Aronian catches Leko to win in Yerevan

The Karen Asrian Memorial got an Armenian winner in the end. By catching Peter Leko in the penultimate round, Levon Aronian won another non-classical chess event after Amber 2008.

That must have been a bit of a disappointment for Peter Leko, who hasn't tasted the joy of a tournament victory for a while. This time he was very close: after twelve rounds he was still leading but the thirteenth round was an unlucky one for the Hungarian.

In a 6.Be3 Najdorf, Morozevich came with the new move 12...b4!? - quite a promising pawn sacrifice. Black got nice compensation and after Leko's questionable 19.Rc1 & 21.Rcd1 White's position quickly became undefendable.

In that same round, Aronian beat Adams very easily. The Englishman blundered with 17...exd3? where 17...Nd4 is only a bit better for White. In the last round's return matches nothing changed in the top of the standings and so with Aronian as the winner, at least the organizers had something to be happy as well this week.

On the right you can replay the games from rounds 11-14 (see also the previous report).
[TABLE=309]

Morozevich-Adams

Aronian-Morozevich

Gelfand-Bu Xiangzhi

Adams-Akopian

Leko-Aronian

An interested audience in Yerevan...

...both young...

...and old...

...and both chess groupies...

...and strong players (IM Mkrtchian & GM Lahno)

Links:

• Tournament website
• Games in PGN