CHESSBASE: CARLSEN - LEKO

Miskolc: Carlsen wins the rapid chess match 5:3
03.06.2008 – Game seven was make-or-break for Peter Leko, and things looked quite promising for the Hungarian GM. But on move 42 he faltered badly, and Magnus Carlsen lashed out with a crushing win. In the final game the young Norwegian was never in danger and drew in 27 moves. He finished with a two-point overall victory. Illustrated report with GM analysis.

Peter Leko vs Magnus Carlsen in Miskolc, Hungary The year’s most prestigious clash in Hungary took place in Miskolc, Hungary. Top Hungarian GM, Péter Lékó played eight rapid chess games against challenger, Magnus Carlsen of Norway. The event lasted from May 28th to June 1st 2008. The arbiter was WGM Zsuzsa Veröci, Head of Communication of the Hungarian Chess Federation. The games were broadcast live on the official site and on Playchess.com. At the end of each day of play there were short press conferences of 10-15 minutes with both players.

Day three report

By GM Zoltán Gyimesi

Leko,Peter (2741) - Carlsen,Magnus (2765) [D12]
Miskolc rapid (7), 01.06.2008 [Gyimesi Zoltán]

1.d4. Although Peter was better with 1.e4 in all three games, in his last white game he switched to 1.d4.

1...d5 It took a minute for Magnus to decide what to play. 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3

4...Bf5 5.Nc3. Peter has little practice in this line, because his only (rapid) game with white in this position was against non other than Magnus a year ago. There followed a6 and after a spectacular fight it was a draw. 5...e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Nxg6 hxg6. On the other hand Magnus had it recently with both colours. 8.Bd2 Nbd7 9.Qc2 Be7 10.Be2 dxc4 11.Bxc4 0-0 12.0-0 c5 13.dxc5 Nxc5 14.Rfd1 Rc8. In Carlsen-Anand, Dortmund 2007 they inserted a3, and black drew after a little suffering. 15.Be1 Qc7

Quite a normal position, although it is a mystical question what on earth a bishop could be doing on e1?! 16.Be2 Nce4 17.Qa4 Nxc3 18.Bxc3. The pair of bishops would give White a slight edge, but he cannot keep it for long. 18...Nd5 19.Bd4 a6 20.Bf3 Rfd8 21.Qb3 Bf6

22.g3. Peter was afraid that after 22.Bxf6 gxf6 23.Bxd5 Rxd5 24.Rxd5 exd5 25.g3 his adventage is not enough. In this case he is mistaken, but I can understand his concerns, since Magnus is capable of holding rook endings with a pawn less, and here he still hasn't lost that pawn. 22...b6. Black has nearly equalized. 23.Be2 Bxd4. 23...e5 24.Bc3 Nxc3 25.bxc3 was Peter's idea, but after 25...b5 I don't think he can do anything with the f7 weakness. 24.Rxd4 a5 25.Ba6 Rb8 26.Be2 Rbc8 27.Rc4 Qb8 28.Rac1 Rxc4 29.Qxc4 Ne7 30.Qb5 Kf8 31.b4 Rd5 32.Qa4 axb4. Rd2 was a strong alternative, but Magnus was already very short on time. Peter still had some minutes, but not for long. 33.Qxb4 Qd6 34.Qb3 Qd8 35.Rb1 Rd6

Magnus has defended all his weaknesses. It is not easy to break through, but Bf3 with Rc1-c4-a4-a8 could have been a try. 36.h4?! A thematical move, but now it merely weakens the g3 pawn, and takes away the h4 square from the rook. 36...Kg8 37.Bf3 Nf5 38.Rc1 Ne7 39.Kg2 Rd2! Finally some activity. Now White should agree the inevitable with Rc2 or Rd1. 40.Rc4?! Nf5! Comes the second piece into activity! 41.Kg1?! 41.Rc2?? would be a terrible tactical mistake, because 41...Nxe3+! is possible and Black wins. 41...Qf6!

