The Chess Mind

As mentioned here a week and a half ago, the strongest tournament in Ukranian history, the AeroSvit event in Foros/Yalta, runs from the 17th to the 28th of June. (One update: Akopian had to cancel his invite, and was replaced by Russian champ Sergei Rublevsky.) It turns out, surprisingly enough, that today is the 17th, and so round 1 is in the books. Here are the results:

Nisipeanu-Harikrishna 1/2-1/2
Volokitin-Ponomariov 1-0
Bologan-Karjakin 1-0
Rublevsky-Mamedyarov 0-1
Shirov-Grischuk 1/2-1/2
Areshchenko-Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2

For now I'll just draw your attention to the game Volokitin-Ponomariov. I've been tired of seeing GMs run from the Marshall Gambit with the 8.h3 line, followed by the uninspiring d3 and a3. So it was nice to see Volokitin allow the gambit, snap off the pawn, gradually reduce Ponomariov's compensation and, at last, win the endgame with his extra pawn.

Have a look.

Five games, five draws, see you tomorrow!

Round 2 Results:

Mamedyarov-Shirov 1/2-1/2
Nisipeanu-Volokitin 1/2-1/2
Grischuk-Areshchenko 1/2-1/2
Harikrishna-Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2
Ponomariov-Bologan 1/2-1/2
Karjakin-Rublevsky 1/2-1/2

Round 3 Pairings:

Bologan-Nisipeanu
Volokitin-Harikrishna
Rublevsky-Ponomariov
Shirov-Karjakin
Areshchenko-Mamedyarov
Ivanchuk-Grischuk

First, let's catch up on the results and standings. The leader is Viorel Bologan, 2004 Dortmund champ, who has won in every odd-numbered round (with the White pieces) and leads with an impressive 4/5. In second is the 2005 Russian champ Sergei Rublevsky, who has overcome his first-round loss with a hat trick of victories in rounds 3-5. Hurray for the aged - these two are the oldest players in the event, veritable graybeards at 34 (Bologan) and 31 (Rublevsky). Ivanchuk (37) and Shirov (33) are also senior citizens, while the other eight players average just over 21 years of age.

(An aside: I wonder if these players will remain in the elite when they are in their mid-to-late-30s, or if they'll be supplanted by a new generation of infants. My suspicion is that they'll remain in place - I think the rise of the super-prodigies is a function of computer-based resources, not a sign of the intrinsic superiority of young chess players to old ones. We'll see.)

Standings after Round 5:

Bologan 4
Rublevsky 3.5
Grischuk, Ivanchuk, Mamedyarov, Shirov 3
Volokitin 2.5
Areshchenko 2
Harikrishna, Karjakin, Nisipeanu, Ponomariov 1.5

Pairings for Round 6:

Nisipeanu-Areshchenko
Volokitin-Shirov
Bologan-Rublevsky
Ponomariov-Ivanchuk
Karjakin-Grischuk
Harikrishna-Mamedyarov

In principle, this looks like a very exciting round. Volokitin and Shirov are both super-sharp players, Ponomariov-Ivanchuk is for Ukranian bragging rights and a rematch of their FIDE k.o. final a few years ago, Karjakin and Grischuk are two of the most dynamic players around, while Harikrishna-Mamedyarov is a battle between the last two/three winners of the world junior championship (Harikrishan in 2004; Mamedyarov in 2003 and 2005). In reality, however, I expect a dull round, as this is their sixth round in as many days, with the event's sole rest day coming immediately afterward. So I suspect that unless the player with White in each game achieves something substantial, he'll be amenable to a quick handshake.

Now on to the games - one per round. First comes Areshchenko-Mamedyarov from round 3, featuring a brilliant "semi-zugzwang" idea on Black's 42nd move. Second and third are Rublevsky games: in round 4, he defended against a sharp attack and outplayed his opponent in the complications, grabbing the material and holding on. In game 5, he was the attacker, sacrificing and speculating, and...succeeding! For the games, with very light notes, see here.

It's probably possible to be more wrong about something than I was in my last post, when I wrote that the players would probably take a drawing siesta in anticipation of their only rest day. Possible, yes - but not easily achieved! All six games were interesting, four were decisive, and even the two draws lasted 40 and 52 moves.

In the leaders' game, Rublevsky defeated Bologan with the black pieces, giving him four wins in a row and the clear lead in the tournament. In the other games, Harikrishna defeated Mamedyarov with a powerful kingside attack featuring, on consecutive moves, the sacrifice of a pawn, then a knight, and then a rook. Karjakin-Grischuk and Ponomariov-Ivanchuk were both drawn, while Nisipeanu used his 7.Nde2 line yet again this year to defeat Areshchenko. Interestingly, as in his win over Gelfand from the Olympiad in Turin, he again managed to achieve a good knight vs. bad bishop endgame. Coincidentally, Volokitin also achieved and won a good knight vs. bad bishop ending in his game with Shirov.

This leaves the tournament situation as follows:

Standings after Round 6:

Rublevsky 4.5
Bologan 4
Grischuk, Ivanchuk, Volokitin 3.5
Mamedyarov, Shirov 3
Harikrishna, Nisipeanu 2.5
Areshchenko, Karjakin, Ponomariov 2

Pairings for Round 7: (On Saturday)

Rublevsky-Harikrishna
Shirov-Bologan
Ivanchuk-Nisipeanu
Grischuk-Ponomariov
Areshchenko-Volokitin
Mamedyarov-Karjakin

Annotated games tomorrow, I hope!

My coverage has been gappy, to put it mildly, and I still have a pile of games I have annotated (but not posted), am annotating and will annotate from this event. But for now, let me offer an update on the situation going into the last round.

Rublevsky has continued to be the story. After his loss in round 1 and draw in the second round, he reeled off a series of five consecutive wins. He has drawn his games since then, including a key round 10 draw with Ivanchuk, his closest pursuer. The last round should be especially dramatic, as the first through third placed players face opponents currently tied for fourth through sixth places. Here are the details:

Standings after Round 10:

Rublevsky 7
Ivanchuk 6.5
Bologan 6
Grischuk, Mamedyarov, Shirov 5.5
Areshchenko, Nisipeanu 4.5
Ponomariov, Volokitin 4
Harikrishna, Karjakin 3.5

Pairings for Round 11:

Grischuk-Rublevsky
Ivanchuk-Shirov
Mamedyarov-Bologan
Ponomariov-Nisipeanu
Areshchenko-Harikrisha
Karjakin-Volokitin

Ivanchuk gave it a real run, pressing hard against Shirov in the last round, but he couldn't quite pull it off. Thus Rublevsky, with his last round draw against Grischuk, won his second elite event in the past year (he also won the 2005 Russian championship). (If only he had played this way in Turin, the Russians would have won the Olympiad!)

Final Results:

Rublevsky 7.5 (of 11)
Ivanchuk 7
Bologan 6.5
Grischuk, Mamedyarov, Shirov 6
Areshchenko, Nisipeanu 5
Karjakin, Ponomariov 4.5
Harikrishna, Volokitin 4

At one point in the Grischuk-Rublevsky game from the last round, Grischuk went into a long, long think (about 35 minutes, if the server had the times right). I was only half-watching up to that point, but I decided to analyze the position more seriously while waiting for Grischuk's move. The results are here.