After the nice (shared) victory of Levon Aronian in Wijk aan Zee, his compatriot Vladimir Akopian started the year 2007 successfully as well. He took clear first place at the tournament in Gibraltar (7,5 out of 9) after a quick victory over Kuzubov in the last round. Areshchenko, Nakamura and Sutovsky didn't do badly either with 7 out of 9.Because of the
poll on the draw offer it's relevant to remark that the tournament also used a special rule to prevent quick draws:
"Draws by mutual agreement in under 40 moves are not allowed without the agreement of the arbiter. No pre-arranged/tacit agreements to draw allowed (of any length, by repetition or otherwise). Genuine draws by repetition or stalemate are acceptable."
The two leaders of the field didn't really have to take this one into account in their last round game. Things went wrong quickly with Black and so the tournament organizers could witness the desired blood on the chessboard sooner than expected.
After the nice (shared) victory of Levon Aronian in Wijk aan Zee, his compatriot Vladimir Akopian started the year 2007 successfully as well. He took clear first place at the tournament in Gibraltar (7,5 out of 9) after a quick victory over Kuzubov in the last round. Areshchenko, Nakamura and Sutovsky didn't do badly either with 7 out of 9.Because of the poll on the draw offer it's relevant to remark that the tournament also used a special rule to prevent quick draws: 