And Magnus brings his third (and last) piece into the attack. Now he threatens to jump in with the knight, and everything hangs. Peter realised it, too, but he has to win in order to level the match. And look, Black's king is very vulnerable! Let's mate it on the back rank! 42.Qxb6?? But NO! This was not your time! Black arrives first! Instead 42.Qc3 was the only move, and after 42...Rxa2 43.Qxf6 gxf6 44.Rb4 Ra6 45.Bb7 Ra1+ 46.Kg2 Ra2 47.Kf1 they can agree to a draw. 42...Qa1+! Wow, what a check! 43.Kg2 Qe1. And again, as in the third game, it is precisely the f2 square (pawn), that costs Peter another half point! 44.Rc8+ Kh7 45.Qb8

Had it been White to move... 45...Rxf2+? Okay, it still wins, but wasn't 45...Nxe3+! 46.Kh3 Qf1+ 47.Kh2 Rxf2+ 48.Bg2 Qxg2# much easier and faster? I know, you had just seconds left, and everything wins. 46.Kh3 Certainly Peter would give it up already some moves earlier in a real game, but he played for the public, and they found it very entertaining, that his king run out to the other side of the board. 46...Qf1+ 47.Kg4

47...Nh6+ 48.Kf4

48...Rxf3+ 49.Ke4 f5+

50.Ke5

50...Rxe3+ 51.Kd6 Qa6+

52.Ke7 Qa3+ 53.Kd7 Rd3+

But this is really game over. And with it Magnus has already secured the match. 0-1. [Click to replay]

CHESSBASE: IVANCHUK - ANAND

Ivanchuk beats Anand in León Rapid final 2.5:1.5
02.06.2008 – Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk overcame World Champion Vishy Anand in the final of the XXI Magistral Ciudad de León. Both players won their first games, with black, the third was drawn, and then Anand blundered a move transposition and resigned after 16 moves. It was the first time ever that he did not win this tournament. Illustrated report by GM Zenón Franco Ocampos.

XXI Magistral Ciudad de León

This rapid chess event took place in the Edificio de la Junta de Castilla y León, in the Spanish town of León. There were four players, who played two semi-final matches of four games each, with the winners meeting in the final. The rate of play was 20 minutes for the entire game plus ten seconds increment for each move.

Final (Sunday, June 1, 2008)

Ukrainian grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk defeated world champion Viswanathan Anand in the final of the XXI Ciudad de León chess tournament by 2½-1½ .

In the first game Ivanchuk got a nice position after the opening, with his king in a safe place. He took the initiative on the queenside, and some inaccuracies by Anand led to a difficult position.

Anand,V (2803) - Ivanchuk,V (2740) [B85]
XXI Magistral Rapid Final Leon ESP (1), 01.06.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be2 a6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Be3 Be7 9.f4 d6 10.Qe1 0-0 11.Qg3 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b5 13.a3 Bb7 14.Kh1 Rad8 15.Rae1 Rd7 16.Bd3 Re8 17.f5 e5 18.Be3 Kh8 19.Bg5 Nh5 20.Qh4 Bxg5 21.Qxg5 Nf6 22.Rf3 Qc5 23.Rg3 Rg8 24.Rh3 b4 25.axb4 Qxb4 26.Rb1 Rc7 27.Rh6 d5 28.exd5 Qb6 29.Na4 Qd6 30.Rh4 Bxd5 31.Nc3 Rb8 32.Qc1 e4 33.Bxe4 Nxe4 34.Nxe4 Qc6 35.Qe3 Qxc2 36.Rg1 f6 37.Qd4 Rd7

In a difficult position White plays the wrong sacrifice 38.Nxf6? gxf6 39.Qxf6+ Rg7 40.Rg4 Qxb2! (the refutation) 0-1. [Click to replay]

In the second game it was the turn of Anand to obtain a good position after the opening. 13.f4 looked risky, and after a few moves Anand obtained a promising advantage, and soon gained material.

Ivanchuk,V (2740) - Anand,V (2803) [B90]
XXI Magistral Rapid Final Leon ESP (2), 01.06.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3 Be7 8.Bc4 0-0 9.0-0 Qc7 10.Bb3 Be6 11.Qd2 Rc8 12.Ng5 Bc4 13.f4 Nbd7 14.fxe5 dxe5 15.Rf5 Bb4 16.Rd1 Rd8 17.Qe1 h6 18.Nf3 Be6 19.Qg3 Bxf5 20.exf5 Bc5 21.Bxc5 Nxc5 22.Re1 Nxb3 23.axb3 b5 24.h3 Rac8 25.Nxe5 Re8 26.b4 Qd6 0-1. [Click to replay]

In the third game both players repeated the variation from the first game, until Anand varied with 17.Nd1. After a complex middle game they arrived at a complicated rook ending which finished in a draw. Ivanchuk called it (always in fluent Spanish), “a comedy of errors”, but added that the several mistakes committed by both players enriched the game.

