Rest day arrives early in Foros
Finally a quiet round in Aerosvit
After many rounds of exciting chess in Foros, the inevitable finally happened and we had the first dull round of the tournament. Spectators could almost have been forgiven for thinking that the players had started their rest day early (Saturday is a rest day) as all games were drawn and the average game length was just 26 moves.
Almost. However, one of the draws was as exciting and complicated as any game in the tournament so far. Alexei Shirov (pictured), the popular Latvian now playing for Spain, took on the other prodigy in the tournament besides Magnus Carlsen - Sergey Karjakin of the Ukraine, in a firestorm of epic tactics.
Karjakin played the sharp Anti-Meran Gambit and Shirov was more than happy to take up the challenge posed by this 'defence'. In a bold move, Shirov employed the newly discovered 12.Nxf7 piece sacrifice (first played by Veselin Topalov, but credit for the idea goes to his compatriot and 'second' Ivan Cheparinov) and it wasn't long before the complications were so mind-boggling that even Fritz would get a headache trying to work it all out! Check out the game below!
Despite the fireworks, the game ended in a draw, as did all the other games of the round, so at the halfway point of the tournament, Magnus Carlsen leads by a clear 1.5 points with a very impressive 5/6 score.
The results in round 6:
| Carlsen, Magnus | - Alekseev, Evgeny | ½-½ | 18 | E17 | Queens Indian |
| Svidler, Peter | - Jakovenko, Dmitry | ½-½ | 30 | C89 | Ruy Lopez Marshall |
| Eljanov, Pavel | - Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter | ½-½ | 17 | E00 | Catalan |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | - Volokitin, Andrei | ½-½ | 22 | D37 | QGD 5.Bf4 |
| Shirov, Alexei | - Karjakin, Sergey | ½-½ | 36 | D43 | Anti-Meran Gambit |
| Van Wely, Loek | - Onischuk, Alexander | ½-½ | 34 | D37 | QGD 5.Bf4 |
The standings after round 6:
| 1 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2765 | * | . | . | ½ | . | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | . | . | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | Volokitin, Andrei | UKR | 2684 | . | * | 1 | . | ½ | . | ½ | ½ | . | 0 | 1 | . | 3½ |
| 3 | Karjakin, Sergey | UKR | 2732 | . | 0 | * | . | 1 | . | . | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | . | 3½ |
| 4 | Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2746 | ½ | . | . | * | ½ | ½ | . | . | 0 | ½ | 1 | . | 3 |
| 5 | Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter | ROU | 2684 | . | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | . | . | . | . | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | Eljanov, Pavel | UKR | 2687 | 0 | . | . | ½ | ½ | * | . | 1 | ½ | . | . | ½ | 3 |
| 7 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2740 | 0 | ½ | . | . | ½ | . | * | . | 1 | ½ | ½ | . | 3 |
| 8 | Shirov, Alexei | ESP | 2740 | 0 | ½ | ½ | . | . | 0 | . | * | . | 1 | . | 1 | 3 |
| 9 | Alekseev, Evgeny | RUS | 2711 | ½ | . | ½ | 1 | . | ½ | 0 | . | * | . | . | 0 | 2½ |
| 10 | Jakovenko, Dmitry | RUS | 2711 | . | 1 | 0 | ½ | . | . | ½ | 0 | . | * | ½ | . | 2½ |
| 11 | Onischuk, Alexander | USA | 2664 | . | 0 | ½ | 0 | . | . | ½ | . | . | ½ | * | ½ | 2 |
| 12 | Van Wely, Loek | NED | 2677 | 0 | . | . | . | 0 | ½ | . | 0 | 1 | . | ½ | * | 2 |
