Magnificent Magnus at Aerosvit
Carlsen defeats rival in epic encounter
On a day when three of the games at the Aerosvit tournament in the Ukraine ended in draws after a mere 19 moves exactly, Magnus Carlsen battled against one of his nearest rivals, the talented 25 year-old Ukranian Pavel Eljanov, for a full 82 moves in a monumental struggle.
After a dynamic Catalan opening, Eljanov ran into time trouble and did extremely well to navigate to the time control relatively unscathed. However, Calrsen had a definite edge and pushed hard for victory. An unusual material imbalance of Rook and 3 pawns versus 2 Knights and one pawn led to fascinating play as Eljanov attempted to set up a kind of fortress with his Knights to frustrate Carlsen's efforts to break through.
Eventually Carlsen succeded in sidelining the Knights and ending Eljanov's stubborn resistance. Bravo to both players for a thrilling game!
Two other games also ended in victories, with Sergey Karjakin overcoming Dmitry Jakavenko's Petroff defence and the popular Dutch player Van Wely also chalked up his first win of the tournament against Evgeny Alekseev.
The full results in round 4:
| Karjakin, Sergey | - Jakovenko, Dmitry | 1-0 | 42 | C42 | Petroff's Defence |
| Shirov, Alexei | - Volokitin, Andrei | ½-½ | 19 | D56 | Queens Gambit Lasker's Defence |
| Eljanov, Pavel | - Carlsen, Magnus | 0-1 | 82 | E06 | Catalan |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | - Onischuk, Alexander | ½-½ | 19 | D37 | QGD 5.Bf4 |
| Svidler, Peter | - Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter | ½-½ | 19 | B10 | Caro Kann |
| Van Wely, Loek | - Alekseev, Evgeny | 1-0 | 36 | D31 | Semi-Slav Defence |
The leaderboard after round 4:
| 1 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2765 | * | . | . | 1 | . | 1 | ½ | . | . | . | . | 1 | 3½ |
| 2 | Karjakin, Sergey | UKR | 2732 | . | * | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | . | 3 |
| 3 | Shirov, Alexei | ESP | 2740 | . | . | * | 0 | ½ | . | . | . | . | 1 | . | 1 | 2½ |
| 4 | Eljanov, Pavel | UKR | 2687 | 0 | . | 1 | * | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | . | ½ | 2 |
| 5 | Volokitin, Andrei | UKR | 2684 | . | . | ½ | . | * | . | . | 1 | . | 0 | ½ | . | 2 |
| 6 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2740 | 0 | . | . | . | . | * | . | ½ | 1 | . | ½ | . | 2 |
| 7 | Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2746 | ½ | . | . | ½ | . | . | * | . | 0 | . | ½ | . | 1½ |
| 8 | Onischuk, Alexander | USA | 2664 | . | ½ | . | . | 0 | ½ | . | * | . | ½ | . | . | 1½ |
| 9 | Alekseev, Evgeny | RUS | 2711 | . | ½ | . | . | . | 0 | 1 | . | * | . | . | 0 | 1½ |
| 10 | Jakovenko, Dmitry | RUS | 2711 | . | 0 | 0 | . | 1 | . | . | ½ | . | * | . | . | 1½ |
| 11 | Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter | ROU | 2684 | . | 0 | . | . | ½ | ½ | ½ | . | . | . | * | . | 1½ |
| 12 | Van Wely, Loek | NED | 2677 | 0 | . | 0 | ½ | . | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | * | 1½ |