In the last game there was an abrupt finish when world champion Vishy Anand made a transposition of moves which led him to a lost position, Ivanchuk remarked that a similar mistake was made by Petrosian against Polugaevsky.

Ivanchuk,V (2740) - Anand,V (2803) [E55]
XXI Magistral Rapid Final Leon ESP (4), 01.06.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Nbd7 9.Qe2 cxd4 10.exd4 b6 11.d5 Nc5 12.Rd1 Qe8 13.Nb5 exd5 14.Nc7

14...Qe4?? Strangely, this move was played in Conquest,S (2490)-Zaichik,G (2510), Tbilisi 1988, where White played 15.Nxd5 Qxe2 16.Nxf6+ gxf6 17.Bxe2 Ba6 18.Bxa6 Nxa6 and drew after 42 moves. Ivanchuk had a refutation: 15.Rd4 Qg6 16.Nh4 1-0. [Click to replay]

FLAMES Cup

Lopez Group Lifelong Wellness - Chess Open Tournament 2007

FLAMES Cup w/ NM BERNARDINO

MERALCO's supervisory union FLAMES sponsored the FLAMES Chess Cup for the MERALCO Chess Club's month of May event with National Master Marlon Bernardino as guest master.

NM VASQUEZ

SUBIC -- Andrew Vasquez added another feather to his cap by ruling the 2008 Subic Open international chess challenge at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center recently.

Actually, Vasquez finished in a four-way tie for first place with 6.5 points, but earned the title by virtue of higher tiebreak score.

Also posting the same score of 6.5 points were Edmundo Gatus, Allan Macala and Roel Abelgas.

Gatus finished second, followed by Macala in third and Abelgas in fourth.

The four players, however, shared the total cash prizes of P85,000 for first to fourth places in this tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) as side event of the Subic Open international championship.

Final standings:
6.5 points -- A. Vasquez, E. Gatus, A. MAbcala, R. Abelgas
6 -- L. Magdalaga, C. Arroyo, N. de la Cruz, J. Bulicatin
5.5 -- E. Montoya, R. Labay, V. Alora, S. Manaog, L. Carlos
5 -- F. Barreto, J. Dacanay, F. Onato
4.5 -- R. Dungca, M. Nazario, L. Sombilon, L. Ramos
4 -- F. Grafil, J. Arreque, R. Salcedo, J. Bitoon, A. Suede, R. Senora, J. Cayanan, J. Pineda.

“Masayang-masaya ako sa panalo kong ito. Nagbunga din ang pagsisikap ko,” said Vasquez, who is being supported by E.B. Testing.

by Ed Andaya

DOMINGUEZ WINS CAPABLANCA MEMORIAL

Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez won on Saturday the Elite Group of the 43rd Capablanca Chess Memorial that took place at the Neptuno-Triton hotel complex in Havana.

Dominguez, the best-placed Latin American player in the world ranking of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) with an ELO rating of 2695 points, on Saturday beat compatriot GM Walter Arencibia after 46 moves of a French Defense and concluded the tournament with six units of nine possible.

With this result, Dominguez also added 2.5 points to his ELO rating that will probably help him improve his 26th position in the world ranking when FIDE announces its quarterly list in July.

The second spot of the event was for GM Farruk Amonatov of Tadzhikistan, who concluded with 5.5 points, while German GM Igor Khenki was third also with 5.5 units.

After this win Dominguez travels on Monday to Sarajevo to participate in the Sarajevo 2008 Masters’ Tournament where he will face strong rivals such as Russian GM Alexander Morozevich, who is third in the world ranking with an ELO rating of 2774 points. Also present will be Russian GM Artyom Timofeev (2664), Slovakian GM Sergei Movsesian (2695), Dutch GM Ivan Sokolov (2690) and local GM Borki Predojevic (2641).

Source: cubanews.ain.cu

CHESSBASE: US CHAMPIONSHIP

Shulman wins US Championship; Zatonskih wins Women's Title
23.05.2008 – GM Yury Shulman won the 2008 Frank K. Berry U.S. Championship with 7/9, with IM Johhua Friedel completing his final GM norm. In the Women's Championship IMs Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush tied for first, then went into dramatic blitz tiebreaks, which Anna won in the last possible second. You can watch the scene in a new version of this dramatic video.

