Aerosvit - Round 10
Ivanchuk wins to move into shared second place
If you were told that a game between two Grandmasters ended in 21 moves, you could be forgiven for expecting it to be another dull draw, but today Vassily Ivanchuk (pictured) busted poor Loek Van Wely in just that number of moves with the Black pieces. You gotta love the big guy! Chucky therefore moves into joint second place with Pavel Eljanov with just one round to go.
The other winner today was Alexei Shirov who bounced back from his loss to Nisipeanu yesterday to beat Peter Svidler in a Semi-Slav.
All other games in this penultimate round were drawn, but some with considerably more fight than yesterday's unofficial day-off. A case in point was the Magnus Carlsen v Andrei Volokitin battle which ended in a draw after 79 exhausting moves without either side ever really looking like winning.
So with one round to go, the winner can already be announced. Magnificent Magnus Carlsen has dominated this high class field with almost indecent ease and by maintaining his 1.5 points lead today has guaranteed victory at Aerosvit 2008 with a round to spare. Congratulations Magnus!
The results in round 10:
| Carlsen, Magnus | - Volokitin, Andrei | ½-½ | 79 | D56 | Queens Gambit Lasker's Defence |
| Eljanov, Pavel | - Karjakin, Sergey | ½-½ | 32 | D11 | Slav Defence |
| Alekseev, Evgeny | - Jakovenko, Dmitry | ½-½ | 45 | E28 | Nimzo Indian Saemisch |
| Shirov, Alexei | - Svidler, Peter | 1-0 | 43 | D16 | Slav Lasker/Smyslov |
| Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter | - Onischuk, Alexander | ½-½ | 19 | C69 | Ruy Lopez Exchange |
| Van Wely, Loek | - Ivanchuk, Vassily | 0-1 | 21 | A04 | Dutch System |
The standings after round 10:
| 1 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2765 | * | 1 | 1 | . | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 7½ |
| 2 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2740 | 0 | * | . | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | Eljanov, Pavel | UKR | 2687 | 0 | . | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 6 |
| 4 | Karjakin, Sergey | UKR | 2732 | . | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 5½ |
| 5 | Alekseev, Evgeny | RUS | 2711 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | . | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 5 |
| 6 | Jakovenko, Dmitry | RUS | 2711 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | 0 | . | ½ | 1 | 5 |
| 7 | Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2746 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | . | 4½ |
| 8 | Volokitin, Andrei | UKR | 2684 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | . | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 4½ |
| 9 | Shirov, Alexei | ESP | 2740 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | * | 0 | . | 1 | 4½ |
| 10 | Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter | ROU | 2684 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | . | ½ | ½ | 1 | * | ½ | 1 | 4½ |
| 11 | Onischuk, Alexander | USA | 2664 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | . | ½ | * | ½ | 3½ |
| 12 | Van Wely, Loek | NED | 2677 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | . | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | * | 3½ |
