2695) vs. Radjabov, Teimour (2751). I play many of these openings but haven't yet grokked the names of all of them. :P

by benws - 54 days ago
United States

Member Since: Oct 2007
Member Points: 1032

10/10 doesn't seem like much now for this horror movie. fischer went 11/11 in 1963, so you never know.

by target - 54 days ago
Los Altos, CA United States

Member Since: May 2008
Member Points: 3

Can someone explain to me why this doesn't work in the third game?

by Gokukid - 54 days ago
Dasmarinas Philippines

Member Since: May 2008
Member Points: 156

The game would've ended in Drawn by Stalemate had Ivanchuk greedily captured the pawn with 44...Kxf6. Aronian had set up the trap well, but will require the participation of Ivanchuk if it is to work (works against patzers all time!).

If 44...Kxf6, 45.g5 and here anywhere the black king goes (including the capture), the game frustratingly for Ivanchuk ends in stalemate.

by Gokukid - 54 days ago
Dasmarinas Philippines

Member Since: May 2008
Member Points: 156

So far in this tournament, Ivanchuk's precise handling of the endgames had been very instructive.

by Phobetor - 54 days ago
Eindhoven Netherlands

Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 563

lol @ picture :)

At recent tournaments, Aronian played quite well (for example tied first in Corus), but here he's only at 1.5/5. Ivanchuk however is at 5/5, while he didn't play many great tournaments lately. So apparently, even these supergrandmasters have good and bad days.

It would be a great performance if Ivanchuk could maintain his good score and finish at something like 8.5/10 or 9/10. 10/10 would be amazing, but that must be too hard.

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