The 2008 FKB US Chess Championship The championships were sponsored by IA Frank K. Berry and held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, at the Radisson Hotel. The main championship was a 9-round Swiss with 24 players, and the women’s championship a ten-player round robin. The rate of play was 40 moves in 100 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game with with 30 seconds increment per move. The first prize was $13,000 plus a Caribbean cruise.

Yury Shulman wins US Championship; Anna Zatonskih wins Women’s Title

By Tom Braunlich

Yury Shulman won the 24-player 9-SS event sponsored by Frank K. Berry in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with solid play that included wins over GMs Gulko, Kaidanov, Becerra, Kudrin, and IM Pruess. He had a full point lead going into round nine and a quick draw with IM Josh Friedel gave him the title, while also giving Friedel his third GM norm. An example of Shulman’s play was win over veteran GM Boris Gulko.

US Champion 2008: GM Yury Schulman, with 7.0/9 and a 2760 performance

Gulko,B (2559) - Shulman,Y (2606) [E04]
Frank K Berry ch-USA Tulsa USA (3), 15.05.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 a6 6.Ne5 c5 7.Na3 cxd4 8.Naxc4 Bc5 9.Bd2 Nd5 10.Rc1 0-0 11.0-0 Nd7 12.Nd3 Ba7 13.Ba5 Qe7 14.Qb3 Rb8 15.Nce5 Nxe5 16.Nxe5 Qf6 17.Nd3 b6 18.Bb4 Rd8 19.Bxd5 Rxd5 20.Rc7 Bb7 21.Be7 Qf5 22.Qc2 e5 23.Rc1 h6 24.Nb4

24...d3! 25.exd3 Rd7 26.Rxb7 Rbxb7 27.Qc8+ Kh7 28.Nxa6 Qxd3 29.Nb4 Qd2 30.Bf8 Rb8 0-1.

Alex Onischuk was clear second with 6½, and Sergey Kudrin was clear third with 6.0/9

Final standings in the open championship

#	Player	Title	Rating	Pts.	Perf.
1.	Shulman, Yuri	GM	2606	7	2760
2.	Onischuk, Alexander	GM	2664	6½	2707
3.	Kudrin, Sergey	GM	2549	6	2672
4.	Friedel, Joshua E	IM	2484	5½	2614
5.	Akobian, Varuzhan	GM	2601	5½	2596
6.	Perelshteyn, Eugene	GM	2552	5½	2559
7.	Becerra Rivero, Julio	GM	2575	5	2597
8.	Ivanov, Alexander	GM	2560	5	2517
9.	Finegold, Benjamin	IM	2539	5	2508
10.	Gulko, Boris F	GM	2559	5	2501
11.	Kaidanov, Gregory	GM	2596	4½	2545
12.	Fedorowicz, John P	GM	2459	4½	2543
13.	Shabalov, Alexander	GM	2633	4½	2487
14.	Gurevich, Dmitry	GM	2513	4½	2429
15.	Yermolinsky, Alex	GM	2518	4	2514
16.	Kraai, Jesse	GM	2509	4	2465
17.	Pruess, David	IM	2425	4	2455
18.	Ludwig, Daniel		2357	4	2423
19.	Vigorito, David	IM	2405	3½	2351
20.	Langer, Michael	FM	2254	3½	2352
21.	Ippolito, Dean	IM	2425	3½	2342
22.	Kaufman, Larry C	IM	2365	3½	2353
23.	Shankland, Samuel		2296	2½	2237
24.	Galant, Sergey		2235	1½	2135

CHESSBASE: MTEL MASTERS

MTel R10: Ivanchuk wins Sofia by 1½ points
18.05.2008 – Ivan Cheparinov threw everything at him, but Vassily Ivanchuk defended coolly and scored a final black-piece victory to clinch the 2008 MTel Masters, with 8.0/10 and a performance of 2977. Second was Veselin Topalov, who drew Radjabov to end at 6.5/10, with a 2839 performance. We bring you a final report with commentary, pictures and more great videos by Europe Echecs.

The tournament, which is being held in the Central Military Club in Sofia, Bulgaria, is a double round-robin (all play all, with white and black). The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves + 1 hour to the end of the game. Starting time: 15:00h local time (12:00h UTC), except the final round, which starts at 14:00h.

