Montreal Wrap-Up: Ivanchuk Wins Again
Vassily Ivanchuk didn't play in San Luis and won't be playing in Mexico City, and that's a pity. On FIDE's July 2007 list his rating was 2762, and that wasn't counting Foros where, by my calculations, he netted another 9 points. Add the 10 points or so he's gaining here and his rating will be a whopping 2781 - second in the world! It's pretty lousy that he isn't involved in this world championship cycle, but he just shows up everywhere, plays, wins, and doesn't complain. Good man.
On to the details of this, his latest triumph, the Montreal Invitational. We left off our coverage after round 6, when he was part of the chase pack nipping at Tiviakov's heels. In round 7 both players won, but in round 8 Ivanchuk won again, while Tiviakov lost a long, hard game to Harikrishna (who thereby caught up with his opponent). That gave Ivanchuk a half point lead going into the last round, and he extended it to a full point by defeating Harikrishna while Tiviakov was held to a draw.
Final Standings:
1. Ivanchuk 7 (of 9)
2. Tiviakov 6
3. Harikrishna 5.5
4-5. Eljanov, Kamsky 5
6. Sutovsky 4.5
7-8. Mitov, Bluvshtein 3.5
9. Charbonneau 3
10. Short 2
That's right: 2/9 for Short, whose TPR was a dismal (by his standards, not mine) 2430. In the first two rounds he had a toothache, but even after that he couldn't pull things together. What happened? You can read more about that here, in Frederic Friedel's interview with the man himself.
On to the chess selection. From round 7 I've included three games. First, there's Ivanchuk's win over Bluvshtein, which combined zesty attacking play with good endgame technique. Next, tournament front-runner Tiviakov gets his due as we see his win over Miton. The game started slowly, but Tiviakov built up an attack, offered an impressive long-term exchange sacrifice, and finished the game off with an attractive sham sac. The third game of the round is between bestest buddies Short and Kamsky. Ironically, given their mutual enmity (and also given my recent comments about the Ponziani opening and (parts of) Short's repertoire), Short chose one of the most insipid openings in chess history, the Ponziani, and unsurprisingly achieved nothing with it. Still, both players worked at it, and although the game was drawn it was a good fight. Turning to round 8 I've included Ivanchuk's win with Black against Miton, featuring a somewhat non-traditional Greek gift sacrifice, and from round 9 Short's loss with the King's Gambit to Bluvshtein. (Speaking of openings that lose a pawn...) His repertoire may not receive FDA approval, but the chess world is a richer place thanks to those who trot out museum openings from time to time.
Games here.
On to the details of this, his latest triumph, the Montreal Invitational. We left off our coverage after round 6, when he was part of the chase pack nipping at Tiviakov's heels. In round 7 both players won, but in round 8 Ivanchuk won again, while Tiviakov lost a long, hard game to Harikrishna (who thereby caught up with his opponent). That gave Ivanchuk a half point lead going into the last round, and he extended it to a full point by defeating Harikrishna while Tiviakov was held to a draw.
Final Standings:
1. Ivanchuk 7 (of 9)
2. Tiviakov 6
3. Harikrishna 5.5
4-5. Eljanov, Kamsky 5
6. Sutovsky 4.5
7-8. Mitov, Bluvshtein 3.5
9. Charbonneau 3
10. Short 2
That's right: 2/9 for Short, whose TPR was a dismal (by his standards, not mine) 2430. In the first two rounds he had a toothache, but even after that he couldn't pull things together. What happened? You can read more about that here, in Frederic Friedel's interview with the man himself.
On to the chess selection. From round 7 I've included three games. First, there's Ivanchuk's win over Bluvshtein, which combined zesty attacking play with good endgame technique. Next, tournament front-runner Tiviakov gets his due as we see his win over Miton. The game started slowly, but Tiviakov built up an attack, offered an impressive long-term exchange sacrifice, and finished the game off with an attractive sham sac. The third game of the round is between bestest buddies Short and Kamsky. Ironically, given their mutual enmity (and also given my recent comments about the Ponziani opening and (parts of) Short's repertoire), Short chose one of the most insipid openings in chess history, the Ponziani, and unsurprisingly achieved nothing with it. Still, both players worked at it, and although the game was drawn it was a good fight. Turning to round 8 I've included Ivanchuk's win with Black against Miton, featuring a somewhat non-traditional Greek gift sacrifice, and from round 9 Short's loss with the King's Gambit to Bluvshtein. (Speaking of openings that lose a pawn...) His repertoire may not receive FDA approval, but the chess world is a richer place thanks to those who trot out museum openings from time to time.
Games here.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Biel Wrap-up: Carlsen defeats Onischuk in a playoff
- Biel Update, post-round 7: Radjabov Shines, Carlsen Implodes
- Montreal Wrap-Up: Ivanchuk Wins Again
- Biel Update - Post-Round 5
- Montreal Invitational Update
- Biel Update
- Ongoing Events: Early Results from Montreal and Biel. Plus, is a Rook Better than a Knight?
Posted by Dennis Monokroussos on
Sunday July 29, 2007 at 10:09pm
I'm not aware of any notable queen collections in my tournament history, but I can claim to have sacrificed two different queens in the same game (as well as a bunch of other stuff), and 48 moves apart. It's probably not a record, given the millions of games that have been played, but it's at least a singular occurrence in my own history as a player.