MTel Masters, Round 2
Today's round at the MTel Masters in Sofia, Bulgaria, was rather less thrilling than yesterday's, but thanks to the no-draw offer policy the spectators still got a full show.
Taking the drawn games first, Aronian-Cheparinov looked like an argument to repeal the anti-draw offer policy. I don't think the players were going out of their way to make a draw from the opening, but by move 22 the game was clearly headed in that direction. For almost 20 moves, almost nothing happened, so the players probably realized that if they wanted to avoid spending the night in a glass cubicle, they'd need to swap off some material. Being super-GMs, they were up to the task, and the resulting opposite-colored bishop ending was so drawn the arbiter was forced to broker a peace deal. The Bu Xiangzhi-Radjabov game was livelier, with a Carlsbad-ish structure resulting in the usual race between White's queenside hopes and Black's kingside counterplay. White had the better chances, but Radjabov's aggressive counterattack forced White to be very precise. Bu missed his one big chance on move 29, and after that the game rapidly petered out into a king vs. king finale. (That's a draw, the tablebases inform me.)
One game was not drawn, and that was the battle between Topalov and Ivanchuk. Despite what you may have read recently, White does not win by force in the Classical French, especially if he fails to achieve a good knight (on d4) vs. bad bishop ending. In fact the roles were reversed: White wound up with the bishop and Black with the knight, but the decisive factor was Black's control of the half-open queenside files.
Standings after Round 2:
1. Ivanchuk 2
2. Cheparinov 1.5
3. Topalov 1
4-6. Aronian, Bu Xiangzhi, Radjabov .5
Pairings for Round 3:
Cheparinov - Topalov
Radjabov - Aronian
Ivanchuk - Bu Xiangzhi
At least two of the games are potentially interesting in light of back stories. Cheparinov has been Topalov's main second for several years, so it will be interesting to see what openings they choose and how they react psychologically. As for Ivanchuk vs. Bu Xiangzhi, their only previous game featured one of the Ukranian great's many legendary crack-ups.
Tournament site here; games (with my comments) here.
Taking the drawn games first, Aronian-Cheparinov looked like an argument to repeal the anti-draw offer policy. I don't think the players were going out of their way to make a draw from the opening, but by move 22 the game was clearly headed in that direction. For almost 20 moves, almost nothing happened, so the players probably realized that if they wanted to avoid spending the night in a glass cubicle, they'd need to swap off some material. Being super-GMs, they were up to the task, and the resulting opposite-colored bishop ending was so drawn the arbiter was forced to broker a peace deal. The Bu Xiangzhi-Radjabov game was livelier, with a Carlsbad-ish structure resulting in the usual race between White's queenside hopes and Black's kingside counterplay. White had the better chances, but Radjabov's aggressive counterattack forced White to be very precise. Bu missed his one big chance on move 29, and after that the game rapidly petered out into a king vs. king finale. (That's a draw, the tablebases inform me.)
One game was not drawn, and that was the battle between Topalov and Ivanchuk. Despite what you may have read recently, White does not win by force in the Classical French, especially if he fails to achieve a good knight (on d4) vs. bad bishop ending. In fact the roles were reversed: White wound up with the bishop and Black with the knight, but the decisive factor was Black's control of the half-open queenside files.
Standings after Round 2:
1. Ivanchuk 2
2. Cheparinov 1.5
3. Topalov 1
4-6. Aronian, Bu Xiangzhi, Radjabov .5
Pairings for Round 3:
Cheparinov - Topalov
Radjabov - Aronian
Ivanchuk - Bu Xiangzhi
At least two of the games are potentially interesting in light of back stories. Cheparinov has been Topalov's main second for several years, so it will be interesting to see what openings they choose and how they react psychologically. As for Ivanchuk vs. Bu Xiangzhi, their only previous game featured one of the Ukranian great's many legendary crack-ups.
Tournament site here; games (with my comments) here.
Related Posts (on one page):
- MTel Masters, Round 8: Ivanchuk still leads, but barely
- MTel Masters, Round 7: Ivanchuk maintains his lead
- MTel Masters, Round 6: Ivanchuk's streak ends; Topalov draws closer
- MTel Masters, Round 5: The Streak Continues
- MTel Masters, Round 4: Ivanchuk Wins Again
- MTel Masters, Round 3
- MTel Masters, Round 2
- MTel Masters, Round 1
Posted by Dennis Monokroussos on
Friday May 9, 2008 at 1:01pm
Not sure what Cheparinov is up to these days, but I expect a lively performance.