Round ten report (final)

Round 10: Sunday, May 18, 2008
Veselin Topalov	½-½	Teimour Radjabov
Ivan Cheparinov	0-1	Vassily Ivanchuk
Levon Aronian	½-½	Bu Xiangzhi
Games – Report

Topalov,V (2767) - Radjabov,T (2751) [B32]
4th M-Tel Masters Sofia BUL (10), 18.05.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.N1c3 a6 7.Na3 b5 8.Nd5 Nf6 9.c4 b4 10.Nxf6+ Qxf6 11.Nc2 Qg6 12.Ne3 Be7 13.g3 Nd4 14.Bg2 Bb7 15.Nf5

15...Qxf5!? A spectacular queen sacrifice, but not completely new. 16.exf5 Bxg2 17.Rg1. The game Kulaots,K (2525)-Ivanov,S (2356), Finland 2007 continued 17.Be3 Bxh1 18.Bxd4 exd4 19.f3 0-0 20.Kf2 d5 21.cxd5 Bc5 22.Rc1 Rac8 23.Kg1 Rfd8 24.Kxh1 Rxd5 and White went on to win in 59 moves. 17...Bf3 18.Qd3. The game Klovans,J (2462)-Sveshnikov,E (2499), Riga 2005 continued 18.Qa4+ Bc6 19.Qd1 ½-½. 18...d5 19.cxd5 Rc8 20.Be3 Nc2+ 21.Kf1 e4 22.Qxa6 0-0 23.Rb1 Nxe3+ 24.fxe3 Rc2 25.h4 Rd8 26.Qb7 Kf8 27.a4 Rd2.

Radjabov has worked this all out: Black can now force a draw by perpetual with a rook and bishop: 28.Rc1 R2xd5 29.Rc8 Rd1+ 30.Kf2 R1d2+ 31.Ke1 Rd1+ 32.Kf2 R1d2+ 33.Ke1 Rd1+ 34.Kf2 R1d2+ ½-½.

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The game of the day was Cheparinov-Ivanchuk, with the pre-round possibility of a win by Cheparinov and Topalov to allow the latter to catch Ivanchuk in the table and force a tiebreak. In the Sicilian Taimanov Cheparinov castled long and launched a vigorous kingside attack, which was coolly refuted by the experienced Ukrainian.

Cheparinov,I (2696) - Ivanchuk,V (2740) [B48]
4th M-Tel Masters Sofia BUL (10), 18.05.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Qd2 Nf6 8.0-0-0 Bb4 9.f3 Ne5 10.Nb3 b5 11.Bd4 Be7 12.Qf2 d6 13.g4 0-0 14.g5 Nfd7 15.Rg1

Is this uncompromising or what? Cheparinov is going after the black king with everything he has. But Ivanchuk, who has played at the highest level of chess for decades, knows how to deal with this kind of thing. 15...Bb7 16.Kb1 Rfc8 17.Rg3 b4 18.Na4 Bd8 19.Nc1 Bc6 20.b3 Bxa4 21.bxa4 Nc6 22.Be3 Qb8 23.Rh3 Nb6 24.Qh4 h6 25.Qg3 Nxa4 26.Rxd6 hxg5 27.Bd3? Bf6 28.e5 Bxe5

It looks really scary, with all the white pieces lined up for an assault on the lone king, and all the black defenders tucked away on the kingside.Which colour would you choose to play? 29.Rh8+ Kxh8 30.Qh3+ Kg8 31.Qh7+ Kf8 32.Rd7.

White is treatening mate in one with his queen on Qh8#, and if Black plays 32...g6 it is 33...Qxf7#. But Ivanchuk has it all worked out: 32...Nc3+ 33.Ka1 Nb5+ and now if 34.Kb1 Black plays 34...Na3 mate! It's all over. 0-1.

A final handshake as Cheparinov resigns the game

Final standings

CHESSDOM: SLAV; ARONIAN - IVANCHUK

Aronian, Levon - Ivanchuk, Vassily

Mtel Masters 2008
Sofia Round 5
by GM Vladimir Dimitrov

Ivanchuk's performance in this tournament so far is perfect. Now we now that the reason is not the screaming yellow tie he wears every game, as yesterday Cheparinov dressed likewise but to no avail :) . The Ukrainian combines subtle positional understanding with tactical vision and this serves him well. Being in good form he is a formidable opponent and I am curious what approach would Aronian choose against him today. If the Armenian aspires for the top of table he needs to win some games. Would he take risks today going for all or nothing, or should he play solidly to stop Vassily's winning streak. Up to now all Ivanchuk's games were quite entertaining, let's hope that today the audience will be again satisfied with a great chess performance.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 Ivanchuk goes for the Slav Defense.

