M-Tel R6: Shirov in sole lead after beating Ivanchuk
Alexei Shirov took sole lead at the M-Tel Masters in Sofia by beating Vassily Ivanchuk in round 6, while Topalov-Carlsen and Dominguez-Wang Yue both ended in a draw. Full report. The 5th M-Tel Masters takes place May 12th to 23rd in a glass pavilion on the square in front of the National Theatre Ivan Vazov in Sofia, Bulgaria. It's a six-player double round-robin with Carlsen, Dominguez, Ivanchuk, Shirov, Topalov and Wang Yue playing. The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves per player and 60 minutes per player till the end of the game. "Sofia rules" will again be used, so draw offers can be made only through the chief arbiter in the case of a threefold repetition, perpetual check or a theoretically draw position. Round 6
Both Dominguez-Wang Yue and Topalov-Carlsen weren't very interesting games and perhaps Shirov-Ivanchuk should also have ended in a quick draw, under normal circumstances. However, even with an extra tempo in a known ending from a Open Ruy Lopez, Ivanchuk played inaccurately and got himself in a passive position, showing complete lack of form once more. In timetrouble he got some serious chances to hold the game again, but after the time control it went wrong anyway. The Ukrainian is known for his ups and downs, but this down is becoming truly disastrous, and there's probably not a single chess fan who doesn't feel sorry for him!Game viewer
(Click here for more info on the new game viewer.) Click on the pairings at the top of the board to reveal a drop down list of all the games. Click on the arrow under the board just once, then the arrow keys of your keyboard also work.[TABLE=717] [TABLE=725]
Dominguez, trying to squeeze water out of stone...
...against Wang Yue's Petroff
Antoaneta Stefanova hosting the press conference and trying to make the best of it
A new leader in town: Alexei Shirov...
...who also beat Ivanchuk in their second game
Topalov couldn't prove a real opening advantage...
...against Carlsen's solid Lasker Defence
Live commentary during the round by Stefanova
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Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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