Ivanchuk's day

Yesterday was Ivanchuk's day at Melody Amber. In a brilliant rapid game he beat Kramnik with Black, a rare loss for the world champion with White. Anand came a bit closer with two victories over Van Wely.

Ivanchuk is a genious and every now and then it fully comes out. In the rapid game he beat Kramnik in his speciality: the endgame. Even Kasparov was super enthousiastic about moves such as 11...b5! and 23?¢‚Ǩ¬¶.Nce7!. It seems like 22.Bf1? is already losing (but 22.Rb2 Rxb2 23.Bxb2 Nxb4 is no fun either). Earlier on the day the two gentlemen had played a quiet blindfold draw.

Very wild was the minimatch between Leko and Carlsen. Unfortunately for Magnus he missed three wins. 15.cxb6 with White, and with Black 14?¢‚Ǩ¬¶Qd8 15. Qg3 Qxd5+ 16.Ke2 Qxh1 was stong, but you still have to win it, but 16?¢‚Ǩ¬¶Qg4+ 17.Kf2 Qh4+ 18.Ke2 Bg4+ 19.Kd2 Bb4+ would have been finito). Radjabov-Morozevich (rapid) is interesting for King's Indian Defence afficionados: the specialist himself handles it with 5.h3! And speaking of the KID: even Peter Svidler is now playing it. He used the defence to draw against Aronian in the rapid game, and their blindfold game also ended peacefully.

Vallejo-Gelfand saw the small tactical stroke 26.Bxh6; it takes a while before you see that the unprotected rook on b8 is what it's about. The best tactical moment was the finish of Anand-Van Wely (blindfold), a nice combi, especially without board and pieces.

Blindold games round 5:



Rapid games round 5:



Results round 5:

Blind:

Gelfand      - Vallejo Pons   ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? 
Carlsen      - Leko           ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?
Svidler      - Aronian        ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? 
Morozevich   - Radjabov       ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? 
Anand        - Van Wely       1-0 
Ivanchuk     - Kramnik        ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?

Rapid:

Vallejo Pons ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Gelfand        1-0
Leko         - Carlsen        ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?
Aronian      - Svidler        ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? 
Radjabov     - Morozevich     1-0 
Van Wely     - Anand          0-1
Kramnik      - Ivanchuk       0-1

Standings blind:

    1. Kramnik                 4?Ǭ?
  2-4. Gelfand, Svidler,          
       Ivanchuk                3?Ǭ?  
    5. Aronian                  3   
    6. Leko                    2?Ǭ?
  7-9. Anand, Morozevich 
       Radjabov                 2
   10. Carlsen                 1?Ǭ?
11-12. Van Wely, Vallejo Pons   1

Standings rapid:

  1-2. Aronian, Anand           4
    3. Ivanchuk                3?Ǭ?
  4-8. Carlsen, Kramnik,
       Leko, Svidler,
       Morozevich              2?Ǭ?
    9. Vallejo Pons             2
10-11. Gelfand, Radjabov       1?Ǭ?
   12. Van Wely                 1

Combined standings:

  1-3. Aronian, Kramnik,
       Ivanchuk                 7
  4-5. Anand, Svidler           6
  6-7. Gelfand, Leko            5
    8. Morozevich              4?Ǭ?
    9. Carlsen                  4
   10. Radjabov                3?Ǭ?
   11. Vallejo Pons             3
   12. Van Wely                 2

Today is round 6, with the top match between Kramnik and Aronian:

Blind:

Kramnik      - Aronian     
Van Wely     - Leko
Morozevich   - Gelfand
Anand        - Carlsen 
Ivanchuk     - Svidler 
Radjabov     - Vallejo

Rapid:

Aronian      - Kramnik
Leko         - Van Wely
Gelfand      - Morozevich
Carlsen      - Anand    
Svidler      - Ivanchuk
Vallejo      - Radjabov