3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 This modest move enjoys increasing popularity after the Topalov-Kramnik match..

4... Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Nxg6 hxg6 8.a3 Nbd7 9.g3 Be7 10.b3 According to the latest fashion of the line. Bf1 is relieved of protecting the 'c4' pawn and goes to 'g2'.

10... e5 Attempting to make use of the fact that White is still undeveloped. (10... Ne4) was an alternative. {Moves like (10... Qc7) let White complete its setup and secure long-lasting slight advantage. It's Aronian's turn to look deeper into the position: should he permit e5-e4 or change the central formation by 11.cxd5 ?

11.cxd5 Nxd5 (11... Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Qa5+ 13.Nc3 Qxc3+ 14.Bd2 Qb2) seems fine for Black, while (11... Nxd5 12.Bb2 Nxc3 13.Bxc3 exd4 14.Bxd4 Bf6) promises no advantage to White.

12.Nxd5 Qa5+ 13.Nc3 The Ukrainian is investing a lot of time, perhaps considering the consequences of complicating the game by (13.Nc3 exd4 14.b4 Bxb4 15.axb4 Qxa1) but this may only lead him into trouble.

13... Qxc3+ 14.Bd2 Qb2 This had already happened in the game Wang Yue - Bobras, Cappelle la Grande 2007. Black soon transfered into a draw endgame, but after an amazing display of bad technique eventually lost. Ivanchuk's Queen finds it quite comfortable being inside opponent's camp.

15.d5 Well, this is a novelty.

15... cxd5 16.Bb5 The very idea behind the pawn sacrifice. (16.Bg2 would be met by 16... Nc5) Ivanchuk may go for (16.Bb5 Rd8) but I believe that in case of (16.Bb5 a6 17.Bxd7+ Kxd7) his King would be perfectly safe.

16... a6 17.Bxd7+ Kxd7 18.O-O (18.O-O e4 planning Qe5 19.Qg4+ f5 20.Qxg6 Qf6 favors the Ukrainian.)

18... e4 19.Bc3 Qxc3 20.Qxd5+ Ke8 21.Rac1 The Armenian sacrificed a piece making his bet on Ivanchuk's inaccuracies in the time trouble as otherwise his position is just worse.

21... Qd3 22.Qxb7 Rd8 Aronian may trade 2 Rooks for the Queen and a couple of pawns but his King would be soon threatened by the 3 Black pieces (two of them Rooks!)

23.Rfd1 Qxd1+ 24.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 25.Kg2 Now the Rh8 is heading (perhaps after a preliminary a6-a5) towards 'f5' - Rh8-h5-f5. Clock readings: 0.39 0.23 . Meanwhile we have the first result for this round - Topalov defeated Bu.

25... a5 26.g4 Creating technical difficulties for Black. Aronian's position is lost but he managed to steal a whole point in Ivanchuk's time trouble this year in Morelia having even worse. Time 0.23 0.09

26... Kf8 27.Qxe4 g5 Securing the Black King. After the inclusion of the Rh8 the rest should be simple.

28.Qf5 Bd8 29.Qc5+ Kg8 30.Qe5 Levon is defending stubbornly in opponent's time trouble. 0.10 0.02

30... g6 31.b4 axb4 32.axb4 Kh7 33.b5 Rf8 34.Qc5 Kg8 Ivanchuk consolidated his position and has to reach the time control only.

35.b6 Desperation

35... Rb1 36.f4 Rb2+ 37.Kg3 gxf4+ 38.exf4 Bxb6 39.Qc3 Rb1 40.f5 Rg1+ 41.Kh3 With the time control passed, Vassily has only to find one of the many ways to win, (41.Kh3 Re8) being the fastest.

41... Re8 42.Qf6 Bf2 43.Qg7+ Kxg7 44.f6+ Kf8 ( Last trick 44... Kxf6 45.g5+ Draw) White resigned. One may just admire the ease Ivanchuk dispatched of his opponent. He was playing Black against one of the strongest players in the world and defeated him as if he were mere club player. So the Ukrainian has the incredible 5 out of 5 before the second half of the event and we await to sea who would finally stop him - if possible at all :)

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